Bit confused - how many plants for worthwhile crop

yumyums

Hi,

I was thinking maybe we could compile a list of how many plants you need to grow to get a worthwhile crop as I've noticed people (myself included!) are confused about how many seeds to sow, etc.

I read on another thread about peas and someone said you had to plant loads of plants to get a good amount. I'm not thinking of being self sufficient in veg or anything but would like a nice amount where you could get a few good meals out of it. Want to avoid what I did last year where I grew a couple french bean plants and ended up with something like 9 pods

The things I am planning to grow are:

Tomatoes - 3 varieties, 2 plants of each. There are two of us - will this be enough?

Sweet peppers - 3 varieties, 2 plants of each.

Courgettes - can't decide on 1 or 2 plants

Cucumbers (Marketmore) - 2 plants maybe?

Runner beans - no idea

Peas - ??

Also, can someone please tell me how much space a cucumber plant and courgette plant take up?

How many wigwams would I need for the runner beans?

How tall does a pepper plant get roughly?

Sorry for all the questions but this will really help me plan my little plot. A lot of the books don't tell you how much space you need to dedicate to things (and they definitely don't seem to mention how tall things grow)

Thanks in advance! :beer:

RAS

Hi

It rather depends what enough is? A portion a week or enough to fill a freezer?

yumyums wrote: »

The things I am planning to grow are:

Tomatoes - 3 varieties, 2 plants of each. There are two of us - will this be enough?

Are they cordon or bush varieities? Cherry, normal or beefsteak?

Sweet peppers - 3 varieties, 2 plants of each.

Personally I would say yes

Courgettes - can't decide on 1 or 2 plants - one good plant is enough day to day, two if you want them for the freezer

Cucumbers (Marketmore) - 2 plants maybe?

Runner beans - no idea two plant per person will give you a portion or two each week and a few for the freezer at peak production.

Peas - ?? - depends if they are dwarf or climbers and really really are not worth growing for cooking IMO. because you need at least at good row every two weeks if you eat a lot or want to freeze them. Try a row of mangetout which you can pick over a month to 6 weeks.

Also, can someone please tell me how much space a cucumber plant and courgette plant take up?

Cucumber on a climbing frame try 1 foot max. Courgette allow a metre diameter

How many wigwams would I need for the runner beans? One

How tall does a pepper plant get roughly? - Depends on the variety.

See if you can borrow Mel Bartholomew "Square foot Gardening" or John Jeavons "How to grow more vegatables than you ever...." Both have tables and plans showing planting spaces and yields.

blackandwhitebunny

Some ideas that I hope might help.:)
Courgettes - these produce loads of fruit but often get mildew. I plant one seed around now and then plant another one in a months time and one in June. That way I have a constant supply. (I also plant mine in the compost bin - as the Victorians did)
Runner beans - I plant 12 plants around a tall wigwam - about nine 6 feet canes - this provides enough for the two of us plus some to give away. I plant about the same of French beans and have enough to freeze several pounds.
I can't help much on the others - I grow my cucumbers in 12" pots (crystal lemon or apple cucumbers - small and very prolific.

Sambucus_Nigra

yumyums wrote: »

A lot of the books don't tell you how much space you need to dedicate to things (and they definitely don't seem to mention how tall things grow)

It can't tell you how tall as all varieties are different. And plants do tend to make their own minds up sometimes.

And it all depends on the soil, the weather, how often you water, the sun, etc etc....and that's not including how much you think you will eat.

We're veggie, and have a full size allotment, and try to eat from our plot nearly every day all year round - so now for example we are sowing and potting on brassicas for next winter, and leeks have gone out into a corner for next year. I'm not even going to start telling you how many toms, peppers or beans and squashes we grow as it will scare you!

What I would do is to really look at the square foot gardening style, and record this year what you did and what you got out of it; so that next year you will know to grow more or less of things. A good way to get continuous crops to sustain you is to succession sow things like beetroot, lettuce, radishes, spring onions etc - they will definitely add interest to your plate and it's easy to control numbers. 2-3 courgettes will keep you in crops for months, esp if you preserve them [we are still eating pickled courgettes from last year]...and you can never ever ever have enough tomatoes or peppers....or french beans that you leave to dry on the plant and eat all winter.

Sally_A

yumyums wrote: »

The things I am planning to grow are:

Tomatoes - 3 varieties, 2 plants of each. There are two of us - will this be enough? Yes, for day to day eating, any excess can be frozen whole, literally just chuck them in a container in the freezer, when you have enough - good for making passata, popping into a casserole or using as fried toms.

Sweet peppers - 3 varieties, 2 plants of each. I'm not a major fan, and I find home grown thin walled and not as juicy as shop bought, quite frankly would be happy if one of mine germinated this year.

Courgettes - can't decide on 1 or 2 plants, sow them over the next couple of months, I'm doing 8 - 10 to feed 4, but we manage to use them in most meals.

Cucumbers (Marketmore) - 2 plants maybe? Again, start 2 off now, when they are on their way sow a couple more - I think I managed between 8 - 10 fruits per plant last year (tops), they grow better outdoors (in flower buckets) but maybe a few fewer fruits, say 6 per plant.

Runner beans - am doing 30ish poles with 36 plants - hopefully this will do us loads with extras for freezing.

Peas - ?? Can't be faffed with podding, so do mangetout, you get much more on your plate for minimal effort.

Also, can someone please tell me how much space a cucumber plant and courgette plant take up? allow 1m x 1m for each courgette (depending on variety), cuces I grow up a wigwam of 3 canes about 4ft high, and the plant is in a flower bucket.

How many wigwams would I need for the runner beans? 12 sticks to a wigwam will take up 1m x 1m space, allow room for moving around the wigwam to pick them.

How tall does a pepper plant get roughly? grown in large pots 2.5 to 3ft.

Hope this helps, there was also another posting by davidf if I remember correctly about space needed per numbers per crop. Will have a look but I'm hopeless as searches, and post a link if possible.

yumyums

Thanks everyone for the replies

I will have a look into the square foot gardening. Was trying not to buy any more books - just checked online and unfortunately they don't have any copies in our library. Maybe they can get it in for me.

I was just hoping to have enough to have a few meals from the garden a week and avoid having stupid things like 4 peas that wouldn't make up enough for a portion!

I had heard that home grown peppers are different... I hope I don't mind the taste as I was looking forward to possibly having some in salads this summer.

Blackandwhitebunny - thanks for the info on beans. I think I will do the same as you.

SallyA - your list was really helpful. All my peppers germinated really easily and are growing like crazy on my windowsill. I had to give quite a few plants away. Shame you aren't in my area!
I will do as you say with regards to cucumbers. Unfortunately I had no luck with flower buckets despite trying several supermarkets (including Morrisons). I wonder where I can get cheap pots in an equivalent size.

elsien

yumyums wrote: »

I was just hoping to have enough to have a few meals from the garden a week and avoid having stupid things like 4 peas that wouldn't make up enough for a portion!
.

Stir fries! A small courgette, the odd carrot and a few mangetout if there's only one or two of you and that's plenty for a meal.

As there's only me, I grew 2 courgette plants together and had courgette overload - (courgette soup is disgusting btw.) This year I plan to space them out a bit to make the season longer. Mangetout the same - 5 or 6 seedlings in a large pot gave me enough to use some and freeze some. They seemed to be a bit all or nothing. And again, growing a second lot in a couple of months time.
Carrots, I read somewhere about sowing the next lot of seeds once the first lot of leaves have developed, so that's the plan for this year.
As far as spacing, all mine is grown in pots as I can't grow into my soil due to contamination, so it's all a bit trial and error, and see how it goes.

Sambucus_Nigra

You can get enough info on SFG online....IMHO - without spending any more on books....

wattapain

try allotments4all.com
for lots of hints etc - also there are lots of recipes to use what you grow.
I always grow far too much, am usually overrun with stuff esp tomatoes - but hey no hardship.I make loads of pasta sauces - freeze brill - and really taste of summer in the depths of winter!!:j
Courgettes ditto - you can make a nice pasta sauce by slicing them thinly, frying in olive oil till charred , then adding a spoon (or 2) of creme fraiche or plain yogourt, and a bit ( 100g'ish) of grated parmesan - addd to pasta - lurvely!!
Freezes well too.

Enjoy!!
Terri

splodger_seedswapper

i think quantities to grow depends wholly on what you want to eat and how you want to eat it

i am almost - but not quite self sufficient in homegrown veg - i certainly grow enough onion and garlic to last almost a whole year - enough spuds to last well into feb the next season - peas are in my opinion the only veg that freezes so well that you can't tell if they have been frozen or fresh picked - so i like to grow loads of these - between the 4 veg plots that i look after - i reckon i will have over 500 pea plants growing (and i make wine from the pods too )

i grow beans in rows instead of wigwams - and again - probably well over 400 plants (split between me and my dad) that includes dwarf beans as well though (i make wine from beans too)

tomatoes - again between me and my dad - we will have at least 100 plants growing this season - cucumbers - probably about 30 plants - chillies probably 30 plants

courgettes - well i grow them just so that i can give them away - my dad likes his marrows and pumpkins and will have at least 30 plants again this year

then there are the leeks, greens, root crops, quicks, salad leaf, herbs and fruit to consider too - plus the permanent crops

but having said all that - i have the space to to do this - when i had just one small half plot - i just grew the crops that were the most important to me - mostly for taste and for saving money

i would suggest to anybody who is trying to grow their own for the first time - to grow what you like to eat - find out what grows well in your area - and experiment a bit and have some fun - you can quite easily grow more of one particular crop next year the same as you will probably decide not to grow other things for one reason or another - it's all down to personal taste at the end of the day

oldtractor

courgettes can be thinly sliced and cut into spagetti like strips, boil for a few minutes and serve instead of pasta with a omato and onion sauce accompanied by a herby green sald. very good and tasty and only a few calories.