Category: Gardening

Letter Re: Limitations of Square Foot Gardening

Jim: I too had a problem getting vermiculite here in Houston.  There was no way that I was going to pay that much in small bags for as much as I needed.  I then got a tip to look for it under insulation as used in new construction.  I found a local firm that sold it in very large bags for $7.50 each, cash.  My 10 bags totally filled up the back of my F-150 pickup truck. You can get your materials from salvage.  My raised beds came from my fencing that was blown down by Hurricane Ike.  The size …


Letter Re: Limitations of Square Foot Gardening

James; I like Square Foot Gardening. It’s a great way to get started for newbies, with its recipe approach. I think it’s great for busy individuals. But it has several severe TEOTWAWKI limitations; the author assumes access to building materials for raised beds, hard-to-find vermiculite and peat moss shipped from thousands of miles away. I live in a large (one million plus people) city and had to call all over town for vermiculite, and then I had to buy it in small bags. I can’t imagine the difficulties of obtaining this limited material in a grid-down situation. And forget about …


Letter Re: Square Foot Gardening

Hello James,   I have not tried to start a vegetable garden yet, but am planning to this coming spring.  I’m not known for having a green thumb.  So much to read and research. But winter has officially arrived, so it looks like I’ve got some time before things thaw out!    That said, I found an interesting article that explains the benefits of Square Foot Gardening.  Looks like a great way to maximize the usable space for growing, as well as making the plants  more accessible for care and harvesting.  Plus it looks easy; on the wallet and to build.    …


Survival Gardening, by Delia L. in Oregon

As we near to the end of the days of the dollar as reserve currency for the world, feeding our families becomes much more important. Most gardens go in over a late spring weekend with little thought given to trying to keep a family fed during the winter. My focus is on growing food year round with an emphasis on nutritional content. There are ways to keep tomatoes growing later in the season, or trying to keep greens growing year round. What can we grow that can be stored without electricity or canning. What can we save seed from in …


Survival Seeds – Advice from an Avid Gardener, by Mrs. W.

I have watched with some concern as the survival seed business has exploded these past few years. Advertisements abound for survival garden seed buckets that cost upwards of $100 and promise a years supply of food for a family. Since most Americans have never grown more than a few tomato plants they are unaware that many of these claims are overblown. Anyone who has tried to produce most of their own food will tell you that things never go perfectly. There is always some blight, freak weather, or insect invasion that knocks out at least one of your main crops. …


Growing and Storing Your Own Food, by F.E.S.

Growing and Storing Your Own Food, by F.E.S. Let me begin by saying I am a 64 year old male who grew up in the era of duck and cover. Every school child back then was aware of the threat of falling A bombs form the sky with the Russian hammer and sickle painted on their nose. Many people were prepared for a nuclear exchange with fall out rates and blast distance from ground zero calculated. Food reserves were stocked in the pantry or in a shelter and each family member knew exactly what to do in an emergency. To …


Product Review: Video: Backyard Food Production Systems For a Backyard or Small Farm, by Michael Z. Williamson

Backyard Food Production Systems For a Backyard or Small Farm is a great video and useful resource. Not only is it based on a lot of research, but on more than a decade of home farming in central Texas, which is certainly one of the tougher environments in America to farm in. Very clearly narrated and demonstrated. It’s a little handheld and shaky at the beginning, which emphasized the small scale involved, but professionally filmed and edited after the intro. This is a farm for a family of four, run very efficiently and productively. It starts with a chapter on …


Retirement and Surviving TEOTWAWKI, by Pat M.

All over the Internet are articles on surviving really hard times that are expected.  I note with some humor that most of these articles are talking to about 28-46 years old age groups, at least under-50 somethings.   I have seen nothing directed to the under 26 year-old or much over the 50 year-old.  Considering that we have a problem with what has been termed as an aging society retiring, what about us folks that can no longer throw on a 70 lb pack and hike 20 miles into the wilderness, or no longer have a sufficient income to prepare a …


Learning Traditional Skills, by R.I.P.

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There is only one sure thing about plans: at some point they have a good chance of failing. Not necessarily because the plans were faulty, but because it is nearly impossible to plan for everything. The universe has a way of ensuring that we get to experience the widest range of possibilities. So what if, after all your preparing, storing food, water, fuel, fortress etc., etc, what if you suddenly do not have access to all of that? We don’t have to go through all the ways that this might happen, I’ll let your imagination work on that. So, could …


Cross-Training for TEOTWAWKI Preparedness, by Beau F.

I’ve been preparing for a number of years now and found a great way to prepare others in your group as well. I realized a long time ago that I could not survive alone. Now that I have a family, and close like minded friends, I realize that I don’t have to. A couple of years ago I really started stockpiling my “tactical” gear. I would buy a lot of ammo, good mags, the right tactical clothing, and so on. I started reading up on certain things that would be helpful in a TEOTWAWKI situation and would start to practice …


Winter Indoor Gardening – Part 2, by Kate in Colorado

As I’ve been tending the plants that I brought into the house for the start of the winter indoor growing season, I began thinking about some of the other nifty tricks I have learned through experimenting and sometimes failing while learning this skill.  As I said before, this is a skill set that demands practice.  This is especially true if you don’t have a greenhouse or sun room as lighting and temperature swings really effect indoor plants more quickly than gardening in the out of doors. I pay very close attention to solar gain through the windows.  As the sun …


Our Preps are Portable, by Dan W.

Prepping has a distinct vein that runs through each choice my family has made to better prepare ourselves for the possibility of the social upheaval that seems to be inching nearer each and every day. Our preps are portable. They have to be, due to the uncertainty of where my family will be in the near future. Over the last six years my family has moved six times, as my jobs changed and the family grew. Due to this movement, the rising price of houses in our area, and being at the very beginning of my earning curve made buying …


Indoor Winter Vegetable Gardens, by Kate in Colorado

Indoor Winter Vegetable Gardens, by Kate in Colorado The first cool night of the almost changing season gave the squash plants a shiver and they curled their big leaves upon themselves as if to find protection.  I wait for this moment in the eternal gardening cycle to begin preparing my plants and myself for the “indoor” gardening season. You see, I don’t let the thought of thirty degree days or fear of the blowing snow that is Colorado keep me from enjoying the, excuse the pun, fruits of my gardening labor. With the looming price hike in food and the …


Letter Re: Why a Practice Garden?

Hi James, Concerning garden soils. Most of the bags sold as topsoil are really not top soil. Top soil occupies only on the top 6 to 12 inches of soil at best. It is called the ‘A’ horizon. What customers are getting is the deep ‘B’ horizon soils usually free of any rocks. ‘B’ horizon soils are found immediately under the ‘A’ horizon and can be any where from 20 inches to 10 feet deep. Mostly they are 2 to 6 feet deep depending on the parent material from which they have developed. Steer manure from a feedlot is most …


Letter Re: Why a Practice Garden?

Mr. Rawles, Tom C. wrote: “This plot of land 10 feet x 12 feet.” That is 120 square feet. That sounds like a nice patch for half a years supply of storage onions if you know what you are doing, or more swiss chard and radishes that your family will know what to do with, given that you water and succession plant. Lets start at the start with soil preparation. How wet or dry is the existing soil? Get out the shovel and turn over a small bit of your prospective patch. Is it hard as concrete or dry and …