Lucille
02-25-2011, 11:24 AM
I have been a gardener for a lifetime, so I want to start this thread about survival gardening. I also grow roses and daylilies but this thread is mostly about food gardening. Please add your own thoughts/experiences.
Try to mostly grow what grows where you are. I grew blueberries for a while but they needed much more coddling than the other plants in my garden. They are gone now. Plants like tomatoes and peppers bear heavily here and are easier to grow, they are better choices. Muscadines in the south are amazing and easy if you want jelly or wine.
I have what I think is a good size garden but nowhere near the size of some people's gardens. But you can get a lot of food out of a relatively small space if you organize what you are doing. Plus, if you are too ambitious, plant giant acres of land and then you don't have time to keep up with it, your gardening space will turn into an ugly weedy mess. Take some time to decide exactly what is right for you.
If you are young, plant trees. I planted figs, satsuma oranges, a lemon tree and now that I am older they are bearing and providing food. I live in a burb, you can plant a tree just about anywhere you have a little patch of land.
Blackberries are easy to grow in the South. A genuine home made blackberry cobbler with Blue Bell ice cream is always appreciated by my family.
I bought a canner once, I'm not sure if I ever used it because I didn't have time to learn how to use it safely. I am thinking of buying another one.
Storing food is a good idea.
Caution: Wear gloves when harvesting and processing hot peppers. I still have the burn spray that I tried to use to lessen the searing pain of a garden harvest that included habaneros and the like.
Speaking of burns, start off easy. I have a sunburn right now that's so bad I'm gonna peel, but I've been out in the back yard all week doing stuff and didn't pay any mind when the sun got too hot.
Learn to make peace with bugs if you can. Of course if you have locusts or Japanese beetles or some other bug that decimates your crop you have to do something, but lately the only bug I kill using insecticides are the fire ants.
I found over the years that if I planted a little more than I needed, the birds got some, the bugs got some, and I got some, and as long as I got enough I didn't mind sharing. I have some green tree frogs and garden toads and I think they live back there because I have bugs.
I used to grow strawberries and after the birds and bugs filled their plates I didn't get hardly anything so I just stopped growing them since the blackberries require little care and are heavy bearers and I get a larger percent back after the birds and bugs get theirs.
Consider planting a few heirloom varieties. Modern vegetables were developed to be resistant to diseases,which can be very important if you are depending on bringing in a crop, but there are heirloom vegetables that are worth growing and delicious. Plant both.
Try to mostly grow what grows where you are. I grew blueberries for a while but they needed much more coddling than the other plants in my garden. They are gone now. Plants like tomatoes and peppers bear heavily here and are easier to grow, they are better choices. Muscadines in the south are amazing and easy if you want jelly or wine.
I have what I think is a good size garden but nowhere near the size of some people's gardens. But you can get a lot of food out of a relatively small space if you organize what you are doing. Plus, if you are too ambitious, plant giant acres of land and then you don't have time to keep up with it, your gardening space will turn into an ugly weedy mess. Take some time to decide exactly what is right for you.
If you are young, plant trees. I planted figs, satsuma oranges, a lemon tree and now that I am older they are bearing and providing food. I live in a burb, you can plant a tree just about anywhere you have a little patch of land.
Blackberries are easy to grow in the South. A genuine home made blackberry cobbler with Blue Bell ice cream is always appreciated by my family.
I bought a canner once, I'm not sure if I ever used it because I didn't have time to learn how to use it safely. I am thinking of buying another one.
Storing food is a good idea.
Caution: Wear gloves when harvesting and processing hot peppers. I still have the burn spray that I tried to use to lessen the searing pain of a garden harvest that included habaneros and the like.
Speaking of burns, start off easy. I have a sunburn right now that's so bad I'm gonna peel, but I've been out in the back yard all week doing stuff and didn't pay any mind when the sun got too hot.
Learn to make peace with bugs if you can. Of course if you have locusts or Japanese beetles or some other bug that decimates your crop you have to do something, but lately the only bug I kill using insecticides are the fire ants.
I found over the years that if I planted a little more than I needed, the birds got some, the bugs got some, and I got some, and as long as I got enough I didn't mind sharing. I have some green tree frogs and garden toads and I think they live back there because I have bugs.
I used to grow strawberries and after the birds and bugs filled their plates I didn't get hardly anything so I just stopped growing them since the blackberries require little care and are heavy bearers and I get a larger percent back after the birds and bugs get theirs.
Consider planting a few heirloom varieties. Modern vegetables were developed to be resistant to diseases,which can be very important if you are depending on bringing in a crop, but there are heirloom vegetables that are worth growing and delicious. Plant both.