Saturday, July 5, 2014

Feeding a family of 4, part two: Rotational Planting in the Garden.

That last list was huge, and fairly overwhelming.  It would also take up a huge piece of yard, and be hard to put away everything at the same time. 
Thanks to rotational gardening you don't have to! There is a lot of information out on rotational gardening, and I found most of it completely overwhelming.  It's taken me quite awhile to wrap my head around how to successfully rotate my garden due to the fact that most information online is zone specific without actually telling you what zone they're gardening in. 
Here are the notes I've gathered to accompany my list of what and how much I aim to grow in our gardens.  We are in zone 5B, but this list should be flexible enough to fit to your own planting schedules.

*Note, I've added bok choy and cauliflower to my master list, but have not amended the previous blog post.

Arugula: 2 plantings, 10 plants each. Early Spring and Mid Summer.
Beets: 2 plantings, 40 plants each. Mid Spring and Late Summer.
Bok Choy: 2 plantings, 10 plants each. Early Spring and Mid Summer.
Broccoli: 3 plantings, 10 plants each.  Early Spring, Mid Summer, Late Summer.
Cabbage: 3 plantings, 10 plants each.  Early Spring, Mid Summer, Late Summer.
Cauliflower:  2 plantings, 15 plants each.  Mid Spring and Late Summer. 
Carrots: 2 plantings, 75 plants each.  Mid Spring and Late Summer.
Lettuce: 2 plantings, 25 plants each. Early Spring and Late Summer.
Radish: 3 plantings, 20 plants each.  Early Spring, Mid Summer, Late Summer.
Spinach: 2 plantings, 50 plants each.  Early Spring, and Late Summer.
Turnips: 2 plantings, 20 plants each.  Early Spring, and Late Summer.
Potatoes: 2 plantings, 25 plants each.  Late Spring, and Early Summer. 

While the gardens will still be large, by doubling and tripling up when I plant it will cut down on the overall space, and stretch out the amount of time I have to plant in. 

Up next: Companion planting and perennial vegetables to save space and time. 

Friday, July 4, 2014

Feeding a family of 4, part one: Gardening.

This is the first part of a who knows how long series on the numbers it would take to mostly feed a family of four off a homestead.  Today's post really is just a list I have compiled after paying attention to what and how much our family eats.  This list is specific to my family, in that we very rarely eat grains.  Due to this limitation our vegetable intake is much higher than a family on the Standard American Diet.  It also includes enough to preserve or store for cold weather consumption.

Artichoke 15 plants
Arugula 20 plants
Asparagus 100 roots
Beets 80 plants
Broccoli 20 plants
Brussels Sprouts 20 plants
Cabbage 32 plants
Carrots 150 plants
Collards 12 plants
Cucumbers 100 plants
Garlic 64 plants
Horseradish 4 plants
Kale 50 plants
Lettuce 50 plants
Onions 100 plants
Parsnips 40 plants
Peas 240 plants
Peppers 24 plants
Potatoes 50 plants
Radish 60 plants
Rhubarb 20 plants
Spinach 100 plants
Summer Squash 10 plants
Winter Squash 5 plants
Sweet Potato 40 plants
Swiss Chard 20 plants
Cherry Tomato 25 plants
Cooking Tomato 35 plants
Slicing Tomato 20 plants
Turnips 40 plants

My garden needs to get much larger to accommodate all of this.  However it is a long term goal, and something I work towards every year.