How Much Land Would You Need To Grow A Sustainable Garden?

Question

I was wondering how much land that would take? For one person, and how much more per person?

What's the difference between sustainable gardening and sustainable farming?

Answer 1

Depends on how far you are planning to go with it.  For 2 people I grow around 40 tomato plants, beans, beets, peas, about 400 onions, potatoes, pumpkins, squash, grapes-all in an average residential back yard.  There's a book out there called square foot gardening.

Answer 2

I'm not sure I can answer the first part.  I assume you want to eat only what you grow.  That involves a lot of sacrifice (which I regretfully haven't been a part of, maybe someday).

But the sustainable farming is a bit easier, although still not easy.  One part is preserving the soil indefinately, without additives.

I read an article in Scientific American magazine about it a couple months ago.  Here's a link.

Answer 3

Sustainable gardening implies self sufficiency - that you are growing enough food to supply your family - through fresh produce and with canning, freezing and preserving.  A sustainable family garden grows enough to feed your family throughout the year.

Sustainable farming is different in the respect that you can grow enough to supply your family and make an agricultural income as well, whether through wholesale, CSAs or selling at farmers markets.  

A major aspect to both is that it relies on a variety of produce, staggered planting times, and ideally, a three-season harvest.

I've subscribed to the European farm model myself, which means rows are narrow, plant spacing is minimal, vertical growth and checkerboard planting are a must.  I use every useable inch, and can grow about $5,000 worth of fresh produce in under 1/2 an acre.  A sustainable garden for a single person can reasonably fit in 20x30 plot and give you more than enough to feed yourself and share with a friend or three.  Use crop rotation and succession planting.

Other considerations for self-sufficiency can include keeping some dual purpose chickens for eggs and meat or herdsharing goats or a cow for a milk source.

You might also want to read Square Foot Gardening, which diagrams all of the above - great reference book.  Also, Elliot Coleman's The New Organic Grower is my gardening bible.

Some other great websources for sustainable gardening -Homesteading Today, Mother Earth News and Hobby Farm.  All great resources!

Edit: I completely skipped anything about sustainability involving soil!  Sorry, it's just so second nature that I don't even think about it, and it goes hand-in-hand with an organic approach.  Feeding the soil - not with fertilizer, but amending it with compost and organic material - is critical.  So many of the huge agri-corporations don't utilize crop rotation, stripping the soil of its nutrients.  They then add tons of commercial fertilizer.  Sustainable agriculture also means growing "good soil", planting cover crops and preventing depletion of njutrients.