• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary navigation
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Carol J. Michel

Award winner author of gardening humor books

  • About
    • Contact
  • Blog
  • Books
    • Shop
    • Gardening Humor
    • Children’s Books
    • New – The Halloween Hare
  • Social
    • YouTube
    • Instagram
  • The Gardenangelists Podcast
  • Gardening Humor
  • Children’s
  • All Books

May Dreams Gardens

How Big Is Your Vegetable Garden

March 3, 2009 By Carol Michel 40 Comments

How big is your vegetable garden?

As we all compare notes on seed purchases, tomato varieties, and radish choices, I wonder what size gardens others are planting.

My own vegetable garden is set up as raised beds. There are…

Eight 4’ x 8’ beds, which gives me 256 sq. ft. of planting area, plus…
Three 4’ x 4’ beds, which gives me another 48 sq. ft., plus…
Three 2’ x 8’ beds, which provides another 48 sq. ft., plus…
Two 2’ x 4’ beds, which adds another 16 sq. ft. plus
One 4’ x 6’ bed, which provides another 24 sq. ft.

This gives me a total of 492 sq. ft. of raised bed gardens to plant in.

I should memorize that number because I’m often asked “how big is your garden”.

It actually takes up well over 492 sq. ft. of my yard because there are generously wide paths between the beds, wide enough to move around with a wheelbarrow. There is also an area where there are three side by side compost bins, which are about 9’ across all together, and a couple of other open areas, one of which is behind a large shrub, making it the perfect spot for hiding the compost tumbler from general viewing from the rest of the yard. Oh, and there’s a giant rock that I had to work around.

Once I set up the raised beds, year to year maintenance has been minimal. I usually bring in a few cubic yards of mulch for the paths and make sure the raised bed frames are more or less level and squared up at the beginning of the gardening season.

Last year, I skipped mulching the paths… must have gone to Texas that weekend or something, and soon found out that skipping that mulching was a big mistake. There were weeds coming up all over the place. Yes, I did line the paths with some landscape fabric when I first mulched them, but the mulch has slowly decomposed over the years and now it appears to be an excellent growing medium for weeds.

I’ll fix that this year with… more mulch.

I also need to replace a few of the raised bed frames. I used 1 x 6 cedar boards, but even those don’t last forever. I’ve looked into replacing them with manufactured boards, which should theoretically last forever, but after figuring out how many feet of board I would need and pricing that out, I decided not to do that for now. I’m hoping to get one more year out of what I have, and then look into replacing some of the boards next year.

The big decision to be made in the next few weeks is which bed to plant the early spring crops in, because you know that around here, we like to plant those peas around St. Patrick’s Day, March 17th, and that’s just TWO WEEKS from now!

How big is your vegetable garden?

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: vegetable gardening

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Ewa says

    March 3, 2009 at 10:22 am

    that made me realise how small is my vegetable area 🙁
    will try to expand it 🙂
    greetings,
    e

    Reply
  2. Anonymous says

    March 3, 2009 at 12:15 pm

    I have about 300 square feet worth of raised beds but I’m always guilty of sneaking more vegetables into my border beds with the flowers.

    Reply
  3. Colleen Vanderlinden says

    March 3, 2009 at 12:20 pm

    Oh, let me think. I have:

    Two 4 foot by 8 foot raised beds= 64 sq. feet

    One 8 by 10 foot bed (with very narrow paths)=80 sq. feet

    One 10 by 3 foot bed = 30 square feet

    The new bed, which is 12 feet by 20 feet (it will include narrow paths once I figure out how I want to lay the bed out) =240 sq. feet

    Two 6 by 4 foot raised beds = 48 square feet

    Total bed space is 462 square feet (minus a bit for paths I still need to add). So, pretty close to the size of your garden. I had half the space last year, so I’m looking forward to having more room this year.

    Reply
  4. Phillip Oliver says

    March 3, 2009 at 1:51 pm

    I only have a very tiny area for a few tomatoes and peppers. However, I’m wanting what you’ve got but I’m not willing to give up my ornamentals to make room for it. However, there is tons of space at my mother’s house and I am seriously contemplating starting a vegetable garden there this year. She has terrible hard clay soil so the raised bed thing is a must. I appreciate the information on the kind of woods you used. I would be interested to hear about your soil mix – did you bring purchased soil in to fill the beds?

    Reply
  5. Jen says

    March 3, 2009 at 2:20 pm

    I have 7 3×12 raised beds which comes in at 252 square feet.

    I also have a 4×40 section that is slowly getting filled with berry bushes.

    Then there is the 10×50 section that is waiting to get planted with fruit trees (someday).

    I’m also hoping that our ginormous hill (30×15?) will get terraced this year so I can plant that with perennial veg….

    Our front yard is just flowers right now but I’m planning on mixing in some peppers and squash and adding a herb bed.

    Basically I want to turn all of my 66×140 property into food/flowers.

    Lol it might take me awhile.

    Reply
  6. Anonymous says

    March 3, 2009 at 2:39 pm

    I bought a house with a huge but rocky back yard about 4 months. I bought 8 ft. landscape timbers and stacked them 2 timbers high — about 9 inches. Then I ordered 11 cubic yards of garden soil delivered to my driveway. The past 2 weekends I have been carted the soil from the front to the back and filling my raised beds.
    I have:
    two 8 by 8 beds…that’s 128 sq ft.
    one 8 by 16 bed…that’s 128 sq ft.
    one 8 by 24 bed…that’s 192 sq ft.
    Total: 448 sq ft.
    I’m planting flowers in some beds and vegetables in others. Plus a bed for hostas, cannas and ferns around a shady pecan tree that’s back there. Plus pots.
    I’m almost finished carting the dirt and just waiting til the last frost so I can start putting seedlings and seeds in the ground.

    Reply
  7. joco says

    March 3, 2009 at 2:46 pm

    I can picture that: 492 is just over 22′ x 22′ feet, the size of my kitchen.
    So from now on I will think: leek where the cooker is, salad crops around the sink…

    Our fruit cage is about that size and I was thinking of replacing some of the weeds ( Campanula persicifoilia actually, so a very pretty weed) with some veggies in addition to the soft fruit.

    I searched your blog for ‘mulch’ but can’t find what you use. Just know that leafmold is always full of weed-seeds. I am now reluctant to use it for covering the beds, as it makes the problem worse rather than better.

    Reply
  8. Dave says

    March 3, 2009 at 3:03 pm

    My garden sounds about the same size as yours. I have a few more beds to build for this year then I’ll be done for a while. I’ll have to plant the pumpkins and other curbits outside the main garden area since I don’t have a whole lot of room for them to roam. Hopefully the rabbits will ignore them!

    Reply
  9. Dreamybee says

    March 3, 2009 at 3:08 pm

    LOL-My “vegetable garden” consists of whatever fits into an open spot in one of my flower pots! I’m hoping to remedy that one of these days.

    Carol, I have an award for you over at my blog if you’d like to come pick it up. 🙂

    Word verification: culturi

    Reply
  10. Daphne Gould says

    March 3, 2009 at 3:34 pm

    My vegetable garden is around 400sqft, but the growing area is about 250sqft. I suppose I should measure it but it isn’t square and I haven’t bothered. The fruit garden is easier to measure since it is square. It is about 50sqft. Our traditional date for pea planting is the same day as yours, but we have had such cold and snowy weather. I can tell you now that it just isn’t happening. The ground will probably still be frozen by then. Maybe by the end of March they will go in.

    Reply
  11. Anne At Large says

    March 3, 2009 at 4:01 pm

    I have two 4×4 raised beds and one non-raised bed that is maybe 2×8. I also intersperse herbs and my bean teepees in my perennial border as it gets a bit more shade – by the end of last summer, I had beans climbing off their teepees on to my shrubs and any shrub that gave enough shade had a big bushy basil plant behind it. Our snow is turning in to rain so I am contemplating getting some seeds started – I usually can’t get stuff like tomatoes in the ground outside until the end of May/beginning of June but I’m getting antsy!

    Reply
  12. MA says

    March 3, 2009 at 4:19 pm

    Since you love to mow, can you use your grass clippings in lieu of mulch? NICE garden!

    Reply
  13. bg_garden says

    March 3, 2009 at 5:23 pm

    I haven’t stopped by in a while. YOu always inspire me. I think I got the BLOOM TUESDAY blogging from you??!!
    You have reminded me that I need to work on my raised beds.

    Happy BLoom TUesday!

    Reply
  14. Anonymous says

    March 3, 2009 at 6:33 pm

    Wow mine is tiny compared to yours, but I have plans for more! Right now I have 3 5’x3′ beds and a 2’x7′ bed along the wall totalling 59 sq ft BUT I have the fruit trees too! And containers 🙂
    I Set out an area in the front garden for veggies, just need to ammend the soil. Pretty much our whole garden is gonna be edibles after I get done. It’s just a long project!

    Reply
  15. Cornelia says

    March 3, 2009 at 7:08 pm

    Let’s hear it for urban gardeners! I’m hanging a couple of 5 gallon buckets out the sunny window of my apartment. And this year, I fell for the “as seen on TV” hanging tomato grower. Yup, there’s a sucker born every minute, and I’m excited to see tomatoes hanging on the outside of my building, too. Also making kombucha, sprouting, and making an indoor lettuce growing operation this year. See my blog at http://www.homegrown.org

    Reply
  16. Alison says

    March 3, 2009 at 7:21 pm

    Wow – my veg bed seems downright puny by comparison! I have one 8×12′ bed, so 96 square feet there. Aside from that, I’ll be potting up herbs for the front porch, and I have a window box of snap peas in my living room.

    Reply
  17. Anonymous says

    March 3, 2009 at 7:41 pm

    I thought our garden was huge to Belgian standards, but I do realize now, it is probably huge to other standards as well.
    The part we use as a vegetable garden is 10x20m², so when I have counted that correctly, that’s around 2150 square feet.
    (counting 1m² = 10.76 square feet)

    Reply
  18. Pam says

    March 3, 2009 at 7:45 pm

    I think mine might be around 250 or 300 sq feet… our yard is about 20’x50′, and I think maybe half of that is food production, and then we have a compost bin on the side of the house.

    Reply
  19. Kerri says

    March 3, 2009 at 8:21 pm

    Our main veggie garden is 20x100ft. Then hubby has about a quarter acre of squash, pumpkins, rhubarb, strawberries and a few other things mixed in. He’s a busy boy! I help with mulching, weeding and picking when I’m not tending flowers 🙂
    It’s crazy because there’s only 2 of us now that the kids are grown and gone. We give a lot away to friends and neighbors.

    Reply
  20. Anonymous says

    March 4, 2009 at 12:09 am

    Not everything’s bigger in Texas, it seems. No veggie garden at my house, and no plans for one. I mix in a little basil and rosemary, but otherwise it’s ornamentals all the way.

    Reply
  21. Anonymous says

    March 4, 2009 at 2:04 am

    I grow very few vegetables. Beans, tomatoes, asparagus. Lots of fruit though. Your raised beds are wonderful. I’m sure they’re a pleasure to work in.

    Reply
  22. kate smudges says

    March 4, 2009 at 2:42 am

    Wow ~ I had no idea your veggie garden was so large. (I hate to say that my entire veggie garden space is about 30 sq. feet ~ or will be this spring with a community plot). I’m looking forward to seeing what you will be planting this year.!

    Reply
  23. Carol Michel says

    March 4, 2009 at 2:50 am

    Vegetable gardens do come in all sizes! A couple of answers to some of the questions…

    Because the soil in my area of the country is generally pretty good, I haven’t had to bring in topsoil. I just keep adding compost and whatever is left over from container plantings, and so far that’s worked for me.

    For the paths, I use a mulch that is designed for walking on called “Playsoft”, at least that’s what it’s called where I buy mulch. I think it also used on a lot of playgrounds.

    Reply
  24. LINDA from Each Little World says

    March 4, 2009 at 4:03 am

    That is one very impressive and very attractive veggie garden! I’m with Pam/Digging — herbs here and there, but otherwise ornamentals all the way. My pond is just a tad bigger than your veggie garden (20 x 30) and it’s in the sunniest spot so I can grow waterlilies. So I’d have to fill in my pond to get a tomato!

    Reply
  25. Anonymous says

    March 4, 2009 at 5:12 am

    I seem to have one of the bigger gardens: 1340 sq ft of beds plus stone walkways (the stones came from the beds when dug) plus compost piles, mulch pile, burn area, fruit trees and bushes, herb garden (16 sq ft) plus–soon–chicken coop. It helps to live in the country.

    Reply
  26. Jamie says

    March 4, 2009 at 6:48 am

    My vegetable garden area is about 50' x 20', so that's about 1000 sq ft. I usually grow corn, tomatoes, peppers & salad greens – all for dinner picking 🙂

    This year, however, several family members and I are going to put in a large canning garden at my parents' farm. It will be huge – no idea how to estimate it. I'll be over there tomorrow, maybe I'll have a chance to walk it off and see!

    Reply
  27. ConsciousGardener says

    March 4, 2009 at 12:47 pm

    Wow. Mine is tiny compared to that, not to mention everything is mixed in cottage style. The only separation I have is greens on the side of the house…it’s been awhile since I posted about my veggies…must do!

    Reply
  28. Cindy, MCOK says

    March 4, 2009 at 1:50 pm

    Like Philip, I’m not willing to give up any of my ornamentals for veggie beds, at least in the back garden. I do have room in the front but I need to see what my deed restrictions say.

    Reply
  29. Commonweeder says

    March 4, 2009 at 1:52 pm

    I actually went out last Sunday to try and measure my beds – overall and planting area – but alas the snow was still to deep to make this possible. And more snow since. I have enlarged my garden, to give room for paths whick will make it easier to work, and make it more attractive. I started out with a 12 x 12 plot, added on a similar area of raspberries, and by the end of last summer had somewhat more than doubled that whole area. I think.

    Reply
  30. healingmagichands says

    March 4, 2009 at 9:28 pm

    Our vegetable garden is 8 raised beds, each one 4×20 feet, which makes 640 square feet. Over the years we have been upgrading it so that now all the beds are raised behind concrete block and the grass paths between them are sandstone flagstones. The entire garden is enclosed in a rabbit-proof deer-proof turtle-proof fence. Sadly, it is not yet bird proof so the cardinals help themselves liberally to cherry tomatoes, but then again I have wrens and bluebirds eating the bugs.

    Reply
  31. healingmagichands says

    March 4, 2009 at 9:30 pm

    our peas and lettuce and beets are in. Not up yet, but planted. Of course, I haven’t looked today. Maybe they are up. Hmm. Must leave computer now.

    Reply
  32. Chookie says

    March 5, 2009 at 5:17 am

    My official vegie growing area is about 30 sq. m. including paths. I think that’s about half the size of yours, but I grow a few things outside those areas too. What is the total size of your block of land?

    Reply
  33. Corner Gardener Sue says

    March 6, 2009 at 3:02 am

    My vegetable garden is about 15 by 45 feet, with about 8 by 8 dedicated to the compost area. I’m thinking I have around 600 square feet of growing area. I have from time to time put peppers or tomatoes in the flower bed areas, and may this year. I also have an 8 by 8 foot herb garden in my back yard that I’ve grown tomatoes in before.

    I liked your post about making the garden larger, also. Great tips!

    Reply
  34. garden girl says

    March 6, 2009 at 7:28 pm

    Hi Carol, Ours is small, can’t remember the exact dimensions – 4 x 12 I think, or maybe 4 x 10. I have a few more feet available – didn’t want the Lawn Man to panic so I thought it would be best to do it in stages. He’s already received notice it will probably be getting bigger this fall so he can say his fond farewells to a few more square feet of prime lawn real estate before I mercilessly smother it.

    Reply
  35. grofys says

    March 6, 2009 at 8:16 pm

    I’m in the city, so although I’d like about 2 or 3 acre garden (I’d love to grow wheat), I have to settle for a 1400 square foot garden. I am going to add a few raised gardens in the front yard, as well as some more bean supports. And I’m going to try to clear out the overgrowth in the back, so I can extend the growing space at least 300″.

    I live in Pittsburgh and am going to be selling organically grown tomatoes directly from the garden…probably for only $.80/lb. I’ll have about 100 plants. I’m also finally getting a few chickens and building a cob bread oven in a shady part of the yard.

    Reply
  36. Gotta Garden says

    March 8, 2009 at 1:31 am

    I love your veggie garden! I wish! Mine is…very tiny…but, I am going to try peas again this year as they were so delicious, but, alas, far too few….and lettuce! Good luck with everything!

    Reply
  37. Anonymous says

    March 8, 2009 at 2:00 pm

    I’m finally catching up on some blog reading…

    Let’s see. Last fall we put a 4×12 raised bed for fall veggies = 48 sqft (It’s in the shade in the summer, though so I use it for seed starting then). I just put in a 3×5 raised bed for raspberries = 15 sqft. In the front yard I have another 3×3 raised bed = 9 sqft.

    Subtotal raised beds: 72sqft.

    Last fall I also made an herb circle…about 24 sq feet (or is that round feet?)

    However, I also tuck vegetable plants in the garden anywhere I think there might be some sun. This year 6 tomatoes are in an old rose bed. Add another 24 sq feet.

    Total: 120sqft.

    Until we get some sunlight in this yard we aren’t going to be self-sufficient anytime soon but I find grofys comment above to be very interesting and inspiring.

    Reply
  38. AR says

    March 9, 2009 at 9:42 pm

    A little over 100′ devoted strictly to vegetables. I assumed more, but that’s what my calculations tell me. Of course, I have a separate plot just for tomatoes and I try to mingle in vegetables wherever else I can.

    Reply
  39. Enlighten says

    March 12, 2009 at 8:15 pm

    Most of us traditionally do a spring clean up to discard the accrued yearly waste from previous wintry storms. We seem to try outdoing the neighbors in the bag count we can fill, being oblivious of their true contents. Maybe we don’t realize the value and worth of it all.

    Gold is in Those Yard Clean-up Bags

    Reply
  40. Anonymous says

    March 12, 2009 at 11:51 pm

    Enlighten, funny you should say that. I wait for high-wind storms around here and then knock on doors asking if I can have the huge branches that have fallen for the garden. People are just glad to have someone take them, and I can build more bean and pea structures.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Updates from Carol Michel

* indicates required
Email Preferences

Categories

  • Blog (3,053)
  • Internal (2)

Blog Tags

annuals Blogging books bulbs dr. hortfreud embrace fairies fall family flowers fruits garden bloggers bloom day garden bloggers book club garden design gardeners gardening gardening geek gardens hoes holidays hortense hoelove houseplants humor indoor gardening insects lawn letters to gardening friends perennials rabbits reviews Secrets seeds shrubs spring tools trees vegetable garden vegetable gardening vegetables weather weeding weeds when a gardener wildflower wednesday winter

The Gardenangelists Podcast with Dee Nash

Gardenangelists Podcast

Footer

Gardenangelists Podcast with Dee Nash

Gardenangelists Podcast

Connect

  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • maydreams icon

Quick Links

  • Home
  • Contact
  • Books
  • May Dreams Gardens
  • Podcast

Updates from Carol Michel

* indicates required
Email Preferences

Newsletter Archive

Copyright © 2023 · CarolJMichel.com · Sitemap · Privacy Policy

Book purchase links are affiliate links and Carol earns a small commission if you make a purchase.

We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
Do not sell my personal information.
Cookie SettingsAccept
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT