What's in your seed bank?

Given a worst case senario and you could no longer run to the local super center and buy a months worth of food, what is your plan? How will you provide for yourself? That freeze dried preservative laced crap won't last forever, chances are you only have 3, 6, or 12 months worth.

Hunting for game animals alone will not do. you must have the vitamins and minerals only vegges can provide for long term sustainment.

Do you have a seed bank? Do you know how to plant, care for, harvest, store, and reseed a garden year after year like early settlers? Do you have a "green thumb" and are prepared to use it to save your life?

I'd like to know how you are set up for self-sustainment, what gardening hand tools do you think are a must. What seeds and supplies do you have in long term storage for when the SHTF?

Okay... so you join a couple of days ago and start asking personal questions like this? What site do you think this is? Ignorance or us?

I personally have only genetically modified seeds that I bought from walmart after the season at the great price of 200 seed packets for 1.00

I am a bargain shopper!

uh yeah....

i'm not asking for your address and atm pin number, i just asked if you garden. i like to grow my own food, problem with that?

and yeah i found this killer site a few days ago, but i been "prepareing" for over three decades.

Ah great then are you saying my seeds are the wrong choice? what do you have and what are your recommendations?

Much has to do with the area you live in.
You probably won't be growing paw paws (papaya) in cool climates.

I live in a climate that I can grow all tropical fruits from pineapples to bananas.
So I can grow also sweet potato (yams), regular potato's, melons, tomato's, peppers, cucumbers, the list goes on.
It is also handy to have a knowledge of native fruits you can collect that may grow in your area.

some garden weeds are actually edible plants that where introduced to certain areas.

try looking around the net for native plants to your local areas.

those who like to grow from seed, plant your seeds and then let a few plants flower and go to seed and then collect those seeds and see if they grow, I have found over the years that a few plants won't grow from second generation seeds,
I believe there are some seeds called terminator seeds which won't grow second time round.

you can seal those collected seeds in air tight bags kept out of the light and away from moisture, those vacuum bags are good for storage.

And to add to some of the previous posts one can always share with others their seeds or barter your harvested fruits and veggies. That is if you find like minded people that are not 100% greedy.

Originally posted by antar
Okay... so you join a couple of days ago and start asking personal questions like this? What site do you think this is? Ignorance or us?

I personally have only genetically modified seeds that I bought from walmart after the season at the great price of 200 seed packets for 1.00

I am a bargain shopper!

Holy $hit...

And I thought I flamed for no reason...

Antar - O' mighty writer...you forgot to check your bitterness at the door before entering...but hey - even seasoned members can show their ass...the OP in NO way had that coming...




to the OP: I hit this store up earlier this year -

This one..

Got the Grab-N-Go Pack - Limited on the seed mix, but it's a start...and yes, I plan on adding another in January...and definitely get more seeds...




link edit!

[edit on 12/21/2008 by chapter29]

reply to post by Muundoggie


you know i never thought of that, when the economy is gone seeds and the food grown from them would become currency or atleast barder goods.

I've got thousands of seeds for tomatoes; They're my favorite so I've got dozens of varieties of tomatoes. White, Yellow, Peach, Pink, Orange, Red, and Purple varieties with all sorts of shapes.. I love my maters.... Then a fair amount for eggplant, summer squash, cucumbers, radishes, and beans. I also have a pear, pecan, plum, and fig tree next to my two blueberry bushes. There are also native persimmons, plums, and nut bearing trees from when the Cherokee tended the land surrounding the plot.
The vegetables are all open pollinated or heirloom varieties so they will stay true year after year, which is important because I've become a big seed saver.

This will be the first year I grow out this many vegetables but provided their production is average I'll have enough food to last all year. Plus it's on the river so I've got fish, birds, and other game all in the same area. Provided I don't have to deal with roving gangs (deep in the sticks) or some other use of violent force I'll be fine.

[edit on 22-12-2008 by beaverg]

reply to post by AgentBlack


Happiness is hammering the new guy for asking a question

Vital hand tools for keeping a long term garden should you need to garden to survive: Bull Rakes, Hoes, Spade shovels, trowels, hoses, plow of some sort, saws (to reduce shade), large cistern to collect rain water, scythes, pitchforks, also, follow this Link for a list of farm tools used before modern tools were about. Pretty good site.

As for seeds in my collection. I would list this, but I simply dont want to type all of that out. I live in what most would consider I difficult place to grow anything except ice, however, as Ive posted on ATS many times, I keep a large garden and constanly am adding and expanding it.

If you are looking to go this route, I applaud you. But dont just plant the "normal" things when planning. Go with some items that are a bit more obscure, not only for a change of pace, but for potential barter. Items would include cotton, tobacco, coffee, sugar beets, sugar cane if you have the right climate, and dont forget flowers. Lots of flowers mean more bees, bees polinate your vegtable plants and of course produce honey.

Another thing to consider. If the grocery store is gone, good chance you dont have power any more. Look into storage options. If possible a root cellar is a good way to go, but there are above ground options as well. Learn to can, dry and cure your food. 800 lbs of cabbage arent going to do you any good if you dont know how to can it.

I'm new to gardening, just had our first garden last year. (BTW, that was the first Summer after I woke up and discovered that I was one of the sheep) We are also extremely limited on space, so we go with container gardens. Last year we had tomatoes, sweet peppers, hot peppers, lima beans, snap beans, carrots (these did nothing) watermelons, cucumbers and zucchini (hit hard by squash vine borers) Also had several crops of lettuces.

For seed on hand right now, I have all that's left from last year. I also have several packets of various veggies that I bought late season in the clearance rack. I also tried my hand at saving some seeds from a couple of the peppers.

As for tools to have on hand, I think that the only real requirements are spade, rake and a hand trowel. Everything else is a bonus since just about any job can be completed with these couple tools and a lot of hard work. Maybe throw in a pick or other tool to pry out large rocks.

Darnit. I can't edit my last post?


[edit on 22-12-2008 by beaverg]

This is a great thread but why do these things in an emergency only? I've been keeping an organic garden (if that's what it's called now) for years now, and it's a great hobby for anyone to have, regardless of the world's problems. Composting makes great fertilizer, by the way.

Everyone should also know what plants are native (or compatible) in your area because it's just a good thing to know!

Someone should keep bees.


America needs to rediscover it's land.

You know the US has a huge seed bank somewhere in Europe I think, heavily guarded right? Cause they know the impending doom that is coming.

Yes they do. Makes mine look tiny in comparison.

Can read about it here and then there is the doomsday seedbank in Norway, learn about that one here

Lets see, I’ve got a couple of long term storage buckets with a wide variety of seeds for future use. All open pollinated non GM of course. So far the only seeds I’ve saved myself are from corn, potatoes, tomatoes, watermelon, and a couple of varieties of beans. If you’re going to keep your own seeds it’s important to select for the most well adapted plants to your area, and so continually improve the stock.

Check out Raoul Robinson on the subject of breeding for natural broad based resistance.

www.idrc.ca...

Also see:

Robinson, R.A. (2004). Amateur Plant Breeder's Handbook 2004. Sharebooks. ISBN 0-9731816-2-1. www.sharebooks.ca...
Robinson, R.A.. Amateur Potato Breeder's Manual. Sharebooks. www.sharebooks.ca...
Robinson, R.A.. Crop Histories. Sharebooks. ISBN 0-9731816-4-8. www.sharebooks.ca...
Robinson, R.A.. Farming And Us: The Influence of Agriculture on Human Behaviour. Sharebooks. ISBN 0-9731816-1-3. www.sharebooks.ca...
Robinson, R.A.. Return to Resistance: Breeding Crops to Reduce Pesiticide Depedency. Sharebooks. ISBN 0-9731816-0-5. www.sharebooks.ca...
Robinson, R.A.. Self-Organising Agro-Ecosystems. Sharebooks. ISBN 0-9731816-3-X. www.sharebooks.ca...

Originally posted by AgentBlack
Given a worst case senario and you could no longer run to the local super center and buy a months worth of food, what is your plan? How will you provide for yourself? That freeze dried preservative laced crap won't last forever, chances are you only have 3, 6, or 12 months worth.

Hunting for game animals alone will not do. you must have the vitamins and minerals only vegges can provide for long term sustainment.

Do you have a seed bank? Do you know how to plant, care for, harvest, store, and reseed a garden year after year like early settlers? Do you have a "green thumb" and are prepared to use it to save your life?

I'd like to know how you are set up for self-sustainment, what gardening hand tools do you think are a must. What seeds and supplies do you have in long term storage for when the SHTF?

The primary thing in my seed bank is Amaranth, it is one of 3 plants
that make a seed that is a complete protein.

Amaranth

Amaranth seeds, like buckwheat and quinoa, contain protein that is unusually complete for plant sources.[citation needed][14] Most fruits and vegetables do not contain a complete set of amino acids, and thus different sources of protein must be used.

The other I picked is a low light plant because it is much like a fern,
and that is carrots.

Low light levels may be due to nuclear winter, you will need to get soil
from uncontaminated places such as under houses, roads , sidewalks
and then keep it away from the alpha and beta partciles that will be
blowing around for 30 years.

It won't be a walk in the park.

I went with heirloom seeds from this place:

Rare Seeds

Good Luck to you all !

a reply to: AgentBlack

me and my gf have seeds stored in our freezer of most of the vegetables that will grow in the Scottish climate

I also have some tree seeds in there

I know how to make bio char and am planning to start a biochar project here in Glasgow