I have a question about those urban gardens.I live in Washington state and i'm wondering how much space it takes to completely feed a person from a garden. Can it fit in a back/front yard? Could you feed a whole family from a yard? We currently have a lawn , and i would love to rip it out and put in a garden.
I have a fgreind who has a raised garden of sorts, it isn't much bigger than 20 x 30 feet and he raises tomato's, onions, potato's cucumbers and green beans in it. It ends up with more than a family of 5 can eat and sells the rest. He doesn't make rows he puts it in plots and it works out great for him.
A small garden cared for and well maintained, will produce more than a garden that is too big to take care of. Don't sound like what, I say makes much sense, but with a little experience, you'll under stand what I'm saying.
Indeed a big garden can be overwhelming, especially for a newbie. Some species produce a lot too (such as tomatoes and zucchinis, they can be pretty pandemic), so it's not necessary to have a lot of them in your garden to get enough of what you need. Even a tiny but well planned garden can be sustainable. I made a garden on a 4' x 10' balcony this year, using pots and big plastic bins as garden beds, and the results exceeded my expectations. Not only did it produce enough food so far to cover the needs of 2 adults (including an expectant mom-to-be), but there is enough fruits, herbs and veggies left to make preserves that we'll enjoy during fall and winter. I'm not sure it's gonna cover all our needs until spring, but this is still gonna make us save tons of money so it's definetely worth it no matter what.
I have seen dozens of ways that a small yard could feed a family of four. Completely? I suppose that would depend on all sorts of things, like whether you want to grow grains, trees for fruit, consume meat... but the easy answer is yes it can be done. In my yard, the ground is toxic. I grow enough on an 8'x16' deck in containers to keep a family of four with two "starving" teenagers in fresh produce from July through September. It's not complete, but it sure helps the grocery budget! And I LOVE sitting on my little deck-paradise, watching all those amazing little plants growing! It's like a mental-health bonus to me!
I looked for the answer to this question quite a while back, and the answer I found was 4,000 sf per adult, if all you ate was a vegetarian diet, per year. I think I just searched for something like "how much land to feed one person per year" or something like that. I guess then you have to take into account whether or not your part of Washington has a long enough growing season. In our part of the state, we are finding greenhouses makes a huge difference, and then we can also grow vertically as well, giving us more growing area yet.
Just enough to feel aesthetically pleasing imo. Besides, something too large is generally a royal ass pain to take care of.
