Topic: how many?

[trinity]

as many of you know I have only ever grown at home in pots
now i have my Lotty and am deciding what I am going to grow next year ;D
but I am unsure of the number of plants I will need  :-\
for things like beans, peas, sweet corn and  squash carrots,

cauliflower and such things where you plant one and you get one are easy enough to work out but how do you work out the other as I am unsure of how much of a crop you get as I know you get a much better yield from the ground
space is not a problem as both me and my sister have a 10 pole plot (250 m2) each and we are rotating crops over both plots
how many do you plant ?

[Kea]

Depends on how many you need. How many people to feed, how much you like eating that particular vege and how many you might lose to pests. It's a bit trial and error really.

If you've got a lot of room as you have you could grow quite a lot of each thing. I plan on having an entire 15ft row x2 of climbing French Beans next year. I didn't have enough this year as the first lot didn't germinate well and then the shops were sold out of seed so I got dwarf plants to fill the gap but the slugs just ate the beans on them.

I had 18 sweet corn plants the Year before but we only got about 7 corn cobs because the rats got there first.

I planted 40 Broad beans in November with the intention of planting more in March but it didn't happen, i got a good crop from the ones I planted but the family were screaming for more.

I Planted 24 kaboucha squash but not all plants produced decent sized fruit...I have 10 really good ones and 1 exceptional 4.9Kg one (kaboucha are usually half that size and the really big ones are usually not as tasty) the rest about 12 are small. Not too bad a harvest as some plants didn't produce.

Don't know if that helps any.

[manicscousers]

twice, or 3 times as many peas as you think you will need, they're so nice, not many will get home, same with strawberry plants and carrots, getting hungry now ;D

[Lauren S]

Always grow more than you need. You need 20 of something...one time they will ALL GERMINATE, other times you hardly get any. It's a funny old game. Surplusses can always be used to fill in gaps, or you can swap them with other gardeners  ;D

If I'm lucky to get more than I need I'll squish them in somewhere  ;)
I don't like wasting any plant  :D

[windygale]

Hi Trinity, An easy way is to draw out a plan of your plot, and place on the plan what you want to eat and grow, need IE fruit, trees, green house, coldframes waterbutts, compost heaps, seating area, flower beds, etc,etc,
a plan will help with your crop rotation,
like this, click on blue link for bigger view,
i norally place 15 - 20 plants per bed IE cabbages, sprouts, cauliflower, etc,
runners beans 10 - 20 ,
peas, 1pkt early, 2 pkt main crop,
20 onions, leeks,  40, shallots,
1 pkt early carrots, 2 pkt main,
1 pkt early beetroots, 2pkt later sown beetroot
2 pkt swede,
2 pkt parsnips,
try to keep a book and place in there what you did when, with how you did it, take pictures as well, from the start,
i hope this helps
windy :) ;D

[trinity]

I don't think will have a problem the plots produsing to much as they will hopefully be providing veg and fruit for 7 adults and 6 kids but my family (3 adults and 3 kids will be getting first pick ) as one of the plots is my sisters (2 adults ) and she will be doing some but not all of the work on her plot as she works full time and only really got it because I said I would like the space

 she would like one but knows she dose not have the time to commit to one for herself.

A Friend (2 adults and 3 kids) helps me out a lot but she has various health problems and also could not manage one herself. and is quite happy ho have whatever veg I don't need in return for the work she puts in

we eat lots of veg (all types)

 I want to grow as much as I can just don't want to end up wit 300 courgettes an half a pound of peas and one corn cob because I planted the wrong amount  ??? ::) :-\

I think it will be
100 sweet corn (my kids will quite happly eat a couple of these for dinner and not want anything else)

4 packets of peas 1 overwinter 1 early and 2 main crop

1 packet of each of the beans I an going to grow 6 variety's

and as many summer and winter squash I have space for ;D

I have worked out that I do have the space for all this as well as all the other stuff like carrots, cabages, cauliflowers and such like

and if it is to much we have a few freezers we can fill ;D

[Robert_Brenchley]

Plant masses. One for the mouse and one for the crow, one to rot and one to grow. You generally get better results starting seeds in pots, under cover. If you're growing corn, make sure it's always got root room so it never stops growing, or it won't start again for weeks after it's been planted out.

[KathrynH]

Definitely plant more than you think you will need. Sometimes you will get a nice surprise as it will all do better than you expected and then you will have something to swap with you neighbours. Other things will surely do badly for no apparent reason and you'll be glad you planted the extra just to give you enough. I'd do more peas though as there never seems to be enough of them. And as you say, anything that is surpluss can be frozen.

[SMP1704]

What about fruit Trinity?  Seems like you have the veg sorted, although on the pea front I would double the maincrop for the numbers of people you are growing for.  I would recommend growing summer cauliflower, they are really quick to crop - about the same as calabrese.

I only grow for my own family although neighbours and friends get a share of surplus.

[trinity]

will definitely up the peas then thought I would have people saying that was to many ;D definitely want to many peas ;D ;D ;D ( will have to buy more seeds ;D ;))

 I have most of my single crop veg worked out like cauliflowers and cabage I have worked out how many we eat (about) and added a couple and then doubled it ;D

I will be buying fruit bushes as and when I have the money for them  ::)

 I have 40 strawberry plants to go in when I am feeling better (am recovering from pneumonia)

 I am getting 2 dwarf cherry trees for Christmas  ;D ;D ;D

I have 120 Japanese onion sets in

I have 110 garlic in (we put garlic in everything )

[manicscousers]

the soft fruit 'sticks' will be in wilkies , aldi, netto and lidl in the early part of next year, about 1.00 each, usually blackberry, blueberry, raspberry and some times gooseberry, if you're looking for rhubarb, some of your plot neighbours could be splitting theirs this autumn, they may give you a piece of theirs but take it easy, get better first  :)

[Bean_Queen]

How long's a piece of string?  It's that kind of a question.

I just think of how much I want to eat, and work out roughly from there.   If you have a freezer, you can grow more, eg sweetcorn (which all comes at once).  I can never grow enough spuds, so just make do with one bed of spuds.

Carrots: I never have enough. Every year I try and grow more.  Ditto French Beans, because I dry them for kidney beans.

A lot of people grow tons of, say, sprouts, because they want to fill up a row/bed.  But, do you want 20 sprout plants, really?  Or would 3 do you?