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Re: Yields


Hi Holly, you wrote:

>I understand with sqaure foot, I can experiment and not waste a lot of space.  
>However, I'm wondering how much to plant to feed my family.  I want to have 
>tomatoes to slice and for sandwiches, but I have to can for the winter too.   
>Does anyone have any ideas?

I didn't have much luck this year with my roma-type tomatoes. The yield was so 
poor I didn't have to worry about cooking or freezing them (we don't can). But 
last year we had 9 full grown (8-9 feet tall) First Lady salad/eating/slicing 
tomato plants. We got tons and tons of tomatoes, enough to eat fresh every day, 
cook down for sauce and freeze, chop and freeze, and fried green tomatoes. All 
this for two adults. Though they weren't in the strict square foot arrangement, 
they still took up a very small space compared to the yield and the room in the 
rest of the garden. They were in two staggered rows of 4 and 5 plants, and were 
staked with cages about 5-1/2 feet tall. Each plant was no more than two feet 
from another one, and usually more like 18 inches, so i would estimate the total
space might be a 2-3 foot wide by 8-10 foot bed, where 9-10 plants could fit. 
Your family could possibly be fed with 9-10 indeterminate tomato plants who are 
good producers?
     
>How about sweet corn?  I have never grown it, would like to try, but how much 
>do I plant to grow at least 1 meal for a family of 5?

Again, I only grew for 2 adults, but I have grown a large square (one where 
I could walk down at least one middle row), about 10 feet long by at least 
six feet wide, and had fairly good success with pollination, and at least 
one ear per plant. The plants were a little too close, or i think 
production would have been better. Even for the two of us, one meal of 
sweet corn is not enough :)!! The trouble with our harvest was that it 
pretty much all came at once. We had maybe 8-10 days where we could 
actually harvest a fresh meal, the rest we froze and they have been useful 
for cooking in soups, etc. Many squarefooters have reported small successes 
in growing corn by the square foot method, but since I have the room, I 
decided to stay with the larger block method and hopefully improve my 
pollination. Whatever you try, keep us posted on your success.

Shawn
swestaway@smtplink.coh.org
Claremont, CA  USDA9b Sunset19
     


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