Grow your own salad: plants for salad all season
Lettuce, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, and carrot.
For a family of 4 making garden salad weekly in season (20 times a year), grow:
| Crop | Amount | Plants | Bed sq ft | Yield assumption | Seeds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leaf lettuce | 12 lb | 39 (23 to 58) | 10 | 5 lb per 10 ft of row, so about 0.3 lb per plant with cut and come again picking. | Shop Seeds Now |
| Cherry tomato | 9.2 lb | 2 (1 to 3) | 8 | About 6 lb per plant. Smaller fruit, long harvest. | Shop Seeds Now |
| Slicing cucumber | 6.9 lb | 2 (2 to 4) | 4 | 12 lb per 10 ft of row at 3 to 4 plants, so about 3.5 lb per plant. Trellised. | Shop Seeds Now |
| Carrot | 3.5 lb | 21 (14 to 29) | 1.5 | 10 lb per 10 ft of row at 2 inch spacing, so about 0.17 lb per carrot. | Shop Seeds Now |
| Total | 23.5 | ||||
Garden ingredients per recipe (4 side servings)
- 8 cups leaves leaf lettuce
- 1/2 cucumber slicing cucumber
- 1 cup cherry tomato
- 1 carrot carrot
From the pantry
- to taste dressing
Tear lettuce, slice the rest, dress just before serving.
Change household size or combine dishes in the Plate to Plot tool
Sources and assumptions
Amounts include 15 percent extra for culls, pests, and kitchen trim. Plant counts use the typical yield; the range uses the high and low yields. Bed space assumes intensive beds at recommended spacing. Yields vary with variety, weather, and soil.
- Kansas State University Research and Extension, MF315 Vegetable Garden Planting Guide (average crop per 10 feet of row)
- University of Maine Cooperative Extension, Planting Chart for the Home Vegetable Garden
- Clemson HGIC, How Much to Grow: Planning for Year-Round Garden Productivity
- ThriveThyme estimate from typical harvests (no single extension table lists this crop per plant)
- National Center for Home Food Preservation (USDA tested canning and pickling recipes)
Guides and tools
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