Quick question about sowing amounts. (Just curiosity really)

[Ja9]

I planted 4 cucumber plants that I grew from seed the year before last. One died within a couple of weeks, then a couple of weeks after that another one popped it's clogs.

The remaining two grew well and we got very tasty (as opposed to shop bought tasteless!) cucumbers off them but there wasn't enough. We eat a lot of salads/side salads in the summer months and the cucs went within days.

This year I've got 8 seeds in and have just noticed 6 of them have sprouted so hopefully it's cucumbers galore this summer.

I have found them to be very fickle outside but much easier in the greenhouse. We get though loads (3 kids) and I find I need at least 3 plants...so I'm growing 4! Chickens will always devour any spare or overripe ones.so much nicer than shop bought. I really resent buying them in winter. Hope yours do well gardening gal

[Scarlet]

I have found them to be very fickle outside but much easier in the greenhouse. We get though loads (3 kids) and I find I need at least 3 plants...so I'm growing 4!

Same here, I usually grow 3 or 4 in the GH. I never have any spare to give away as my kids will eat the lot. They never seem to mind if they've already eaten some that day. They use them for snacking.

[eospete]

I always sow too much by about double my requirement. It covers non germination, losses by natural causes such as me overwatering, underwatering and provides valuable currency for neighbours and workmates. Giving plants which can be eaten as presents sems quite rare outside of the gardening community. When was the last time you gave someone a batch of plant out ready lettuces? You can argue that growing too much requires a growing investment and it does but the payoff is great and often higher than you expect. I gained a lifelong friend because of two mint seedlings.
P

[andy_j]

If i buy a packet of tomato/cucumber/courgette/pepper/chilli etc seeds, i'll usually sow the lot.

I keep whatever i want then give the rest away to fellow allotmenters or neighbours and friends

[BertieFox]

I just potted up some of my summer plants for polytunnel and garden. With peppers, I got to 60 into larger pots, and still had 30 smaller ones left in modules for 'later'. (Yellow bell, Macaroni type, Espelette chillis, and ordinary red) My intention this year was to cut right back so how did this happen? Like many people I did the over sowing thing expecting poor germination and instead they all germinated. I can never bring myself to destroy seedlings unless they are absolutely weak or deformed, and even then I feel like a murderer!

Same with tomatoes... only I haven't counted them... probably around 100.... I will plant all of these out eventually and we do a lot of drying, freezing and sauce making..... but still would be better off with around 30 or 40 plants!

I'm growing around 12 melons this year, in a new home made 'melon house', but of course these will all start to produce at the same time so we will have a glut.

Your question is a very good one, as I have yet to meet anybody who complains that they don't have enough plants or crop.... except for those with very limited space... and I think we all work on the 'more is better' principle, which isn't actually true.

[Scarlet]

Giving plants which can be eaten as presents sems quite rare outside of the gardening community. P

Actually one year my kids gave chilli plants to the teachers when they finished for the summer break. They were well received.

[Kristen]

I raise everything for the vegetable garden in pots (sometimes sow in small seed trays, and prick out to modules, and then pot-on to 9cm pots, sometimes sow direct in 9cm pots and thin to one-per-pot), but I only raise the number of pots that I need.

We use about 2 cauliflowers a week, so I sow 4 once-a-fortnight (1st and 15th-ish of the Month) through the growing season. They don't "stand" more than a week or 10 days, once "ready", so to my mind no point growing a whole row (unless you want to process / freeze them).

My Cropping Diary tells me, based on past experience, how many we need.

I dot he sowing / pricking out in evenings, after dark in the early months of the year) and my heavy clay soil means I can't get onto it until mid April, some years later, so raising in pots allows me to get the job done independent of daylight and weather.

I also think that planting out a plant which is 6 - 8 weeks old means that it steals a march on weed seeds (compared to sowing direct) such that it needs less time spent on thinning and careful hand weeding thereafter. The plot is hoed just before planting, which does-for any weed seedlings, and then hoed between the plants thereafter if necessary - probably not for another 3 or 4 weeks after planting.