How much land is needed to feed two adults for the year?

[Lpne]

You should look into square foot gardening. It's companion planting to the nth degree. Maximizing harvest by interplanting herbs with fruiting plants , and by doing that reducing weed pressure and watering. Check out gardenary on YouTube.

Thank you! The weeds are already becoming an issue and I refuse to put plastic down everywhere.

 

[Alagirl]

Mulch is your friend. Anything organic.
except Bermuda grass.....
Your Library might have a copy of the book in stock!
Cardboard works well, too. Consider building up. My soil is crap so that is the plan once I get my head on upright again.

 

[nao57]

There are lists put out there also that help with your question by breaking it down even further. Like instead of the land required they state, how many tomato plants you want per person, how many cucumber plants per person, how many ... basically breaking down everything else you eat.

But one of the biggest issues is, as soon as you go through a growing season then you have to either do crop rotation and/or put nutrients back in the soil where you just did whatever you did that year. You also want a scrap wood pile, not just for firewood, but for some of the scrap wood to be made into garden trellis stuff, and some to be converted into potash fertilizer (campfire ash).

So you want also to plan in composting areas, areas to recycle, areas to age and cover manure with sawdust and so on.

You actually DON'T need a lot of acreage. That part is true. BUT you do have to pay really close attention to soil fertility. And at some point, I think it will get very hard to get potting soil/steer manure in bags from the stores.

...

Personally I really like the idea of breaking it down even further to how many plants per person, a person will eat. I think this will help you a lot.

 

[nao57]

Thank you! The weeds are already becoming an issue and I refuse to put plastic down everywhere.

I don't like putting plastic down. I think it actually harms the soil. And I don't like chemical fertilizers either. They aren't natural and don't naturally participate in the food web of nature.

But I think when people garden they emphasize weeding too much instead of other things they could be doing instead.

 

[Debbie292d]

I don't like putting plastic down. I think it actually harms the soil. And I don't like chemical fertilizers either. They aren't natural and don't naturally participate in the food web of nature.

But I think when people garden they emphasize weeding too much instead of other things they could be doing instead.

We would love to not put plastic down but we're surrounded by farmers fields, and additionally, was getting horse manure delivered from a neighbor. She told us how to "bake" it before using it, but still, OMG the weeds. It was just too much. We gave up. Most things we found, but we lost the carrots for a while.

This year, I wanted to try Preem, but hubby won't have it. He thinks plastic is the answer and plans to use it in the fall.

He spent 3 days pulling weeds because there were too many and too tall for the rototiller.

We chose to skip the horse manure this year, and maybe next year, we'll go back to cow manure. We have compost we mix in by the tomatoes and a few other things so at least they'll get fresh fertilizer.

His question though is if he puts down plastic this fall, then in the spring, no weeds will come up, but wouldn't those weed seeds just be dormant and come up as soon as we pull the plastic off? I'm not so sure that's going to do any good.

 

[nao57]

We would love to not put plastic down but we're surrounded by farmers fields, and additionally, was getting horse manure delivered from a neighbor. She told us how to "bake" it before using it, but still, OMG the weeds. It was just too much. We gave up. Most things we found, but we lost the carrots for a while.

This year, I wanted to try Preem, but hubby won't have it. He thinks plastic is the answer and plans to use it in the fall.

He spent 3 days pulling weeds because there were too many and too tall for the rototiller.

We chose to skip the horse manure this year, and maybe next year, we'll go back to cow manure. We have compost we mix in by the tomatoes and a few other things so at least they'll get fresh fertilizer.

His question though is if he puts down plastic this fall, then in the spring, no weeds will come up, but wouldn't those weed seeds just be dormant and come up as soon as we pull the plastic off? I'm not so sure that's going to do any good.

I've talked to several gardeners, who had trouble getting their garden to work at all, when planting in a place that had black plastic over it the previous years. I think this is because it doesn't let the soil replenish its fertility. So I wouldn't touch black plastic in a million years. Plus it costs you money.

Now what I can tell you is that what works VERY VERY well is to use bits of wood scrap or wood chips. The wood chips keep the soil cool, which cuts down on water evaporation. Then your plants get MUCH, much bigger, and you get more fruit/vegetables because the water is going INTO the plant instead of to dehydration, evaporation. The real reason people do wood scrap or wood chips is this, and weeds will also but cut down because your plants are surrounded by the wood scrap INSTEAD of weeds.

I basically don't spend ANY time at all weeding. This is the beauty of it. In fact, spending time weeding cuts you from using your time and mind on figuring out which watering cycles work best to produce the most food; and that's what you SHOULD be spending your time on. After a while of doing wood chips, you'll see less weeds. Occasionally some will still come up, but you won't be spending all your time on the weeds. The more time you spend on weeds, the less your mind is figuring out what works to grow what. So I hope you can try using wood debris instead.

For wood bits, I literally use anything free. I'll use broken up bits of plywood, bits of anything flat shaped. Whatever.

Now a challenge is going to be that it sounds like you are in a climate that might have lots of insects... but that's for a different posting.

I think if you try this you will like not having to use black plastic.

I use horse or cow manure also, that's aged out. We don't bake it though. We just make sure its aged out. if you are worried about that some people let chickens pull bugs out near the end of the aging period. You can also feed your weeds to chickens and poultry to not have too much garbage to throw away.

...

More directly to answer your question; the weeds would come back the year after doing black plastic. But they'll be less. And if you do the black plastic 2 years in a row, it'll be even less then that. But at that point you are also losing soil fertility. I wouldn't use black plastic because of soil will eventually end up sterile years later.

 

[nao57]

You know I hate to throw in a wrench into the mix... But an added problem is that you might want to plant to grow enough stuff for more than 2 people. There's a couple of reasons for this;

1) As the economy continues to plummet, relatives will seek out other family members for help. Later this will also be not just for help but anyone with FOOD.

2) You could trade excess food for things you can't make.

3) When I plant vegetable plants, I account for a fail ratio. A certain number will fail transplants, a certain number will fail the early infant sages, bugs will get some, and unknowns for the rest. Doing THIS PARTICULAR part of the planning stage is critical. Even though I feel like I finally know what I am doing there is still ALWAYS failures. I'm in an arid climate also, so my plants failed rate will be slightly higher than people from the gulf coast or the south. But its not unusual for the failed plants to be anywhere from 20% to 30%. Yes that's frustrating. But this really helps to think about. If I want 10 plants, I'll actually plant that amount +30%.

I mention this because I don't really see people ever talking about this on this forum. Partly because people want people to see them as some kind of skilled person. Shrug.

...

Expecting price of meat this year to go up a lot. Also if you want an indicator to compare to, you look up the number of trucking carriers that failed last year. (Trucking CARRIER COMPANIES, NOT trucks.) Its enormous.

 

[saysfaa]

I figure at least four acres to do it long term. Not because it takes that much space in any given year but because it allows planting any given species (or class of species) far enough from where it was planted in the previous year or three to break insect and soil microbial issues. It also allows cover crops to help fertilize the soil and maintain soil structure.

Four acres also allows growing grains too. And possibly having a pond or better wind break or establishing microclimates or sheds and root cellars. And at least a bit of buffer from neighbors who may use different products or object to pollinators or compost piles or chickens (for bug control and manure even if you don't want them for other reasons).

 

[paintedChix]

Hmmm. Loved a lot of these answers...

W/ 1/2 acre already fenced for your garden, check out these youTubes -
Robbie & Gary - Gardening easy - CA

Parkrose Permaculture - OR

Edible Acres - Sean - NY

i know I have others, but these all have LARGE productive gardens in very small areas...

Also book - the suburban micro farm by Amy Stross. So many others now, too.

Happy gardening!!

 

[nao57]

I figure at least four acres to do it long term. Not because it takes that much space in any given year but because it allows planting any given species (or class of species) far enough from where it was planted in the previous year or three to break insect and soil microbial issues. It also allows cover crops to help fertilize the soil and maintain soil structure.

Four acres also allows growing grains too. And possibly having a pond or better wind break or establishing microclimates or sheds and root cellars. And at least a bit of buffer from neighbors who may use different products or object to pollinators or compost piles or chickens (for bug control and manure even if you don't want them for other reasons).

I agree with a larger acreage like 4. I don't think someone would need like 10 or 20+ unless they had big livestock as an operation. People would get by with 4 and less. Actually if it weren't for letting the land rest, crop rotation, and so on they might get by with even less... but you do have to let some of it rest.

Interesting post. Thanks.