I have 430 square feet to work with... but only 200 sq ft of that is in nicely-located raised beds with optimal soil. Other areas need a lot of soil amending, and are partially shaded. Areas under the trees have great soil but are very shaded, and it'll be challenging to find what grows there.
The available space also includes 6 half wine barrels and numerous pots in half-shade which might be moved to more ideal locations. The previous owners of the house had large pots lined up all around the pool, which is a fantastic idea if I can find some cheap matching pots.
I'd been planning on another 20 square feet of space to round it out to a smooth 450, but as a surprise my husband put in a huge yin-yang of inedible light green and dark green plants, and it is too sweet to remove.
Anyway, here is what I plan on growing over the year!
The format for this is: Plant x # of plants, ?lb expected per plant = final pounds expected
- Tomatoes x 14, 18lb each = 252lb (last year I averaged 25lbs per plant)
- Squash x 9, 6lb each = 54lb (last year the one squash plant gave 21.4lb)
- Cucumbers x 7, 6lb each = 42lb
- Chard x 60, 11oz each = 41.25lb
- Long radishes x 100, 0.375lb = 30.5lb
- Short radishes x 100, 0.1875lb each = 18.75lb
- Short carrot x 50, 0.1875lb each = 9.375lb
- Beets x 100, 0.2lb each = 50lb
- Sunflower x 18, 0.33lb each = 6lb
- Greens x 30 cups, 6 cups/lb = 5lb
- (Includes: nasturtium leaves, lettuce, red malabar spinach, kale, beet and radish greens)
- Herbs x 18 cups, 6 cups/lb = 3lb
- (Includes: nasturtium flowers, calendula, mint, basil, rosemary, ginger, lemongrass, cilantro, garlic greens, marjoram, sage, rose petals and hips)
- Guess: 10lb apples
- Guess: 10lb plums
I tried to guess conservatively after some internet research, based on how many plants I was putting in (using smartgardener.com to help plan my spacing). If I have the same success with the squash and tomatoes as I did last year, that would give me an additional 240 pounds, but I don't think my luck can hold out that well!
Smartgardener has been pretty fun to play with!
Some of those numbers sound a little high.
What am I going to do with 200 radishes and 100 beets? They will be split up between the spring and fall seasons, using succession planting to spread out the harvest. The long black spanish radishes will be especially used in early spring in the raised beds to keep cutworms out of the soil before tomatoes and squash are planted. And really, I could juice or eat beets all day long.
Some of the numbers sound a bit low too.
So little fruit? I'm hoping the fruit trees do much better than they did last year. Last year they were cut dramatically by the landscapers (after we told them not to touch any trees!), and it'll take them at least a while to return to their previous bounty.
I'm also hoping that the buddha's hand, blueberries, huckleberries, and mystery citrus will start producing this year... but am not counting on it.
I am also very likely going to be growing more plants than stated above. I'll be tucking herbs, tiny parisienne carrots, and radishes in every spare spot of soil between plants. Extra lettuces and beets will go in smaller pots, and possibly extra squash in the wine barrels. Sunflowers will go along the western fence and other random spots where they won't shade other plants, and I'll plant all 25 and see how many make it. Aside from the larger veggies, I intend to use up all the seed I have.
Why not grow in more space?
We're on a quarter acre, so 430 square feet is just 1% of our space! Most of it is, of course, not useable. The house is in the middle-back of the property, which really limits the private space. The front yard is grass and junipers for now, and the side yard against the street also junipers... need to look into our HOA rules to see exactly what is allowed for edible plants on display, but renovating those areas will be a huge project, possibly too huge for this year. The other side of the house is paved over with cement and a pool, and the back has a large porch, so it basically leaves us just a narrow strip of backyard to work with.
We do have a 200 square foot solarium though! Right now it is set up for formal entertaining, so I will end up renovating this area to be more plant-friendly.
Wish me luck!
I'll be weighing every single gram that comes out of the garden (starting from Jan 1st)... surely I can average at least 1 pound per square foot of garden? Surely I can triple last year's 150 pounds if I put real effort in and actually fertilize the stuff? Might as well shoot for the stars.
What are you planning for your garden this year?
No comments:
Post a Comment