How many is too Many?

[Mrs Dobby]

Just back from the plot, planting, as I planted the 18 aubergines we are growing in one of the small polytunnels I wondered if we'd perhaps gone a tad overboard, and it got me thinking, how many of a particular veg is too many?

We grow 120+ sweetcorn, 60 pumpkins n squashes, 50 toms, 50 peppers, 25 chillies, 18 aubergines, plus lots of the more mainstream normal veg (like 4 beds of spuds, 400+ onions, 25 sprouts, 30 broccolli, 80 cabbages, 15 courgettes, etc,) for us they provide us with enough to see us thru the year, but many of our fellow allotmenteers think we grow way too much.

So, how much is too much for you?

[SarzWix]

I very rarely end up with 'too much', unfortunately. The only thing that ever comes close is beans, but they can always be left to dry, at a pinch. I *dream* of too much...

If you have lots of methods of preservation - big freezer(s), canning, dehydrator, jam equipment etc., 'too much' shouldn't ever happen really.

[smallblueplanet]

@Mrs Dobby Wow! Mega impressed!

[zazen999]

If I had more than 1 plot I'd also pack it in!

The whole point of allotmenteering is to grow as much as possible for yourselves so who are your fellow allotmenteers to moan?

[mrbadexample]

Too much is more than you can cope with, so it spoils, or if you have no friends you can give it to, more than you can eat.

[solway cropper]

It would be nice to have enough land to grow too much but I don't think my poor old bones could cope with all the work. I grow what I can in the space available and with the various preservation methods always have something home grown/made to eat. For about half the year we are completely self-sufficient in fruit and veg and I swap surplus with a neighbour in return for fresh eggs. Not quite 'the good life' but it suits me.

[Bramble_killer]

i never have too much, we eat loads of fruit and veg....

i await the day i have a glut

[buzzingtalk]

wow, that sounds like a lot of work!

out of curiosity - how much land space do you grow this within?

i would love to become as self sufficient as possible eventually, just need land

too much is never too much, if you know how to eat seasonally and preserve

[Mrs Dobby]

We grow it all on 2 neighbouring full size (10 rod) allotment plots, roughly 10m by 25 m each. We took the first plot in an unused condition 4 years ago, and were offerred the 2nd 6 months later, (at the time there were vacant plots and no waiting list).

We've 2 greenhouses on the plots, and a third at home in the back yard, 2 plastic tent coldframes (peppers) a plastic flyaway polytunnel (more toms and pepper) and 2 of the polythene cloches (aubergines in one, peppers in the other), plus a shed and 2 apiaries on the plot.

We have 3 freezers, 2 driers and plenty of kilner jars, so anything that we get a good harvest of is processed and preserved, frozen, dried or made into ketchup, jam, chutney etc, or turned into homebrew wine!

Occassionally we do get a glut, but its usually fairly easy to give away to friends and family, the usual gluts being rhubarb and courgettes!

So for us, we dont feel we grow too much (in fact we run out of spuds by Feb, we ran out of onions in March and other crops are usually seasonal anyhows), but I just wondered if anyone else ever felt like they grew too much! lol!

[taff]

I grew too many tomatoes last year, about 200 plants, but that's about the only thing. I haven't got enough space to grow too much of anything else
although there won't be that many this year...maybe 150

[bronwen]

Wow Mrs Dobby, that sounds like a full time job to look after! But absolsutely fabulous!

200 tomatoe plants taff! That is a lot!

It makes my little container garden attempts wilt in comparison! I'm going out there to do some planting!!

[chris]

I'm modelling my (our) approach on allotments/growing veg on yourself (+ mr D too), Mrs Dobby.. I aim to be self sufficient in veg like you guys are.

Just found out I'm 3rd on the list of allotments (waiting wise) at the site I want, so I am going to def take that plot on, and seeing as I get my current plot free next year, I'll have that one as well (why not? ). The plot next to my current one is free.. I am thinking of asking if I can have that one too, but I'd rather two on the site right near us.. if I ever did get around to having two side-by-side!

[Alison]

It's not just the number of plants but it's the produce you get off them. The thought of that much sweetcorn makes me feel a bit sick as I can't stand the stuff and only grow about a dozen or so for OH but assume you really like it so it's not a waste for you. I find that 20 or so tomatoes keeps us going quite well with plenty of salads, sauces and soups and actually produce more than if we crammed an extra half dozen into the same space. Other things I probably grow more of than you but it's horses for courses. We're one of the most productive plots throughout the year and I noticed that several of the plots put their beds to sleep over the winter and didn't use them at all whereas I was going up regularly to pull cabbages, sprouts, kale, carrots, parships and swede as well as using the stored stuff at home. Our plot is about 40' by 80'ish (although it does vary every time I quote it ) which is a good size and keeps us fully in veggie for the whole year with the occaisional add on bit (had to buy the first tatties in almost 2 years last week as got it a bit wrong last year and the next ones won't be ready for a couple of weeks). It also depends on how much time you have, I'm probably up the plot more than anybody else on the site but if I had less time I'd have to grow less stuff rather than fail at keeping up the higher levels of effort.

[Mrs Dobby]

Lol Chris, Im honoured that we've provided some inspiration!!

We grow all of our plants from seed, so I invariably end up planting at leats half as much again as we need, just in case of any disasters before they make it into the ground (poor germination etc), but this year we've had great germination, its probably good that we are having a plant sale at the allotment tomorrow, so I can sell on a lot of our excess seedlings!

We do both love sweetcorn, it freezes well too, both on and off the cob, so a good harvest is never wasted (and you cant beat fresh sweetcorn on the BBQ!

[Hillwalker]

I grew too many tomatoes last year, about 200 plants

200! - I get grief if I grow more than 12.