After being a resident of NYC, and lving such that growing any food was near impossible. I'm not about to try gardeing in a north-facing apt. with windows that only crack open and no balcony. Our house is nearly done, and I am about to become a resident of the suburbs with about an acre of land.

I've been reading about Square Foot Gardening, and it seems like a relatively easy way to go about trying to learn how to grow some food for our table, as well as something to store, and to gain some experience should it all come crashing-down.

So, if one were trying to do this, what would you grow? What would anyone suggest growing?

I don't want to grow a whole bunch of anyone crop, but would like to leanr how to grow a number of things and learn to do it in a manner that I could sustain, should that ever become necessary.

Suggestions?

Summer squash (zuchinni, crookneck) are prolific producers, and their fruit can be put up fairly easily. They will grow in milder climates, and they don't have runners like winter squash, cucumbers or melons do. They are quite bushy. With a family of four, I planted 3 plants one year in Walla Walla, and I had to give away quite a bit because I was filling my freezer with them and we were getting tired of eating them every day.

Carrots are also a good crop. The fruit is durable and stays fresh as long as it stays in the ground through and past the growing season and into winter if you keep them a little insulated. I've pulled carrots out of the ground in December that were crisp and delicious.

Spinach can be prolific in northen climates, especially with lots of nitrogen in the soil. The plants will quickly bolt to 3 feet or more in 30-45 days with a prodigious number of leaves. We used to pull spinach plants out of our garden as a kid every week and mom would have us take them to all our neighbors.

Chard/Kale are good second crop plants, meaning you put them in the garden in places where other plants have been harvested, late season summer, and they will stay viable into the winter. Not quite as durable as carrots, but we've picked Kale in early December, and lots of it.

Pole beans will generate a lot of fruit on a few plants if you have something for them to climb. We got over 50 lbs of fruit off one 12 foot row in one season.

YMMV

Vitamins and nutrients are relatively easy to acquire from wild sources (for me). Long term supply of calories are what I'm aiming for in my survival garden. With this in mind I've focused mainly on dry hard beans (cowpeas and black eyed peas), beets, turnips, sweet potatoes, blackberries, etc... I am currently also growing things like tomatoes and spinach, but only because I have the time/space right now.

I'm considering adding some more planter boxes or fruit trees to grow food for sale/barter.

Square foot gardening is the way to go.

-Blast

try the Native American method. Plant corn in a mound, then plant beans around the cornstalks so that you don't have to use a beanpole. Then plant squash around the beans and corn in the mound. You will have what is supposed to be a fairly balanced diet with those three crops...

The "sqaure foot gardening" method is certainly a viable way to get some crops from a small area... it's essentially another variation of "raised bed" gardening, which can be done on any scale.
Because they can be "roomy" plants when thriving, Tomatoes seem to be missing from most square-foot plots. So, for me personally, that's one thing that I would try to find some separate space for. Search around the web, and you'll see lots of space saving options for growing tomatoes.
But, if you've got an acre lot to work with; finding an area for a few tomato plants will probably not be that difficult.
(of course, this is assuming that you like tomatoes)

Also, I would recommend 2 books to anyone interested in learning more about gardening ... "The Joy of Gardening", by Dick Raymond ... and "Burpee : The Complete Vegetable & Herb Gardener".
Those are both large books, think "garden bibles", with tons of useful information for gardeners, and gardens of any size.

Best of luck ... nothing tastes better than fresh veggies just-picked from your own garden!

The last time I had a garden was a few years back. I made 2 raised beds out of landscape timbers, they were 1' tall x 12' long x 4' wide. I grew mostly peppers: bell, jalapeno, habanero, cayenne, thai, and serrano. I also grew a few tomato plants. I used most of it for making salsa and hot sauces.

The raised bed system makes it a lot easier in my opinion. And I bought pretty much everything from Burpee. I built a grow-light table so I could start the seeds in February in my basement, then move them outside once it got warmer and have a good head start.

I made the table from 2x4's and plywood and hung 2 - 4' long florescent fixtures from it with swingset chain so the lights could easily be raised or lowered. I used a cheap Walmart timer for the lights to turn them on and off. It worked extremely well with no problems whatsoever, despite how cheap it was to build. I recommend putting 2 or 3 seeds into each hole and culling them back to 1 plant each once they start growing, remove the weakest ones.

Given the climate, you might try big pots too - you can move them in on colder Fall nights and get a few weeks of extra growing time. Strawberries, tomatoes, peppers, herbs, peas...to start.

Grow for flavour instead of cost.

You won't ever beat the taste of tomatoes that actually ripened in the garden, or real new potatoes that you can rub the jackets off with your fingers, sweet tender baby carrots from thinning your carrot patch...

I suggest Nantes carrots, Bib lettuce, Bonny Best or Best Boy tomatoes, Lincoln green peas and "Peaches and Cream" sweet corn.

Young beets the size of golf balls or a bit larger cooked with their tops are a treat. (Detroit red or cylindrical beets)
Swiss chard, spinach, mustard and all those other greens.

Yukon gold are good potatoes and so are any of the Pontiac type red potatoes.
For squash I really like the Hubbard and the acorn squash. Don't grow more than 2 plants of black zucchini unless you have recipes for zucchini relish, zucchini cake, zucchini muffins... because zucchini is hard to keep up to.
Hubbards take up a lot of area but they can crawl where they like over a lawn or other wasted space

Don't forget your herbs and spices, fresh basil is a much different thing than the dried stuff.
If you grow chili peppers they make lovely garlands. Sew a strong thread through them and hang them up to dry in the kitchen. Then you just break off what you need when cooking.

Garlic is easy to grow and you store it by braiding the tops into a rope with the bulbs sticking out and hang it up too.

I like berry canes,(rasberry, himalaya blackberry, etc) and strawberry plants. Currant bushes are fast producers too.
Even though they take a few years to produce small fruit trees like Weeping Mulberry, dwarf apple, dwarf cherry are good things if you have the space.

Crops like Rhubarb and Asparagus are easy to keep once they are established, but they should be let grow for two years before you start harvesting them heavily.

Flowers are nice to grow.
Not only will they look nice but some like Nasturtium, Violets, Day lilies and Roses are nice in salads too. (Pluck the white part off the rose petals to avoid bitterness, Nasturtium is the same as Watercress)
Don't forget that squash blossoms can be eaten.

Don't try planting seed from store bought vegetables because most of it is hybrid or carries plant diseases.
Buy Natural or Heirloom seeds and you can save seeds from your own garden to plant the next year.

About weeds. One of the first things up in the spring is Lambs Quarters (Chenopodium alba) and it is a better spinach than spinach is.



I also suggest you look at hazel bushes. They make fairly good hedges and produce hazel nuts.

Maybe I should point you at an edible landscaping site or two.

http://www.ediblelandscapes.ca/

http://ediblelandscaping.ca/

Here is Burpee seeds. They are a noteworthy seed catalog that will give you lots of ideas

http://www.burpee.com/

I am sure your search-fu is good enough to find more.

The problem isn't with suggesting what to grow, it is with suggesting what not to grow.
I would say not to bother with pineapple and coconuts in New York state.

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One last thing is that some plants are for arts and crafts. Things like hardshell gourds, ornamental corn, garlic braids and so on can be quite profitable hobbies.

May I suggest that befor you start planting, go to the Local feed store and ask what would be best in your area. Most of the people I have delt with at feed stores are more than willing to help.

If you have the time, take the master gardener course through your local extension office. My parents have taken it three times in three different states and learned a ton each time. They'll teach you what to row in you area and how to grow it.