5 a day + grow your own: Is it possible?

Is it, realistically, possible to feed a family (of 4) on a 5 a day diet of fruit and veg ,throughout a year, from growing your own?

What would you need to plant; and when?
How much space would you, realistically, need?
What, and how much, would you need to plant?

With the recent Autumn/Winter weather, what would be viable?

If not wholly viable, what would be considered a good 'catch crop/s' to make it all worthwhile, even with a few shop bought supplements?

 

It surely must be possible, given sufficient land, but could get monotonous from time to time.

Would eating home-preserved food during winter/ early spring count? I'm thinking bottled plums, frozen rasps/blackberries, dried beans/peas etc

Having a growtunnel or greenhouse to protect winter crops and for making an early start in spring would be a great help.

Would you count spuds as a veg for the 5 a day purposes? I'm always told that's not allowed (by the killjoy bf) but I think that's to discourage the nation from eating 5 portions of chips a day.

My first thoughts would be to have a series of leafy veg always on the go - spinach, chard, leaf beet etc, as they stand a long time, keep regrowing and will give a renewed crop in early spring.

Root veg would be a must for similar reasons, they could be eaten anytime from summer through to the next year if carefully looked after.

 

It must be possible. Maybe difficult but possible surely.

I can't provide the answers because I'm still learning (and so far failing) to be close to self sufficient, but I'm mostly focusing on the more expensive end of stuff, so I've accumulated a few soft fruit bushes and loads of strawberry plants etc.

I've got Leaf Beet out there (Chard - bright lights) which is a great salad leaf when young, and seemingly perennial and evergreen, but I get sick of it. Last year I had a go at Geoff Hamilton's technique of growing veg in the borders, with some success, but it wasn't enough to keep us going.

I think nasturtium should be in any kitchen garden. Its so easy, pretty and delicious.

 

I'd start with crops you like, crops that are easy and reliable, and crops that last a long time. You could establish a yearly plan showing what you could reasonably expect to be harvesting in every month of the year. Then work backwards from that to get the times of sowing/planting and the quantity you might need for 4 people.

You might also work out weekly eating plans - you'll need 140 portions per week - making allowances for sufficient variety, fall-back veg if a crop fails etc. This might also help you to work backwards and decide what has to be sown/planted to meet your needs.

I think you'll have to farm your entire garden and buy a big freezer, though.

A friend of mine has an organic veg garden with 12 raised veg beds, about 3'x5' each, and a large fruit cage. She has a greenhouse and land with apple trees on. I know she aims to eat home-grown salad every day, I'll have to ask her how close she is to being 5 a day self-sufficient.

 

no

 

Yes!

 

Full sized allotment was originally sized (I believe?) to be sufficient space to grow all the veg a family would need. Dunno about 5 a day though ...

We are self sufficient in Vegetables for about 10 months of the year, its the Hungry Gap in the Spring that is always a struggle (I don't bother to try too hard with that, I don't mind buying in the Supermarket, just prefer not to).

There are some varieties of Apple that keep really well (indeed, that taste better for being stored), so with a half-decent storage capability (not too hot) that would see you through to Spring.

Strawberries will crop over a decent period (there are some decent varieties that repeat-fruit), and I have Raspberries varieties from First-early (early July from memory) that crop through until the first frost. We have Blackberries, Currants, Gooseberries plus a Grape in the greenhouse too, plus Cherries and a Fig on a South facing wall

A decent South facing wall (lean-too greenhouse even better) would give some great fruit crops of things that need a warmer climate.

 

Just looked up a couple of the Apples that I have planted this year (we chose varieties we liked, but also for their cropping date)

Beauty of Bath will ripen in mid-July in southern England
...
Braeburn keeps well, and there are American heritage varieties that will keep well until April.

Bit monotonous if your only fruit from July to April was Apples though!

 

Yes.
Remember, people managed before fridges and freezers. I won't say it was always the most varied but it was possible.
As a bit of an experiment I grew some peas that are grown in the alps one winter. They did grow and I got a few peas so I guess anything can be made to work.

 

I believe (could be wrong) that the size was set to support a whole family, including those members that can no longer do the work themselves because they're too old, so an allotment would have been meant to support maybe three generations (back then, 3 generations in one go was as much as you could expect), and I believe families were often larger then too.

Of course it seems people also ate less, supplemented their food supply with foraged stuff from the wild, and made use of stuff that most would now consider waste.

I've got a replica of a government issue recipe book from WW2 somewhere, its quite fascinating. It seems that an entire meal was made out of practically nothing.

Also notice how a lot of tiny houses that were originally built to house miners, steelworkers and so on, often have disproportionately large gardens given the size of the house. Apparently that's because the people that lived in them simply didn't get paid enough to feed their families well, so they were encouraged to grow their own.

 

Poor potatoes. They get such an unfair reputation. I think its because many people throw the best bit away. All the goodness is in the skin.

 

I think it's because they are counted as carbohydrate, when (to me anyway) it's perfectly obvious they are a vegetable.
Shiney, I believe all the 5 a day have to be different. Although, better to repeat a few than not eat them at all, in my view!

 

Put ketchup on them, just to make sure ...