How many plants to feed two?

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Biscombe

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How many plants to feed two?
« on: May 06, 2006, 16:29 »
Hi all! How many plants do you recommend to feed two people? I think I've gone a bit mad!!! :shock: and may end up with an extreme glut!! got 30 tomato plants 20 peppers 10 aubergine 15 squash/pumkin 3 corgette list goes on!! have I bitten off more than I can chew!!!!! I only get sat - mon in the garden! Should I start looking for a deep freezer?????????? I know a lot depends on the varieties etc.......... PS and we are vegetarian!
Happy Gardening

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Heather_S

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How many plants to feed two?
« Reply #1 on: May 06, 2006, 17:04 »
I normally have 2 cherry tomato plants and that's just for me and that can get to be a little too much for me (I don't do preserves with tomatoes and DH doesn't eat raw tomatoes so it's only raw tomatoes for me).
I always grow my sweet pepper plants in one of those plastic covered growhouse/greenhouses and in a good year I got over 20 peppers, gradually, off of 4 plants. (Rainbow F1 variety from Mr. Fothergill).
I've read that 2 courgette plants is enough for a small family so maybe for two people you only need one plant.
15 squash/pumpkins is rather a lot... when I was reading about pumpkins it said to plant 5 plants, 6inches apart in a 3ft hill ... each hill needs to be 10ft apart from one another. How much space do you have set aside for these? They are easily trained to go where you want but they can easily take over a whole plot if you're not careful. I have 3 pumpkin plants in a 3m x 9m space, just smack dab in the middle.
Sorry I don't know anything about aubergines, i only just started trying them a little bit (food-wise not growing them!) this year so I'm not ready to grow them yet.
wistfully hoping to one day be mostly organic gardener in North London.

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Biscombe

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How many plants to feed two?
« Reply #2 on: May 06, 2006, 17:39 »
Thanks Heather good advice!! I better get looking for tomato and pumkin recipies!!!! we're lucky and have a farmhouse on 2500m2 of land so space is not a problem but I may have a lot of work on my hands for just the two of us!!!!!!!

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John

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How many plants to feed two?
« Reply #3 on: May 06, 2006, 18:14 »
You can be pretty self sufficient in veggies on one tenth of that space!

I'd suggest 2 courgette plants is enough. You'll have twice as many tomatoes as you'll need all year! I'd suggest getting a large chest freezer and consider bottling tomatoes (the French supermarkets seem to sell the gear as well)

Get a rotovator - Leroy Merlin have a good selection -they save you hours of work.

The biggest problem with growing your own is  you need to sow for double your needs to cover the inevitable losses.

2 Aubergine plants are probably plenty as well and one cucumber. Don't forget to grow what you like. I'm amazed by people who grow things like broad beans and then say they don't like them!

Good Luck

John
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nitiram

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How many plants to feed two?
« Reply #4 on: May 06, 2006, 19:25 »
Welcome to a fellow vegetarian....you will definitely need two freezers with that lot of plants.!

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Biscombe

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How many plants to feed two?
« Reply #5 on: May 06, 2006, 20:06 »
Thanks for the replies everyone! Mmmmmm I think in my 1/2nd year of vegi gardening I've been over enthusiastic!!!!! better look for a freezer!

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Biscombe

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How many plants to feed two?
« Reply #6 on: May 06, 2006, 23:02 »
John I don't use all the space! I would have to give up work!!!!! enough to do as it is!!!!! I'll check out Leroy Merlin!! thanks for the advice as always :D

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John

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How many plants to feed two?
« Reply #7 on: May 07, 2006, 08:53 »
Quote from: "Biscombe"
John I don't use all the space! I would have to give up work!!!!!

That sounds like a good idea, to me (giving up work)
I suppose there is a bigger market in France (and Spain?) for rotovators which is why they have much better prices for them. I wondered about buying them over there and selling them in the UK.

In fact, if I was in France I'd be tempted to try selling them over Ebay to test out the market.

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Biscombe

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How many plants to feed two?
« Reply #8 on: May 07, 2006, 09:30 »
Good idea! This is the link for rotavators

www.leroymerlin.es/mpng2-front/pre?zone=zonecatalogue&idLSPub=1066298895&renderall=on&07-entete-ssfamille-comparable-render=off&lmstat=JARDIN_Motoazadas

Even better idea to give up work! few more years to go yet, or keep buying the lotto tickets!!!!!

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John

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How many plants to feed two?
« Reply #9 on: May 07, 2006, 13:31 »
The 2nd hand prices for rotovators on Ebay is really high so not such a silly idea if you can get delivery to a reasonable price. The only other problem I could see was if they weren't working but with the EU guarantee laws maybe they already have UK service sentres.

The machine you buy will depend on the soil type (you need a tough machine for heavy clays) and your strength. My Merry Tiller is a bit hard to wrestle for me.
Having said that, David's Howard Gem with forward and reverse gears seems easier in some ways. That's more of a walk behind tractor than a cultivator though.
I can do more with my tiller in an hour than I can with a spade in a day.  But my shoulders ache either way  :)

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Ian_P

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How many plants to feed two?
« Reply #10 on: May 11, 2006, 16:49 »
I love my Mantis. I bought it on eBay for what seems quite a high price, £200, but it came with some extra attachments. Many of these Mantis are hardly used as was mine, so I saved about £100-£120 over new price.

I have a bit of a back problem, but this is so light that I can carry it in one hand and it definitely can do more than I can with a spade, either in clay or lighter soil. Because it rotates fast the ground is left almost at seed bed tilth after a cross rotovating.

The only problem I have noticed is that is the ground is wet the times are so close together that it clags up quickly and I have to poke out the clay with something.
Ian

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