shinester
Senior Member
China's white trash
Posts: 3,119
Likes: 3,578
Email: shiny@ausprep.org
|
Post by shinester on Aug 21, 2020 0:14:39 GMT 10
I was thinking about this one as I was looking at getting a new batch of seeds, fertilizer etc as the stock I've got are 4-5 years old now, even if stored well. Do I really need to plan for the garden properly, stock up with everything I need, fertilizer, extra tools? I really can't see myself planting much in the first 90 days if everything's gone to poo. - My neighbour's kids jumped the fence for fruit a couple of weeks ago. Had no idea, they left a note. Unless the crop is guarded 24/7 then people are going to do this, putting them and me at risk. - If I'm blazing away well prepared with a full crop in, I'm going to get attention - High kilojule food needs 90-120 days to grow. Growing enough for a decent number of people requires a lot of work. - It's highly unlikely that food supply isn't restored in less than 30 days, if it's not then I sure as heck don't want to be looking like I have food. - I have more than enough food stored. It's mostly crap but will keep you alive if you have some greens or vitamin pills. - To my mind security would be the greater issue. Thoughts?
|
|
bushdoc2
Senior Member
Posts: 373
Likes: 465
|
Post by bushdoc2 on Aug 21, 2020 6:41:42 GMT 10
Kid next door knows about it. May as well enlist him as labor/security, depends on age: he can still camp by the fence with a whistle. Who left the note, the kid or parents? That is a character test. Help them put in their own garden: more supplies, more warm bodies , better security.
|
|
norseman
VIP Member
Practical is Tactical!
Posts: 2,154
Likes: 1,855
|
Post by norseman on Aug 21, 2020 7:26:20 GMT 10
Garden yields can be very disappointing given the considerable effort and time they take up irrespective of how good you are with them.
|
|
tomatoes
Senior Member
Posts: 1,065
Likes: 1,089
|
Post by tomatoes on Aug 21, 2020 7:53:13 GMT 10
You could do an indoor garden to supplement your stores during those first months. The method in this book - the author grows enough for green salad every day for his family during the snowy winter months. I have put it into practice and would tweak a few things but the concept is good and the method is a good launching point. www.amazon.com.au/Year-Round-Indoor-Salad-Gardening-Nutrient-Dense-ebook/dp/B01315U2A8/ref=mp_s_a_1_fkmr1_1?dchild=1&keywords=indoor+salad+fardening&qid=1597960085&sr=8-1-fkmr1As well as his bowls of greens, I think stocking up to grow sprouts is a very sensible approach - fresh greens that are very high in nutrients in less than a week. These aren’t sustainable long term as you can’t replenish your seeds using these methods but definitely a good option for shorter term. Also, at the moment I focus on quicker growing things that will add important nutrients and interest and that don’t store well - and that you could grow in pots and possibly have a little bit hidden - like lettuce, spinach, silverbeet.
|
|
|
Post by spinifex on Aug 21, 2020 7:59:33 GMT 10
All very dependent on particular circumstances. Like so many things.
A well kept garden can draw attention for sure. Growing little patches of spuds, parsnips, daikon all other the place along roadsides etc can work in rural areas. A lot of people barely recognise the foliage of these root veg in a garden context ... growing them in among weeds and scrub renders them 'stealthy'.
|
|
bug
Senior Member
Posts: 2,053
Likes: 1,858
|
Post by bug on Aug 21, 2020 8:50:36 GMT 10
The vege garden is never going to feed you. It's the extra 5% or so to stretch out what you've already got stored. There's a reason why non industrial countries have such poverty. It takes 90% of your time to grow enough to survive on if it's all manual labour.
Tall fences make good neighbours.
|
|
blueshoes
Senior Member
Posts: 608
Likes: 698
Location: Regional Dan-istan
|
Post by blueshoes on Aug 21, 2020 12:33:42 GMT 10
good things to think about shinester.
When we do put more food in the front yard it'll be stealth food - so far oxalis yams (looks like a weed), qld arrowroot (looks like ornamental canna's) as a reserve, because we need to grow SOMETHING there
As far as it not being a good investment, preparing to go all-out with subsistence farming... i think you're right
|
|
shinester
Senior Member
China's white trash
Posts: 3,119
Likes: 3,578
Email: shiny@ausprep.org
|
Post by shinester on Aug 21, 2020 14:09:14 GMT 10
Yeah they're tween-teen girls, here's a spade. In a way getting them and the ill prepared parents doing the gardening might be a good plan for their own lives and for them doing the labor on both of the properties when it's ok. I have the seed and enough food to support a few people.
Wise. That promotes an idea in me, there's plenty of areas near by that are bushland that could be seeded, of course the downside in the current environment is native habitat disturbance.
Yeah, hence the question. I've done the sums using data from people who KNOW how to grow large amounts of crops and with modern machinery. Spreadsheets of data... Taking those yields and halving [or worse] shows it to be fairly intensive and backbreaking, let alone not having the space. Water supply, irrigation, weeding, soil improvement, fertilizer. I think about the number of gloves that last [which ones], tools and what to do if/when they break, it's a huge issue long term. I have watched many channels on youtube about being 'self sufficent' and all of them are trading in for staples like grain anyhow, one guy lived on spuds, trading and foraging and gave himself 90 days to get ready. I very much doubt he could have kept that up for long. I have the seed if it came down to it, more than enough seed of high kilojule food to do it with losses, though I would have to give it all it's worth and it might still be touch and go. I think having a decent orchard and/or lots of sheep would make it far more doable long term with it's reduced labor costs, though they're not options in my situation. It's a tough one, and it makes me want to invest more in food rather than more in farming equipment other than the seed which is a small investment that can supplement my food stores, but probably not be more food stores.
|
|
|
Post by SA Hunter on Aug 21, 2020 14:44:50 GMT 10
When I was in the SE of SA, I grew tomato plants between my rose bushes. Use other flora to camouflage your garden - check out spinifex's potato growing thread out in the bush. There are other option out there - my head hurts, so I'm done for a while!
|
|
|
Post by Stealth on Aug 21, 2020 17:02:44 GMT 10
I think it depends on what you plan to grow. I really like my edible australian weeds book. I think growing food is generally really good but unless you've got a decent amount of space it's not likely you'll be able to grow enough to rely entirely on your harvest. For SHTF I feel like it's pretty important to have the ability to find edible greens in the environment because even if you grow a garden, gardens can fail. If you're only planting a small amount it's impossible to rely on any one thing working, so I head for high iron (kale, spinach etc) plants that are as cut-and-come-again as possible. Tomatoes are a bit different, they seem to grow like weeds at my place.
For a homesteading perspective it's probably important to get different things growing at different times and have a good variation. But if it's a 'oh crap, there's no food at the shops' situation I'd go for the highest bang for buck produce I could manage.
|
|
shinester
Senior Member
China's white trash
Posts: 3,119
Likes: 3,578
Email: shiny@ausprep.org
|
Post by shinester on Aug 24, 2020 23:03:47 GMT 10
21 Days of eating only what you grow, done properly. He's got an extensive garden, trees galore. I like that he put the challenge in the hardest times [winter].
|
|
kelabar
Senior Member
Posts: 399
Likes: 469
|
Post by kelabar on Aug 24, 2020 23:57:46 GMT 10
I really can't see myself planting much in the first 90 days if everything's gone to poo. So when will you start growing your own food? You need to eat every day or two for the rest of your life. How long do you want that life to be? Carbs. Grow carbs. Forget the rest. Pumpkins, potatoes, yams, sweet potato, beans, swedes/turnips/parsnips/carrots. Grain crops if you can, but they are harder. Gardening isn't difficult, plant it, water it and harvest it. Grow productive varieties using chemical fertilisers. Forget spinach and lettuce, tomatoes and chillies. All work for little return. Plant climbing beans instead and in return for turning on a tap every now and then eat beans every day for a couple of months. Pumpkins are even easier! Leave root crops to overwinter in the ground, sure they might get a bit tough but it beats boiling old leather shoes for lunch. Bushdoc is on the right track. Say to your neighbours "I have some pumpkin seed. Would you like some? I can show you how to grow them." If half a dozen of your neighbours are growing food too, then a group of you have a common self-interest. Never underestimate self-interest. Or don't plant a vege garden, just plant a garden and hide your veg in it. Have a pretty bed with lemon grass at the front, potatoes next and some pretty flowers at the back. Looks very nice. If someone comments on the plants in the middle (the potatoes) say "Yes, lovely looking foliage but the berries are poisonous". They just lost interest. "Yes, I'm handling security really well" or "Gardening is too much work, I'm much better off waiting for things to get better" doesn't really cut it if your kids end up eating grass because there is nothing else.
|
|
fei
Senior Member
Posts: 604
Likes: 876
|
Post by fei on Aug 27, 2020 10:54:02 GMT 10
21 Days of eating only what you grow, done properly. He's got an extensive garden, trees galore. I like that he put the challenge in the hardest times [winter]. This was an interesting experiment. Looks like they came out of it pretty well, although he did lose a few kg over the three weeks. Will be interesting to see how things go when they do it again, but with some more preparation.
|
|
frostbite
VIP Member
Posts: 5,463
Likes: 6,979
Member is Online
|
Post by frostbite on Aug 27, 2020 11:18:46 GMT 10
Will you have enough water to grow that garden?
It's no accident that my retreat has 400m of permanent river frontage.
How much is wheat these days, $130 a tonne? That's a whole lot of food security for minimal outlay.
|
|