Allthough this is my first year at SFG, and, I'm no pro at advice, I at least want to pass along some info that was given to me (I asked the same question). This may not really answer your question, but hopefully it's some info that will help you along the way.

Your garden size depends on many factors that only you can answer. How often do you want to eat vegetables? How much vegetables are you wanting per meal sitting? What are you wanting to make for the vegetable part of your meals? And many more questions along those lines.

My personal opinion is to plant as many beds as you can fit. Not only for the fun of it, but for pollenation purposes too. Of each type, plant at least two or three, if not more. That way if one happens to die out, you have others to compensate. Also, take note of your growing season windows. You can find out the harvest time of your individual plants and plant them at different times throughout the year so that the harvesting is staggered. I'm in Texas, but I would suspect that even up in your area you have more than just one growing season. You could probably get a spring, summer, and fall crop if you time your plants just right. Some plants like the warmer weather, some like the cooler weather.

I agree with the advice above saying plant as many as you can fit, but would modify that to fit as many as you can afford. Off the top of my head I probably paid ~100 per bed for wood, trellis, and Mel's ingredients to fill each bed. This is big box store prices, and no homemade compost yet. So, after the first two I had to think in cents rather than dollars, and do some things differently.

Good luck.

That's what I paid too at a local nursery. A 4x4 raised bed and four bags of Ladybug brand garden soil was $99. I bet I could have gone cheaper if I just bough my own wood as my beds are made of composit material. As for my plants, I am lucky in that the school my wife works for has a 4h club and they have a huge onsite greenhouse where we were able to get starter plants for dirt cheap because she is a teacher.

Anyways, to odellohio, I'm sure the SFG community would love to see or hear about your SFG ventures. Please post back some pics or story of how it goes and good luck!

Well, the good news is that we have the materials to build a couple boxes now. And we can get free compost, so that's a start until we get our own bin going. I ordered the book and it might be here tomorrow, and an arborist came out and it looks like once we trim back some overgrown trees, I should be on my way. I think I will just do a couple beds this coming year, and see how much we get out of those. We love salads at our house so if I could get enough lettuce, radish and carrots to fill need, I will already be ahead of where we are now! I will definitely share pics as we go along!

Sounds like you're on your way to having fresh salad ingredients even this fall. Lettuce grows fast as long as you plant in rich soil & water daily in the hot weather. You might need to shade it a bit now.

Our daughter told me yesterday she's figured she & hubby have saved about $60 just in lettuce greens from growing their own this summer. First time gardens can be productive!

Your original question was about how to have enough to keep you in salads...

One way to plant enough for harvest for your family of 5 is to plant each week what you'd eat each week. Lettuces can be cut & grow again for up to 3 cuttings or you can pick the outer leaves & let the centers grow.

I prefer to plant transplants as somehow direct sowing lettuce doesn't work as well for me.

For varieties: Romaines stay crunchy. Leaf lettuces are easy to cut & come again harvest.
Kids will eat what they grow, so you're off to a great start with them.

Doesn't the book say one 4x4 box per person? Larger or more boxes for enough for canning, freezing or drying.

I encourage gardeners to start what they can care for planting, watering, weeding, & harvesting. If they can't do a box per person the 1st year.

I can't remember if mulch is mentioned in the book, but I have good results with mulching in the boxes using dried grass clippings from grass w/o weed & feed. It keeps the soil moist & decomposes adding nutrients. The grass clippings dry quickly on a tarp just stir with a stick or plastic rake throughout the day. Cover by folding the tarp over at night if not dry yet & dry another day. I've taken a week or more sometimes to dry it & it still works once dry even if it gets a bit sour smelling.

Hope that helps!
Corrine