How much can you grow on a balcony?
Over the summer I found time to analyse last year's harvests from my small balcony and window sills (more details in 2010 growing diary). Below is a table that shows you the weight of each of the main crops. The table also shows you what this equates to in terms of typical supermarket packs. As you can see, we harvested (and ate!) a lot of salad leaves (144 packs), herbs (165 packs), and tomatoes (113 punnets) as well as plenty of stir fry greens (44 packs) and French and runner beans (51 packs). The low yields of root veg are partly due to my lack of success at growing them (any tips, please?) and partly because they are allocated less space.
| Kgs | Equivalent to | |
| Cherry tomatoes | 11.5 | |
| Large tomatoes | 16.9 | |
| Total tomatoes | 28.4 | 113 punnets @ 250g each |
| Salad | 14.4 | 144 packs @ 100g |
| Pea shoots | 2.1 | 21 packs @ 100g |
| Stir Fry | 4.4 | 44 packs @ 100g |
| Total green leaves | 24.2 | |
| Courgette | 2.8 | 14 packs @ 200 |
| Squash & Marrow | 9.6 | 4 BIG squash |
| Total cucurbits | 12.4 | |
| Mange tout | 0.8 | |
| Runner beans | 7.1 | |
| French beans | 2.3 | |
| Total beans and peas | 10.2 | 51 packs @ 200g |
| Other (incl rhubarb & radish, green tomatoes, etc) | 6.5 | |
| Herbs | 3.3 | 165 packs @ 20g each |
| Potatoes | 1.2 | |
| Carrot | 0.5 | |
| Total root veg | 1.7 | |
| Grand total | 83.4 |
5 comments
Hi Mark,
I love your blog, it has inpired me to start growing food a few years ago. I was wondering how much plants did you have to get to these level of harvest? I think my best cherry tomato plants would only produce 1 ot 2kg from typically 6 trusses (in a sunny bed in London). Which varieties were you growing? What are your tips to increase yields?
Thanks,
Helene
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