You Only Need 1m² (10ft²) To Grow a Huge Amount of Food.

If 17kg gives you 210 portions, your portions must be very small. I would calculate for myself that a portion is around 350g of vegetables, then for me 50 portions would be 17,5kg.
And for 210 portions I'd need 73,5kg food.
I've ordered 2 of your books, they should arrive any day now. Looking forward to the new one, too. Cheers

According to my search, 12-13 beans form one 'portion'. I can eat that many in just two mouthfuls, so 'portion' sizes are nonsense.

Very interesting. 10kg onion / m2? Im lucky if I get half that.

Dont forget to calculate the amount of portions the slugs gonna eat😉

My attempts at carrots, beetroot, turnips, and brassicas didn't really work this year. Mostly those went towards feeding slugs and caterpillars.

Utilising space, and the timings of things, is definitely a struggle, but it feels like this coming spring my biggest struggle will be enthusiasm.

Watching this kind of video always just makes me realise just how far north northern Scotland is. Our growing season is far too short to allow a great deal of meaningful succession planting. By the time my courgettes are finished fruiting there is no way there's enough light for anything to grow a meaningful amount before it's winter. And sure, I put my garlic in when another crop has finished, but it's then there until mid August. And mid August is really too late to grow anything other than maybe radishes when your growing season mostly ends in mid September, maybe early October in a good year! When compared with southern England where my in-laws are I have to wait a full two months before I can plant the same plants outdoors, and the growing season ends at least a month earlier too. I can't imagine how much more I could grow with an extra 3 months in my growing calendar! I should probably try and grow kale in the polytunnel over winter, but I don't think there's much other succession sowing I could be doing that would make much difference!

Dude, it's okay, if it rains you can wear different clothes for the rest of the video

Grow what you enjoy eating it's a constant reminder as I tend to search / plant things that I end up not liking much, just because there are uncommon or challenging crops 😂 most definitely I'm not the only one

I am trialling growing zucchini and gherkins vertically this year as it's supposed to take up less space...there are many plants that you can do this with apparently

So are you constantly sowing seeds so you have plants to replace when you harvest. If so how often are you sowing seeds

When will i be able to order in Australia please

"if it's not in your belly, don't grow it" love this piece of advice, thanks Huw and happy gardening. Sam

very interesting

That was a good frame pun :)

This is what I do for most of my vegetables even former wild ones I collected seeds from like dandelion, nettles, dock etc

So if You calculate about 1000 portions per person and year, You could in optimal conditions feed a family with just about 40 square meters? That’s amazing.

It's good to have some perennials and biennials that are always there to crop, eg. land cress, sorrel and spinach, not to mention lots of lovely herbs, fennel, sage, mint and oregano (still in November), rosemary and parsley.
I grow wild garlic, nettles, dandelions and cleavers for delicious Spring soups. The changing climate means that the growing season is extended.
It means that I can leave my potatoes (Java, this year) in the ground, as I have nowhere to store them.
Also plants that self seed are invaluable...Red Russian Kale, beet spinach, Mizuna, Rocket, Red and Green Mustard leaves.
I too plant up a crop, or manure, as soon as the ground is vacated...peas and beans provide their own nitrogen. Green manures are useful for protecting any bare ground and can be chopped, covered in cardboard and mulched at any time (I'm 'no dig')
I grow comfrey for mulching and adding nutrients to the soil, and get about six cuttings off each plant each year...it's an amazingly productive plant.
Winter crops are leeks, parsnips, turnips, black radish, early purple sprouting, but I'm still harvesting, as needed, beetroot, turnip, Romanesco cauliflower, spinach and 'spicy leaves'. I don't need to buy any veg. The celeriac provides lovely celery type leaves for stews and soups and then I have the root when I am ready!
Despite the drought this year, my half allotment plot has been very productive....peas and beans galore, onions, shallots, garlic, early (Caledonian Pearl) and main crop potatoes. I'm thankful 🙏

I need actual land. Can only grow in pots and also need space for that. 😅

Just pre-ordered your book. I need a simple book like this that makes it easier to grow my own food ands become more self-sufficient.

Love the concept. Is this new book much different from The Self Sufficiency Garden?

The two things I need, planning and organization ! ☺

love your explanations !!

please translate the book to Dutch if you can, thank you :)

What if the portions changes from time to time like where I live its getting cold soon so just to keep warm I would require bigger portions and then in the summer smaller... What then? Just makes you wonder

17 kilos equal to 210 portions means a portion is about 80g. Not sure that's enough for me. A portion of ONE specific vegetable, yes! But not as a meal portion.

I do similar, my space/ beds are 4 X 5 feet for 20 square feet. I plant year round, I purchase very little from the grocery in town.

Never enough beet root! This year I planted more but they all stayed very small as if to taunt me ;-) Thanks for this no-nosense approach to gardening. I learned so much about succession planting from you and your books over the years and it made all the difference. Next goal is to not have to buy compost but rather create fertility from my own resources such as comfrey and field horsetail.

You can certainly supplement your diet in a small space for a couple seasons, but obviously can’t be sustainable year round. My last apartment I had a 5 by 25 foot bed, and from May until October or November rarely bought veg. Starting with lettuce and green onions in spring, and everything else beets, chard,, eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, beans, ect Hopefully more space in future tho…☘️🍀

We grow a lot of food seasonally and started indoor growing year-round, in earnest. Not a greenhouse, but in a spare room. Mainly scallions, celery, herbs, and greens. We get many more cuttings from the greens and herbs rather than harvesting the entire plant. It's nice to have salad fixings available anytime without having to go to a grocery store.

I need to learn this for tomatoes 😅 We are on a corner lots with a short fence, so next season I will be growing a ton of sweet cherry tomatoes all around the outer fence with a sign saying “help yourself”. That way I can grow all my seeds from 43 varieties without having too many in my main garden, and it’ll keep the deer out as they hate tomatoes here. I can even grow plants under them like short herbs or greens..

Soil from Harrodsburg I think.

Your math is wrong.



10 square feet is not enough land to grow a huge amount of food. 200 square feet is what is recommended, and this is the minimum amount of land that is used to be able to grow food for 1 person, and for the entire year. Yes, you could use less amount of space to grow your food, but you will not be able to grow a huge amount of food.



Currently I am using less than 200 square feet to grow my food, and I am only able to grow a little bit of food, and the food I grow is not a huge amount, and the amount of food I grow does not last me the entire year.

Book sounds good -

I've never been able to successfully start seedlings and transplant them, but I'm still trying!

Book links not working

Id love to see the equivalent but for a tropical climate. Any suggestions?

Does Sam have a cook book.

Huw, do you do open days,? Because it would be easier to get my head around your plot and planting regime if I could see it on the ground as it were.

🙏👍👏

Why not release it sooner on kindle if it is finished ? ;)

Great video 👌

I've always wanted to grow my own food. I live in the Philippines with a different climate. Does your book cover vegetables than can grow in tropical climates, too?