Posts Tagged survivalist garden
Peas and Snap Beans
Peas and Snap Beans – since peas and beans are so much alike, lets just group them together. In fact, there are debates saying that peas and beans are the same thing. I personally divide peas and beans into 2 groups – one you eat whole (snap beans) and one you shell to get the bean/pea out of the inside and eat it instead of eating the husk.
Peas and beans return nitrogen into the soil, so that makes them good for crop rotation. Before you plant a high nitrogen requirement crop, such as corn, plant some beans or peas at the same time, or the season before the you plant the corn.
One of the problems with peas and beans – wildlife love it. Deer and rabbits will eat the bean / pea plants down to nothing but a stub sticking out of the ground. To protect the bean and pea plants, plant some squash or zucchini with them. The pea / bean plants will provide the squash plants with nitrogen, and the squash plants will help protect the pea plants from deer. The squash and zucchini plants have little “hairs” on the stalks that the deer do not like.
Growing Tomatoes
Tomatoes- one of the the topics I love and hate at the same time. If you see some tomato seed at the local store – go ahead and buy some. If nothing else, you can say you have some tomato seed stocked up.
Tomatoes are rich in nutrients, they can be eaten raw, and their easy to preserve in jars.
One of the problems with tomatoes – the bugs love them as much as your do. When the tomatoes start to ripen, if their not picked before they turn red, the bugs will have a field day. So pick the tomato right when you see a little bit of red on it, and then put it on a window seal to finish ripening.
Tomatoes do well in a slow release organic fertilizer, like in rabbit, cow or horse manure. Some of my best results with tomatoes have been from either horse manure or miracle grow organic potting soil, and some 13-13-13 fertilizer. One year I spread a bunch of dried horse manure in a raised bead, mixed in some 13-13-13 and I had more tomatoes then my family and I could eat.
If SHTF would you have a future
There was a line in 28 Days Later that got me to thinking. Its after the group leaves the city and finds their way to the house controlled by the soldiers. The commanding officer takes Jim (played by Cillian Murphy) into a courtyard where an infected soldier is chained up.
The commanding officer tells the Jim that the infected soldier provides a lot of information. Jim says something along the lines of “what does he tell you?” The commanding officer explains that the infected solider will never raise crops, he will never raise livestock, he will never bake bread, he has no future. And eventually, he will tell me how long the infected take to starve to death.”
This brings up the question, post SHTF, how many people will “have no future”?
Buying seeds for a survival garden
When its time to stockpile seeds for my survivalist garden, I usually get my heirloom seeds locally. There are 2 feed and fertilizer stores here in town that sell seeds – all kinds of seeds. Instead of getting seeds in packets, the stores get their seeds in burlap bags, and then sell the seed by the ounce. I like to go to the stores, talk to the people there, see find out what are the best types of plants to grow in my area, and go from there. The local stores usually know what will be in short supply before spring gets here. They will put their orders in several months ahead of time, and the distributor will tell them what may not be in stock. This information is then distributed to the local gardener faster then you can get it through the nation news.
Most of the time, the people working in the feed store are pretty knowledgeable about the different types of seeds they have in stock, whats heirloom / open pollinated and whats hybrid. All you have to do is ask. One of the local stores usually has 5 or 6 types of corn in stock – field corn, sweet corn, G90,,,,,. So might pick up 1/4 – 1/2 pound of corn one year, then the next year pick up a different type of corn.
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Are you ready to plant a garden
Are you ready to plant a garden? If not, why not? On Tuesday October 5, 2010 by Time magazine posted an article saying that Wal-mart had to roll back its rollbacks. As a result, food prices have jumped to a 2 year high. Add to that the Russian failed fall wheat crops, that has pushed wheat to a 22 month high.
Producing your own food is one of the easiest ways to off-load some financial strain. If your having problems paying your house note, electric bill, insurance, buying clothes, internet bill, cell phone bill,,,,,,,, something has to give. If you and your family are running on a shoe string budget, sooner or later that string is going to break. When that happens, financial disaster can set in.
Raised bed gardens – do not take any special equipment – just get some landscaping timbers, or old cross ties and build some raised beds. Find someone with rabbits, get some manure, and use that instead of potting soil. Rabbit manure makes great fertilizer and it can be cheaper then potting soil.
The best survival crop
There is a discussion on the forum about the best survival crop. In other words, if you were going to stockpile seeds, what type of seed would you focus on. Or if you were going to grow 1 crop, what would it be? Some of the suggestions in the thread were – corn, beans, peas, greens, peppers, bell peppers, potatoes,,,,,,.
In my opinion, one of the best seeds to stock up on are greens:
Turnip greens
Rutabaga
Mustard Greens
Radishes
Onions
Spinach
You might also be interested in:
| Planting a garden
|
Survivalist seed stockpile
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Planting a community garden
|
Harvesting snap beans
The snap beans are really starting to come in. If we could get some rain, they would be producing a lot more, but you just have to make due with what you have. In all, we probably picked 4 – 5 gallons of snap beans.
Lemons on a lemon tree
Lemons are an excellent choice for the urban survivalist garden.
The survivalist and their garden
Its important for the survivalist to take gardening seriously. When the food stocks are gone, whatcha gonna do then? Seeds are cheap when compared to stockpiling other types of food, seeds last longer the most types of canned foods, and most seeds are reproducing. If you buy an MRE or some freeze dried food, after…
How to grow Zucchini
Zucchini is a small summer squash and a member of the melon / gourd family. It has an outer skin that can harden if left on the plant for too long – kinda like a watermelon or pumpkin. The immature fruit are best when picked at about 6 inches in length. Zucchini can be yellow,…
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