Seeds. Quality of seeds are very important. Ensure you store them in a controlled manner.
Planting. Ensure the soil and planting location is prepped to control waste of water (important if and when the collapse hits and water sources may not be reliable). Make sure you cull the plants as they come up so you keep the strongest plant of that species otherwise they will compete with each other. Don't plant too close together. I planted my corn way too close together this year and the stalks are not growing very tall.
UrbanMan comment:. Yeah I planted too close together as well.
I also planted new vegetables every 2 to 3 weeks. I am only planting two or three plants at a time because of my limited space in my backyard.
Types of Crops.. Tomatoes, black squash not yellow, potatoes, onions and cucumbers were easy for me to grow. Corn was okay, but (again) too close together. I am know enjoying a piece of fresh vegetable almost every day! I am know buying more brown and white rice, and dried pasta so I'll always have something to make with my vegetables. Canned soup goes further when you can add a piece of fresh vegetable to it and it tastes much better!.
Container Growing. Any containers have to have the ability to drain, so consider this. A a few nail holes in the bottom of the container go along way to drainage and not rotting the roots.
I hope this helps your readers. I am so glad I planted crops this year as I have learned so much. I think people who buy those pre-made SHTF tins of seeds but have never grown anything are going to be in for a surprise and not a good surprise.
UrbanMan comment: I agree with the need to "practice" growing crops if you have never done so. I also think that the Survival Planner would probably be better of customizing his own survival seed stock or at least augmenting store bought survival seed kits by figuring out what grows best in his area and buying those non-hybrid seeds from a reputable source. Gurney's Seed and Nursery is one of the sources I like. They also offer growing information, supplies and growing aids as well as a free newsletter.
There are a lot of celebrities (radio and news) pushing the idea of stocking food; hardly any of them talk about Seeds for Survival Gardens. What are you doing to do when the food runs out?
Stay Safe All. Cheers, Urban Man.
I have gardened for years and canned and stored in root cellars. My advice is plant a large garden with many different vegetables. Larger then you need so that if you have a good harvest you can give some away and if you have a bad harvest you will still have enough. Your garden will often produce so much in a specific week or day that it will run you ragged so be ready for periodic bountiful harvests. Every year something seems to fail; it might be tomatoes one year that barely produce or another plant that just fails to meet expectations. So expect a few crops to fail and you won't be disappointed when it happens. My favorite crop for big harvests and eating enjoyment are: tomatoes, potatoes, corn, squash (winter), onions, green beans. My problem vegetables are peppers, strawberries, sometimes lettuces and some herbs. Don't forget foraging. I can pick enough blackberries in two hours to make 50 pints of jam. I have found a suprising number of apple trees on public land. The apples are not cared for so they are generally small and often wormy. BUT it is so easy to cut the wormy part out. I have never seen an apple that was more then half wasted by the presence of a worm. I gather them up, cut out the wormy part, peel and slice and can with sugar and cinnamon and have apple pies in the middle of the winter.
ReplyDelete