Yield figures are the easiest thing in gardening to exaggerate, and the hardest to predict. This estimator gives a low-to-high range from published per-plant figures, and the range is wide on purpose.
How to use it
- Choose how you are counting. By the plant, if you know how many you are putting in. By row length, if you are thinking in feet or metres of row.
- Add each crop and its quantity. The dropdown shows each crop's per-plant range, so you can see where the total is coming from.
- Add as many crops as you like. The table underneath breaks the total down crop by crop.
How it is calculated
low = plants x low yield per plant
high = plants x high yield per plant
When you are working in row length, the plant count comes from the crop's own in-row spacing:
plants = floor(row length in inches / plant spacing in inches)
The rounding down is deliberate: a row that is two and a half plant spacings long holds two plants, not two and a half. Row spacing plays no part — that is the gap between rows, not within them.
A worked example
Four tomatoes, two zucchini and twelve lettuces:
- Tomato: 4 x 8 to 15 lb = 32 to 60 lb
- Zucchini: 2 x 6 to 12 lb = 12 to 24 lb
- Lettuce: 12 x 0.5 to 1 lb = 6 to 12 lb
- Total: 50 to 96 pounds, or 23 to 44 kilograms
Note where that total comes from. Four tomato plants produce more than twelve lettuces by a wide margin, which is worth knowing when a small bed has to be allocated.
Typical yields per plant
| Crop | Low | High | Crop | Low | High |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Watermelon | 10 lb | 30 lb | Kale | 1 lb | 2 lb |
| Pumpkin | 10 lb | 25 lb | Okra | 1 lb | 2 lb |
| Winter squash | 10 lb | 20 lb | Cauliflower | 1 lb | 2 lb |
| Tomato | 8 lb | 15 lb | Broccoli | 0.75 lb | 1.5 lb |
| Zucchini | 6 lb | 12 lb | Lettuce | 0.5 lb | 1 lb |
| Cucumber | 5 lb | 10 lb | Strawberry | 0.5 lb | 1 lb |
| Eggplant | 3 lb | 6 lb | Onion | 0.3 lb | 0.7 lb |
| Potato | 2 lb | 5 lb | Spinach | 0.3 lb | 0.6 lb |
| Cabbage | 2 lb | 4 lb | Bean, bush | 0.25 lb | 0.5 lb |
| Pepper | 2 lb | 5 lb | Pea | 0.2 lb | 0.4 lb |
| Sweet potato | 2 lb | 4 lb | Carrot | 0.2 lb | 0.35 lb |
| Garlic | 0.15 lb | 0.25 lb | Radish | 0.03 lb | 0.06 lb |
Every figure in this table is marked as needing verification against a primary source in the site's data files. They are the ranges commonly published for home gardens, and your own results will sit somewhere in or near them.
Tips and common mistakes
Pick often. Beans, cucumbers, zucchini and peas slow right down once mature fruit sits on the plant. Regular picking is the cheapest yield increase available.
Water consistently during fruit set. A dry fortnight while tomatoes and peppers are setting costs more than any fertiliser will recover.
Do not plan a season around the high figure. The low end is the safer number for deciding whether four plants will feed a household. The high end happens in a good year with a good variety and attentive care.
Count the preserving, not just the eating. A glut is only a problem if you cannot store it. Twelve tomato plants is a lot to eat fresh and a reasonable amount to turn into sauce.
Space, sun and water beat plant count. Six well-spaced plants in full sun reliably beat twelve crowded ones in part shade. If your estimate looks too low, the answer is rarely to squeeze more in.