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| CHEC stands for Community Housing and Employment Coop. 10 families make up CHEC - my name is Chris. We plan to live in community and we aim to make the 2acres of suburban land as productive as possible. Food gardening will be one of our core activities. We hope someone can give us authoritative references on what we should expect to achieve in gardening terms. For example, Yates, a well respected reference here in Oz, says that 100 square meters of land can supply year-round vegetables for a family of four. We are chasing down details about labour, water and nutrient inputs, as well as info on yields. While the numbers will vary from place to place, there must be 'ball-park' numbers we can refer to. Hope you can help!
I live in: New South Wales, Australia My zone is: NSW Australia You can visit my home page at: http://www.caretakers.org.au/CHEC.htm. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by beth_b_Kodiak Alaska Z2 (My Page) on Fri, Jul 26, 02 at 19:19
| Hi Chris, That sounds like a ffasinating, challenging and exciting project. As a youngster, my Dad used a book called Five Acres and independance almost as hard as a Bible. I'm sore with new hybrid varieties you can get even more out of a plot that they could then. If you can get ahold of a copy of that book it may offer some good tips. Another that may be useful, would be "Square Foot Gardening". This is a method of very tight planting and Keeping the soil in produgtion as much of the year as the weather permits.. It is non traditional, but very practical. I know this does not answer your specific question but may help you do some informed planning. Wishing you all the best. Beth |
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- Posted by KAYGARDENER BAY AREA--CALIF (My Page) on Sat, Dec 21, 02 at 2:59
| START W/ THE WEBSITE @WWW.BOUNTIFULGARDENS.COM & SEND AWAY FOR THEIR CATALOG...THEN HIT THE GARDENING SECTION OF YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY---LOTS OF WONDERFUL AUTHORS FROM ALL AROUND THE WORLD... |
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- Posted by Jacque_E_TX Z 8B E TX (My Page) on Mon, Jan 20, 03 at 21:57
| Howdy, Chris. If you choose to use Square Meter Gardening, you can just scan through Mel Bartholomew's Squarefoot Gardening Web site. For the average adult, a 4x4 foot square (about 1 square meter) provides either salad, veggies, or winter storage. So average 3 square meters per adult. YMMV, depending on climate, weather, plant culture, what you grow, etc. My layouts always include edible cutting flowers and herbs. I find square gardening gives the greatest reward for the least "sweat equity" - and produces the largest amount of the most varied foods. If you choose to "farm garden," I seriously recommend that you try at least one experimental square-meter block. I also recommend that you learn all you can about composting, composting in the garden, and mulching - especially where you can get good stuff free or at low cost. (Also what to avoid - like hay that's full of prickle seeds, etc.) A Google search works for "squarefoot gardening" - I expect other search engines will also work. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Mel's Web Site
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- Posted by Jacque_E_TX Z 8B E TX (My Page) on Mon, Jan 20, 03 at 22:20
| Howdy, Chris. If you choose to use Square Meter Gardening, you can just scan through Mel Bartholomew's Squarefoot Gardening Web site. For the average adult, a 4x4 foot square (about 1 square meter) provides either salad, veggies, or winter storage. So average 3 square meters per adult. YMMV, depending on climate, weather, plant culture, what you grow, etc. My layouts always include edible cutting flowers and herbs. I find square gardening gives the greatest reward for the least "sweat equity" - and produces the largest amount of the most varied foods. If you choose to "farm garden," I seriously recommend that you try at least one experimental square-meter block. I also recommend that you learn all you can about composting, composting in the garden, and mulching - especially where you can get good stuff free or at low cost. (Also what to avoid - like hay that's full of prickle seeds, etc.) A Google search works for "squarefoot gardening" - I expect other search engines will also work. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Mel's Web Site
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| Have you tried the 'lasagna gardening' forum? I love it when I realize I can get MORE doing LESS strenuous work... |
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