Vegetables

How Much to Grow For a Family of Six

Crop Per Person Total Row Feet (6 people)

Leaf Lettuce 10 feet 60 feet

Head Lettuce 10 60

Onions 25 150

Peppers 6 plants 36 plants

Potatoes 225 feet 1350 feet

Pumpkin 1 hill 6 hills

Spinach 20 feet 120 feet

Summer Squash 1 hill 6 hills

Winter Squash 5 hills 30 hills

Tomatoes 20 plants 120 plants

Cucumbers 4 hills 24 hills

Beans 80 feet 480 feet

Corn 100 feet 600 feet

Carrots 50 feet 300 feet

Amount of Seed or Transplants To Have

Beans 2 ½ lbs

Corn 1 ½ lbs

Carrots 1 ½ ounces

Cucumbers 3 ounces

Leaf Lettuce 1 ounce

Head Lettuce 1 ounce

Onions 450 transplants

Peppers 36 plants

Potatoes 112 ½ lbs

Pumpkins 3 ounces

Spinach ¾ ounces

Summer Squash 2 ounces

Winter Squash 2 ounces

Tomatoes 120 transplants

Getting Garlic In The Ground

Today I am going to be planting some garlic. It would have been better to get it into the ground in November, but I didn't - so there we are! Growing garlic is very easy and takes very little time.

One tip to start with is - you can grow garlic at the base of roses to deter bugs. It doesn't always work, but I have done this for years and it seems to help with aphids especially.

You can find garlic sets at your local co-op or you can use the ones you would buy in the produce section of the grocery store. To prepare them for planting, just break the bulbs apart into separate cloves.

Garlic grows best in soil that is loose and crumbly. If your soil is clay, like mine, then work some peat moss, sand or compost into the soil to loosen it up. Adding compost is ideal. Like everything else - the more you put into the soil the more the plant will give you in harvest.

Plant each individual clove about 4 to 6 inches apart and about 2 to 4 inches below the surface. You want to make sure the pointed end of the clove is pointing up. When the cloves take root they will send up little green tops. You can mulch them with some old straw, leaves or compost . The mulch also helps to keep the soil moist. This is important if you want nice, plump cloves, so be sure to check the soil to make sure it doesn't become too dry.

Try to keep flowers that develop pinched off or they will rob the energy from producing your bulbs. Weed regularly and early before the weeds really take root. You don't want anything sapping the nutrients and moisture from your plant.

Garlic is like onions when ready to harvest. The green leaves will begin to turn brown and they will fall over. Once the leaves have fallen over then you can harvest them. You don't want to let the garlic stay in the ground any longer or the cloves will begin to rot. If you keep the leaves attached then you can usually braid them together to hang for storage.

Planting Taters

Have you ever had a fresh dug potato? There is nothing like it. We plant potatoes every year and just wait for that first delectable spud. Many folks never try potatoes and I am not sure why. They are simple to grow and one potato can produce so many. Here's how it is done.

We get seed potatoes at our local general store “Cowboy Hubbard’s”. I just love that store and the folks that run it. They bring a smile to my face every time I walk in the door! Anyway ---- Every spring we run down and pick up 10 to 20 pounds of red potatoes. I have planted several varieties but this is the one that works best for me. Make sure they are not mushy and soft. They need to be firm.

Once you get them home you’re going to cut them into pieces. You want to make sure that each piece has at least two eyes on it. It is from these eyes that your plants will grow. If you are not able to plant right away then you can place the pieces in a single layer on a table or something and they will begin to sprout after a few days. Then when you get them in the ground you can have a little head start.

Okay – now how about the planting? Planting taters is a bit different than the other crops in that you are gonna be planting in a trench. I dig a trench about 10 inches deep and then put in some composted manure or 13-13-13 fertilizer. Mix that in with a hoe so that the fertilizer isn’t going to be touching your potato pieces – they would burn them if in direct contact. You place each piece of tater – eyes up – about every 4 inches in the trench. Then you are going to cover them with an inch of soil. Water the trench well.

Once the plant starts growing you want to bring more soil around the plant – right up to the top leaves. It is really good to mulch the trench as you go. The plants will continue to grow and you just keep adding the soil around the plants, eventually you will have hills instead of trenches. I usually stop adding soil when the plants are about 6 to 8 inches above the regular garden level.

Through the summer the plants will ultimately flower. When you see the flowers start that means the plant is making potatoes. This is GOOD!! You will want to be sure to water in the heat of the summer if you haven’t had any rain. When your plants stop flowering and the stems and leaves start wilting (not from lack of water) and falling over then you can begin digging your potatoes.

This is one of the most fun things to do in the garden. It is like an Easter egg hunt. Our girls all get little hand shovels and wait as I turn over the hills of potatoes with our potato fork. Out of the depths of rich soil we overturn beautiful reddish-pink tubers everywhere. The girls all fall to their knees to see who can get the most. The smaller ones we save for planting and the larger ones are brought in for eating.

You don’t have to harvest them all at once. You can harvest some one-day and then wait a day or two to get some more. We always rob a plant or two early as we usually can’t wait. Once you get them dug, you can store them in baskets lined with newspapers. They keep well in a cool dark place – never put them in the light or they will sprout.

I highly recommend planting potatoes, as it is so simple and such a true satisfaction. Just try one if you don’t have much room. I have heard of folks buying 50 pound bags of soil and just opening the bag and putting a few pieces in the top of the soil and letting it grow. You should put some drain holes in the bottom of the bag for drainage.

Let me know if you try it and how it works. I would love to hear.