Survival Gardens

reply to post by rickymouse


That's a great idea! I also spread edibles into the flower gardens, they hide pretty well in the brighter plants. Traditional isn't always the best way to go. My broccoli is a perfect example. I am able to squeeze a lot of plants into a pretty small growing area and get a great yield. I also have a short cool season, I prune the leaves a bit to make space and I rotate faithfully because it does deplete the soil to grow like that. My berry patches are also hidden well, they are scattered around the property and some started off as wild patches. To the untrained eye it looks like weeds, but I pull pounds of berries out every year. I still have dozens of jars of jam and a few bags of frozen berries in the freezer.

It is comforting to know that there will be food outside waiting for us as soon as the growing season starts. It may also be a good idea to plant different types of perennial foods that ripen at different times. Here as soon as the snow is gone, I will be harvesting dandelions ( greens and wine) and fiddleheads with a friend of mine. Then the asparagus comes back as well as some other wild greens. Puffball mushrooms start plumping up around the same time that the rhubarb is coming into it's own and so on. There are edibles constantly through the summer, wild and domestic, to work with during the year.

Originally posted by rickymouse
A survival garden is a great idea. If the shtf it is important for people to understand that having all ones eggs in one basket is not good. Hiding some plants amongst nature is a good idea, not all in the garden. Plant some potato plants lining the yard, people don't usually know what a potato plant looks like unless they have raised them. Just dig a hole, plant the potato, and cover it with leaves or grass clippings. Go back later and toss some topsoil and or straw around the plant and disguise it with some leaves or clippings.

This can be done with a lot of plants, people will be looking for gardens to rob.

Why do things have to fit into the way that we have been conditioned to do them to work?

This is a good idea, but around here there are things to consider in nature, outside of fences, like cows and other animals who will eat your plants. Perhaps not potato tops (hopefully not) as those are toxic to most animals, including humans.

On planting potatoes, at least around here, you don't just drop a potato in the ground and expect it to grow. You need to let the potato(s) sit in a cool dark place for around a month, so the eyes will start to sprout. When the potato has started to sprout, remove all but 1 sprout, and then place the potato in the ground, sprout up, covered in soil except the sprout. That sprout will become the leaves etc.

Another "easy" (if you're good with a shovel) crop to grow/harvest are sweet potatoes. You need to break up the soil very well first, and have sweet potato roots. Just plant pieces of the roots and let them do their thing. They create a LOT of ground cover, and can become a pest if you cannot remove all of the roots during harvest, but at least it's an edible pest! =D

Awesome organic/survival thread!

with white potatoes, i pick the one purchased for eating that has the most buds then cut the potato into 1-eye cubes, let air dry for 2 days then plant. Not all grow but the yield from a few buds is amazing.

My favorite staple are taro and cassava. most people don't seem to recognize elephant ears as edible. Likewise I allow the edible weeds to grow in abundance as 'wild' spinach without as much kidney-stone causing calcium oxalates as western spinach - in the west you have lambs ears, red/whiteroot pigweed, and for me chinese pigweed I forgot what its called but it looks so weedy and sprawly yet its secretly packed with vitamins and some proteins.

Originally posted by tropic
Awesome organic/survival thread!

with white potatoes, i pick the one purchased for eating that has the most buds then cut the potato into 1-eye cubes, let air dry for 2 days then plant. Not all grow but the yield from a few buds is amazing.

My favorite staple are taro and cassava. most people don't seem to recognize elephant ears as edible. Likewise I allow the edible weeds to grow in abundance as 'wild' spinach without as much kidney-stone causing calcium oxalates as western spinach - in the west you have lambs ears, red/whiteroot pigweed, and for me chinese pigweed I forgot what its called but it looks so weedy and sprawly yet its secretly packed with vitamins and some proteins.

Good points. With taro the root is edible and the leaves when you take off the stringy outside fibers. They grow excellent in places that are usually wet. If you use/recycle gray water into your garden, then taro is a great plant for the water's first stop. There are many kinds of taro, some not edible

Cassava is also very easy to grow and has many uses. I literally cut up the cassava branches and stick them in the ground, bottom down of course. They will grow fast and in no time.

A weed around here would be different kinds of amaranth and many others I would have to find the English name for hehe.

Great post! Maybe try letting the potatoes sprout their eyes everywhere, and then cut them up? That should work too, with better results.. but more time.

Potatoes can be easy, after harvesting, they go into cool storage. I use them all winter, then after they soften a bit too much to eat, I leave them to sprout. We cut them up and plant them in stacks of tires. It makes for easy harvesting as well. I haven't had to buy seed potatoes in over 5 years.

I just wanted to stop in and share, after shoveling untold amounts of snow off of garden beds and paths, I found little itty bitty iris sprouts growing under a good foot and a half of snow! I spotted green as I was removing snow from one of my spring perennial beds. We still have a few feet to go everywhere else though. I managed to get my garden gate open after two weeks of digging and melting. Hopefully my ability to move my coldframe around a bit now will start melting the veggie beds off too.

I know there are quite a few people stuck in this seemingly perpetual winter this year. I know that I was getting discouraged, but to find those sweet sprouts under the snow reminded me that spring really is coming. Hopefully everyone else will start melting soon too.

These odd seasons are all the more reason to grow in abundance and preserve your harvest. Sometimes you never know when you can count on a season showing up in time.