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#220828 - 04/04/11 04:54 AM Re: Growing My Urban Survival Garden [Re: The_Urbivalist]
Richlacal Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 02/11/10
Posts: 778
Loc: Los Angeles, CA
Like LED posted,Don't forget the sprouts!All Vegetable/Fruit sprouts are edible & nutritious,some grow in as little as a few days,others longer.One thing for sure is,They require almost No space to produce,ie. Glass/plastic jars,trays,buckets/boxes,etc.In most cases,No soil is Necessary!The sooner you get started,the sooner you'll know which flavors,you'll like!

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#220838 - 04/04/11 04:12 PM Re: Growing My Urban Survival Garden [Re: Richlacal]
Susan Offline
Geezer

Registered: 01/21/04
Posts: 5163
Loc: W. WA
It takes a lot of seeds to live on sprouts.

You'd better plant some and make more.

I've tested all the whole grains, beans and seeds from the bulk bins (and Bob's Red Mill brand) that I can find (wheat, quinoa, barley, amaranth, chia, flax, rye, sesame, spelt, teff, triticale, and all the whole beans) and all of them sprouted. The ones that don't are split, processed, milled.

These tend to be cheaper than packaged types for sprouting. And since they sprout, you may be able to grow your own. Granted, all of them may not be suitable for your climate or soil, but it would be an interesting experiment.

If you're interested in growing grains, check out the book Small Scale Grain Raising by Gene Logsdon, in print again after 30+ years. It's a really good book.

But if you live in an area of high rainfall (like west of the Cascades), you WILL need to improve your soil, as much of our nitrogen, calcium, magnesium, sulfur and boron are washed out every winter. Nothing takes from the soil as much as food crops, including vegetables.

Sue

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#220844 - 04/04/11 05:26 PM Re: Growing My Urban Survival Garden [Re: The_Urbivalist]
bacpacjac Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 05/05/07
Posts: 3601
Loc: Ontario, Canada
Our kids have claimed the garden project for their own this year, especially the 20 year old, who has a summer job in a garden center. They have tight finances and nuclear disasters in mind, and they want to help out. I loved gardening when i was a kid, and it's a good healthy project, so i'm encouraging it but I see disappointment in the forecast.

We have a very small lot, nutrient-hogging trees and a pretty anal HOA. Our current veggie garden is a 6' X 1 1/2', North-facing, full sun bed. We've also got a big round, South-facing flower garden, and another 6' X 1' shaded East-facing bed that we'll try to convert.

We're limited in what we can grow by asthetics and yard invasion, but it's still too early for planting so they're starting with seeds right now.They didn't want potatoes, and don't have room for corn or grains, but I think they got everything else: onions, garlic, leeks, tomatoes, zucchini, carrots, peppers, beans, peas, cucumbers, radishes, sunflowers, herbs, watermelon and a pumpkin. They even got some edible flowers.

We've got bunches of containers that we'll employ if they have success with the seeds.

I had to laugh this morningwhen my step-daughter headed out with a shovel to start digging. She came back in shortly thereafter, and with a frown said "the ground's still frozen."

Rather than say "I told you so", I gently reminded her that there's a reason "planting" is on the calendar for the end of May. May 24th is the traditional planting weekend in these parts, and for good reason.
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#221061 - 04/07/11 03:03 AM Re: Growing My Urban Survival Garden [Re: bacpacjac]
Mark_R Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 05/29/10
Posts: 863
Loc: Southern California
Originally Posted By: bacpacjac
... We've also got a big round, South-facing flower garden, and another 6' X 1' shaded East-facing bed that we'll try to convert...

...I had to laugh this morningwhen my step-daughter headed out with a shovel to start digging. She came back in shortly thereafter, and with a frown said "the ground's still frozen."...


Same project and problem, different climate. We're working on two backyard flower gardens. One's west facing about 1 1/2 x 20 ft, and the others south facing about 1 1/2 x 15 ft.

It's not frozen here, but I've already broken two trowels and a shovel trying to excavate various weeds and patches of lawn. If your step-daughter wants to give it another try, Home Depot sells a 2.5 lb mattock (my new toy).
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#221065 - 04/07/11 03:39 AM Re: Growing My Urban Survival Garden [Re: The_Urbivalist]
Pete Offline
Veteran

Registered: 02/20/09
Posts: 1372
I'm just getting started with my survival garden right now.
Sue - thanks for the comments about seeds on another thread. Also, I like the idea of sweet potatoes. Don't know if they'll work in my climate zone, but I'll check.

One thing that I have thought about adding to my survival garden are a few edible wild plants (native plants) that are not recognizable as common "vegetables". It's always possible that hungry people could invade my backyard and pull up some of the vege's. I don't expect that kind of incident under any normal circumstances, but it might happen in a disaster zone. So it occurred to me that growing a few edible wild plants might be a good back-up strategy - since thieves are not likely to recognize them as an obvious food source.

cheers,
Pete #2


Edited by Pete (04/07/11 03:40 AM)

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#221068 - 04/07/11 09:13 AM Re: Growing My Urban Survival Garden [Re: Pete]
hikermor Offline
Geezer in Chief
Geezer

Registered: 08/26/06
Posts: 7705
Loc: southern Cal
Dandelions would meet your criterion. I have lots of those. In my neighborhood, avocados qualify as a weed. I pick up perfectly good ones on the street all the time. Blackberries grow spontaneously and easily form an impenetrable thicket with only modest encouragement.
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#221070 - 04/07/11 09:57 AM Re: Growing My Urban Survival Garden [Re: The_Urbivalist]
bacpacjac Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 05/05/07
Posts: 3601
Loc: Ontario, Canada
Great idea Pete! I think I may follow your lead after the kids have had their fun (thanks for the mattock tip Mark)

We've get dandelions by the truckload here Hikermor. The govn't has banned pesticides for residential use so they pretty much take over. We're going to harvest them this year and experiment.

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#221117 - 04/08/11 01:51 AM Re: Growing My Urban Survival Garden [Re: The_Urbivalist]
Aussie Offline
Enthusiast

Registered: 11/12/10
Posts: 205
Loc: Australia
Lots of great info here.
Carrots and cherry tomatoes are favourites with my kids (and visitors) because they can pull one out and eat it fresh - many other things need to be cooked first.

For true survival food, nuts and fruit trees are good, but they require a long term commitment and probably more space than you have, but dwarf varieties can be grown in large containers. Many nuts can keep in the shell for a whole year (until next harvest), and a good fruit tree or trees can produce a huge amount of seasonal produce – with say apples you can get an early, mid and late fruiting variety so you can have fruit for a long period. What you don’t eat fresh, you can store in a cold cellar, freeze, dry, make jam, make jelly and then make wine or cider from the rest.

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#221151 - 04/08/11 02:46 PM Re: Growing My Urban Survival Garden [Re: The_Urbivalist]
TeacherRO Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 03/11/05
Posts: 2574
Rain barrels? for watering?

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#221183 - 04/08/11 05:49 PM Re: Growing My Urban Survival Garden [Re: The_Urbivalist]
Pete Offline
Veteran

Registered: 02/20/09
Posts: 1372
Hikermor ... dandelions. Simple, but great, suggestion. I've never eaten them. But I checked Wikipedia and they actually have a lot of nutrients. Also, the roots are supposedly good for urinary problems, and are reported to help with feelings of urgent urination (something the old guys will appreciate).

Blast - I'll check the canna lillies also. Cheers.

Pete #2


Edited by Pete (04/08/11 05:50 PM)

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