Is raising 100% of your own vegetables possible? Absolutely. We’ve done so for decades. Why not make 100% self-reliant vegetable production your 2023 resolution.
100% Home Grown Meal
We raise 100% of our vegetables which means we don’t rely on the grocery store for any of our veggies regardless of the time of the year. This was particularly relevant when we lived remote in the bush of northern Saskatchewan where our homestead was only accessible via bush plane. We flew to town twice a year and it was only during those biannual trips to civilization that we did any shopping. Being self-reliant was a necessity. Even though we are more accessible to stores now, we still grow all of our vegetables.
Planning For 100% Self-Reliant Vegetable Production
Vegetable Independence takes some effort on our part as well as proper planning. The first step to vegetable independence is figuring out how much to plant to meet your needs. For first time gardeners this may be difficult. But if you approach the problem logically, it’s not as daunting as it seems. First determine what your likes and dislikes are (no need to plant cabbage for example if no one will eat it) then determine how much of each item you consume in the run of a year. The easiest way to approach that is to think about how much of any given item you eat in a week or month then extrapolate from there.
Spring may seem a long way away but now is the time to begin planning and to get seeds on order so you can get your garden started at the right time.
Our Approach to Vegetable Independence
We categorize the vegetables we grow into 3 groups based on our likes and dislikes: the staples, our favorites and finally the minor vegetables. For us, the staple vegetables are potatoes, carrots, cabbages, onions, tomatoes and dry beans. We grow a lot of each of these as they are very versatile. Each can be used in so many different ways as you’ll see below. If we could only grow a limited number of vegetables these would be the ones we’d choose.
Our favorite vegetables include peas, corn, broccoli, lettuce, spinach, green and wax beans, celery, leeks, peppers, summer and winter squash, pumpkins and garlic. We grow large quantities of these too and they comprise a significant portion of our diet. We’d be hard pressed to decide which of these to reduce production of or eliminate altogether.
And for us the third category of vegetables, the minor vegetables, include Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, parsnips, cucumbers, eggplant, kale, escarole, radish and Witloof chicory. We don’t grow vast quantities of any of these and in fact some years we may not grow some of these at all. In reality if we had to limit what we grew for some reason these would be the first we’d eliminate. We like them in small doses but we wouldn’t necessarily miss them if we didn’t grow them. It is nice to have small amounts of these though to add more variety to our diet especially to our winter menus.
100% Self-Reliant Vegetable Production
Below is a synopsis of what we grow, how much we plant and how we use each item. Understand this is based on our household of 2, what our food preferences are as stated above as well as our desire to be completely self-reliant when it comes to our vegetables. Be aware in some instances we’ve given the feet of row we grow. This does NOT mean you have to plant a single row that length. Many items can be grown in beds with rows spaced as close as 6 inches apart. In this instance you would add up the length of several rows to reach the total length being grown.
In addition,we’ve included info on how we utilize all the vegetables we grow. There’s no point in growing tons of food if you let it go to waste because you lack ideas on how to use it. Making the most of your garden’s harvest is a critical component to vegetable independence.
|
Vegetable |
Amount We Plant |
How We Use It |
|
|
Beans, snap (wax and green) |
8 to 10’ of row of each |
Cooked as a side dish, in soups, canned in pickled 3 bean salad. Frozen for winter use |
5# per 4’; 20 pods per plant |
|
Beans, shell (Lima etc.) |
60 to 90 foot row |
Cooked as a side dish, in soups, in succotash, canned in 3 bean salad. Frozen and canned for winter use |
2½# shelled beans per 10’ row |
|
Beans, dry(kidney, Yellow Eye, Jacobs Cattle, black beans etc) |
100 foot row of each kind in any given year |
In soups, chili, in homemade baked beans, in re-fried beans |
1# dry beans per 10’ row |
|
Beets |
12 to 16’ row |
Canned pickled beets |
1# per foot |
|
Broccoli |
12 to 15 plants for spring planting, 6 to 10 for fall planting |
Raw in various salads, steamed, broccoli cheese soup, chicken divan. Frozen for winter use |
4# to 6# per 10’ row |
|
Brussels sprouts |
6 to 8 plants |
Steamed as side dish, roasted |
60 or more sprouts per stalk |
|
Cauliflower |
3 to 4 plants |
Raw in various salads or with dip |
9 oz. to 30 oz. Per head |
|
Cabbage, early |
4 to 5 plants |
Raw in various coleslaws and salads, cooked as side dish, preserved as freezer slaw for winter salads |
2# to 3# per head |
|
Cabbage, late(for storage) |
12 plants, more if I plan to make sauerkraut |
Raw in various coleslaws and salads such as cabbage Waldorf salad, sauerkraut, sauteed & baked as side dishes, in various soups such as cabbage sausage soup, New England boiled dinner |
|
|
Celery |
24 to 30 plants |
Raw in various salads, in soups, stuffing and in many items I can such as vegetable juice, stewed tomatoes and spaghetti sauce, vegetable and meat stocks. Frozen for winter use in cooking |
1# per plant |
|
Carrots |
50 feet of row |
Raw in salads and coleslaw, cooked side dishes, in soups, stews, pot roasts, casseroles, roasted with other vegetables, vegetable and meat stocks. The king of root cellar storage(stores for as long as 8 months) |
1# per foot of row |
|
Corn |
200 to 240 stalks or plants |
Corn on the cob, frozen for use in soups, corn chowder, succotash, casseroles, cooked side dishes such as Mexican corn and zucchini with corn |
|
|
Cucumbers |
2 to 3 hills with 3 to 4 plants each |
Raw with dip, in salads, refrigerator dill and bread and butter pickles, dill relish, sweet relish |
10, 6 oz. Cucumbers per plant |
|
Eggplant |
2 plants |
Dipped in seasoned bread crumbs and pan fried, parmigiana |
2 to 4 eggplants/ plant weighing 1# to 2# each |
|
Endive/escarole |
3 to 4 plants |
Raw in winter salads |
4# per 10’ row |
|
Kale |
16 feet of row |
Frozen for winter use in soups |
4# per 10’ row |
|
Leeks |
24 plants |
Potato leek soup and other soups, baked chicken with leeks, potato casseroles such as scalloped potatoes |
1½# per foot of row |
|
Lettuce |
Leaf 15 plants, Bibb 6 to 12 plants, Romaine 6 to 12 plants, Head 6 to 8 plants |
In various wraps and sandwiches including BLT’s. Taco salad, chef salad, Caesar salad, tossed salad |
1 head per plant of 10 oz. to 1# each |
|
Onions |
5 lbs yellow onion sets,½ lb red sets, 50 to 60 spanish onions grown from seeds |
In everything but desserts. Soups including onion soup, entrees, casseroles, in side dishes, stuffing, vegetable stock and meat stocks, fried onion rings, roasted with other vegetables, raw in salads and sandwiches, pizza topping. Goes in many items I can such as vegetables juice, stewed tomatoes, spaghetti, taco sauce, Bar-B-Que sauce. Properly cured onions will keep 8 months |
5# bulbs per 6’ of row |
|
Onions, green |
12 to 16 feet of row |
Raw in various salads |
|
|
Onions, pickling type |
24 to 32 feet of row |
Used to can pickled onions |
|
|
Parsnips |
8 to 12 feet of row |
Roasted with other vegetables |
1# per foot of row |
|
Peas, green |
Early variety-double row 20’ long Late variety-double row 25’ long |
Cooked as side dish, in various soups, raw in salads. Peas freeze beautifully and are a favorite frozen veggie for winter use |
2# to 6# per 10’ of row |
|
Peas, snow |
Double row 5’ long |
Sauteed as side dish, various stir fries, in salads |
|
|
Peas, edible pod |
Double row 4’ long |
Cooked as side dish and in salads |
|
|
Peppers (hot) |
6 to 12 plants |
Canned as pickled hot peppers, used to make hot sauce, Bar-B-Que sauce and ketchup |
6 to 8 fruits per plant |
|
Peppers (bell) |
15 to 20 plants |
Raw with dip and in various salads, in sandwiches and wraps, in stir fries, in grilled vegetables, stuffed, pizza topping. Strips are frozen for use in soups, casseroles and entrees such as Swiss steak, fajitas and pepper steak |
3# to 4# per plant (6 to 10 fruits per plant) |
|
Potato |
3 rows about 75’ long-a row each of russet, Yukon gold and a red variety |
In many soups such as chili potato soup, chowders, casseroles such as scalloped potatoes and au gratin potatoes, baked, twice baked, roasted, baked potato wedges, herb roasted, boiled, mashed, fries, home fries, stews, pot roasts and even in breads such as potato rolls. Stores for 7-8 months in root cellar |
Up to 5# per plant |
|
Pumpkin |
2 to 4 hills with 3 to 4 plants each |
Various breads, muffins, cakes, pie. Properly cured stores for months |
2 to 5 fruits per plant weighing 6# to 20# each depending on variety |
|
Radish, summer |
Intercrop with carrots and parsnips |
Raw in salads or with dip |
2# to 3# per 10’ |
|
Radish, winter |
3 to 4’ of row |
Raw in winter salads |
Up to 20# per 10’ |
|
Spinach |
50 feet of row for spring. Fall wherever I have space |
Raw in salads such as spinach orange salad, cooked side dish, in pasta dishes such as spinach manicotti/lasagna and noodles florentine, in various soups, chicken florentine |
½# per foot |
|
Squash, summer |
1 hill zucchini with 3 to 4 seeds 1 hill yellow crookneck with 3 to 4 seeds |
Sauteed, grilled with other veggies, in stir fries, in soups, roasted, zucchini pancakes, in baked good such as zucchini bread, lemon zucchini muffins and zucchini chocolate cake. In entrees such as Mix and Match squash casserole and Stuffed zucchini, |
|
Squash, winter |
3 to 4 hills with 3 to 4 seeds each |
Orange glazed squash, Maple glazed squash, Stuffed with apples, cranberries and raisins, baked with brown sugar and butter, casserole with praline topping. Properly cured stores for months |
|
Tomatoes, cherry |
3 to 4 plants |
Raw in salads, in sandwiches and wraps |
|
Tomatoes, early slicers |
8 to 12 plants but could be as many as 20 plants |
Raw in salads, sandwiches such as BLT’s and, in canning vegetable juice and tomato soup. Marinated tomatoes, Italian baked tomatoes, Sesame cheese tomatoes, scalloped tomatoes, Italian herbed tomatoes, fresh tomato soup |
|
Tomatoes, Beefsteak type |
At least 12 plants |
As above |
|
Tomatoes, paste type |
24 plants |
Roasted. Used in canning plain sauce, spaghetti sauce, taco sauce, ketchup, Bar-B-Que sauce, stewed tomatoes and plain cut up tomatoes |
|
Garlic |
80 to 90 cloves |
In salad dressings, as a pizza topping, Italian dishes such a spaghetti sauce, in entrees such as Maple glazed pork tenderloin, in meatballs, in mashed potatoes, in soups such as Minestrone & Italian chicken, baked cabbage |
|
Witloof chicory (Belgian endive) |
8 feet of row |
Raw in winter salads |
Vegetable independence doesn’t magically happen. But with some planning and effort you too can be on your way to freedom from supermarket produce. Making full use of your gardening season including “the fall garden” will ensure your success. Good luck and happy gardening!
Until next time, keep the dream alive! We wish you a great day!
Ron and Johanna
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What is the square footage of garden space you use for the list you provided?
Hello Ken. Good question. Figure around 2000 square feet. I can’t remember if that also includes the area we had planted to small fruits as well. I’m thinking it did but that’s a place to start. Depending on your climate and many other variables will ultimately determine how much land needs to be dedicated to vegetable production. Stay safe!