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How much should I plant?

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED APR 13, 2020

How many of each of these seeds to plant? It depends on your family's tastes, and how much time and space you have. Also, the pepper seeds really should have been planted awhile ago; they're notoriously slow to germinate, so try to find transplants now. (Photo: Kathy Morrison)

Some guidelines for estimating a garden you'll eat

What to plant? That question is on the mind of every vegetable gardener right now.

Think before you buy seed – or dig. You’ll thank yourself later.

The UC Master Gardeners of Sacramento County have this advice:

“It is tempting to try growing a large variety of vegetables. A better approach might be to consider what you and your family like to eat.”

Poll your family members. Will they really eat a whole row of daikon radishes? What about okra? Or beets?

“Then consider the space that you have available,” add the master gardeners. “Plant only as large a garden as you can easily maintain, as there is a time commitment (thinning, weed and pest control, irrigation, fertilization). A smaller, properly tended garden will be more productive and satisfying than a larger garden receiving minimal attention.”

Right now, it seems like you may have all the gardening time in the world. But will that be true when life returns to relative normal?

Also consider how much your family will actually eat when those veggies are ready for harvest. Some crops – such as tomatoes – can be readily preserved. But lettuce? Those heads need to be eaten fresh, not frozen.

Garden Gate Magazine came up with a vegetable calculator with estimates per person and for a family of four. Find it here: https://bit.ly/2V2BUIK

Some estimates seem pretty high (such as 24 lettuce plants per person), but that consumption depends on the size of the heads at harvest – and how much you like salad. Also, that lettuce harvest may be spaced year-round, not just one season.

For summer favorites, here are estimates of how much to plant this month for two people:

Beans (bush) – 30 plants

Beans (runner) – 20 plants

Corn – 24 plants

Cucumbers – Two vines or bushes

Eggplant – Three plants

Melon – Two plants

Onions – 40 sets

Peppers – Six plants (mixed varieties)

Squash – Two plants

Tomatoes – Four plants

Zucchini – Two plants

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An article about gardening.

Keywords:

UCCE master gardeners seeds tomatoes Sacramento small space gardening spring planting corn gardening planning vegetables summer vegetables summer squash

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Food in My Back Yard Series

May 6: Maintain soil moisture with mulch for garden success

April 29: What's (already) wrong with my tomato plants?

April 22: Should you stock up on fertilizer? (Yes!)

April 15: Grow culinary herbs in containers

April 8: When to plant summer vegetables

April 1: Don't be fooled by these garden myths

March 25: Fertilizer tips: How to 'feed' your vegetables for healthy growth

March 18: Time to give vegetable seedlings some more space

March 11: Ways to win the fight against weeds

March 4: Potatoes from the garden

Feb. 25: Plant a fruit tree now -- for later

Feb. 18: How to squeeze more food into less space

Feb. 11: When to plant? Consider staggering your transplants

Feb. 4: Starting in seed starting

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Garden Checklist for week of May 11

Make the most of the lower temperatures early in the week. We’ll be back in the 80s by Thursday.

* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. Time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.

* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.

* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.

* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters. (You also can transplant seedlings for many of the same flowers.)

* Plant dahlia tubers.

* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.

* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.

* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.

* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.

* Add mulch to the garden to maintain moisture. Mulch also cuts down on weeds. But don’t let it mound around the stems or trunks of trees or shrubs. Leave about a 6-inch-to-1-foot circle to avoid crown rot or other problems.

* Remember to weed! Pull those nasties before they set seed.

* Water early in the day and keep seedlings evenly moist.

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