Planning An Acreage Garden: A Mixed Annual & Perennial Garden for a Family of Five

Reader Contribution by Rosemary Hansen
Published on January 15, 2019
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The past 10 years I have had my suburban lot vegetable garden: six 10-sq.-ft raised beds in my backyard: small scale gardening.

After moving to our acreage in rural British Columbia, Canada, I now have a big garden to play in! I can grow corn in big sections, and a large area for trailing squashes and prize-winning pumpkins (okay that’s a bit optimistic). I can grow artichokes and watch their prickly lavender blossoms attract bees and butterflies! The possibilities are limitless.

The question is, what size garden does a family need? There are many things to consider when planning a vegetable patch for a family of five. First, we are just starting our farm and therefore need to focus on high-calorie foods that are easy to grow and are nutritionally dense (to get the ‘best bang for the buck’, or really ‘best bang for our precious time’). Also, my plan is to store a lot of it in our root cellar. That means lots of root vegetables, apples, cabbage, etc. We are not planning on selling any of our harvest at a local market. Too much to take on for our first year! Like Joel Salatin has advised to newbie farmers, “take it slow”.

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