Rate the output of your garden

[journey11]

It's a new year, a new gardening season is upon us. We've scoured the seed and fruit tree catalogs, made our selections, and set in motion our plans, dreaming big dreams of juicy tomatoes to come...

It makes me hungry just thinking about it. I plan a lot of my garden around what I want to can and put up each year, what kinds of things we love to eat. I try to think it through carefully and estimate how many plants I need for so many quarts of this and that. I've been canning for about a decade now, and I am getting a lot better at predicting what we'll need and use.

So I am just curious about this among the demographics of our TEG members, when it comes to your own garden, how much produce do you anticipate your garden will provide for your diet? What are your goals and expectations for the output of your garden? Please weigh in with your vote for your best guess as to how much sustenance you generally get from your efforts in the garden.

I know I left a gap between 90-100% and I did that intentionally. I would be surprised if any of us grow 100% of our own fruit and veggies. Most everyone will end up buying things like bananas or mangoes that do not grow in our own climate. But if you do grow 100%, be sure to note that in the comments section. You can also include in your estimate things like nuts from trees you've planted, or herbs you grow, anything edible that you don't have to buy at the store because you grew it yourself.

ETA: I am not sure what it does if I select "display votes publicly", so I didn't select it. I'll change that if need be.

 

[digitS']

I like this subject ... and hope that it encourages us all to be more productive, Journey.

You may remember that I started a similar thread not too long ago but asked about how much does your food production contribute to your diet. Shoot. Of the people responding, I think my 20% was the lowest.

I don't can. DW barely tolerates some frozen vegetables. We eat "fresh," year-round. Since the harvest part of the growing season isn't longer than 6 months - that's lots of purchased veggies!

Fruit? I grow some melons for a few weeks of harvest. The peach tree may have a good year. Shoot, nearly all of our fruit is purchased! I carried 4 bags of oranges on sale from the soopermarket into the house, this morning. Yeah, we eat lots of fruit, especially in the winter. I plan on 3 servings for breakfast, just for me!

If we were measuring dietary calories, we essentially have rice &/or pasta, every day. I "grow" none of our oils - nor meat, these days. These are much higher calorie foods than most veggies.

Cost savings? Meat and cheese are much more money by the pound or serving than vegetables!

Yet, I grow enough to sell for several months each year! Yeah. It isn't really a joke that I make money so that I can both afford to garden but afford all those produce purchases during the off-season!

So ..... i chose the "most or all in season" answer on the poll ...

Steve
who coulda gone 3 ways ...

 

[nachoqtpie]

I wish we had more space to actually get enough to can! My sister bought me a beautiful pressure canner for my birthday last year and I haven't even used it yet! Hubby SWEARS that he and the boy are going to go hunting this year, so maybe I'll get to can some deer and bear! I've never had canned bear, so, not sure how that's going to work out. LOL I may start canning some rabbit though! That might be good.. cook some and chunk or shred it. I REALLY need to get back on my low carb diet (I lost 45 pounds last year... went off the diet due to household budget cuts and I've gained 35 back! ) so I'm hoping that growing some lettuce, broccoli and cauliflower will help out in that department.

 

[Carol Dee]

Are garden is huge. Most years we have more than enough. During the peek of growing season we give away surplus. I then freeze, can or dry what I hope to be enough to get use through until next garden. Summers of drought are a real downer.

 

[seedcorn]

Wish had catagory, eat in season, can some, and give away to family and friends.

 

[Carol Dee]

Wish had catagory, eat in season, can some, and give away to family and friends.

That is what would have checked, too!

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

No fruit or nut trees or perrenial vegetables but do manage to get about %60 of my families vegetable needs accounted for with occasional help. I'll occasionally bike bags of vegetables to good friends when we get a surplus of a certain vegi.

 

[baymule]

I checked 50-90% of produce needs. That was based on where we used to live. Because we moved, didn't have fall garden. We sure missed it too! We have un-gardened land now. Going to plant a big garden and see what happens. I will can, freeze and dehydrate like I always do. If this first year garden exceeds my wildest dreams, I'll share with others.

 

[journey11]

I like this subject ... and hope that it encourages us all to be more productive, Journey.

You may remember that I started a similar thread not too long ago but asked about how much does your food production contribute to your diet. Shoot. Of the people responding, I think my 20% was the lowest.

I don't can. DW barely tolerates some frozen vegetables. We eat "fresh," year-round. Since the harvest part of the growing season isn't longer than 6 months - that's lots of purchased veggies!

Fruit? I grow some melons for a few weeks of harvest. The peach tree may have a good year. Shoot, nearly all of our fruit is purchased! I carried 4 bags of oranges on sale from the soopermarket into the house, this morning. Yeah, we eat lots of fruit, especially in the winter. I plan on 3 servings for breakfast, just for me!

If we were measuring dietary calories, we essentially have rice &/or pasta, every day. I "grow" none of our oils - nor meat, these days. These are much higher calorie foods than most veggies.

Cost savings? Meat and cheese are much more money by the pound or serving than vegetables!

Yet, I grow enough to sell for several months each year! Yeah. It isn't really a joke that I make money so that I can both afford to garden but afford all those produce purchases during the off-season!

So ..... i chose the "most or all in season" answer on the poll ...

Steve
who coulda gone 3 ways ...

Oops, you're right! That does come across as a bit of a trick question. I remember your post now on how much we grow for our diet. And it wasn't all that long ago. Some days I am not in full possession of my faculties, I'm afraid. LOL There seems to be a couple of people who were unsure of how to respond. It can be a little more complicated than the handful of possible answers I came up with.

Lets say, overall, we'll poll this on what your garden produces, regardless of who consumes it. If you grow enough to sell as a regular commitment (not just giving away or unloading a few extras), I would say choose the last option. What I was hoping to see was an overview of how invested people are in their garden, for their own food source or even as a source of income.

If the produce you sell turns around and buys other things you didn't grow or preserve for later, I'd say that's kinda "tit-for-tat".

The reason I think this is interesting to consider, I believe it greatly affects the way we garden and perhaps how much experimenting we'll do or risk we are willing to take. I'm just looking to see how diverse our perspectives may be. There are other things involved, I'm sure, but I thought this was a good place to start.

 

[journey11]

I wish we had more space to actually get enough to can! My sister bought me a beautiful pressure canner for my birthday last year and I haven't even used it yet! Hubby SWEARS that he and the boy are going to go hunting this year, so maybe I'll get to can some deer and bear! I've never had canned bear, so, not sure how that's going to work out. LOL I may start canning some rabbit though! That might be good.. cook some and chunk or shred it. I REALLY need to get back on my low carb diet (I lost 45 pounds last year... went off the diet due to household budget cuts and I've gained 35 back! ) so I'm hoping that growing some lettuce, broccoli and cauliflower will help out in that department.

What a cool sister you have! You will love pressure canning your meat. It's one of the simpler things to can, and you can't beat the flavor or the convenience. I used to freeze all of our homegrown chicken, but last year I started to can a good deal of it and we really like it that way. It also cooks most of the fat out of the meat, which will rise to the top of the jar. With red meats, it will solidify after it cools. Then you can just pick it out and throw it away!