Allotments 4 All

Is there a guide anywhere to the amounts of each crop you should plant?
the amount in a seed packet seems to be no indication of how many you would need for an average family.
all advice very welcome.

Quoteno indication of how many you would need for an average family.
all advice very welcome.

I don't think anyone could honestly answer this one as each of our needs might be dfferent.

I think the only guidance I could offer is grow what you like best!

Once this is established consider how long they will stand when mature!

For instance caulis might last two to three weeks and lets say you want to eat on every other day you are talking in terms of 7-10 plants in total.

Note; This is only an estimate for guidance!!

This list attached below is a typical years planting on my allotment!

http://www.thegardenersalmanac.co.uk/Data/Computers%20and%20gardening/Examples/Plot%20layout.htm

Everyone has different needs so there isn't really a right answer to this as Tee Gee says concentrate on growing the things you like best. Most people start off growing far too many courgettes because they don't realise just how many you get from a single plant & nowhere near enough peas (I plant a minimum of 60 per person) but you soon learn from your mistakes & get it right the next year.

There are some estimates of the average number of plants required per person on this site click on the veg type then look at the table on the right for the words "Average plants per person"
http://www.veggieharvest.com/Table/Vegetable-Growing-Information/

I always start off sowing far too many seeds (eg - this year I sowed approx 50 tomatoes, 6 courgettes, 5 squashes) But now I have 10 tomato plants and will probably lose several courgs/squashes along the way!

I tend to think you can never have too much salad, tomatoes, potatoes, herbs. Everything else just get fitted in as and where it can. It's all a bit random really.

OK I admit, I have no idea and I am probably quite a bad gardener (but I love it!)

Note to self - must learn more and plan more!

(am off to read Beccy Man's link now!)

Only 10 tomato plants, aquilegia? I normally plant 70 or 80. (But tomato sauce & puree does freeze well....)

It's a matter of personal taste, and trial & error. Make notes. And refer to them next season.

You'll probably find that it changes from year to year anyway. (How many threads have you read on A4A that include words like, "Must remember to grow more/less whatever next year"?

Trevor - It's a matter of space too. They have to fit on pots on the patio and put up with a lot of toddler damage (last year he kept picking off and chewing on the green ones, but will he eat a ripe tomato?!) I suppose really I need hundreds!

Oops! I forgot space! (But then I've got two allotments.)

there are two charts i know that very are predictive of how much harvest you will get per given vegetable type . better one can be found in john jeavson's book how to grow more vegetables.
library copies of the book can be found at following libraries:
British Library Wetherby, W Yorkshire, LS23 7BQ United Kingdom
Bromley Libraries Bromley, Kent, BR1 1EX United Kingdom
South Gloucestershire Council Bristol, BS36 1LA United Kingdom
Croydon Library Croydon, CR9 1ET United Kingdom
Somerset County  Bridgwater, TA6 3ES United Kingdom
Southampton Central Library Southhamptom, SO14 7IW United Kingdom
Wiltshire Library Huntingdon, PE29 3PH United Kingdom
Bristol Cent Library Bristol, BS1 5TL United Kingdom
Doncaster Central Library Yorkshire, DN1 3JE United Kingdom
Hertfordshire Library Hatfield Herts, AL10 8XG United Kingdom
Kent County Coun Libraries & Archs West Malling Kent, ME19 4AL United Kingdom
Warwickshire County Coun Warwick, CV34 5LT United Kingdom
Wandsworth Libraries London, SW18 2PU United Kingdom

Quote from: Trevor_D on April 26, 2010, 17:24:33
Oops! I forgot space! (But then I've got two allotments.)

I think with regard to tomatoes it is also a question of where you are.  I struggle to get a good crop outdoors in Scotland before the blight hits or frost threatens. I don't have a greenhouse at the moment so they'll all have to survive outside either at home on the patio or in the upstairs hall under the cupola (a drag for dusting and hoovering) or outside on my allotment between the asparagus. When I had a greenhouse I only had room for 8 plants max - well 10 at a pinch.

I like to grow lots of different things in small quantities except for the staples like salad veg and potatoes, onions and  so on. Salad veg I grow in small quantities often since it doesn't keep.

If I can store it, make it into wine  or pickle it I grow more.

The trick is to get things sowed successively, which i never manage properly. Lettuce can  be done most of the year round, with different varieties. There are 4 of us but we don't just eat off the lottie, although it is starting to give a lot of my needs in spuds and almost all in onions, shallots and garlic, and strawbs of course (I never buy them anymore).
I give over about 4x3 metres to alliums and the same to spuds, and I get an abundance of those. I find a well garnished row of 2-3 m is ample for parsnips and carrots, and a bit more of beetroot as I like that. Don't forget herbs etc which are really expensive to buy. I do 30 tomatoes, about 8 of aubergines and peppers and about 6-8 different summer squashes. Then there are also pumpkins on top of that, I am doing about 15 of those, but I let them grow down the path!!
It's something you learn over time too. The first year will be a bit of a cockup.  ;D