give me your definition of what a survival garden is to you and whats in it and whys,what etc behind it.what makes it a survival garden and why you would call it that.
It certainly is! Fortunately, southern Idaho provides us with a climate for squash, corn, tomatoes AND sweet potatoes, as well as peppers, all of which lend themselves to storage without electricity, should things get bad. Of course, what canning Dawn and I do is with a propane stove, but I suppose I could can with a wood or charcoal fire.I have never thought about a garden as a survival garden. Clem's list is great!
If I had the land and the ability, I would have a field of sweet corn, some field corn, a field of potatoes, a large planting of various beans for drying, green beans and tomatoes, and like Clem says, an area with a large planting of other foods such as garlic, peas, carrots, turnips, beets, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, celery, onions, herbs and medicinal herbs. Some would be cold stored (root cellar) (potatoes, root veggies), some would be canned (tomatoes, green beans), some would be frozen (peas, cauliflower, broccoli, celery, some of the onions pre-chopped) and some would be dehydrated or dried. Also, selling at farm stands or to individuals would be a thought, except that might give some people a heads up about what I (you) have in the way of food that they may not.It certainly is! Fortunately, southern Idaho provides us with a climate for squash, corn, tomatoes AND sweet potatoes, as well as peppers, all of which lend themselves to storage without electricity, should things get bad. Of course, what canning Dawn and I do is with a propane stove, but I suppose I could can with a wood or charcoal fire.
The guy across the street runs twenty acres of garden beans and winter wheat on alternate plantings, and another neighbor raises sweet corn. I don't have enough land under cultivation (eight 4' X 16' raised beds) to do that kind of production, but I do have two beds of potatoes (pontiac reds and yukon golds), one bed of onions (red and yellow) which should last the two of us for a good while, if the harvest is good.
I feed the chickens and goats on commercial feed-store food, and I haven't thought about how to feed them in a SHTF situation other than turning them into free-range critters.
What I would like to have (but I don't -- yet) would be a greenhouse, which could keep us in the summer foo-foo crops long enough to make them an important part of a year-round survival garden. I wish I'd begun gardening earlier in my life! There's so much to learn, and not all that much time left....
If I had the land and the ability, I would have a field of sweet corn, some field corn, a field of potatoes, a large planting of various beans for drying, green beans and tomatoes, and like Clem says, an area with a large planting of other foods such as garlic, peas, carrots, turnips, beets, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, celery, onions, herbs and medicinal herbs. Some would be cold stored (root cellar) (potatoes, root veggies), some would be canned (tomatoes, green beans), some would be frozen (peas, cauliflower, broccoli, celery, some of the onions pre-chopped) and some would be dehydrated or dried. Also, selling at farm stands or to individuals would be a thought, except that might give some people a heads up about what I (you) have in the way of food that they may not.
Why I wouldn't try to grow a small amount of wheat: it is not worth all the equipment necessary, it takes a lot of land to produce wheat, it is not so easy to grow wheat for an individual. I have family who grow and some who have grown wheat. It is just not something to grow in a survival garden, IMHO. I believe potatoes are a better crop to grow for survival purposes. Storing wheat is easy and it lasts forever if well contained and stored. It is also inexpensive.
Yes, many things do well in buckets. I have many buckets going this year. I am not sure that corn does very well though.
Bonus: I recently learned that okra leaves are edible! The leaves and shoots are cooked and enjoyed in several countries and supposedly have a mild cucumber-like flavor, have numerous health benefits, and are extremely nutritious. So yeah, I think I will enjoy a double crop from my okra plants.
I agree.all good answers.
i am growing a patch of painted mtn flour corn this year to see how it does. so far i have mixed emotions about it. i think its weak standing corn myself.i have a test patch of dent corn from some very old seed i had forgotten about that was suppose to be drought tolerant.its got huge brace roots and thick stalk and is tasseling at about 4ft now and the stalks are like tuning forks when you pull them and let go. see i am testing them out..i wanna see just how tough it is.the PMC is not like it but to be fair i dont know if you can compare a flour corn against a dent corn. i got to see if i can find out more info about that.
i am also growing out a single clump of very old corn seed,over 15 years old that was still good. all i know/remember was it came from a reservation out of southwest. its very small and looks like PMC but kernels are about half the size.it looked like wheat growing forever when it was young. the PMC is super aggressive growing,probably the fastest growing corn i can recall in fact.
last several years i stopped growing corn because of wind issues so for me my first choice is a corn that stands wind and produces a crop. i will know more as time goes on.
This cabbage was grown in a container inside greenhouse.
MAN! I could eat all winter off the outer leaves, alone on those four in the front row.
MAN! I could eat all winter off the outer leaves, alone on those four in the front row.
While you are rubbing salt in my wounds, can you give a poor boy any tips on growing cabbage.
Do not have to be as big or as picture perfect as yours, just not splitting open. We never get below 14F & I am going to try Red acre variety.
Enter your email address to join: