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You’ve grown vegetables before. But, like many gardeners, you find yourself drowning in lettuce early on, then have zucchini coming out your ears, yet  you spend the winter buying shipped-in produce, frozen veggies, and canned goods. With some careful planning, you can  reduce your grocery bills and  with more luck eat  vegetables fresh  from your garden.

Planning a vegetable  garden for family consumption  seem awesome . How many tomato plants can feed a family of four? It’s a good enough  question, and to some degree the answer is going to depend on how much you like  tomatoes. But, there are some guidelines that will  guide you calculate how many of each vegetable you want to plant..  These tips will help you so  that nothing goes to waste.

Plant vegetables that you enjoy eating

This seems like a no-brainer, but when you’re examining the seed catalogs and see the appetizing and healthy Piracicaba kohlrabi variety, it’s easy to get carried away. The idea is to allot  one area of the garden to new varieties or new vegetables, and to  buy just  a  small amount of seeds. This way you can experiment without being up to your ears in Brussels sprouts.

Scrutinize your grocery bill

If you are in a habit of  keeping  the  grocery receipts,  you can use this as a guide to determine the amount of consumption your family eats in a week or month, as the case maybe , of a given food item. For example, buy a 5-pound bag of onions every couple of weeks. 10 pounds a month = 120 pounds a year. If I want to supply my family with a year’s ration  of onions, I’ll need to plant enough to yield 120 pounds.

Consider canning and preserving

Surely, you can feed the whole family from the produce of your garden during the growing season, but what about in the winter? You have to be creative to plan ahead for the winter season. Tomatoes, for example, can be made into sauce, salsa, dehydrated — or all three! Remember that low-acid foods will need acid added or to be pressure-canned, and always use a recent, accurate canning recipe. Some vegetables and fruits are easy to be canned like apples, berries, cucumbers (pickled), tomatoes, and green beans (as dilly beans). Preserving also  includes freezing foods. Freezing is easy and safe. You can freeze berries, tomatoes, and basically any vegetable (blanching or boiling first).

Extend the season

Canning and preserving is hard work, so you can minimize these strenuous activity by trying to grow fresh food a little longer. Cold frames, greenhouses, and row covers are all great ways to extend the growing season. If you have the space in your Singapore property, consider growing herbs and greens in your house in the winter.

Calculate yield and plan rows

The chart from About’s Guide to Gardening Marie Iannotti, shows how much to plant per person in the vegetable garden for the different variety of popular vegetables.  Remember that these amounts does not include  canning and preserving for winter season. So consider planting additional amounts  based on what you plan to preserve and what you expect to eat through the winter.

Keep good gardening records

Changing the amount  to plant for your family is going to take some time. This is such an individual process, based on the total consumption of the family, whether you are canning and preserving for winter.  Keeping a farm and garden journal can help you adjust your plantings for the next season. You’ll remember that you have  planted  too much lettuce, so the next time you will  plant less the amount you planted in the previous year. Or, maybe you’ll realize that the mesclun greens did so well, you decide to plant enough this year to bring to the market.

Be flexible

Remember that although having a garden planned out is necessary , you can do some adjusting in your plan . Continuous plantings can keep a famous  vegetable growing the entire  season. So what are you waiting for, plan your vegetable garden and enjoy growing your vegetable the for the whole year. Happy eating!

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