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nano

Best crops for survival gardening

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Hi there,

I want to do a little experiment: I have a normal sized suburban backyard and I would like to know how many days of the year my partner and I could survive with just eating my own produce.

So I am looking for the killer plant that will grow the fastest, takes the least amount of space, and brings the most calories in my plate.

So far I thought about: lentils, peanuts, potatoes. And tomatoes and lettuce for vitamins. Maybe some chooks for quick recycling of vegetable into compost and meat for XMas day.

Any suggestions ?

Thanks

Nano

ps: I'm just getting ready for 2012 when the shit is going to hit the fan ;)

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i have been preparing for the last 3 years.

i have alot of stunted bonsai fruit trees that actually produce fruit.

plants and trees can be alot different thou.

while a tree cared for can last you a life time , with plants sometimes you have to just keep on growing new seedlings.

i like what your doing thou , i myself have often wondered just how long i could survive without having to go to coles , iga or any supermarket.

its no doubt a interesting experiment and could be a reality in the near future that we may need to depend upon.

one can never really know nor tell.

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Try growing some eggplant. I'm growing them at the moment and they are hardy as fuck. I don't know what to do with them all and as they are perennials they will last for over two years. You can also graft them which has numerous benefits. I have not grafted one myself but I saw one that a guy grafted and it was awesome.

Chooks are good too. Just don't get a rooster because they are noisy and some councils even have rules against owning roosters.

You could grow more food faster and with less space if you used hydroponics. You don't need to use expensive lights or anything. You could have a basic setup outside in a greenhouse or something. If you look on Youtube you will find some cool backyard hydroponic vegetable setups and there are plenty that aren't fancy.

You can also save space by growing upward with the use of a trellis or wall etc. You can grow cucumbers this way.

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i'm not sure how well peanuts would go in a temperate climate.

Pumpkin can be trained to take up less space two or three plants should give you plenty ov produce.

Onions, leeks , peas & beans.

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Less commonly cultivated crops with less diseases are worth considering too. Jerusalem artichokes, oca, yacon, yams, arrowroot and water chestnuts are all good options. It is said that a single water chestnut corm can produce up 100 in a single growing season, so if you start off with 100, you could potentially have 10000 corms by harvest time.

Tomatoes are very easy to grow and are heavy croppers, though are only annuals. Can't go pumpkins for ease and productivity. Potatoes are also very easy and productive. Sweet potatoes too, which also have edible leaves.

Edited by tripsis

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Thanks guys,

I think there is no hope that i can produce all my protein on such a small area (600 m^2 and with the house on it).

Other threads mention at least 1 acre (~4000 m^2) to feed a family..

So instead I am going to stock up on lentils and beans (they can be stored up to 30 years if you remove the oxygen). 50kg of these would feed my partner and I for one year.

And the garden will be best used for growing fresh veggies and medicine .

Nano

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I think it would be a better option to grow something with the highest trade value rather than higher calorie value. That way you can take advantage of all sorts of seasonal variation and form a community around you.

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Don't see choko's mentioned.

You can eat the leaves and shoots.

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there was an aussie video posted here (by sunchro?) i forget the name, it was about permaculture in oz.

600sq. m, might be a tad small for complete self relaince, but i bet you can grow damn near all your none meat food if you plan it out well. how you grow it is often more inmportant than what you grow (to a point).

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I am not sure which rootstock the guy used for the eggplant.

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Squash and pumpkin are cool. Many varieties have fruit with awesome shelf life (6-8 months if kept cool) and the leaves are edible and nutritious. I been puttin squash leaves in curry and chilli, good eatin', and 45% protein on the dry weight basis.. in the Leaves!. Some say the older leaves are too woody, they still make vegetable stock.

Bean leaves are edible too and bush beans dont need insanely hella big root space. I tried a little of them, not bad.

Cowpeas are getting my attention more, reportedly very drought tolerant, they produce a bean-like pea, and the foliage is very nutritious- B vitamins, vitamin A, minerals, and 40% protein on the dry weight basis.. in the Leaves!. I havent tried them yet so I cant comment on taste but I planted some where my dog killed other plants.

Amaranth, quinoa, etc produce pseudo-grain and a high oxalate spinach like foliage. Good deal if you can get enough calcium.

Beets are great, whole fucking things edible and if you dont over crowd them they need not be watered past the seedling stage. I get 8" of rain per year and here I am in 32*C summer and I havent watered my beets in a month.

Mustard greens and kale are far better than lettuce for maximal food value.

Sage and lemon balm are great ways to get beverage requirements filled. Both are packed with antioxidants, consumption rate is inversely correlated with dementia and alzheimers, the combo tastes good with no sweeteners, and a small patch will grow a years supply. In fact a few days ago I harvested enough to make 560 liters of tea lol.

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you can use Devil Plant (Solanum capsicoides) as a root stock for grafting eggplant

Grafting Eggplant onto Devil Plant

Totally Practical: Grafting Eggplants

I'm sure there might be something easer to use but thats all i could find

Edited by aussiejwerta

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Marijuana ~ The seeds are the most complete source of nutrition known to man. And it also has *ahem, other benefits of course :wink:

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Tempeh and oyster mushrooms for some low space, high yield food options...

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Rather than being entirely focused on growing plants that are edible and medicinal, I would strongly encourage you to identify and learn about all the weeds in your area that you can't stop from growing everywhere. I've been amazed, as I've gotten more and more into foraging as a hobby, at the number of persistent weeds that pop up everywhere in my urban environment that are very nutritious and abundant or medicinal.

Squash flowers are also edible, delicious once cooked and add some nice color to dishes.

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I think its a fantastic idea, id probably be trying it myself if my backyard got more than 3 hours direct sunlight a day.

I think you want to have as much variety as you can in your space, so your taste buds dont get bored and also if one thing gets wiped out by bugs, weather extremes or whatever then you have other foods to fall back on.

If your limited for space you definatley want to make use of climbing plants, either on existing structures or put up wires or trellises. Goji berries are a vine and contain very high amounts of antioxidants, grafted passionfruit vines can give massive yeilds. Both these take some time to establish, snow peas and climbing beans can give loads of food for the amount of ground space they actually take up.

As someone mentioned before how you plant is probably more important than what you plant.

tricks like planting things with a very small shallow root system next to things with a large deep root system means you can get plants closer together.

And old tricks like planting beans amongst patches of corn so the beans climb the corn stalks.

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Cassava and taro should also be considered, as they both have edible roots and edible leaves (with proper cooking to dispel the toxins). Anything with more than one part of it being edible is worth considering.

Rather than being entirely focused on growing plants that are edible and medicinal, I would strongly encourage you to identify and learn about all the weeds in your area that you can't stop from growing everywhere. I've been amazed, as I've gotten more and more into foraging as a hobby, at the number of persistent weeds that pop up everywhere in my urban environment that are very nutritious and abundant or medicinal.

A very good point. Went for a short walk today and passed many potentially edible plants. Blackberries, Cape gooseberries, wombat berries (Eustrephus latifolius), native grape (Cissus hypoglauca), wild mustard, dock/sorrel, dandelion, passionfruit, wood sorrel (Oxalis sp.), devil's twine (Cassytha pubescens), native sarsaparilla (Smilax glyciphylla) and native ginger (Alpinia caerulea). All that in a small area very local to me. There's heaps around if you know what to look for, though surviving off it would be another matter. None of the fruits were in season, so it would be leaves and roots at the moment. Not exactly a sustaining diet.

Edit: forgot to mention there's a macadamia tree on the side of the road, as well an an Illawarra plum (Podocarpus elatus) in the front of someone's yard, both close to where I live. The Illawarra plum is in full fruit, though it's not easy getting the fruit from the tree where it is. Anyway, point being that it's worth looking at what fruit/nut trees have been planted around the place too.

Edited by tripsis

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My thinking is that you need a crop that is reliable all year long and not just the warm months - unless you live in an appropriate area where they can fruit all year round. So Id knock crops like tomatoes on the head.

ive been looking into a long, lost vegetable called 'skirret' - it grows all year round and can tolerate some pretty harsh conditions.

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For cold season crops just look to biennials, they have to stay alive through the winter.

So for example kale, rutabaga, beet and turnip will all survive below freezing.

Many others will too.

For areas with snow or freezing rain theres an awesome tutorial on winter gardening by my veggie gardener hero [Here]

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Great thread.

Hyphal mentioned tempeh; anyone here have any experience growing soy bean in large quantities? It seems like the ultimate crop for protein, but I have a suspicion that growing a goodly amount would be water and space intensive.

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If it hasn't been said, Chickens are great as they give u eggs, let them breed, only need a few males for lots of females, so u get protein too from the excess males. They will live easily off of scraps and u could easily grow them a grain feed.

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If your talking 2012 senario,why are you worried about space? I mean it seems to me that the problem after the breakdown of society would be water, much more than all of the unused land in australia. Cant just turn on a tap any more

I have 47 acres and three dams, some years i runout of water to keep the small vegie garden going.

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