Category Archives: Gardening

Hugh,

I wish that seed storage recommendations touched on what agricultural climate zone they are best used. Seeds that work in Idaho might not do so well in Georgia. – R.V.

HJL’s Reply: SurvivalBlog has long been a proponent of gardening now rather than waiting until TEOTWAWKI. This is a prime example of why this is important. You might live in an area where you can stick any ol’ seed into the ground and not care for it. But my guess is that you don’t. Gardening is difficult and you have to learn what works in your area and what doesn’t. Climate zones can be tricky, and that makes seed selection crucial. I highly recommend that anyone starting out read our extensive collection of gardening articles for more information.

Take a quick look at this clever video (1:47) describing the advantages of growing potatoes from potato seed.

Advantages of Growing Potatoes From Seed

Using traditional cross-breeding techniques, a company in the Netherlands named Solynta (So-lynn’-ta) has developed a line of potatoes that reliably produce “true potato seed” (“TPS”). Most potato seeds have a lot of genetic diversity, which is not a bad thing for home gardeners. They produce potatoes with varying sizes and colors, so they’re unsuitable for commercial production.

Less than one ounce of their seed can be planted in place of 5,500 pounds of “seed tuber” potatoes that would otherwise need to be cut up into pieces and planted. The seeds are lightweight, compact, and will last in storage several years. I don’t know if they’ll survive freezing. But how hard could it be to protect a thimbleful of seeds that could … Continue reading →

Element Number Five: Permaculture and Perennial Crops

Annual crops may make up the bulk of your food and take the most of your labor when you are survival gardening. However, a critical part of our sustainable farm is the use of perennial crops, which actually give you more return on your investment than the yearly planting and production of annuals. The great thing about most perennials is that you plant them once, and they produce for several years. You don’t have to worry about what time of year the apocalypse starts; they are there waiting for you year after year. For that reason, perennial crops are an essential element for the survival gardener.

I’m not going to go into specifics, but perennial crops include some vegetables, like asparagus and rhubarb, as well as small fruits and tree crops. Producing tree fruit east of the Mississippi is tough to … Continue reading →

Element Number Three: Irrigation

A downside to growing in greenhouses and high tunnels is that you have to have access to water and a way to irrigate these crops. That can be a positive, as it motivates you to build a system that you can use for your field crops as well. Even in the eastern U.S. where we farm, our irrigation is used every year. Rainfall seldom comes exactly when you need it, and having a way to irrigate your crops is the difference between being subject to droughts and being able to produce a crop every single year.

For a small greenhouse and high tunnel, you can, for the most part, just run a garden hose from whatever water source you use for your house. If you are dependent on a public water supply, it is a good idea to have a backup system for truly sustainable … Continue reading →

HJL,

To be successful, the gardener needs to know about their local soil. We have taught vegetable gardening down in South Florida. Often it is more manageable to build a raised garden. Since our soil is about 2” to 4″ before we hit coral rock, we are more successful with the raised garden. This also applies to other poor soiled areas. And if the soil quality is controlled, so are pests. The better the soil, the sweeter the yield. – ebec.usa

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Hugh,

The only thing that I would add is to include a spading fork to the essential tools list. An initial loosening of the ground with a spading fork is useful if your ground is clay heavy. – J.A.

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HJL,

Great letter on gardening by hand. Another invaluable tool to get now is a high quality, all steel broadfork. … Continue reading →

HJL,

Try straw bale gardening. It’s a lot less work and very productive. I had more tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers than I could handle in my first season. It also takes up less space and saves the back pain of bending over so far or kneeling to weed or trim et cetera. You can garden on your patio or roof, or just about anywhere. I’m 68, and I’ll never use another method of gardening. Note! Use straw bales, not hay! – GSS

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HJL,

Respectfully, double digging is a bad idea. It will destroy the soil structure. It is an idea left over from times when heavy chemical fertilization and peat moss were used in suburban gardens. It destroys the microorganisms in the soil as well as the natural soil structure. Adding 2-3 inches of compost on top of the soil each year is much healthier for the … Continue reading →