How Much To Plant For A Family Of 4 To Be Self Sufficient (7 Factors That WILL Impact Garden Size)

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[barbdouglas]

I am a 72 year old woman, who used to plant a garden every year to feed my family of 5. I used the store to supplement my canned and frozen vegetables and fruits. I haven't done much gardening since my kids all grew up. However I am going to build a tiny house on my youngest daughters farm, and I know they garden, and it's pretty big, although I am not sure of the square footage. She told me I would have a nice sized garden by my little cabin too. So here we go, wish me a blessed retirement, please. I am excited to start this new period of life, after 32 years in God's service both here and on foreign soil. Thank you so very much for all of the great information. I will need it, even it my kids do know what they're doing!👵😇

[kickassv]

People really underestimate the amount of land they need. They also underestimate the amount of work it takes.

[anitahamlin]

People under estimate how much land and work and potential failures. Growing is much harder than it appears. My Grandfather made it look so easy.

[abiyah]

It’s a reason the indigenous planted corn, beans and squash (3 sisters). High calorie easy to store foods. Amaranth would sometimes be added as a 4th sister. The entire plant is edible. Also, sweet potatoes, squash/pumpkin, okra & black eyed pea leaves are edible, and maximize the edible space. For example: growing squash over cucumber or growing sweet potatoes over white potatoes can definitely add more food to the garden without taking up more space.

[homesteaderfiftywmartha]

Our garden is 4500 actual growing sq foot ( NOT including walk paths..does not include all fruit trees and vines).. does it supply us? Yes..yes it does..
Looks like this-
40x220 victory garden
30x 75 raised bed garden,
15x 40 raised bed garden
24 fruit trees
, Peaches, apple, pear, plums, apricot trees-Various fruit and Vine.
**Grapes, raspberry, black berry, kiwi, strawberry, gooseberry.

[k.p.]

Good information. It's now 2022 and there are a LOT of folks that are starting to garden, more than in 2020. I was reading comments about taxes and land size. One other thing to consider. Your county rules! We are on 3/4 of an acre. We live outside of town- ruralish. But, AFTER buying this place- and not thinking homework was needed, we found out- We may NOT put any permanent structure past 11 feet from the front door. We may have 5 chickens- no roosters. They MUST be kept in the back yard, but 20 feet from the property line. Well, guess what? My back yard is 30 feet from the neighbors. 90 % of our property is the front and side yards. We may not compost outside of one of those small H.D. turning compost bens. So- what's the problem? You don't need permanent structures to garden! Use the front yard!?! Oh, then there is is septic system- which MUST be in the front yards of this area. And you may NOT garden within 25 feet from the septic system. People are running for the hills. Just make sure you get to use that hill you want to buy!

[mkp]

Check out the WWII recommendations, they gave good advice on maximising the variety, nutrition and space. Booklets with detailed guidance suggested options to use a space min two but sometimes three times. A note regarding the cucumbers, you need to rotate plants which are from the same family - knowledge from granny which I always keep. Therefore, you can mislead pests.

[ferngulleyhomestead]

Thank you for sharing! I’ve been aiming towards self sufficiency in garden yields and have been appalled by the lies on the internet. I grew 180lbs of potatoes last year and my family of two will run out before I harvest again. It also depends on how often you like to eat certain veggies.

[imaniniles-perez]

I am young still in my teen yrs from Trinidad and Tobago with a very long growing season and I decide when I get a house and land I will grow staples like peppers tomatoes seasoning (herbs) lots of fruit trees, things that I have success planting now. Growing in pots is the best I can do right now.

[washington]

I grew up gardening, I say 1/4 - 1/3 acre for a family of 4-5. You also need to factor in the space needed to save seed and putting food away for winter use. We grew all our basic food minus say wheat for flower. Milked our own goats, raised chickens for eggs and meat, a few hogs for meat, rabbits for meat, some fruit trees. For the rest we foraged what grew wild, try not to neglect your bitter fruiting plants like the Oregon Berry, wild herbs ect.

[kathrinekerns]

Grow what you can, where you are. I like the information. I wish I had the room to expand, but, only have a small backyard. Love gardening and canning and preserving my food. 🤲👍🤗thank you.

[hourglassrewrite]

This was articulate, informative, and very well thought out. Thanks so much, this was the best 10 minutes of content I've viewed this year

[becomingtexian-ahomesteadj]

Assuming you expanded your 1300sqft garden (current size I think you said?) to 2600sqft and doubling the space, you'd only be using 0.06 of an acre of land. That's awesome and really puts things into perspective for me as I look for land. I've been hoping to find at least 5.5 acres (to ensure I have the possibility of agricultural use tax valuation), but if I don't worry to much about ag valuation I can rest assured that 2 acres would be enough space to have bees, chickens, and enough garden space (plus the house).

[tinaholbrook]

We had bacterial wilt last year on our cucs, zucchini and melons. It was awful! Lost every one of them 😢 This video is spot on. I'm going into my 7th year of gardening with roughly 6, 000 square feet. We've enlarged it each year. Every year has been different and brought different challenges. This video is full of so much truth. Thanks for sharing.

[dimpletoadfoot]

I"m a positive person, so I keep thinking that my one seed will grow into the one plant that makes an insane amount of fruit... I"m learning! This year I tripled the amount of seeds I planted last year, and yes, there were one or two plants that failed. But luckily I have the others that made it :)

[lifescansdarkly]

I've checked out that chart as well but I think it *vastly* underestimates the amount of food you need. For example, it says 8 lbs of onions are needed for one adult, when I've probably eaten that much in two weeks. But even conservatively, let's say you eat only a pound of onions a week; that's 50 lbs over the year, a far cry from 8lbs! I think the best way to figure this out is to weigh all the veggies you buy at the grocery store for a week (or a month, for more accuracy), and then multiply out to figure your needs for the year.

[mathieubrault]

I got a good chuckled out of, " if you're way in the north, say, Idaho". Meanwhile in northern QC it freezes in June 😂

[dtanner]

10:01 was an adorable background surprise. God bless you and your family!

[thetamika-el]

Thank you for sharing what you have learned. 🙏 It’s good that people get a realistic view about self-sufficiency.

[jacknichols]

I also live in Texas near Nacogdoches. I also grow in the ground but I like planting in cattle tubs. Great video’s.