Best crops for survival gardening

[Stillman]

I can get you some tomatillo seed.Giant tomatillo, pm me your Address and I will send you some ghostly.

gtarman for our climate. lots and lots of tubers is the way to go. Nothing beats sweet potato or yams when the chips are down. A bit of ipomoea aquatica, tomatillos which are drought proof compared to tomatoes. Herbs for flavour and what ever else you could get away with depending on the season that would be my survival staples.

[brokenswan]

Survival gardening is a confusing subject really as it depends what is meant by 'survival plants', are we talking about plants for extreme climatic conditions or plants for a major catastrophe...man made or natural...where it isn't possible to buy food? Something for a short term food shortage ie: two or three months or maybe long term self sufficiency?

Sometimes I think we look to the exotic when there are simpler answers right in our own backyards...there are many wild foods there for the taking, in my area for instance there is Salsify. Dandelion, Nettle, Hawthorn, Rose, Elder, wild Apples & Pears, Chicory...if I looked properly and did some research I bet there would be lots more...between the wild stuff and what we grow I know I wouldn't starve to death...even long term. I'd be more concerned about the multitudes of people who would leave the cities in search of food!

I do think it is a good idea not to rely on 'bought' seeds...I try to save as much seed as possible from our own stuff and to save fresh every year...can't grow stuff without seed!! And even in the worst possible conditions it should be possible to sprout seed for sustenance.

Thanks for the welcome...and the interesting forums!

[waterboy 2.0]

The roving raiders beware...... it will be Mad Maxx time.

I gather thats Briar rose Broken swan ? A useful weed in my area.The rosehips are very high in vitamin C (no scurvy salty sea dogs...lol). No shortage of blackberries as well in gullies along waterways.

Down here a lot of native small orchids/greenhoods/lillies were dug up for the little tubers for food before the white fellas came ashore- I have eaten the Bulbine Lily - Bulbine bulbosa.

So a bit of blackfella knowledge....

Manferns were cut open for the starchy heart, eaten raw or preferably roasted. Cyathea australis is more palatable but is killed by removing the tip, Dicksonia antarctica is capable of generating a new growing tip.

Water Ribbons - Triglochin procera, growing in larger river pools and lake/wetland margins yields a tuber that can be roasted.

Wattles yield a lot of resources.

Acacia dealbata and mearnsii gum was chewed on/or disolved in water as a drink (not alcoholic only the gum from Cider Gum - E.gunni known to be fermented insitu) and used as an adhesive. Seeds were eaten after roasting. The burnt bark of A.dealbata produces an ash that is used for cuts/wounds to stop blood flow.

A.melanoxylon doesnt yield much gum, but seeds were roasted. A harder wood prefered for weapons/tools.

None of these are tasty, but would help keep you ticking along if the shit hits. Still grab accaia gum and chew on it today at times, lol just watch out for it sticking your teeth together. (look out for WBs "here eat this .." tricks - like mountain pepper leaves)

Then there is others used for fibre,adhesives,medicine etc...some knowledge is to be kept,but one of gem of interest to some is Zieria arborescens - Stinkwood ...this was used for headaches I can recall having this strapped onto my forehead as a kid (It does stink, very aromatic) and having great relief. In later years I have used it the same way for relief when without a good stash of pharma , I am expressly told this is not to be used internally under any circumstance however. No idea of how it works, but it did.

[brokenswan]

Thanks Waterboy for the info on native plant uses, I must admit my knowledge in this area is a bit lacking...I do know about Mountain Pepper...have a young one growing in the garden.

I always thought the wild roses here were dog roses(Rosa Canina) but they may not be...I found a patch last autumn with hips as big as cherries, will get around to Rosehip jelly one day...as you say very high in Vit C.

Too dry here for blackberries and very little remnant native vegetation...lots of Gorse, apparently according to one of my books Gorse flowers make excellent wine and Gorse was used for fuel before coal became so prevalent..bees love it too, so even the evil Gorse has its' uses. So many useful plants right under our noses....

[Bigred]

i think survival gardening is really anyone who wants to be self-sufficient we shouldn't have to wait for the end of the world to become self reliant.

I think it is a life style choice as well vege's eaten fresh from the garden are better than any thing you could get from the supermarket . Every

time i buy fruit and vege from cole's i feel violated $9 kilo for tomatoes wtf

what would be the best corn for survival gardening

[vual]

A algae farm growing heaps of sprilina would be able to sustain a family in a end would senario...

https://www.youtube....ch?v=DfVmsUHJWa

....or maybe a aquaponics farm growing fish and wheatgrass, purslane and hemp for the seeds.

 

But like others mentioned really the best option is get some books on wild food and start to forgae and learn your local edible weeds now.

many weeds people disregards can be eaten, a few in my area are solanum nigrum ripe black fruit, cobblers peg, sow thistle, wild lettuce, dock, chickweed,cress, purslane, lilly pillys, bullrush, coconut.... pandamus fruit.... the seeds of pigweed are super foods and that grows everywhere, depending on where you are, obviously you will need to learn how to balance a diet if eating local weeds but its doable..

Edited December 9, 2012 by vual

[shortly]

Spirulina would be great if cultures were available.

Given the difficulty in locating spirulina starters i recon Lemna spp are a more practical option, even though they aren't as nutritious they are easier to come by & are a LOT easier to culture.

@ Red I like Hickory King or strawberry poopcorn

Teosinte (Zea mexicana) is also proving to be worthwhile although not as productive as modern corn.

[brokenswan]

Bigred82...due to import regulations Aussie gardeners have access to a very limited variety of corn whereas overseas there are hundreds to chose from, eating corn, flour corn, corn all colours of the rainbow...in Tassie it is even worse as we also have our own quarantine rulkes so can't access mainland corn seed.

Last year I tried Bloody Butcher corn but it didn't do well here...I still have seed if anyone wants to try it?

This year I'm trying a variety called (with huge imagination) Black!! Very old heritage variety so will see how it goes...apparently it is high in nutritional value as most of the dark veges are...of the mainsream varieties the bi colour corns are supposedly some of the best varieties.... you could try to sneak some seed in from overseas...not that I would advocate this of course...!!!

[shortly]

There are more maize varieties in OZ than you think, most state DPI's imported old & new varieties for farmers and market gardeners back in the day when it was run as a service for the public good & they maintained seed libraries for decades.

I'm not sure if the seed libraries still exist but a lot of strains have filtered out to places like seedsavers etc, you just have to search.

From my point of view the big problem with corn is that it is promiscuous, if there is anyone else growing another variety of corn within a KM or 3 they will cross & you dont get a pure next generation. Not that you wont get a next generation unless it has acquired a terminator gene but you will get pot luck corn.

Edited December 2, 2012 by shortly

[vual]

i harvested a lot of cobblers peg/farmers friend/Spanish needles today, we eat it as a vegetable and its a bad bad weed.

Good in herbalism aslo great for the blood, (Bidens pilosa) It grows everywhere i bet everyone knows this weed i bet everyone has it in there yard.

Something like this that you just cant get rid of makes for good survival gardening.

[Bigred]

what is the best way to make potato seed is there a method to ensure you don't get pest's and disease

[shortly]

what is the best way to make potato seed is there a method to ensure you don't get pest's and disease

 

TC & grown out in a closed glasshouse, F'ing things are so susceptible to every pest & disease going its not funny, thats why the certified seed potato industry is so big, and so important to the industry.

You can grow new plants out from saved seed but they will be pot luck variety's and quite a few of the viruses that bother potatoes are seed borne so if/when your parent plants become infected the virus will be passed to the progeny. And since a lot of the viruses float around in a gazzillion solanaceous weeds trying to avoid them is dammed near impossible

[waterboy 2.0]

^seen also microtuber seed production proposed us in using aeroponics. Its a worry now Tassie is about to stop certified "seed tuber" potato production (yeah real smart for a spud producing agriculture), and import it from Victoria.

Also if anyone gets a hard on for potatoes, Tasmanian DPIPWE has a massive TC culture bank of hundreds of varieties Many of which have not even been field trialled, I am sure there would be a few gems for the home garden in there.

[Bert&Ernie]

dunno if this has been mentioned but Portulaca oleracea grows everywhere as a weed so it would be easy to propagate and it seems to have some pretty good stuff in it.... oh and it grows really really fast here in wa and in just about any soil

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portulaca_oleracea

[Stillman]

theres also a giant gold oleracea I had it growing for a while. It would definitely be a good source of greens.

[shortly]

theres also a giant gold oleracea I had it growing for a while. It would definitely be a good source of greens.

 

I saw that recently on Jerry Coleby-Williams FB page gotta find me a cut of that, i recon your right it looks like a an absolute gem of a plant.

[Stillman]

I actually bought some seed off ebay Portulaca oleracea sativa I think it was called couple bucks for 300 seeds. It comes up in the yard a bit, if I spot some before the sparrows I'll pot some up for you.

[Stillman]

Ipomoea Costata flowering, not sure if these are self fertile? Hope they are.

Edited December 15, 2012 by Stillman

[Stillman]

just got some Basella alba (I think) from the markets. Nice healthy little plant.

[poisonshroom]

Is basellia the ceylon/malabar spinach? That stuff is great (if you have space for it and a tree/structure you dont mind getting completely overrun). In the tropics it grows like crazy even from tiny pieces that fall on an area that gets occasional water, and it seeds prolifically. It has invasive potential here, but its easy enough to pull up because it has soft stems and doesnt appear to sucker much. The fruit also have potential as a dye, but not sure if they are toxic or not - all i know is after pulling a bunch of it off a tree it smothered I had purple spots all over me for a week lol The young leaves are nice and succulent and have a pleasant taste, and the two colour varieties make it a good addition to salads and stuff to add some colour and different textures.

Egyptian spinach is another one that goes wild and will self seed all over your yard. Doesnt taste too bad either and the leaves have some kind of mucilage that can thicken sauces and stuff.

In the tropics cherry tomatoes are pretty handy too, because they self seed and can tolerate humidity, drought, heavy clay soil etc where most other varieties can only be grown in winter. Pretty much every time I go for a walk anywhere here I see wild cherry tomatoes, and they always taste amazing

[Stillman]

Egyptian spinach goes mad in Summer I forgot about that.

[MikeyMagic]

The ultimate quick growing, high yeild/space would have to be.....SPROUTS!

http://herbsarespeci...nformation.html

The ultimate survival guide would have to be this:

http://herbsarespecial.com.au/self-sufficiency.html

Edited January 4, 2013 by MikeyMagic

[Bigred]

I love bee's , I have a small hive and i never run out of honey . I think bees' would be a must for survival as they pollinate plant's,

plus you get the wax which is great for making candles . apis mellifera are the commercial ones normally used, i got the

breed Golden carolians and they are really placid and never once have bitten me . does any one else here have bees

[Stillman]

How long have you kept bees? Whats set up cost? I like bees we had them when I was a kid for pollination on Dads farm but they were wild agro things. He never robbed them and they would go mad and he'd have to get someone in to clean them up and change the queen.

Edited January 4, 2013 by Stillman

[waterboy 2.0]

I am very interested in beekeeping, got some equipment and books - just finding the time to fully setup keeps escaping me.

I actually think they would also make good psychological barriers in the right places....