How much growing space do you have?

**lynda66** · 03-02-2009, 04:06 PM

dunno, never measured, but not enough lol ...... last year i grew allsorts of stuff, that i'd never heard of, this year i'm sticking with what we eat most of, potatoes, cauli, broccoli, carrots. and tomatoes. so hopefully should have enough room in the front garden for those. (with parsnips turnips swede and beetroot where i can fit them)

the back garden will be mostly fruit bushes and chickens, as i find fruit to be the most expense, we eat a lot of fruit

if i manage to get a lottie or 2 hopefully, one will be for chickens and fruit, and the other will have the staples but a few more things to make it interesting.

**Capsid** · 03-02-2009, 04:37 PM

Not enough! I've converted the back garden flower beds to grow veg and dug up some of the lawn. I'd like to create another bed from some more lawn some time as I could grow more for the 4 members of our family rather than cutting grass. I've never measured the size.

**nerobot** · 03-02-2009, 04:40 PM

Well, now that I'm going to be moving house in about 6 months and will have to re-turf backgarden, I have limited myself to a very small space of about 1m by 1m.

Steven

**tootles** · 03-02-2009, 04:41 PM

I reckon I have around 150sqm. It is in the garden and I want to expand it as soon as Mr T chops down a few trees. Last year I had 50sqm for veg and a 50sqm potato bed but it was all far too shady.
This year will be better..............

**FROSTYFRECKLE** · 03-02-2009, 04:43 PM

Just under 75 sq m. This year growing a lot more fruit - rasps, gooseberry, blueberry, jostaberry, Victoria plums, blackcurrants & whitecurrants. Loads of rhubarb - cause we love it. Trying for the 1st year Wonderberry and Alpine Strawbs. Grow my staples - tatties, tons and tons of carrots, peppers, beetroot (loads), salad stuff, toms, cukes, onions. Also trying out chillies. Loads of beans and peas. Also a first this year a black heritage sweetcorn and sweetcorn from Real Seeds (I know they cross easy but I don't mind). Oh, and growing Oca. always run out of tatties. Do I have enough room - eh no! Just bought 4 wee Gardman greenhouses from Dobbies (reduced to �13

) to try and help squash more in. I need to think vertical and not horizontal to try and increase my growing space.

**Snadger** · 03-02-2009, 08:07 PM

2 allotment plots equal 20 rods for my back!

**jackie j** · 03-02-2009, 08:12 PM

Got a half plot not big enough, have a small garden at home for flowers some in pots and lots of hanging baskets.

**BarleySugar** · 03-02-2009, 08:58 PM

Probably no more than 8sq m of garden, an 8 x 6 greenhouse, and pots whereever i can fit them on the patio. The whole garden is only 30sq m approx anyway, so by the time there are a few flowers, a patio, seats and a path.....
I do have a seedless grape on a trellis in front of the greenhouse, a fan trained cherry tree and 2 minarette plums, as well as a couple of blackcurrant bushes, and (probably a mistake), 2 cob nut bushes, one red and one green, planted in the same hole. I got 9 nuts last year

This is why we are trying to get a new allotment site set up. All the new build houses have such small gardens.

**HotStuff** · 03-02-2009, 09:36 PM

Like most people on the Vine, the short answer has to be not enough. This time last year I wasn't growing anything, hadn't caught the bug.

No lottie yet, but now I have four 5ft x 2ft raised beds in the back garden, a 6x6 greenhouse and the patio is littered with pots & troughs. Plus windowsill space in the house has just about run out and also there are the inevitable couple of propagators.

Oh, and then there's the corner of the garden where I've planted some blackcurrant bushes and some rhubarb and the bit outside the greenhouse I've reserved for some runner beans this year.

**coreopsis** · 03-02-2009, 10:17 PM

Not enough-for all the stuff I'd like to grow
Too much-when it comes to digging
I have to share it with the dog(please don't go there-of course he will)

and OH(3 sheds in the garden,2 garages and 1 shed elsewhere)and his car bits and bobs lying everywhere( "always might be useful")

Mind you,I can always use the tyres for growing tatties

**sewer rat** · 03-02-2009, 11:08 PM

Originally posted by janeyo View Post

How much have you got at home?
How much do you have on a lottie?
Is it enough?
How many veggies do you have to buy through the year? and which ones do you run out of?

Just being nosey to see if I can make veg buying a total thing of the past!

I will have about 1280 square feet / 140ish square yards.

Not really applicable as I grow veggies for a living but here goes anyway;
Home - 4 raised beds each 4' x 8', and an 8' x 6' greenhouse, and an old apple tree
Work - 5 acres, including a 24' x 60' polytunnel + 1600 square yard walled garden with two heated greenhouses.
Is it enough - nope !

How many veggies do I buy ? Very very few.
What do I run out of - everything eventually, but if you eat with the seasons, I have a selection of fresh veg available every day of the year.

**Mikey** · 04-02-2009, 02:13 AM

Well without trying to be too precise about this......... 3665 sq feet!!

It's enough in one regard, (amount of time I have to dig it) but not in another, (amount of veg I can grow to be self sufficient).

It won't happen not in the near future, as there simply isn't enough space yet for the large greenhouse I have my eye on.

That and I cannot keep up with the exhaustive amount of broccoli my OH loves to eat, about 3 heads a week. There simply isn't an easy answer, as I can't stand frozen broccoli.

**pigletwillie** · 04-02-2009, 05:28 AM

We have three and a half plots, 2 x tunnels, 1 big and 1 small greenhouse and a big coldframe. We are ok for top fruit and most soft fruit, tomatos fresh and preserved, alliums of all descriptions,most of our salads,winter squash, shelly beans, just about all of our potatos but then we start to run short of brassicas, other root crops come to an end too soon and things like peas just cant keep up.

We put fresh veg on the plate most days and cook seasonally and according to whats available.

We are however, a long way from being self sufficient and there are only two of us.

**bobleponge** · 04-02-2009, 06:12 AM

I currently have around 100m squared set aside for veggies and soft fruits, an 8 x 6 greenhouse (with a bigger one coming hopefully) plus around 25 different fruit trees
There is only 1 of me, and even if I was home full time with a "normal" job, I doubt that would be enough to be fully self sufficient.
I dont run out of: onions,shallots, garlic, leeks and squashes if I plan well and store well.
I do run out of: most other things.

Certain things are difficult to store for a full winter, I have thrown away many rotten carrots and onions. I had a time issue last summer, which meant I lost so many tomato's that could have been better stored if I had been prepared. This year I envisage storing far more toms in sauces etc.
I still dont think I could ever be self sufficient in fruit and veg, but I am certainly going to try harder to do so this year, even if it is predominantly frozen.

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