How Many Plants per Person for a Vegetable Garden
Extension planting amounts per person for tomatoes, peppers, beans, greens, roots, and more, with expected yield per 10 feet of row.
Published by ThriveThyme
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How Many Plants per Person for a Vegetable Garden
Kansas State University Research and Extension publishes a planting guide with two useful columns: average yield per 10 feet of row, and about how much to plant per person. The per person amounts assume fresh eating plus some extra to store. Double them if you can or freeze a lot.
Per Person Planting Amounts
| Crop | Expected yield per 10 ft of row | Plant per person |
|---|---|---|
| Tomatoes | 10 lb | 3 to 5 plants |
| Peppers | 6 lb | 3 to 5 plants |
| Eggplant | 10 lb | 2 to 3 plants |
| Cucumbers | 12 lb | 1 to 2 hills |
| Summer squash | 15 lb | 2 to 3 hills |
| Winter squash | 10 lb | 1 to 3 hills |
| Bush snap beans | 12 lb | 15 to 16 ft of row |
| Pole snap beans | 15 lb | 5 to 6 ft of row |
| Sweet corn | 1 dozen ears | 10 to 15 ft of row |
| Broccoli | 10 lb | 3 to 5 plants |
| Cabbage | 15 lb | 3 to 4 plants |
| Collards and kale | 10 lb | 5 to 10 ft of row |
| Leaf lettuce | 5 lb | 10 ft of row |
| Spinach | 4 to 5 lb | 5 to 10 ft of row |
| Carrots | 10 lb | 5 to 10 ft of row |
| Beets | 15 lb | 5 to 10 ft of row |
| Onions | 10 lb | 3 to 5 ft of row |
| Garlic | 4 lb | 1 to 5 ft of row |
| Potatoes | 10 lb | 50 to 100 ft of row |
| Sweet potatoes | 10 lb | 5 to 10 plants |
Source: Kansas State University MF315.
Why Per Person Tables Miss
Per person tables assume an average eater. Real households are not average. A family that makes salsa every week needs more tomatoes and onions than one that eats a salad twice a month, and a family that cans needs several times more.
A better way is to start with what you cook. If you make fresh salsa weekly for 12 summer weeks for 4 people, you use about 12 lb of tomatoes. With 15 percent extra and about 8 lb per plant, that is 2 slicing tomato plants just for salsa, before any for sandwiches or sauce.
Plan From Your Meals
The Plate to Plot tool does this math for 36 garden dishes. Pick the dishes you cook and how often, set your household size, and it gives plant counts, bed space, planting dates for your zone, and a seed list. See plan your garden from what you cook for how the numbers work.
To turn plant counts into a seed order by household size, use the Seed Order Planner.