Is it possible to be 100% sufficient from allotment? How sufficient is your patch?

Hi there,
In the 1990's my mom and dad moved from West Yorkshire up to Peterhead in Scotland. They decided to live the Good Life with chickens, a very large veg plot, a medium greenhouse and a massive chest freezer.
I think the only thing they bought every year was seed potato. They grew only what we ate. The we being mom, dad, me and my nan. We had my young nephew visit now and again so that bumped the food consumption up a bit.
The only fertilizer they put down was well rotted cow manure and usual vegetable peelings.
Storage wise we froze, pickled, jammed, blanched and dried everything we possibly could.
So it can be done. A lot of hard work in the first couple of years to get the ground turned around.
I suppose it also depends on the size of the allotment and what you decide to grow. Think my mom and dad sat down drew plans up and checked the Ph level of the soil every year to get max crop out of it.

I've been thinking and planning to do the same I'm a veggie anyway and I'm going to attempt a family of three would also be interested in info and advice they only think that would be hard is flour and dairy …


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I'm proud to say I'm self-sufficient in lettuce but that's the only crop I can pick all year round.

I buy practically no veggies at all any more but am nowhere near self sufficient in fruit. We eat meat and fish also so although I grow a lot of pulses (dried beans etc) we buy in a lot of our protein. I don't have any animals either so no eggs, milk etc so that's all bought in. I have a full size plot with a 10' by 20' polytunnel and I was surprised how easy it was to avoid having to buy veggies. One word of warning though, you do have to eat what you have (I love this but I know other people who find it annoying). At the moment our veggies consist of carrots, swede (almost run out, didn't grow enough this year), leeks, sprouts, cabbage, calabrese sprouts (from the tunnel), chard and parsnips. At home I've still got fresh tomatoes which were a storage variety (see Real Seeds site, they were picked in October and have been sat on the kitchen window ledge ever since, ready for eating as we need them), stored potatoes, squash, onions, shallots, garlic etc, frozen beans, mange tout, courgettes, bottled tomatoes, tomatillos, jams and chutneys and probably other stuff too but that's all I can think of at the moment. In a bit I'll start picking the kale (it's ready now but I don't need it yet) then there will be the PSB, spring cabbage and then asparagus - I love looking forward to the next harvest

It depends how big an allotment is but I doubt one would be large enough to provide everything, but then again it does depend how much you eat!

You would need to grow more than needed, remembering that some plants may die, small crop due to weather etc

I spend a lot of time in Bulgaria, over here almost every garden is at least 1200 sq. meters, this was classed as the minimum required size to grow your own food ,

I am planning on being self sufficent in Bulgaria from this year Im just waiting for it to defrost a bit first to start planting,

Many people in Bulgaria are semi self sufficient or totally self sufficient on this sort of space land, many work on it every day for most of the day, but there are also many who work in the citys and go back home to there home country villiage for the weekend and work on the garden over the weekend to grow the food.

We are self sufficient for about 10 months a year. I don't try too hard for the hungry gap - otherwise we would be eating boarding winter vegetables, or things that we had frozen / preserved. We don't have enough time to freeze much, other than some simple things when we have glut, and I hate eating vegetables out of season in that way, so we mostly buy in during those couple of months.

We pretty much are self sufficient with veg for our meals .....ran out of tatties and I use a lot more onions than I have room to grow . I haven't got a problem with using my own frozen veg whatever the season..at the moment we are eating fresh green veg , leeks and root veg then theres my stored squashes and frozen peas and beans .....

But that would presumably be for a whole family, and growing your own carbohydrates takes up a lot of space. I grow all the fruit an veg and some carbohydrates for just me on maybe 650 m2, and I don't use the space particularly efficiently.

Hi samuel yes it can be done i used to be self sufficient when i lived in wales on a bit of land i had, it all depends if you are allowed animals as well on your plot , i have a book called Farm your Garden by Joanna smith have a look on ebay or amazon if they have one on there good luck.Darren

We're very similar: we've also just run out of spuds unfortunately. Still got plenty of onions left though, probably a couple of months worth.

From the plot we're currently eating: kale, PSB & WSB, red cabbage, 1 stalk of brussels left, a few each of parsnips, salsify and carrots still in the ground, 1 J.artichoke plant just started, and chard and pak choi in the poly.

In the cupboard: jar of dried borlotti, and few chick peas left, 1 squash left in the garage.

In the freezer: broadies, a few peas, corn on the cob, peppers, chillies and a bit of soft fruit (prob 1 serving each of gooseberries, blackcurrants and raspberries.

So I reckon we're about 80% self-sufficient. All we buy is mushrooms, plus pots, onions and garlic when they run out and "luxuries" like apples and citrus fruit.

Hello again sam yes this book is available several on ebay and amazon starting 1p 99p £2.99

this is on ebey


Farm Your Garden, Smith, Joanna Hardback Book


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good luck darren

I work on a different tack, I don't try to grow all of my veggies as I would end up with a lot of space taken over by the staples of potatoes, carrots and onions. I prefer to think of my plot as an opportunity to grow the things that I can't afford or I'm not prepared to pay for in the supermarket.

We all know that your own veg is much tastier than the shop shelf, but you also have to box clever. Some veg is very expensive per pound like asparagus or runner beans relative to the amount of effort and space it takes up on your plot. Other veg is space hungry or has a long growing season compared to cost like pumpkin or calabrese.

When planning what I grow I make space for first early spuds as these are expensive when in season, I have a few maincrop but its not a great deal. I only grow red onions these days as I tend to use them fresh where their flavour has more impact. I love fresh peas but they have a short life span so sowing little and often is much easier than big banks as you'll end up with loads becoming tough. I grow PSB rather than calabrese as I tend to have a wealth of other veg available when calabrese are ready.

If you consider your allotment over 12 months you have to be inventive to provide variety over a long period. You also have to consider how you will produce veg in April and May when you've exhausted your winter crops but your summer crops aren't ready yet. Whichever way you go, make notes as not everything will work in your soil and may require to to create different circumstances.

Like Mikey i grow stuff thats expensive to buy.....I saw Pink Fir Apple spuds at £5 per KG in the supermarket.....which ive always grown as I love the flavour & texture of them.
Asparagus as its just so good straight from the plot & sweetcorn for the same reason. I tend not to grow onions as they are relatively cheap to buy and for me I would rather give the space to shallots and banana shallots as they are much more expensive to buy & I use lots which I couldnt if I bought them if that makes sense.

I am however not feeding a large family so suppose that makes a difference

I agree with all the folk that say to concentrate on vegetables with great flavour when fresh, and high-value crops.

I have a couple of additional thoughts, but the starting point for me is that I already have a large area "operational" for growing veg. - i.e. I haven't got to tame a wilderness that a previous plot holder abandoned years ago

I grow masses (way too many!) plants from seed each year so, for me, even more! is not that much of a burden, so the task of sowing, pricking out and planting the extra veg. is not a huge effort.

When I set about hoeing / weeding / watering then doing a larger area, once I'm out there and fiddling about anyway, isn't that much more.

Increasingly we, as a family, are getting fussy about what chemicals etc. might have been used on the food we buy in the shops. ("Beef which is horse" anyone? ) - we know what is in what we grow.