POLL: How Big Is Your Garden?

how-big-is-your-garden

Participate in our anonymous poll and let us know how big your garden is…

Most all preparedness-minded folks have some sort of a garden or various patches of dirt for growing summer vegetables. Growing one’s own food not only results in great tasting fresh homegrown ‘real’ veggies, but preservation techniques such as home canning will add to one’s food storage shelves and will provide the same delicious tastes long after harvest… not to mention the independence and self-sufficiency attributes that go along with it…

I’m curious to discover the range of garden sizes out there.
I’m sure you’ll find it interesting too…


 
Okay, this will require a little simple math on your part.

Estimate the length and width of your garden plot or plots. Multiply to get square footage. Then choose which of the choices below closest match your results.

For example, an ordinary 4×8′ raised bed is 32 square feet. A 15×20 garden plot is 300 square feet. You get the idea…

Note: An acre is 40,000 square feet (equivalent to 200×200′) !

 
POLL Results:

From 366 participants, the following graph indicates their garden size:

average-garden-size

It appears that once you get above 4,000 square feet, the number of gardens drops off – which makes some sense given the amount of work that goes into a very large garden…

40 Comments

  1. I’m only including the annual veggie garden, not the fruit trees, blueberry bushes, and herb garden. Those are kind of spread all over my front and back yard.

    1. I included the raspberry patch. Mom used to have 1/4-1/2 acre. She was old school. As a kid, I had never heard of things like cucumber trellises or potato towers (would have been great to not have to dig up potatoes).

    2. Didn’t count my blueberry, raspberry, and black berry bushes. I also planted a bunch of fruit trees this year, but I don’t expect any fruit from them for another couple years.

  2. Not sure how to measure containers. They are round. I guess about 1 square foot is about right.

  3. 13×25 feet which totals 325 feet squared. Currently growing heirloom tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, green peppers, zucchini, cucumbers, corn, and onions.

  4. 5 – 20 foot long raised beds that are 24 – 36″ high depending upon ground slope. We have some smaller 8″ high beds that we use for blueberries, rhubarb, asparagus, etc. We raise tomatoes, green beans, potatoes, peas, onions, garlic, carrots, lettuce mix. We buy sweet corn to freeze.

    Our soil and the deer/raccoon population make growing corn a no-go. Our farm was strip-mined years before reclamation was the law of the land. There is very little top soil.

    We built the beds tall to accommodate our aging bodies. :-) You can see the beds on the web site Earthineer. I wrote an article about their construction.

    Thanks for a great site. It is one of my few stops when I am online. I appreciate the hard work you put into it, Ken.

  5. I have only two 4 X 8 raised beds with green onions, green peppers, cucumbers, and tomatoes…but, I must say: it’s been 5 weeks since planting my tomato plants (have a fungus, verticillium from 3 years ago)and using Actinovate.

    No brown spots, no curling limbs, no drying out stems…yet.

    They are still green and pretty considering we have had 20 rainy days of 25 so far.

  6. I have 26 raised growing boxes that are 4’x 4′. Then there’s 50 feet of grape vines, 20+ banana plants, a nice patch of sugar cane, and a dozen or so other fruit trees…..oh yeah, 50+ coconut palms full of nuts and 2 pecan trees……it’s all over this little farm! LOL

  7. We have four 8X4 raised beds and a 10X12 which gives us 248 sq ft of raised beds, not including herbs, raspberries and strawberries.

    We grow garlic, asparagus, tomatoes, squash, peppers, cucumbers, beans, peas, kale, lettuce, and spinach. All from heirloom seeds.

    Don’t use chemicals, all our garden soil is our own compost (and chicken manure from our girls).

    1. How do you reach the crops in the 10′ X 12′ bed? Or even in the 4′ X 8′ bed?

      My raised beds are only 3′ wide.

      I couldn’t reach across anything wider.

      1. @ DaisyK
        My Raised beds are 4X8 24” high, the 2 foot reach from each side is not so bad.
        NRP

        1. NRP

          I like the 24″ height you have. Mine are only 12″ but the older I get, the more I would like at least 18″. I am short, so 18″ high would be good.

          You are probably tall enough to reach halfway across a 4′ width. 3′ is best for me.

          Gardening at ground level is hard at my age. I can’t stoop, don’t bend over easily, and have Post Polio Syndrome so if I get down on the ground I can’t get back up again by myself. My back rebels when I bend all the way over to pull a weed in my lawn and I can even feel faint from bending over too much.

          Sounds like you have a great garden.

        2. @ DaisyK
          Will be even better when the weather behaves and I can finish planting. Did get the seed crops in this past weekend though. Starts are going out next weekend.
          As far as crawling around on the ground gardening (a small garden) is wayyyyy in the past for me, just getting lazy I guess… HAHAHA
          I do very much enjoy my gardening, getting the “hands dirty” just feels right, and to tell the truth, I rather spend an afternoon in the Garden with Blue than with 99% of the people I know. It’s the Hermit in me I guess.
          NRP

      2. I’m 5’1″ and have extremely short arms and legs-I have no problem reaching inside to 2′.

        1. One of the problems with Post Polio Syndrome is balance. You rely on the muscles in your legs to keep your balance. My muscles are weak, so if I lean over too much I lose my balance.

      3. Reach across a 4X8? It’s only 4 ft wide which means I only need to reach two feet to the center (I build ’em 24 inches apart so I can get the lawnmower between them). And the 10X12? I have a narrow foot path.

        Happy gardening!

  8. Our primary tilled garden is about 1400 sq. ft. We also have 2 peach trees, 2 apple trees, 2 blueberries, 1 plum, 1 blackberry bush and 6 feet of raspberries and 1 -4′ x 8′ raised bed.

    We would like about 400 sq. ft. more to feel like we are adequate for the two of us. We use compost and horse/cow & mule fertilizer, no chemicals. This size of garden is a good part time job to maintain.
    Happy gardening.

  9. I sure wish I could have a 1/3 or 1/2 acre to plant on… sadly I have approx 250 sq ft or so… not to mention containers. The weather here hasn’t been too favorable… I haven’t even tilled yet. My garden plot looks awful right now. :(

  10. Looks like a lot of us are only counting the primary garden space. I certainly didn’t count the trees, vines, etc. Apparently in my brain that’s not garden space.

    1. My aim was for ‘garden’ space for the poll… Not trees, bushes, etc.. (just to be clear)

  11. Looks like approx. 12% are living on their bug out location or equivalent (assuming that any such location will have a good sized garden, counted anything over 4000 ft in this category), and 40% are living in apartments or the equivalent (less than 100 feet of garden space). 48% in the middle.

    Maybe more articles about prepping in a small space would be in order. :)

  12. Good evening, MSB Friends,

    Saw the first rainbow of the year, earlier this evening, between the downpours, and while the sun peaked through the clouds with strong and bold rays.

    Just wanted to say I hope you can see the rainbow in whatever situation or storm we may be in…

    And that you know that rainbow is for you!

    Just like a rainbow or the rays of sun breaking through a storm or clouds,
    I am praying for you friends out there who need a breakthrough of hope, peace, providence…

    Good Shepherd loves you :)

  13. Our big garden used to be about 3/4 of an acre and we have another approximately 1500 square feet inside the yard spread across several plots. We used to joke about the big garden in the pasture was our meat and potatoes plantation plot while the yard plots were our salad bar.

    Cultivation and irrigation was, and still is, a huge hassle in the big garden, even with the tractor, 5 foot tiller, plow, cultivator and portable irrigation tanks, along with sun-dried other tools, we still have to irrigate and precision weed by hand, so we down sized it a couple years ago to about a third of its original size.

    It currently measures approximately 120 x 90 ft. Even so, it is still a lot of work. We still have the inside garden spread between six different size plots and a bunch of large nursery containers and a few old tires and some bottom-less buckets. We have two very old wheel barrows that need to be replaced so as soon as I get new wheel barrows, the old one’s will become portable garden plots or seed beds.

    1. This is why I like bushes, vines and trees. Permanent, so drip lines are feasible, and take very little care.

  14. Not sure about tomatoes this year. Torrential rain hammered them within a week of planting.

  15. Our gardens measure more than 8,000 sq feet, with 3 different garden plots. I’m not including our compost piles or the woods edge zones where we have been planting edible bushes and fruit trees. We have a few raised beds and some half-barrel containers (to experiment with), a large strawberry bed and a new one planned with this year’s runners. We also grow some foods in containers, mostly for fun and beauty, but some herbs are always grown in containers.

    We usually plant double rows and use cover cloth w/ mulch to keep weeds under control. We grow some beans and squash varieties vertically, but also grow bush beans, sprawling squash and melons, etc. We grow for seed, too, to keep a variety of veggies and seeds viable. We have pretty much given up on corn because the jerk across the road grows experimental GMO corn every year and it has trashed our corn’s germination. No one else in the area can grow corn either because of the GMO plot.

  16. the comments seem to be more about relearning your math. We have 4 raised beds. 4×8 feet for each. I will let the commenters figure out the square footage.

    1. Forgot to say that the beds are 24″ high. Makes for very easy gardening. Plus the entire thing is surrounded by a 7.5′ mesh fence to keep the deer out.

      1. Mike, I am advancing NRP to the next grade, prunes as reward….and you have about a 52 square meters of a garden….not bad :)

        1. @ Texas and Mike

          Actually; 4’X8’ = 32 SqFt X 4 Beds = 128 SqFt
          128 square foot = 14.222 222 222 square yard
          14.222 222 222 square yard = 11.891 589 12 square meter
          So technically he has right at 11.891 589 12 square meter
          WOW, that was close…. HAHAHA

          NRP

          PS; so I guess no advancement or prunes for me today LOLOL

          My previous answer was a test, and only a test, if this had be an actually math exam…. well, 7th grade was the best 4 years of my life HAHAHA

        2. Feel good, no prunes for me either,or the liquid form…..lolol….I went off your square feet…okay, I need some coffee, this squaring is getting to me heheee…I’ll try to behave….:)

        3. @ Texas
          Key word in your dialogue; “try”, good luck with that one…. HAHAHAAH
          NRP

        4. Yeah, I know….its my personal catch 22. Now on the serious side, I will have to raise my future beds too and keep them at about four to five feet wide at the most, I am short too. Getting down to low will be painful. Fractured knees and ankles years ago, so its not always fun to garden.

  17. Our main veg. garden is 30 x 100 + one 100′ row of asparagus + 1 100′ row of tomatoes, peppers & others in another area. We also have 6 x 100′ rows of fruit trees & bushes. Keeps us old fogies hopping.

  18. I don’t want to get technical, as I planted seeds for raspberries, blueberries, June berries, blackberries in the forest (public lands) as part of my secret garden, plus flower seeds and wild grapes. so it covers 3 miles of trails, and 4 acres on my land for the fruit and lambs quarter garden, and I have 196 sq ft for cultivated veggies including the pots. That’s what you get sprinkling a little Stardust around.

  19. Don’t have any idea what I am going to get planted this year, has been too wet and raining now. Have some tomato and pepper plants, and several seed that will be planted this week..even if have t plant in peat pots to get started… raised beds are in order and we will have to build and fill them, already got some soil to put in some, but weather is not cooperating with lower area.Have a few fruit trees, garlic bed..Will not plant a traditional garden,due to bermuda.

  20. We have about 2000 sf dedicated garden and orchard on part of a 1/4 acre lot. It consists of 8 – 4’x8′ beds, 2 – 2’x4′ beds, 1 – 2’x6′ bed and 1 – 4’x4′ raised bed made from 2″x12″‘s. Also have 20 grow boxes and 20 – 5 gal buckets with internal reservoirs. Also a couple dozen misc pots for herbs. Everything is drip irrigated and under 40% shade screen (central AZ at 3500 ft gets quite hot and cold). 2 apple, peach, pear, cherry, fig, pomegranate and 50 feet of grapes. Three growing seasons here ………… cold, warm and hot! Pretty much grow something year round. Heirloom and organic. Native plants used throughout (nativeseeds.org) Plenty for the two of us. Soil here is crap ……….. took 3 years to customize a blend of compost, chicken manure and worm castings. Beds placed over 3/4 minus crushed granite ……….. keeps the gophers out of the raised beds and provides good drainage. 6 foot chain link fence keeps javelina and deer out. Shade screen does a fair job of keeping birds outs. Keeps this 72 year old busy year round. Great mental and physical exercise with good eats, as well.

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