Harvest math · Gulf-Coast backyard plan
A family of four (two adults, kids age 4 and 7) on a small suburban lot. The v10 rotation — four 4×12 raised beds in two columns along the NW fence (see 🗺️ the yard map and 📖 the guide) — plus a fence trellis, a grape arbor, and a growing list of perennials. Crop by crop, here is the honest answer: how much each crop yields in a typical year, and how much of our annual need it actually covers.
v10 update (July 2026): the layout is now the four-bed rotation, the old berry-and-slip bed is renamed Berry Bed, sweet potatoes are cut, strawberries expand to two beds, and okra joins the plan from June 2027 (southern peas were cut in v10.2 - the family rarely eats them; cowpea returns only as a chop-down summer COVER crop). Details in 📖 Guide; bed placement in 🗺️ Yard map.
Total year-round produce independence is not realistic at this scale. The intensive-gardening rule of thumb is about 150–200 sq ft of vegetable bed per person (600–800 sq ft for a family of four). The v10 rotation is four 4×12 beds = 192 sq ft built now (one of them, Acid Bed #2, is parked under cardboard + chips until fall 2027, so ~144 sq ft is productive today) — roughly 20–25% of the family ideal.
What is realistic — and is now the design target — is full in-season independence for the foods this family actually eats: zero store purchases of that item while it is producing. The plan has been re-tuned to that: strawberries across two beds (acid bed edge + Berry Bed) at breakfast-bowl quantities, bell peppers doubled with a summer rotation after the strawberry pull (the Berry Bed flips to peppers June–October), and alliums added (sweet onion + garlic) for an onion-heavy kitchen. Basil covers their one herb; sweet potatoes are cut from the bed plan (optional future grow-bag path — see note below); blueberries and grapes join the list from about 2028–2029.
Each card shows expected yield range at plant maturity in a typical Gulf-Coast year, a bar for the percent of our family's annual need it covers, the months it actually feeds us, and a one-line verdict. Bars over 100% mean that crop out-produces what we use.
5 plants, two windows
Yield: 40–70 lb/yr · family fresh use ~90–120 lb
Verdict: Not year-round, but 100% fresh in June–July and again Oct–Nov.
5 plants in the main bed + the whole Berry Bed flips to peppers after the strawberry pull
Yield: 20–35 lb · the family eats a lot of bell peppers
Verdict: The Berry Bed's June–October pepper rotation doubles the harvest — a near-staple now.
2–3 plants in the main bed
Yield: continuous cuttings · the family's one herb
Verdict: 100% of their basil needs. Freeze surplus as cubes for winter sauce.
Sweet potatoes — cut in v10 (July 2026). No longer an in-bed crop. Optional future path only: two 15-gallon grow bags on the SE patio edge, slips planted May, ~5–10 lb per bag — not part of the bed plan. See 📖 Guide.
1015Y Texas sweet transplants, ~6 ft of the main bed (house end)
Yield: 50–80 bulbs · planted January, harvested May
Verdict: A big share of the year's onions for an onion-heavy kitchen.
Softneck garlic, planted October–November
Yield: 25–40 heads · harvested May–June
Verdict: Cured softneck stores 6+ months, so this can cover most of a year of garlic.
Two beds now: ~10 on the acid bed lawn edge + ~30 across the whole Berry Bed — a third wave comes when Acid Bed #2 opens (planted fall 2027, first berries ~2028)
Yield: 20–35 lb each spring · two beds, Feb–May
Verdict: Real breakfast-bowl quantities February–May across two beds; a third wave joins ~2028.
3 rabbiteye bushes now (Climax · Premier · Brightwell in the acid bed) + 2–3 more in fall 2027 when Acid Bed #2 opens
Yr 1–2: ~0 · Yr 3: 6–12 lb · Mature: 20–40 lb
Verdict: Patience crop. Near-zero now; a freezer staple by 2029.
One vine trained up the NE post of the 10×10 YARDISTRY cedar arbor
First real crop ~2028–29: 5–10 lb · Mature: 25–50 lb
Verdict: A future August–September staple, plus jelly. Plan for 2029.
1 Owari satsuma, planted Feb–Mar 2027 in the SE fence border (8+ ft from any concrete)
Productive year 2–3 (~2029–30): 5–15 lb · Mature: 40–80 lb
Verdict: Covers 100% of fresh-citrus snacking Nov–Dec at maturity, plus plenty to gift — the kids' peel-it-themselves fruit.
Perennial cluster in the main bed; rosemary ×1 at the lake-end corner between the acid beds
Yield: continuous cuttings · the cooking herb trio
Verdict: 100% of the family's perennial-herb needs once established; rosemary stays out of the acid beds.
Succession-sown in the main bed cool-season planting (Oct–Apr)
Yield: continuous cuttings · bolts in heat, so re-sow
Verdict: Covers most of the cool-season salsa-and-taco herb needs; gone in summer heat.
Joins the rotation from June 2027 — the deep-summer crop that loves Gulf-Coast heat
Yield: okra continuous, pick every 2-3 days · fills the July–Aug tomato gap
Verdict: The deep-summer producers that keep the garden feeding us July–August — from 2027.
Lettuce, spinach, kale, broccoli, sugar snaps — the main bed lake-end 6 ft, October–April
Yield: continuous cut-and-come-again · the easy Gulf-Coast season
Verdict: ~100% of salad greens November–April — the exact months we currently buy them.
Inoculated into the wood-chip working aisles between the bed columns
Yield: 2–8 lb flushes · spring + fall after rain
Verdict: A no-bed-space bonus — flushes in the chip paths spring and fall.
Under v10 all four 4×12 beds are built in one order (192 sq ft total — see 🗺️ the yard map). The fourth bed is Acid Bed #2 (column 2, lake end): its cedar shell goes in now with the others, then sits parked under cardboard + wood chips until fall 2027, when it gets its acid mix and 2–3 more rabbiteye blueberries + a strawberry edge. That single deferred bed is the biggest remaining leverage in the plan — it roughly doubles the blueberry planting and adds a third strawberry wave (~2028).
There is no separate greens bed in v10: cool-season greens/garlic/onions are the main bed's October–April planting (lake-end 6 ft: lettuce, spinach, kale, broccoli, sugar snaps; house-end 6 ft: softneck garlic Oct–Nov + 1015Y sweet onions Jan). This covers ~100% of the family's salad greens November–April — the exact months we currently buy them. Best return per square foot on the Gulf Coast.
Methodology: These are rough planning estimates for a typical year at plant maturity. First-year yields run lower, and perennials (blueberries, grapes) take several years to reach productive maturity. Weather, pests, and the gardener's care swing results widely — a bad tomato year can halve these numbers, a great one can double them. Annual-need figures assume a family of four (two adults, kids age 4 and 7) eating a normal home-cooking mix, not a preservation-heavy homestead diet. Square-foot rule of thumb (~150–200 sq ft of bed per person) is the widely cited intensive-gardening benchmark; it assumes skilled, year-round production.