Best crops for survival gardening

[Stillman]

and I'm messing around with

Caigua

beans

yams

Ipomoea aquatica

[bogfrog]

Your yams look extremely different to my yams.

Do different countries have different yams?Mine have fleshy bunches of leaves which look similar to clover.

Looks like your summer gardening exploits are off to a great start!

[Stillman]

Bogfrog yours are the oxalis yams http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxalis_tuberosa

The yams I am growing are Dioscorea species http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dioscorea

I'm going to give the oxalis a crack in the cooler months.

[bogfrog]

I see, thanks for the info.

I may have to stick with my oxalis yams since as i bet my climate is far too cold.

I just put down my whole harvest of ulluco from last year, i am trying to get a decent amount before eating them but it seems like it could take some time.

So far i have just been eating the leaves in salads, they are quite tasty too.

Planted a second strawberry patch (interspersed with lettuces as they are supposedly good companions) last week and i've got red, orange and blue raspberry plants growing in big tubs so i'll have berries galore in a month or so.

Also have lots of marigolds and nasturtians sprouting along the edges of my garden beds, keeping various bugs away and making it all look bright and cheerful.

[gtarman]

I'd say chickens and/or ducks are one of the most important - you get eggs everyday, a great source of protein and nutrients, then meat when the bird starts getting old, plus fertilizer for your garden.

Then I'd probably focus on the big-yielding vegetables calorie-wise, like pumpkins, potatoes, yams, big carrots, zucchini etc.

Then the greens and herbs for nutrition and flavouring...and possibly some kinda aquaponics setup (that's raising fish, right?).

I've never really looked into raising meat animals, but I'm sure others have some good suggestions in that regard. If you live out bush you could always supplement with some hunting I guess, where it's allowed.

I don't know much about grains either...but here in the tropics/subtropics I might be tempted in such a situation to grow quinoa or amaranth? Quite nutritious grains I've heard, high in protein, edible leaves (I think) etc.

Then fruit trees and fruit-producing vines are always a good investment.

Edited October 12, 2012 by gtarman

[shortly]

There are cool climate Dioscorea species Bogfrog ,like D japonica, some D opposita gene lines and D villosa although while it can be eaten villosa is more a medicinal than an edible.

Another very generous plant that is often over looked is Thypha, the rhizomes are a great root veg and the immature male flower taste a lot like baby corn the seed is edible to but extremely fiddly.

What variety of Taro is that Stillman?

Edited October 13, 2012 by shortly

[whitewind]

Ipomoea aquatica! Fantastic. Hope you are keeping it away from the waterways.

Your stuff never fails to amaze, Stillman, your always have the most vigorous, healthy looking plants I've ever seen. Except for the orchid in the pot next to the yam

[Stillman]

Shortly I don't know what type of Taro but I bought the corms at the Rocklea markets of a Samoan lady, am growing them like a low land variety and they are doing good.

I suck at orchids whitewind lol.

And as far as meat birds go Jap quail Are it. 6 weeks from birth to slaughter plus heavy layers. Only downside is that they need incubation for there eggs. ANd they smell lol.

Shortly when do I pick the Caigua? They are getting big but look like they could grow a little more.

Edited October 13, 2012 by Stillman

[shortly]

It would be nice to see some of the good named variety's of taro become available instead of everything being sold simply as "taro"

sorry pet gripe

You can pick Caigua at pretty much any stage, if they are young & tender just eat them seeds n all like a cucumber, if they are mature just hook the seeds out & either shred the fruit or cook it up, they are the bomb stuffed with duck meat & tomato

Even the shoot tips & young leaves can be eaten as a salad green or cooked in stirfry's

[Stillman]

Taros really underdone in Australia I think in time you might see more but I guess its an acquired Taste texture. I could see it as a semi commercial crop. I'd probably set up some sort of giant flood and drain bed, try and work it off gravity. From doing a bit of reading you can get a shorter larger yield from "lowland" cultivation. I'll save you some corms at the end of the season if your interested Shortly. I love the Caigua man grows somewhere between a choko and a loofa (like lightening). ANd apparently so good for you. The kids are already circling but so if they taste really good I doubt I will get many lol.

[shortly]

I think your right about being an acquired Taste texture, we as a population seem to have been conditioned to only accept only sweet, salty, mega crisp or mush to the exclusion of all else, different is BAD

Yeah i'll be keen for a tuber

I think your right about the "lowland" cultivation techniques, it also work well inter planted with rice paddy herb Limnophila aromatica & kangkong

I have a Jap taro that is like the kipfler of the taro world and some alleged cocoyams, i'll know if they are when they get some size on them.

When you have enough light for it Caigua is a ripper isnt it apart from being susceptible to the plethora of cucurbit diseases that are doing the rounds it really doesn't have any down side to it

[Stillman]

thought I would update some of my yam/ tuber things.

Ipomoea costata (Aus native)

NZ yams for bogfrog

White yam

Purple Yam (gone mad)

and here is a pic of the two types of Taro corms I planted, I never noticed until th eother day but they have different shaped leaves etc

Anyone good at Iding these things?

[shortly]

I'm a bit slow on the uptake but the big ones look like a taro Colocasia esculenta while the long ones look like smal cocoyams

Xanthosoma sp god only knows which one, they can be a pig to Id.

The I costata looks like a nice strong little plant

[shortly]

I'll toss in Ti Ti plants (Cordyline fruticosa) as a worthwhile root veg, i tried mine for the first time this week & i give that clone 9/10 for flavor. Its decorative and as a survival crop few ppl would realize that there was anything edible under it.

It will probably wont be very productive but they will grow in the shade along with west indian arrowroot which is another very tasty shade lovin root crop if you have the water.

[Bigred]

also what about nitrogen fixing plants i have a few pigeon pea ( Cajanus cajan ) what other plants are good for fixing nitrogen

[shortly]

If you want something you can dig in to add organic matter or as a forage it would be hard to go past lablab bean.

lucerne isnt bad choice either.

Madagascar beans produce a very good edible bean & an enormous amount of rich biomass.

Of if its trees your after Sesbania grandifolia is a great edible that fits the bill.

Many of the Acacia fix N although from memory how much depends on a lot of external factors, climatic etc. Just choose one with edible seed and or gum and you have a good multipurpose tree.

Oh and clovers, nothing like a nice soft cool "lawn" of Trifolium of any species.

Edited because i was having a brain fart

Edited November 19, 2012 by shortly

[brokenswan]

Just joined these forums...have been a lurker for a while, I am an 'oldie' and have had a life long interest in plants/gardening..parents were 'greenies' before it was fashionable...my Dad was involved in the timber industry in West Africa & was horrified at the rate of destruction of the rainforest...and this was the 50's!!

We are pretty much self sufficient in vegetables and really only buy a very small amount and this is largely to avoid the boredom factor at certain times of the year...you can only eat so many Kale risottos right?

Some of the plants that I have found to be great survival plants...tough, easy to grow, high in nutrition & good return for effort are: Rocket (Eruca sativa)whole plant can be used...leaves(salads, pasta dishes...anything really), seeds, flowers, it self seeds happily and attracts lots of bees...Jerusalem Artichokes...virtually indestructable, tubers make great soup, can be mashed, boiled, tubers can be left in ground all winter to harvest when needed, all the Bean tribe...usually heavy croppers..surplus can be dried for winter use(or frozen..but I think frozen beans are crap...apart from Broad Beans), the humble spud...we never buy potatoes (commercial crops are sprayed at LEAST 10 times), we start harvesting in December and use the last of the stored spuds in August.

There are lots more......and lots of wild food too...we harvested some terrific wild Samphire last week!

It would be even easier in a gentler climate...we can have frost anytime of the year...if I were in the tropics I would definately grow a clump of sugar cane and and an Oil palm....

[Bigred]

welcome to the forum brother

[waterboy 2.0]

"fartichokes" definitely bulletproof, and if given a good feed very productive. Leaves also good emergency stock feed.

[ghosty]

any of you growing moringa oleifera?

yams aye? never heard of them till now. GREAT THREAD guys / girls =)

[ghosty]

oh yeah, and Welcome, Brokenswan =) good to have you onboard.

[ghosty]

is there anyone who can sell, send me some tomatillo seeds? been wanting those for a while now!

[ghosty]

looks like nobody growing tapioca hey?

[gtarman]

I've been looking into this a lot recently. One thing I'm not sure if anybody's mentioned is Canna Lily (not really a lily)...Canna edulis I believe is the variety I'm thinking of. One cultivar of it may be more widely known as Queensland Arrowroot...this youtube video put me onto it, but it also has some other good suggestions:

 

 

Only thing I'd suggest is don't go crazy eating the lamb's quarter bush she talks about, and probably not raw. From the research I've done it contains a fair bit of oxalic acid so consumption should be moderate.

EDIT: The thing that I'm most interested in at the moment is finding substantial food crops that are tough and hardy, that can support you through dry spells and harsh, uncertain climatic conditions, and will help you conserve your water supply even in the good times. Growing veg is all well and good, but it's gardening when the chips are down and the odds are against you - when your survival depends on it - that's what I'm trying to plan for and work towards.

Edited November 29, 2012 by gtarman

[ghosty]

nothing wrong with eating oxalic acid.. it's good for dropping any gold out of your system that may have built up over time.

thats a precious metal recycling joke =)