I'm just curious.

Do you grow any kind of food? The common, easy kind like potatoes, carrots, lettuce, peas, beans? Berries? Tree fruits?

If you grow it, do you mostly eat it fresh, or can, dry or freeze it?

It seems that certain kinds of disasters can come during garden production time as well as the dead of winter. And a productive garden would seem to be a way to get food for right now so you could save your canned and dry stuff until later.

You could probably use fresh food as a viable bartering tool, too.

Sue, who is practicing gardening, getting better

We moved into a new(ly rebuilt) house last year, and are still getting our garden into shape--last year we only grew sunflowers, tomatoes, basil, peppers, and strawberries.

All of the produce around here seems to get eaten before it can make it to the drying rack, but I'm going to try canning some things this year.

We've joined the local food co-op recently, and now most of our food is coming from local area organic farms: even nicer, the price is cheaper than buying organic at the stores.

Oh, forgot to mention: we're adding heirloom carrots and wheat to the mix this spring <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I currently have peas, turnips, kohlrabi, strawberries, and cabbage in my garden (Houston gardens can go all year). Soon I'll plant yellow squash, beans, peppers, and zuchinni. The peas have been producing since October!

For fruits/nuts I have two lime trees, a loquat tree, and two live oaks (acorns).

I also grow purslane, prickly pear, day lilies, cana lilies and assorted other "edible landscape" plants.

I used to do tomatoes but the birds would always eat them.

-Blast

From a low maintenance longterm survival strategy - I would really recommend everyone ordering about 50 lbs. of Jerusalem Artichokes & planting a large area with them. If you have fairly good soil & water them they grow without any work at all. The only downside is they are an aggressive plant so they will dominate which is also their strength because you don't need to weed or spray them. (at least here)

The other fast growing low maintenance veggie I would recommend is zucchini. No need to spray or weed because they just take over & produce a heavy crop that can be canned or frozen fairly easily. I absolutely love to slice them about 1/4 inch thick - spray with cooking spray & grill them until they are golden brown on both sides. Healthy & Delicious - at least for me. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I also have two peach trees, but will warn you they are a lot of work. A dead ripe peach is the best food on the planet except for maybe a dead ripe tomato. I guess it depends on which one I'm eating. Also have two more peach trees that are only couple years old that I'm not letting produce yet so they will grow faster. If you are going to try growing peaches I highly recommend you get a good sprayer (metal end - not the plastic ones) and order some Surround Spray. The first 3 years I tried all kinds of different sprays including SEVEN, etc. and my peach crop was 95% or so wormy. I tried Surround & was stunned. Still have a 10% to 20% that get infected, but I pick most of those off. Last year I was eating 12- 15 peaches a day for about 3 weeks. And I froze tons of them. Canned peaches have virtually no flavor - frozen is better, but still nothing compared to when they are dead ripe. I have problems with the Surround clogging the sprayer, but have found if I mix SEVEN with it then it breaks it down. I read recently that you want to put a piece of panty hose over the intake hose in the sprayer.

I also have a raspberries, blackberries, strawberries and asparagus which are all nice crops to have because they don't need to be replanted everyyear.

Also grow some potatos so I can have some new potato soup every spring.

Four pear trees, but the only one I get fruit from is the Kiefer canning pear because the raccoons keep beating me to the fruit on the other trees. <img src="/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> But that's ok because I'm planning on eating every coon within 10 miles anyways if we ever have to start fending for ourselves. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> The three that they clean out early are the softer bartlett types. The Kiefer is a tough skinned canning pear, but I love it because it is very crunchy & sweet.

I have a yellow delicious apple tree, but between the viruses & bugs I just don't end up with much because I'm not faithful enough on it like I am on spraying the peaches.

Also grow 18-20 mostly Better Boy tomato's every summer & love making homemade spaghetti sauce. The dry powder sauce mix in the canning section at Wal-Mart is awesome. Tomato's will get eaten alive if you don't spray with SEVEN here is SW MO.

And one more thing. If - like me - you are seriously worried about a major SHTF scenario happening in our lifetimes then don't make the mistake that you will start gardening after TEOTWAWKI. Growing your own food can be very frustrating. You can work really hard & still get very little crop at harvest time. I'm not saying don't try to grow your own food as it can be very rewarding & if the season is a good one it can be very productive. But counting on it to feed your family 365 days a years would be foolish, IMO.

I also would recommend buying seed now & storing some of it in your freezer as it is supposed to keep a lot longer there. If you find a good plant that is productive in your area start saving the seed now.

My would-be "garden" is about15x12 feet. How can I make it into a nice food producing land with almost no work ?

I have no preferences . Anything that works is OK. Tomatoes, potatoes, lettuce .. anything.

Any links will be appreciated.

where you live will be the main factor in what you can grow...

I'm no expert, but with that small of an area you are going to want to target highly productive stuff like potatos, tomatos, etc.

my experience with the various berries, asparagus, etc. is they don't give you that much bang for your buck - square foot wise and canteloupe & watermelon need a large area.

Knowing what I know now if I was restricted to that small of a patch I would have a row of onions on the southern most end of the garden then a row of potatos then bush green beans then tomatos staked in those round cages then northern most would be the Jerusalem Artichokes.

Get the area tilled up & then find out what nutrients it's short on. Fertilize heavily. And mulch with straw, grass & leaves as heavily in between the rows as possible.

Just my .02 - factor in the fact that I'm no expert & look for local advice first.

Texas

Chisel,

I highly recommend looking into Square Foot Gardening. Check his book out of a library and read it. It's loaded with great info on what to plant where and when so as to maximize crops in small areas. I began to use his method last fall and find it easy and productive. Note: read the book before actually starting any of this. His website is great but he leaves out a few very important tips found only in the book. I guess even he needs to make money. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

-Blast

Hot & dry. <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

The raised beds / square foot gardening is a great way to increase the productivity in a small area. A lot of work upfront, but one huge advantage is if you get too much rain in a short timeframe it has no problem draining. I've seen many old fashioned flat gardens where 1/2 of it drowned out. Most plants can't handle soil that is soaked for very long.

I have a large garden, but still use the raised beds becuase the logs hold the raised soil & the mulch in place. Definitely the way to go for maximum productivity.

Chisel,

Roughly where in Texas?

Like Micah stated, "raised bed" gardening is the way to go, especially most places in Texas. Our weather extremes and generally poor soil are two big strikes against us. Along with the raised beds I'd also set up some rainwater collection devices. I use three 55-gal plastic drums catching the runoff from my roof. These drums have gotten awefully low but never emptied while watering my garden.

I have a bunch of books and weblinks about gardening in Texas if you want to be buried in information. Let me know if you want the info (websites, not my precious books!). If you are in the Houston area I might even lend you the books.

Pictures of my backyard

-Blast

That's very interesting on the fact that those drums will last you through the dry spells. I wouldn't have thought that it would be enough.

I live on a large hill and have the rainwater off the front of my house running into our garden and it helps a lot as there is a large strip of the garden below that spout that does better than the rest of the garden even though I still water the whole garden once it gets dry.

I need to get some 55 gallon drums for sure.

Micah,

When it rains in Houston it RAINS. 2"-6" in a single storm are not uncommon, even in the middle of summer. This keeps the barrels full. We did have a long drought this summer but even then the barrels didn't get completely empty. The raised beds definately help, as does careful watering (put it only where it needs to be).

The main thing is being careful when you plant stuff. I can plant in February and have it harvested before the summer burns come. Then in September I plant again and reap until the January frosts. The hot summer months I focus on daylilies, herbs and assorted wild edibles.

The soil recipe from Square Foot Gardening needs to be watered just about every dry day, but only a cup-full per plant. It's very water-economical but slightly time consuming for large plots. Also, you do need someone there everyday. My wife didn't water enough while I was stuck working in Mexico so we lost our peppers. <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

I'd love to try jerulsalem artichokes but I'm afraid they'd run rampant here. If anyone has a few tubers they could send I'd like to try planting them in some undeveloped lots.

-Blast

I should have no problem sending you a couple tubers. Just PM me what address you want me to send them to. You just have to update me next year on how they did... <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

So what wild plants do you have there locally that you forage from during the summer?

I plant potatos in mid march here. Onions & tomatos in mid April - though I have to cover them if we get a late frost. Then another round of tomatos - plus zucchini, cucumbers, beans, etc. in early May. About that time I start harvesting asparagus, but not a huge volume as I don't have that many plants. Also wild WinterCress & Chickweed start coming on strong then as well. Late in May I'm getting strawberries, raspberries & new potatos which I cook with frozen new peas that I cheat & buy at the store.

Of course I'm always counting down the days until my first vine ripened tomato - I've picked my first tomato on June 18th two different years. Last year was a cool late month of May so didn't get the first until early July. I'm already looking forward to this years. <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

The heat in late July/early August takes it's toll on the 1st round of tomato's, but the ones I plant later usually come thru strong about that time. I've rambled enough for now...

Micah,

PM sent.

My wild foods include things like dewberries (aka blackberries), bamboo shoots, wild onions, wild purslane, beech leaves, hibiscus flowers, wild grapes (tart!), elderberry flowers, fiddlehead ferns (spring), chickweed, chickory, wood sorel, acorns, etc...

-Blast

p.s. Has anyone ever dehydrated blackberries? Any tips?

There are other interesting crops to grow ...

Thanks Blast

Id love a few weblinks that offer simple guidelines with some pictures if possible. I really dont have time to go through books. However, I can print a few pages from www and read them in my spare time.

Let me tell you soemthing from my gardening "resume". I know only that much , that anything that should grow needs water, fertilizer and plenty of sunshine. Third one was no problem. Water .. OK. I can hose it a few times a week, or better, a garden hose connected to a leaking faucet was a natural irrigation system. Fertilizer ? Sometime ago, I had put two water bowls there and started to toss some food scraps in the "garden". Birds started to stop to eat and drink, and hopefully either they would fertilize the land in return, or -if not eaten- the food scraps would rot and become fertilizer .

Great resume isnt it ??? <img src="/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />
Now you get the idea, hopefully can post the "right" kind of weblinks that will enable the most gardening-disabled person on the planet to grow some tomatoes and other stuff..

Thanks

Chisel,

As I mentioned earlier, start with Square Foot Gardening (click the "How to..." link on the left side of that web-page) to learn where to put your garden and how to prepare its soil. Following this method you don't need to worry about fertilizing which is a very good thing. If you read only one site make it this one. Lots of pictures and simple diagrams!

For what to plant when in Houston, I use this site. It's a gardener here in Houston that has month-by-month lists of what to plant, what to harvest, etc... This data is appropriate for most of the gulf coast and east Texas areas. Other areas have heat/water issues that would require some experimentation.

Next, we have Neils Perry, the Texas garden guru. His faqs on Texas gardening have a lot of info. You might also want to sign up for his free electronic newsletter. I find he's more of an "old-school" gardener that relies on a lot of fertilizer, pesticides, etc...

For basic gardening information check out . IGarden Time Online They cover EVERYTHING though it isn't Texas-specific. The basics do apply everywhere though.

For help with designing an "edible landscape" check out this garden forum.

Good luck and may the Farm be with you.

-Blast

Yes, though I would like to grow more, gradually expanding my garden. Mostly eaten fresh, though I have quite a few winter squash left, and a good sized bag of hickory nuts left 8^)

you might find this article interesting:
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles/clay62.html

and there is some interesting info on minor fruits here:
http://www.hort.cornell.edu/extension/commercial/fruit/mfruit/index.html

Thanks Blast. That was a blast

And thanks Lee

I should have picked gardening long time ago, but .. I think I am lazier than I think I am.

A few ages ago I was thinking the forum needed some remodeling, I had in mind sub-categorizing the subjects into : the garden (for growing stuff), the pantry (for canning ..etc.)

among others off course (the garage : for vehicles, the porch: for general talk ... etc.. )

Gardening is really great.
Besides all the good produce, Gardening is a good hobby that can help you relievce some stress and get some excercise.