Survival Gardening

[Beo]

Survival Garden


I don't actually do survival gardening but have a garden about 75x75 foot space, it works for us and I don't buy much in the way produce but for our off-the-gridders this what I see as a good to survive using a garden. I may be wrong, WildWoman, WarEagle, BraggSurvivor and others may know better than me. Sijohn a good friend of mine explained this as his way (not mine) and I try to do it here at home even though I have the luxary of going to the store. It has been said that one can raise enough food for a family of four in a 50- by 50-foot space. While such an area can provide a goodly amount of food, there is no way a family could survive, year-round, off such a small patch. In reality, all that this is is a “house garden” for providing fresh produce such as greens, broccoli, cabbage, peppers, herbs, etc. When one needs a garden to put up food, not only for the winter but possibly for a year or two, we’re talking about at least an acre of intense cropping. This includes a patch of wheat for grinding into cereal and flour; flour corn for hominy and corn meal; sweet corn for eating, canning, and dehydrating; and rows of dry beans as well as fresh beans (yellow wax, green, pole, etc.) for putting up. Here we stumble on the weak link in most folks’ gardens. They say “We only use a few pounds of corn meal or dry beans a year,” and they feel confident they can get by with just a few packages of such items, bought at the grocers. I can tell you that you will use many more pounds of these staples when you cannot eat from the store shelves. And if there are no store shelves to choose from, we will all need to take care of our own needs at home. Remember, it takes more than one year to get a garden into full production. You can’t just plow up a plot and expect to survive off of it, especially if you lack experience. You can’t grow everything, everywhere. Look at your local production capabilities. Here in Ohio I can grow just bout anything. In the high country of Montana, nearly everything is a challenge for my friend Sijohn even though he's gardened all is life. But he survives from his Montana garden with potatoes, wheat, and beans along with a number of cold-loving crops he grews. What you need to do is put your energy into growing what will make a crop in your location. But don’t be afraid to experiment. Everywhere I’ve gardened (Ohio, Tennessee, N. Carolina, and Korea) I’ve grown crops that locals said “wouldn’t grow.” To better use space, consider inter-planting as much as possible. Grow cornfield beans among the flour corn, radishes in the same row as carrots, peppers between rows of tomatoes (which act as windbreaks), pumpkins and squash next to a corn field where they can run into the corn after cultivation has stopped. (Don’t do this with sweet corn or you will have a devil of a time picking the corn stumbling among rampant squash vines.) Inter-planting will do much to save garden space, a large consideration in survival gardening, especially when you must cultivate and till by hand.

[Beo]

Here are what I call the survival garden crops, and my ways of doing it, everyone who gardens grows some things just because they enjoy the taste. This is great, and we all do it. But in hard-core homesteading such as what my friend Sijohn does, he must consider his basic needs, as well.
He needs to grow enough grain and corn for himself and his livestock. This can be done by hand, in a relatively small plot, provided that his poultry and livestock needs are small. If you need more grain, say for cattle or horses, consider small scale farming with horses. This is a sustainable way of living as horses are easy to work, versatile, and provide manure for the fields. They also require no fuel to run. One team of moderate-sized horses can do as much work as a small tractor and cost little to maintain. As little as an acre of ground can supply modest grain needs for homestead. Include a bit of rye, oats, and barley for variation. (There is a naked-seeded oat that is great for homesteaders, as at home one has a difficult task in hulling oats for oatmeal.) Besides small grains, include your rows of flour corn for corn meal and hominy, being sure to include enough for livestock feeding.
Most folks have to double or even triple the amount of usual garden produce to allow for putting up as much each year as possible. Be sure to allow for lots of tomatoes for tomato sauces, and enough root crops, such as turnips, potatoes and carrots. (You’ll eat a lot more “homegrown” when you can’t run to the store for “quick” meals.) With all survival garden vegetables, a family should buy only open pollinated varieties. This will enable folks to save seeds from year to year, which is not recommended with hybrids. Hybrid seed, while usually fertile, can not be depended upon to reproduce truly. And, contrary to popular belief, most of those old open pollinated varieties are good tasting and hardy.

Small Fruits: Nearly everyone has room to plant a good selection of small fruits. These include strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, rhubarb, blueberries, and so forth. Luckily, once a patch of each has been established, one can readily take divisions or replant sprouts to greatly increase their food-producing capabilities. As with the vegetable garden, one should grow as great a variety of small fruits as possible, and enough of each to put up significant jam, preserves, and canned and dried fruit. In hard times, a good loaf of hot whole wheat bread spread thickly with homemade strawberry jam, or a steaming blueberry pie, makes the term “survival” a joke. Sijohn calls it living good. He quickly discovered that small fruits are a wonderful treat that can be easily turned into strawberry shortcake, blueberry pancakes, rhubarb tarts, blackberry cobbler, etc. In hard times, he doesn't eat many candy bars; instead he substitutes healthier fruit snacks and desserts. Even picky eaters greatly enjoy dried fruits and fruit leathers which are easy to make at home.
Hope this helps some of you in the gardening area Sijohn (Medicine Wolf) has taught me alot, comes on here and seems pretty closed mouth to me, that's just how he is but he's a vast knowledge of info for me and tend to like what he has to say about homesteading, I use it here in the suburbs, at least for now.

[rebel]

I agree. Like everything, it takes practice. Reading about it is not the same. I've been gardening for eight years. Every year has a different game plan based on the previous year. One thing that has helped us is to plant in stages. For instance, corn. I plant our corn in three stages and two weeks apart. That way you can have fresh corn for a longer period of time and also not burden yourself all at once triing to put it up. This year I'm going to try drip irrigation.

[Beo]

Sorry this should be in Homestead Gardening... if it can be moved then please do so.

[Beo]

Thank you who ever did it.

[Chris]

I wouldn't plan tomatoes.

One thing you need to consider if truly planting for survival... well, a few things to consider.

1. Calories per sq/ft.

2. Hardiness.

3. Disease & Pest resistance.

4. Water, Fertilizer, & labor required.

5. Nutrient value (you don't just need calories).

Tomatoes have problems in most of those categories. You'd also need to go through the trouble of saving relatively small and fragile seeds yearly.

Strawberries also have problems in those areas, corn really does.

The key crops I would aim to crow:

1. Raspberries or black currants, for vitamin content & ease of preserving. Both have enough pectin to turn into jams & jellies without additional pectin (not true of some fruits like strawberries), both thrive on neglect and do not need additional water, fertilizer, or labor. Raspberries especially will spread like a weed once established.

2. Butternut squash. Good calories, good nutrition, can keep for over a year. This will get you through winter.

3. Asparagus - one of the few perennial veggies, plant it once and harvest it for a decade. Good nutrition, not a lot of calories though.

4. Quinoa or maybe a bean like Pinto beans. Quinoa is a large grain and is a complete protein source. Pinto beans, in addition to storing well dry, have really high nutrient value (higher than other bean types).

5. For pure calories per acre, potatoes are hard to beat.

In general I wouldn't grow a small grain, simply because of the labor involved with it.

If I had one animal, it would probably be chickens. Eggs are very handy.

[Beo]

Damn shut that down didn't he

[wildWoman]

Great post, Beo! Climate can definitely be a challenge. Up here, we can't even grow green beans outside. something that works great for us is having a bunch of planters inside the cabin which let us harvest tomatoes in January, fresh Swiss Chard and spinach ect. But since it's a small cabin we don't have space for that much stuff. Anyway, provides a welcome boost of fresh greens to the taste buds in mid-winter.
Also in some locations, like where we are, you have to "make" your sown soil because there's just an inch or so of topsoil. That's a process that can take years. As Rebel pointed out, it's a learning experience and people expecting to suddenly subsist on their own produce might be wise to start planting things todayto learn what works and what doesn't.

[Beo]

Well actually I got this from Sijohn, can't really take credit for it.

[Rick]

WW - Is the problem with growing green beans the overall temps, the length of season, chance of frost, combo of all?

Green beans only require a 60 day season which I would think you could get almost through AK. Bush beans will grow closer to the ground and be less subjected to the wind. They will also be easier to cover and protect if a chance of frost or cold weather sneaks in on you. The down side is that they are hairy little buggers and any animal that walks through the garden can leave hair on the fruit that you simply can not remove. Dogs and rabbits are terrible because their fur is so loose.

Pole beans, on the other hand, don't have the little fruit hairs and require some type of trellis. I use a fence in my garden rather than poles. It gives them plenty of room to grow and keeps the fruit in easy reach. But because they grow higher in the air, they would be more subject to temperature change and harder to protect if a change happened. I like Kentucky Wonder pole beans but Blue Lake is good, too. KW's fruit at around 65 days and BL at around 60.

If you can keep the animals at bay, then Brittle Wax bush beans come in at around 50-52 days and Roma II at about the same time. That would help on your short growing season.

[crehberg]

I will agree that potatoes are a great crop. The only problem is getting them to grow without them turning into hard rocks. Take a word of advice.....make sure you till the ground up VERY WELL and VERY DEEP.

[Rick]

crehberg - You can grow the potatoes in straw or other mulch as long as it is dry. That will eliminate the problem. Unless you are putting out a large crop, of course.

[Riverrat]

Last summer I had a good crop of potatoes, and I did not do much with them at all, I got hurt and could not get into the garden as much as I would have liked, weeds almost overtook the potatoes but they came great. The peas, corn, and cucumebers did not do to well with the lack of attention. I am hoping to have a bigger and better garden this summer. We still have potatoes left now and they are still great eating.

As far as raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, and blueberries, these grow wild in my area so have no need to plant them. We also have a fern that is called a fiddlehead, they grow in the spring along rivers or brooks. They are great with a little butter.

[Sam Reeves]

You can grow potatoes in a five gallon bucket anywhere anytime of the year. Take your bucket and drill four small holes about 1/16 of an inch in diameter about a half inch from the bottom of the bucket. Taters do not have seeds. (yeah, I know but for arguments sake you have to assume that somebody won't know this) Take a potato and cut it into around eight equal pieces and put them in dark place. On a plate in the pantry works fine. When they start to develop eyes, which is light yellow sprouts that you will notice protruding from the potato pieces you know it is time to plant.
Fill your bucket with good dirt or potting soil until about it is about five inches from the top. Plant two or three of the potato pieces about four inches deep in the dirt. I sprinkle a small handful of the cheapest plantfood I can on the top. Be careful not to over water you tater as the are very disease prone and will rot if over watered. It should grow a plant about 15 inches inch. Eventually it will bloom with little yellow flowers. A few days after the flowers wilt it is time to harvest your taters. The easiest way is to gently pull the plant up by the roots then feel around for with your hand. The greedy way is to sift them out with chicken wire.
I like my taters fired or boiled until the bust open then buttered to death, cheese, bacon bits, and sour cream.

[Alpine_Sapper]

Gonna try that real soon...I think I have some potatoes that are growning sprouts already in the pantry...

[Alpine_Sapper]

You can grow potatoes in a five gallon bucket anywhere anytime of the year.

Can you do that with sweet potatoes as well?

[Ridge Wolf]

Sweet potatoes are grown from 'seed stock' in hotbeds to the whole plant and then transplanted to the potato bed in the garden.. Best place to get seed stock? Try your county extension service. Plant them in your hotbeds well after the last frost and preferrably in the southern belt where there is a more humid growing season. Northern growers will find it a challenge to grow them in their gardens. They should be planted with 130 to 150 frost free days and most of those days being 80 to 85 degrees F.The soil should be about 70 degrees F.

After the plant (seed stock plant) is 6 to 7 inches tall, pull them with the roots from the foundation seed potato and transplant to the potato bed. That plant is called the 'draw'. Sometimes they are cut about an inch above the ground, roots included, leaving the foundation seed potato to produce more as it keeps on growing. These are called cuttings. You'll plant them in a hill in the potato bed and then select the best and hardiest for your next years crop.

This is short... there is a lot more information to know. Google it.

[Sam Reeves]

Can you do that with sweet potatoes as well?

You can do that with any veggie that grows in the ground. Beets, peanuts, sweet potatoes, carrots, etc.

[grazer]

Potatoes in straw mulch is great. It eliminates having to rotate every year or so to avoid blight and diseases. Put a foot or so of straw, put in your eyes, and then cover with a foot and a half of straw. About three feet wide for a single row, etc. Afterwards, till the straw into the other part of the garden.

[LeaveThisLifeGuy]

You can grow potatoes in a five gallon bucket anywhere anytime of the year. Take your bucket and drill four small holes about 1/16 of an inch in diameter about a half inch from the bottom of the bucket. Taters do not have seeds. (yeah, I know but for arguments sake you have to assume that somebody won't know this) Take a potato and cut it into around eight equal pieces and put them in dark place. On a plate in the pantry works fine. When they start to develop eyes, which is light yellow sprouts that you will notice protruding from the potato pieces you know it is time to plant.
Fill your bucket with good dirt or potting soil until about it is about five inches from the top. Plant two or three of the potato pieces about four inches deep in the dirt. I sprinkle a small handful of the cheapest plantfood I can on the top. Be careful not to over water you tater as the are very disease prone and will rot if over watered. It should grow a plant about 15 inches inch. Eventually it will bloom with little yellow flowers. A few days after the flowers wilt it is time to harvest your taters. The easiest way is to gently pull the plant up by the roots then feel around for with your hand. The greedy way is to sift them out with chicken wire.
I like my taters fired or boiled until the bust open then buttered to death, cheese, bacon bits, and sour cream.

awesome. gonna try that on my porch tomorrow. how long does it take from planting to harvest?