Topic: How much should I plant?

[EmmaLou]

:) Hi everyone!

I have taken on an allotment (13.75m x 9m) and have a list of veg that I want to grow, but have no idea of what quantities to plant of each. I want to avoid having to go to the supermarket, but also don't want to end up with too much (although I'm sure there are plenty of people quite happy to take any spares!) Can any of you give me some ideas?

These details may help - I need to feed 2 adults and a toddler.
The veg I would like to grow are:
courgettes
potatoes
onions
garlic
carrots
lettuce
tomatoes
cauliflowers
cabbage
broccoli - purple sprouting
peas
runner beans
sweetcorn

Also can you give me ideas of what I can get started now?

Many thanks!
x :-*

[EmmaLou]

Don't worry about my second question as I have seen the answers given to other people on this forum!

Loads of great info! ;D

[wardy]

Hello and welcome to the fold  :)  I sowed far too much lettuce, radish, and spring onion seed and you can only eat so much.  With that sort of thing you can leave two weeks between sowing, and only sow a little  :)   You can get potatoes for Christmas by planting some say in containers if you wish in September.  They are available now from Mr Fotherhills, I;ve just ordered 50 mixed brassica plants which include cabbage, sprouts, broccoli etc and you get about 10 of each variety.  They work out at 17.5 p each plant delivered which seems good to me.  You can still plant spinach, carrot, onions, lettuce, french beans.  Later in the year you can plant Japanese onion sets which overwinter for eating from approx June/July onwards next year.  I think I'm going to have a go with parsnip, it's a bit late but never mind, same with pink turnips  :)

[terrace max]

There's so many variables affecting quantity like your soil, the weather, your preferences....

In our house we can never have too many onions, potatoes, tomatoes, garlic and carrots. We probably get through over 600 onions per year!! So if you're trying to avoid the supermarket it might be best to focus on those initially. I doubt you will ever have too many.

I think salad leaves are another crucial crop. I sow about 15 lettuces every fortnight from March to October.

As for the big brassicas on your list: perhaps aim for 4 of each...?

Sweetcorn, peas and beans freeze well - and as they say storage is the key to self sufficiency....

The real art in this allotment thing is to achieve a reliable succession: crack this and Mr. Sainsbury will be sobbing... 

Best of luck!

[Jesse]

I planted 1 bag (I think they were 2.5kg bags, not sure, the average size that is sold at garden centres) each of chalottes, kestrel and cara potatoes. I think they'll be enough to feed us (2 adults, 2 children aged 4 & 6) until next spring, could have perhaps done with another bag of cara which are maincrop potatoes.

Courgettes, about 2 plants will give you enough courgettes, 1 would probably do but I always do at least 2 incase the slugs get one of them.

Onions I grew from sets. I planted 1 bag each of red and white, could have probably got another bag of whites. Also planted shallots which were donated to me, about 20 sets and they've all been pickled.

Garlic I planted about 30 cloves, could have done with more but then we do use a fair bit of garlic.

Carrots...mine failed miserably this year so won't comment on them.

Lettuce, sow at 2-3 weekly intervals throughout summer, about 20 plugs at a time, we eat salad nearly every night through summer.

Tomatoes, you can never have enough, what you can't eat fresh you can make tomato ketchup, pasta sauces etc. so grow at much as you can.

Cauliflower, we don't each much so about 12 plants were enough for us, and they haven't done very well for me, I won't be bothering with them next year, I'll buy from the farm shop when I do feel like cauliflower.

Cabbage, I've grown about 10 spring cabbages and 20 summer cabbages this year. We never ate very much cabbage, but coleslaw with home grown cabbage is wonderful, will plant about the same next year.

Broccoli, not sure.

Peas, you can never have too many, what you can't eat fresh will freeze very well. I've had one row of peas grow successfully this year, next year I'll at least double if not triple this amount.

Runner beans freeze very well so 20 plants will provide you with lots.

Sweetcorn also freezes very well. I've grown about 30 plants this year, yet to crop but I think next year I might be able to grow more. My children love sweetcorn.

These amounts are what I would/have done, it greatly depends on how much of each you eat.

PS...remember to grow a little more than you think you'll need, the slugs (or something else) always takes a few from you. :)

[EmmaLou]

Thank you all for your great advice! It will certainly make life a lot easier for me!
What great people allotment owners are!  :D I have been given loads of helpful advice from the other allotment holders at my site. And finding this forum has also been fantastic. It is great that people with experience of growing veg etc are so willing to help out. I have found out more on this website, than in all the hours I have spent reading books on the subject.

Thank you again!

[northener]

Hello Emmalou and welcome. This has been my 1st year and i have planted everything in rows 4m long. Well 4m of cabbage is a lot . Same again with lettuce too much for me and wife. I reckon next year half rows, half peas half beans and so on. Still taking into account rotation. Anyway enjoy it.

[jennym]

Yes, peas. Someone famous said "you can never sow enough peas" and I know what they meant. Usually, by January, they're on ration in our house (I will NOT buy them) and so every time I serve them, whoever is eating gets a stern reminder to eat them all because I GREW THEM.

[ayjayel]

Hi I'm EmmaLou's mum. This looks like a great website. Emma's dad and I are going to help her with the allotment. We have a big garden but not a lot let over to veggies. We'd like more. Can never have enough fresh green stuff in my opinion, especially purple sprouting broccolli and runner beans. Both my favourites. I'm showing your replies to Em's dad now! Thank you.

AyJayEl

[Svea]

hello emmalou and mum :)
welcome on board.

i second all the others said about trying to get successional sowing/planting - i haven't cracked it yet but it's only my first year :) i have had plenty of lettuces and even remembered to sow more before i had run out of them :D

if you have a small space, AJL, grow the things you like, not the full 'allotment' range (spuds, cabbages, beans, the works). i have recommended to a colleague of mine to grow (besides his tomatoes) lettuces, rucola and other quick growing salad ingredients. those are also probably the things that are the worst supermarket flavour when it comes to light summer eating. i eat a lot of salads so definitely notice the difference.

as to quantities, emmalou, i know how you feel! :) it's hard not knowing isn't it?
i am taking this my first year to test out all the quantities, as well as a number of varieties, of vegetables i like. probably got it right with my beans this year, also spuds (we are only 2 people in the house) - i grew one bed 1.2m by 3.5m with dwarf french beans and they have been supplying me well for the last couple of weeks, with plenty more to come. i had 18 seed potatoes which have produced more than enough pots for us - we are not growing keepers but only 1st and 2nd earlies. still some in the ground now to eat, and each plant yielded about two meals worth for us :)
as to brassicas, well i have 6 or so cabbages each, four sprout plants (may be too much, who knows), about 6 and 6 of purple sprouting (winter) and green(summer, now) broccoli. that seems enough, too

i am not keeping myself totally in veg but seriously haven't bought much beyond a bag of onions and carrots for ages! so lovely to harvest the fruits of your labour. no food miles and fresh stuff - life couldn't be better :)

have fun
svea

[Ed^Chigliak]

I divided your plot into 8 beds with paths and calculate each bed is 3.9m by 3.2m. With just the crops you list I have the number of plants you could fit into your plot at typical spacings. I have grouped crops so you have a rotation and you may for example want to add leeks and reduce onions into the alliums beds. Likewise you may want to add beetroots and parsnips to the roots and reduce spuds and carrots. I think it's too much veg myself and you have space for one third of your plot as soft fruit & herbs.

2 beds alliums
onions 600
garlic 100

2 beds roots
potatoes 140
carrots 300

1 bed legumes
peas 300
runners 30

1 bed brassicas
cauliiflower 22
cabbage 22
broccoli 22

2 beds other
toms 15
lettuce 45
sweetcorn 32
courgettes 4

[terrace max]

Blimey Ed! Will you design my plots too? ... And weed them...?

[wardy]

I grew a bed with 60 Japanese onions in it.  I've just harvested the bulk of them and we're going to eat them all this weekend  ;D   I'm doing a burger stall as a fundraiser for our in bloom group so I know nothing will go to waste  :) I was glad of the opportunity to offload some as my OH would have been eating them forever  :)

[Ed^Chigliak]

I think I can draw faster than I can put a sentence together. Drawings take no time at all less than 10 minutes for a typical plot since I have most of the components blocks already drawn. It's a CAD thing.

Weeding... I think I'll pass on that one for now.

[jennym]

If you pm me I could send you on a spreadsheet I did at college once, to work out yields in a given space.