The Story
I like to start each garden growing season by zooming out and thinking about the veggies I’ll be growing.
I’m not talking about the varieties I’ll order and then plant, but the big picture—my desired crops, grouped by categories: staple, nutrient, and supplemental.
Staple crops are the ones from which we’ll derive most of our calories. They are reliable, easy to grow (low labor), and storable crops such as potatoes, squash, beans, cabbages, and onions. 60% of the garden should be dedicated to these crops.
The Problem
“I need to know how much of which crop to plant to be self-sufficient, but I don’t have the time or capacity to plan my garden in this much detail.”
Nutrient crops, as the name suggests, provide us with nutrients in addition to calories; these are greens such as kale, chard, spinach, arugula, etc. We’ll mainly harvest them fresh, grow them year-round, and sometimes freeze-store surplus.
Supplemental crops are all other crops that we grow in some capacity—either for fun, as a taste supplement, as an experiment, or as an additional summer/wintertime yield. This doesn’t mean that they are not nutrientor calorie dense, but just that they are supplemental to the other two categories. These could be eggplants, melons, peppers, corn, kohlrabi, etc.
Grouping it this way and listing the crops gives me the big picture of what I’ll be growing, but most importantly, it helps me to set up my garden in a way that will actually feed us. If 60% of our garden are supplemental crops, and 20% are staples, then we could end up being hungry eating the glut of peppers or corn.
Once I know my staple, nutrient, and supplemental crops, the next useful thing I need to know is how much weight of each crop I would need to grow to be self-sufficient for the whole year.
For example, I know that, on average, one adult consumes 9 kg (20 lbs) of carrots per year. So, for my family of 3, I would need to produce 23 kg (50 lbs) of carrots, and we would be all set for the year.
That’s useful because now I have a tangible goal to aim for 23 kg of carrots, and I’ll be able to avoid buying carrots and save money on them. Not to mention the zero mileage, food to the table, ethically grown, beyond organic, look-at-me-I-grew-this benefits.
Now, I’ll admit I didn’t weigh my carrot crop last year, but we had enough for the whole year because I had the foresight to plant enough. All I needed to do was plant two standard-sized raised beds to have all the carrots we could eat. That’s it—carrots were our staple crop, and we had enough for the year!
The same way of thinking applies to planning potatoes, corn, onions, beans, chard, tomatoes
The Solution
You might think, “That all sounds wonderful, but I don’t have the time or capacity to plan anything this way.”
Worry not—I’m going to streamline this for you. All you’ll need to do is put in the size of your family and choose your staple, nutrient, and supplemental crops, and you’ll get all the info you need in 10 minutes to set up for the win this year.
(1) Use this free spreadsheet to plan your garden planting in 10 minutes.
(2) Here are the video instructions on how to use it:
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