Growing a Thousand Pounds of Veggies

2015 was the year I finally broke the 1,000 pound mark on my harvests.  I still can't believe that I grew that much!  What I’ve learned about growing excessive amounts of produce is that it is a lot of work to grow, harvest, cook and preserve a thousand pounds.  In the end I’ve learned that gardening is not all about the number of pounds, but before divulging into lessons learned, I'd like explain how I got to such large harvests.

Here’s how I grow lots of veggies:

1.  Utilize as many seasons as possible.  I plant overwintering crops such as spinach, kale, onions and carrots.  Then I plant early spring crops that are fast growing such as lettuce and radish followed by summer crops.  In late summer I plant beans, carrots, turnips, peas and other fall crops.
2. Succession planting keeps the harvest coming.  I have plenty of pests in my garden, so I am constantly planting.  I start summer squash seeds inside every three weeks.  That way I have seedlings ready to transplant in case I lose plants to vine borers or squash bugs. 
3.  Maximize space with close plantings.  I use square foot spacing for most crops, which helps to reduce weeds and increase the number of plants you can squeeze into a bed.
4. Harvest often.  When you harvest crops such as beans and squash, they keep producing. 
5. Invest time and money into your soil.  Gardening always starts with quality soil with plenty of organic matter and nutrients.  I add compost and mulch every year. 

My garden has about 1,700 square feet of planting beds.  I don’t think that this is the maximum amount I can grow in that space.  I devote some of the space to growing flowers for pollinators and just because they are pretty. I also plant annual herbs such as basil, cilantro, dill and parsley among the vegetables.

Reaching a thousand pounds was a goal of mine, but as with any goal the lessons you learn in the process are more important than getting to check it off the list.  If it was just about the weight of harvests, I could plant my entire garden in sweet potatoes and blow my record out of the park. 

But there are only so many sweet potato pies a person can eat!

Here’s a breakdown of my harvests:

	lbs
Broccoli	8.68
Turnip	1.31
Lettuce	6.14
Carrot	15.68
Kale	2.90
Spinach	1.62
Chard	15.91
Amaranth	2.83
Peas	5.97
Onions	3.21
Summer squash	35.97
Green beans	54.49
Cucumbers	105.34
Soybeans	9.06
Tomatoes	202.66
Eggplant	32.59
Peppers	68.76
Corn	26.95
Winter squash	50.96
Melon	259.39
Beets	3.29
Cowpeas	4.45
Cabbage	4.81
Sweet potatoes	172.51
Radish	0.23
Total	1095.69

Too Much of a Good Thing

I’ve learned that I don’t want or need 105 lbs of cucumbers.  I have forty jars of pickles in my pantry.  Everyone I know has received Christmas pickles.  I also don’t need so many melons.  I do love melons and can easily eat an entire cantaloupe in one sitting on a summer afternoon.  However, it can get old after a few weeks.  Another lesson I learned is not to eat half a watermelon before going to the airport and getting on a three hour flight sitting in a window seat. 

The Right Amount

I, however, do not think that 200 lbs of tomatoes is too many.  I love roasted tomato sauce and made batch after batch during the growing season.  I will find out if my supply will make it until the first tomatoes of 2016.  I was overwhelmed with the amount of green beans during the summer, but I’m content with the amount I have frozen.  I have enough to eat them weekly until next summer.

Not Enough

Despite having a thousand pounds of harvests, there were some crops I would like more.  I want to grow enough leafy greens to eat them daily.  Swiss chard was the most productive green, but I would like more diversity of greens.  I did not have much luck with onions last year and would definitely like to grow more.  All those batches of tomato sauce require onions.  I love broccoli and sweet bell peppers and it seems I never have enough of them.  Also on the more list is carrots and peas- enough to freeze would be great.  I didn’t get to plant potatoes or garlic last year, so they are in the not enough category as well.

New Goals

I will continue to weigh my harvests.  I like knowing how much I grow and how much I use.  I never would imagine that I harvested a thousand pounds last year if I hadn't weighed everything.  Instead of aiming for an overall weight goal, I want to focus on growing a better balance of vegetables.  Less cucumbers and melons with more greens, onions, garlic, broccoli, peppers, carrots, peas and potatoes.  The best strategy is to grow what you eat.