How Much Space Do You Need To Grow Your Own Food?
One of the most common questions asked by those looking into growing their own food is how much space will be required to do so. The answer may surprise you. While it is unlikely that you will be able to grow all of your own food in a typical back garden, you will likely be able to grow far more than you imagined. Even if you do not have a garden, you will still be able to supplement your diet with home grown produce.
No Outside Space At All?
Increasing numbers of urban inhabitants are managing to grow at least some of their own food with no outside space at all! While it is often possible to find land to garden in a city, you can also go a long way down the road to a more sustainable way of life within your own home. City dwellers have managed to become self-sufficient in salads and herbs, and grow some fruits and vegetables too, with only a few sunny windowsills and some inside vertical gardening techniques. As long as enough sunlight comes into your home, there are plenty of imaginative ways to grow food indoors. Make use of every available inch with window boxes, hanging baskets and wall-hanging vertical gardens. Even in a small flat, you can grow enough salad to see you through the summer, and herbs to season your meals all year round.
Balcony Gardens & Container Gardening
If you rent your home, or if you have no ground in which to plant but do have a balcony or a small outside space, container gardening could be the answer. While it is unlikely that you will be able to grow all the fruits and vegetables that you need in a container gardening, again, you will be surprised by how much you are able to grow in a small space. Create your own compost from kitchen scraps and use vertical gardening techniques to make the most of the space and resources at your disposal.
Self-Sufficiency
If you do have a garden, you may be wondering whether you will be able to become self-sufficient with regards to food. The road to self-sufficiency can be a long and at times difficult one. But the truth is that you do not need to have acres and acres of productive land to manage it. The first step is usually to become self-sufficient in terms of fruit and vegetables. Amazingly, you can do this, for a family of four, in as little as a quarter of an acre. With this amount of land you can also keep chickens to keep you 
supplied with eggs throughout the year. Add 100 sq ft and you could also keep a couple of goats to supply enough milk for the family. With a little imagination, it is sometimes even possible to produce enough food with even less land. Intensive growing methods and, again, vertical gardening, can significantly reduce the amount of space required.
To become entirely self-sufficient in food, you will need to grow grains, and that does take up more space. It is still possible, however, to be entirely self-sufficient in food (for a family of four) in as little as 1-2 acres – great news for those who may have imagined that this sort of self-sufficiency was forever out of their reach. Though complete self-sufficiency is not currently possible for most of us, you may be surprised by how much you can do in the space available to you.