A Row Garden Planner for Home Food Preservation - who wants to convert it to SFG?

Marie sent me this on FB. I wonder how it would translate into a SFG, how many squares for each? If someone has cabin fever and loves puzzles and math, maybe you like to do the hard work for everyone else!

http://www.granny-miller.com/a-garden-planner-for-home-food-preservation/

Especially since math isn't my strong point, lol!

Fun with MATH!!!  WooHoo!
How's this?


There was a big difference in calculated number of plants between what they gave on the "Foot Row Needed for a family of 4" and if you took "Foot Row per person for fresh seasonal consumption" and multiplied by 4.  I had to assume some values for plant spacing in places where they gave "oz. of seed", sheesh, what good does that do for me?  I assume maybe there is some "fluff" built in when considering a family garden. 
Anyway, I thought the results from taking the "per person" value and multiplying it out was more reasonable.  I calculated it both ways though and provided and average column of the two.

DOH!  That image is horrible.  I'll have to play with that.

Hard to read but I see it will take 1/4 of our total lot!! Can't wait to see when it's clearer. Thanks for doing this.

Let's try this:


Should be better, if not, try this:

Vegetable	Convert "foot row" for family of 4	# plants/s.f.	# Squares		Convert average per person amount to 4 person family	# Squares		Average # Squares
Asparagus	75' x 75 crown/100'= 56	1	56		15 crowns per person x 4= 60 plants	60		58
Beets	55' x 4 beets per foot= 220	9	24		7.5' avg per x 4 x (4 plants per ft.)= 120 plants	13		19
Broccoli	100' x 50 plants/100'= 50 plants	1	50		3.5 plants per x 4= 14	14		32
Brussels Sprouts	35' x 50 plants/100'= 18 plants	1	18		3 plants per x 4= 12	12		15
Cabbage	100' x 88 plant avg/100'= 88	1	88		4 plants per x 4= 16	16		52
Celery	50' x 175 avg./100'= 88	1	88		5 stalks per x 4= 20	20		54
Carrots	100' x 6 per foot= 600	16	38		7.5' avg. per x 4 x (6 per foot)= 180	11		25
Cauliflower	60' x 58 plant avg/100'= 35	1	35		3.5 plants per x 4= 14	15		25
Green Beans	275' x 4 per foot= 1,100	4	275		20' avg per x 4 x (4 per foot)= 320	80		178
Wax Beans	135' x 4 per foot= 540	4	135		20' avg per x 4 x (4 per foot)= 320	80		108
Green Peas	175' x 6 per foot=1050	8	131		20' avg per x 4 x (6 per foot)= 480	60		96
Green Peppers	75' x 63 avg/ 100'= 47	1	47		3.5 plants per x 4= 14	14		31
Lima Beans	350' x 3 per foot= 1,050	4	263		25' per x 4 x (3 per foot)= 300	75		169
Onions	90' x 3 per foot= 270	9	30		3.5' per x 4 x (3 per foot)= 42	5		18
Potatoes	250' x 1 per foot= 250	2	125		75' avg per x 4 x (1 per foot)= 300	150		138
Pumpkin	65' x 1 per 5'= 13	1	13		1.5 hills per x 4= 6	6		10
Spinach	175' x 4 per foot=700	9	78		7.5' per x 4 x(4 per foot)= 120	13		46
Summer Squash	100' x 1/1.5'= 67	1	67		2 hills per x 4= 8	8		38
Sweet Corn	200' x 1 per foot= 200	2	100		50' per x 4 x ( 1 per foot)= 200	100		100
Tomatoes whole	75' x 30/100'= 23	1	23		4 plants avg x 4= 16	16		20
Tomatoes Juice	75' x 30/100'= 23	1	23		4 plants avg x 4= 16	16		20
Winter Squash	135' x 1 per 2'= 68	1	68		2.5 hills per x 4= 10	10		39
		Total:	1775			794		1291

Well fudge.
here I'll just type out a condensed version:

Vegetable        # squares     # squares      #squares
                       family        per person      Average

Asparagus            56               60               58
Beets                  24               13               19
Broccoli               50               14               32
Brussel Sprouts    18                12               15
Cabbage              88               16               52
Celery                 88               20               54
Carrots                16               11               25
Cauliflower           35               15              25
Green Beans         275              80             178
Wax Beans           135              80             108
Green Peas          131              60              108
Green Peppers      47               14               31
Lima Beans          263              75              169
Onions                30                 5               18
Potatoes             125              150             138
Pumpkin              13                6                10
Spinach              78                 13              46
Summer Squash  67                  8               38
Sweet Corn         100              100            100
Tomatoes whole   23                16              20
Tomatoes Juice    23                16              20
Winter Squash     68                10              39

Totals:             1,775            794            1,291

As you can see the results vary between the "family" calculation and the "per person" calculation.  I kind of like the average result, seems to me that "per person" with some "fluff" for storing and canning.  
So, as a example, based on my calculations I'd use the average column, and I need an area of 1,292 s.f. for square foot gardening.  If I were to just make one big box (not feasible) I'd have a box about 36'x36'.  Obviously that doesn't give me room for access to the whole garden.  "typical" s.f. garden box is 4'x4', so I'd need about 81 4'x4' boxes to make the garden.  
Anyway, gives you a guideline or basis to work from.  The "area" needed doesn't account for access room around the boxes and it doesn't account for .... I forget the word... successive planting?  Timing of planting?  i.e. pumpkin can be planted later after something else has been planted and harvested.  Also, you could probably mix some beans with corn.. companion planting?  
Anyway, there you go.

There is a big omission  for all the above , it appears to be an all idealistic years growing system for someone with a lot of space .
Most normal folk don't have that amount of land or  number of SFG's  they have to have closed seasons due to weather & time constraints , perhaps even running to  holidays  & a life as well .
That list is enough to feed a lot of people .. I guess they'd be veggies with those volumes.

 It depends what you feel like growing as well as what actually does well in your locality .
Currently we are not having much success with growing cauliflowers of any sort at anytime of the year .. it's too wet and warm at the wrong time .

.

 We like fresh really crunchy carrots so have guided our efforts to that end , to have enough rotation & sq feet to allow for a pound & a half of carrots each week all year round ..
We thought we'd cracked it , but are now eating the last of the over wintering carrots , sadly there is no sign of the carrots I sowed under glass in the beds a week ago

 Other things raise their ugly heads too .  Cabbage white butterflies & their zillions of caterpillars(  this side of the pond )  are tearing the seat out of all our brassica crops,  despite fine anti butterfly netting and legally available pest controls for them  being used.

Oh man...I saw this last night and was all excited to tackle it this morning but see that someone beat me to it. Bummer... oh well the results are the pretty much the same so I won't retype. I still think that you have to consider your personal family when making this a list for your own garden but its a great jumping off point for people to see the differences in space. Also to see and think about the time to care for the row garden versus a square foot garden.

Thank you Zmoore!  I can't wait to delve into it after I get the alligators under control. I noticed they didn't consider in corn.

Plaintoid,  I'm sorry you are having a heck of a time with the caterpillers / caterpillars.  I hate those boogers.

YIKES!!! ... 81 4'x4' boxes ... that's a lot of boxes. I guess my 4 boxes (2 from last year and 2 more this year) will not cut it.  Mrs TD and I will be veggie deprived.

sanderson wrote:...I noticed they didn't consider in corn...

I missed it, too.  They were sneaky and called it sweet corn!


67 squares of summer squash?

I keep looking at these quantities of veggies and can't help but think there is something seriously wrong with my current diet.

boffer wrote:

sanderson wrote:...I noticed they didn't consider in corn...

I missed it, too.  They were sneaky and called it sweet corn!


67 squares of summer squash?  

 No celeriac , courgettes , leeks , marrows , parsnips or swedes ( rutabaga ) either nor kale .

67 square of summer squash!. Maybe the conversion allows 9 sq ft per plant. Otherwise, you'd be leaving squash on everyone's doorstep during the night. People would flee when they saw you coming.

Boffer, you have a good size SFG plus a row for squash. How many sq ft do you have?

Seemed a little "over board" on the amounts to me as well, but I did my best to convert what was given in the original table.  Quite a few items I had to come up with my own quantities to convert to plants.  I see Summer Squash has come up.  One one column they gave me "feet of row" looking at some plant spacing I came up with 1.5' between plants, so I basically divided 100' by 1.5' to come up with 67 plants.  Perhaps 2' could be used instead, but that's still 50 plants.  Then under the other column for the same plant they say "2 hills" per person.  How many plants in a hill?  I just assumed 1 and that works out to 8 plants (hills).  BIG gap between the 2 columns 67-8.  

Anyway, I noticed no lettuce and other stuff too, on the link Sanderson provided it said those were left out and assumed to be more seasonal type crops and that the list provided was for providing bulk food for long term storage to feed a family of 4 for practically an entire year.  So, a lot of canning and freezing.

I glanced through SFG book again last night and I was looking for more info on amounts and all I could find was the general rule of "3 boxes" per person.  one for salad, one for other/seasonal, one for preserving/extra.  So, for comparison, Mel says 12 boxes should be enough for a family of four and the "conversion" says about 81 plus some more if you want fresh greens.  That's 12-81 boxes.  Big gap.

trolleydriver wrote:I keep looking at these quantities of veggies and can't help but think there is something seriously wrong with my current diet.

Ditto. I got tired of my 3 SF of patty pans, of which I still have about 1/2 dozen in the basement!

Zmoore wrote:...Then under the other column for the same plant they say "2 hills" per person.  How many plants in a hill?
...So, for comparison, Mel says 12 boxes should be enough for a family of four and the "conversion" says about 81 plus some more if you want fresh greens.  That's 12-81 boxes.  Big gap.

sanderson wrote:...Boffer, you have a good size SFG plus a row for squash.  How many sq ft do you have?

Most general instructions that I've seen recommend planting 3 squashes per hill.  Some suggest thinning to 1 per hill; some don't.

I've never understood how   3 boxes per person for year round eating would be sufficient.  I have 6-700 sf that feeds two people year round.  On the higher side, that's 44 boxes for two, or 88 for four.  That's darn close to Zmoore's calculations!

If space were at a  premium, I could probably get by with less space.

There's only two of us so about 40 4x4 boxes should do us just fine.

I better start building boxes. Let's see ... oh yes ... only 38 more to build. No problem at all. Then I need to figure out where to place them? I think I will have to cover the entire front, back and side yards. Then I must place my order with the local trucking company to haul in the tons of peatmoss, vermiculite and compost.  I've got my work cut out for me. 

As well, it will really take some work to get Mrs TD to accept this plan. I can see many restaurant dinners and bouquets of roses in my future.

The Granny Miller chart was posted on SFG Foundation FB. I referred them to this site.