Fast growing plants for a survival community

For food I suggest planting sweet potatoes. More sturdy than potatoes and just keeps growing and growing without maintenance. Roots can be made into noodles and for bread (google for recipes.) Leaves are actually edible, just needs blanching or as livestock feed.

For firewood try growing hibiscus and/or what we call in my country madre de cacao or kakawate. They grow very fast. Hibiscus flowers can also be made into tea, etc.

If bamboo can grow in your areas, try growing that as well. Very useful for furniture, etc. Shoots are actually edible and used in Asian cuisine.

Hope this helps.

reply to post by eldard


Thanks for the info.
I have a small place for a vegetable patch in the garden, but hadn't decided yet what to grow.
I think i'll have a go at sweet potatoes

I have to agree about bamboo and this is an excellent topic for discussion btw.

We have suddenly huge bouts of bamboo growing out of nowhere in central PA, where I have lived over 30 years. It's bizarre suddenly seeing these big forests of the stuff. For local wood tho I'd recommend sumac. That stuff grows like crazy, is prolific, and is excellent for toolmaking.

Raspberries aren't fast producers but grow like wildfire and within a year or two will populate a large area with useful fruiting plants

I think for a survival community though root veggies are super easy to grow as well as lettuces. That would keep you pretty well going until you could get more substantial food.

Survival community groups should look at postage orchards too. They're fast to fruit, small in size and can really give you a great boost to food production for a mere 10 dollars or so per tree though you're looking at waiting a year before using. However it is important to consider your future even in a survival situation, wouldn't you agree?

I say Amaranth. It's a psuedo grain and it has ALL the nutritional value that the human body needs.

1.It is easily harvested.
2.It is highly tolerant of arid environments, which are typical of most subtropical and some tropical regions[citation needed], and
3.Its seeds are a good source of protein, rich in essential amino acids such as lysine, while being a poor source of essential amino acids such as leucine and threonine. Common grains such as wheat and corn are rich in amino acids that amaranth lacks; thus, amaranth and other grains can complement each other.[10][11]
4.The seeds of Amaranthus species contain about thirty percent more protein than cereals like rice, sorghum and rye.[10] In cooked and edible forms, amaranth is competitive with wheat germ and oats - higher in some nutrients, lower in others.[12]
5.It is easy to cook. As befits its weedy life history, amaranth grains grow very rapidly and their large seedheads can weigh up to 1 kilogram and contain a half-million seeds in three species of amaranth.[11]

Source

reply to post by michaelmcclen


I agree with you whole-heartedly, it is a very versatile natural plant that can grow in any climate other than, polar, tundra or desert, with near miracolous healing properties. My Grandaddy uses it in his cooking (legally i should add) for his chronic arthritis.

Great post

EDA: Spot on thread OP, some valuable information for self sustainability

I ll add tomatoes, cucumbers and rucola. All of them growing like wild,
Edible and tasty.

wheat, root vegetables (carrots, potatos, peanuts if you can) , Chickens, rabbits.......add goats, because they can eat and will eat , anything.......and are good for milk and cheese and other things, as well as meat

All grow fairly quickly and can be used for multiple things......

You dont just want to think quick growing , you want to think sustainable.........

Originally posted by ldyserenity
I say Amaranth. It's a psuedo grain and it has ALL the nutritional value that the human body needs.
Source

All things in moderation, friend. Amaranth is all that you say and more, however, if you try to live on it exclusively you'll find that is a great absorber of nitrates which accumulate readily in the human body and cause a great deal of health problems. We need variety in our diet.

Originally posted by svetlana84
I ll add tomatoes, cucumbers and rucola. All of them growing like wild,
Edible and tasty.

Ping Pong

add Sunflowers and Peanuts, together with the already named you have a healthy diet!

Buckwheat is also easy to grow!

One of the most important things is to actually garden now, before you need to rely on it.

Every year, you need to increase your skills if you think that you're going to be gardening for survival.

It seems so simple but you need to figure our what grows well in your area, weed control, pest control, rotations etc. If TSHTF, you can't just run to your local garden supplier and get more stuff. So, master your skills now, buy your tools now, buy your seeds now and start a garden.

It's very rewarding when you get to enjoy your harvest.

reply to post by Human0815


Ping Pong?

I love Ping Pong, TT just scrapes it though.

What does this have to do with quick growing, sustainible foods?

reply to post by Human0815


Peas grow fairly quickly, about 50-ish days to maturity and will offer protien. Also early maturing cabbage varieties. Greens (there are a plethora besides lettuce), cut and come again lettuce, green onions, spinach, and don't forget herbs for flavor! Beans should definitely be a staple, though they take longer to mature.

reply to post by whitewave


I am just saying that added to what others have said.
Of course you want variety. We have a river so tehre's fish, I have pleenty of seed for other things as well, but we have crap soil and I didn't get too much out of that seed, however if I buy a crapload of topsoil I am sure it'll grow better for me. I live in Florida so it is pretty open growing season wise, especially if I start inside in winter. I also plan on stockpiling wheat flour (the whole wheat stoneground to go with all my other stuff).

Just a thought, but I use Tropaeolum near my cucumbers and what not to attract the nice kind of predatory insects, and it seems to work as a natural alternative.. not only that but it is a very vigorous plant with the added bonus of being edible (both leaves and flowers)

reply to post by thoughtsfull


Grow rosemary between different crops rosemary is also a natural pest repelling plant and it's wonderful in breads.

Originally posted by michaelmcclen

You dont even have to see the text to know what I was trying to talk about lol.

Very intresting thread I will definatly be subscribing to it and book marking it for future refrence

reply to post by eldard


Thanks for the post. We plan to have a small garden this next spring. I have a another small plot of land, it is all hill side, that I am clearing to plant Black berries.