Calculating Fruit Needed For Family

How much fruit do I need for family of 6

So having made myself a little chart with the yield of the fruit on it, I now need to work out how much fruit I will need. Sat down with notepad and pen i started to calculate our fruit intake. That sound a very simple task but, one child eats only bananas, strawberries and any fruit jam and jelly possible, one doesn't touch jam or jelly and another eats any fruit going.The easiest way I discovered to work it out is to go through my shopping lists and online purchases.

Fruit Crumble- 1 a week

Jam- we use on average 1 jar a week 

Fruit Pie- 1 a week

Fruit bowl

Jam- 52 jars would be needed in total or maybe a few more if I have left over fruit to preserve. Some jams use 1/2 lb and some use 1 lb of fruit, so for arguments sake I took an average of 3/4 lb for each jar. So I would need to produce 39 lb of fruit for a years supply of fruit.

Pies and Crumbles- I estimate to produce 2 pies/crumbles a week I will need about 100 lbs of fruit for the whole year. This may sound very daunting but if you consider most of this will be fruit hard fruits from trees then it doesn't sound too bad. 

Fruit bowl- obviously I'm not going to be able to grow my bananas, lemons and oranges in the uk, but everything else I can get going. I estimate we use between 2-3 lbs in the fruit bowl a week, and the occasional melon.  Maybe as I get things rolling I can look into trying to grow my own lemons and oranges. So a total of of about 120lbs of fruit will be needed, its all starting to mount up.

If I add up all the fruit needed for a year it is a grand total of 259 lb a year !!!!! is it possible?

Growing Tomatoes For a Year

Tomatoes for the year

Can I really grow enough last a year?

Tomatoes, chutney, passata, sauce, bolognese, lasagne and much much more, we use so many tomatoes in my house it will be a tall order to grow enough to last a year. If you stop and consider the shear volume I will need it will seem very difficult, last year I estimated I would need approximately 100 lb of tomatoes, then I would need freezer space, jars and cupboard space. 

Last year I produced 31 LB of tomatoes but I hadn't really planned the allotment space or used all the space on may allotment. This year I have saved all the jars that I can and also planned better my plants that I will growing. One thing that was achieved was making enough chutney for a year, however I didn't make any passata as I wasn't confident enough. There are still frozen tomatoes in my freezer, to be honest I didn't know you could freeze whole tomatoes until Bob Flowerdew informed you could.

This year I will be growing San Marzona tomatoes, these are larger tomatoes that I can preserve and use like tinned tomatoes and also for my first attempt at making passata. I will also be growing moneymaker, Ukrainian Purple, cherry, chocolate and yellow sunrise tomatoes. Growing a range of different coloured tomatoes will be great for salads and chunky chutneys. 

So I will be working on an average of 50% success rate from seed to full grown fruiting plant, hopefully it will be a bit more successful but that my goal for this year. Yields per plant will vary depending upon sunlight, rain and temperature, a cherry plant 8LBS and a San Moranzo could be 25LBS or more. Last year I had some really good yields from my Yellow Sunrise and Moneymaker tomatoes as an average and not aiming to high and get disappointed I will aim for a yield of 10Lb per plant.  So if I plant 10 San Morazo, 10 Chocolate, 10 Yellow Sunrise, 10 Ukrainian purple, 10 cherry and 10 money maker seeds this will give me at least 30 plants and about 300Lbs. 

San  Moranzo tomatoes 

Thirty plants, that's a lot of space needed a plan will be needed for sure. 5 Cherry tomatoes will be at home in large hanging baskets which will free up more space on the ground, and I also have enough space at home for 5 San Moranzo tomatoes. This leaves space needed for 20 each plant needs about 24 inches space between each one for air circulation. My beds up the allotment are 6ft x 3ft which means I can fit 6 plants in each bed, so worrying about space wasn't needed as I will only need 3 beds up the allotment. I will put a few plants in the greenhouse just incase of bad weather, slugs and diseases. This means that I should make my target of 100 LBS provided I don't have tomato blight which I really hope I don't.

Heavy, Medium and Light Feeders

Heavy, medium and light feeders 

When gardening or on the allotment it is best not to grow the same heavy feeders in the same bed over and over again. To let the soil rest after heavy feeders I will be planting light feeders in after heavy, then heavy after the light. The medium feeders I will be planting after each other but different types of medium feeders. Of course planning planting is made even harder when you factor in companion planting, also quick growing crops planted between slow growing crops. Planning is an important part of growing vegetable. However having said this I managed to get a good crop last year all be it n a very hap hard way, but as I want to grow even more this year I want to start planning what is planted where.

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Light feeders include

Carrots, Parsnips, onions, radishes, turnips, leeks, garlic, collard greens, peas, swiss chard, kale, beans, most herbs and potatoes.

Medium feeders include

Artichoke, basil, lettuce, spinach, broccoli, small fruiting peppers, boy chow,cabbage and cauliflower.

Heavy feeders include

Sweetcorn, cucumber, tomatoes, celery, pumpkin, squash, peppers, melon and aubergine.

The internet is full of conflicting reports about light, medium and heavy feeders so I guess some of it is trial and error. This year I will rotate crops and log my progress and see how things do in my organic allotment. I will be making some natural feed for the beds for this year to give them a helping hand, also all beds have had straw from the ducks laid on top to eliminate some weeds and deter snails and slugs.

My sage plant pictured is a very hardy light feeder it has been in just 4 inches of soil  in a 75cm x 75cm box and in 3 year is now about 80cm in circumference. 

Allotment flowers and vegetables

Allotment flowers with fruit and vegetables

When sowing my fruit and veg seeds I always sow a mixture of flower seeds to help with pollination and pest control.

Bees are always a welcome site up the allotment especially when there are plants to be pollinated. Purple, blue and yellow flowers are especially attractive to bees. Nasturtiums also attract bees and there leaves are also edible and very high in Vitamin A and C.

As well as being vibrant and colourful, Marigolds also attract beneficial insects, such as ladybugs, hoverflies  and other insects that prey on garden pests.

Another favourite beneficial plants of mine is Lavender, as well as countless medicinal uses it smells fantastic and attracts so many bees.

Calculating Veg For A Year

How much veg do I need to feed my family of 6 

So the only way to work this out is to go though what we eat summer, winter and every week, this year I won’t be taking into consideration potatoes. Then calculate how many Lbs or individual items I need to grow. This will take a bit of time but I think its the only way to work it out. Winter is made up of stew, bolognese, roast dinners, pies dinners and pizzas. Summer is obviously salad, pizza and salad, pasta salad with roast on Sundays.

Tomatoes are used a lot in my house as mentioned we have bolognese salads also in sandwiches, lasagne, on toast and the list goes on. We use a jar of passata a week, 2 tins of chopped tomatoes and about 6 fresh ones a week in Autumn/Winter and about 6 large and 12 cherry tomatoes  a week  Spring/Summer. 

Estimated 

Tomatoes                 100 Lbs a year

Onions                     150 a year

Cabbage                  12 a year

Cauliflower               12 a year

Broccoli                    12 head a year

Garlic                        12 bulbs a year

Bussel sprouts          5lb a year

Green beans             5 lbs a year

Lettuce                     40 a year

Cucumber                26 a year 

Aubergine                 5 a year

Pumpkin                   3 a year

Squash                     40 a year 

Peas                        10 lbs a year

Sweetcorn               100 a year

Spinach                   5 lbs a year

Spring onions          150 a year

Swiss chard            100 stalks a year

Courgette                30 a year

Zucchini                  30 a year

Turnips                         50 a year

Peppers                  100 a year