The first twelvemonth I endeavor to grow a ego - sufficient garden , I made some Brobdingnagian mistake .
First , I learn the seed catalog on an empty stomach . All those toothsome description made me bribe so many varieties that were n’t suitable to raise in our climate . Now , I show semen catalogs after dinner !
secondly , I adjudicate to rise everything I would normally buy . Grocery produce is notoriously bland . However , the sheer diversity of vegetables is impossible to duplicate in a menage garden . I promptly figured out that I needed to spring up for my climate and time of year alternatively .
Third , I did n’t think about harvest timing . Fancy heirloom , undetermined tomatoes produce over an protracted period rather than ripening at once . So I had to make small-scale batches of sauce all summer . And what incisively did I think I was move to do with 1150 pounds of watermelon in a week ?
After growing things all untimely , I ’ve fine - tune up my practice . I have also break that there are some fundamental difference when farm for self - sufficiency rather than gardening just for fun .
Self-Sufficient Gardening
Here is a lean of the 17 staple crops that made it on my ego - sufficient gardening list . I ’ll explain in more detail below why I pick them and how authoritative they are :
well-fixed Storing craw :
Continuous Harvest :
Leafy Greens :
tote up Taste and Flavor :
Fall Vegetables :
Field crop :
Below are some strategic ideas that work on well for me . I hope they ’ll help you organise your self - sufficient garden too .
Tip # 1: Plan Sufficient Space
Our yearly vegetable garden is about 1/10thof an acre and uprise nearly 1/3rdof our food . The rest of our dieting is comprised of testicle , duck’s egg , pork , shiitake , and perennial fruits and veggie produce on two additional acres .
depend on who you ask , what you eat , and your growing methods , it takes between ¼ to 2 demesne of well - get by , prolific land to feed a family of four . you’re able to start humble and expand annually . However , if food self - adequacy is your destination , then be naturalistic in your distance planning .
Tip # 2: Start with Staple Crops
Staple crop , those that will provide most of your nutrition and calories , are the foundation of a self - sufficient garden . Before you get carry away by delicious description , enter out what youneedto grow to feed your crime syndicate .
Depending on your growing region , you may be able to get two plantings of potatoes in late February and early June . I plant 80 flora full and terminate up with about 80,000 calories from Solanum tuberosum .
unfermented potatoes require warm weather . I engraft those in mid - May and harvest in other October . Because they take more room than potatoes , I only plant 60 sweet potato plants . That sack us about 144,000 calories . If you run through some of the leaves , it gets you more nutrients and small calorie too !
Long - store autumn pumpkin or wintertime squash racquets are another fantabulous nutritionist’s calorie crop . We average out about 900 pounds of winter squeeze by grow Waltham butternut and Semolina pumpkin . That score up about 105,000 calorie ( even more if you run through the seeds and skin ) .
Just those three crop get us about 329,000 calories or more . That ’s only over 1/3 the calories to feed one mortal for a year .
The substantial beauty of these crops is how well-heeled they areto store . After harvesting and ashort - curing period , they can be lay in on a shelf for six months to a year .
In addition to eminent - nutritionist’s calorie easy - to - store staples , increase your yields by grow atomic number 7 - scavenge root vegetable . you could grow turnips , Beta vulgaris , and carrot in 60 - 75 day . Salad Raphanus sativus longipinnatus can be quick in 22 days , and large radish like daikon take about 60 days .
With succession planting , you’re able to have acontinuous supplyof these vegetable from about six hebdomad after your last frost through to two weeks after your first frost . Extend this even longer with insensate frames and row covers .
These four crops also have delicious Green . Beet greens can be used like spinach . Turnip and radish green are delicious fermented . Carrot tops add Petroselinum crispum - like flavor and mineral to bone stock .
Though they do n’t account for many kilogram calorie , leafy greens offer so many nutritional benefits that I conceive them a basic . We spring up a salad garden that includes total and cut lettuces and a innkeeper of heating system and cold hardyalternative greens .
For right results , grow these for continuous harvest rather than aiming for expectant head . It takes more seeds and a little more maintenance . However , then you could eat up asalad every day .
John Jeavons , the author ofHow to raise More veg , refers to onions and garlic as “ calorie harvest . ” on an individual basis , they do n’t have a pot of kilogram calorie . However , they can be densely planted , so you grow a lot in a small distance .
Using John Jeavon ’s originate method , you could fit 1343 onion or garlic plants in a 100 straight foot farm area . I have n’t gotten payoff like that yet . However , I have come closely by planting my storing onions on 5 - 6 inch centers and then densely interplanting outflow onions around the medulla oblongata onion .
I reap the spring onions as needed for cooking , from April to June . Then , when the storing Allium cepa start forming bulbs , they have plenty of room to grow into softball .
Garlic is exceptional for solid food self - sufficiency because you set it in the fall and harvest time in former summer . After you harvest , you still have plenty of metre to replant those beds with summertime and fall vegetables . Soft - neck varieties also give you garlic scape for fresh eating .
Spring and summer are peak kilocalorie product times . Self - enough , though , requires a year - round intellectual nourishment provision .
Parsnips and scallion can be plant in tardy summertime , allowed to get until they go dormant from the cold , and will come out growing again in early spring . Not only do I love being able to harvest impertinent vegetables in February , but these crops increase our sense of food security too .
Some pelf multifariousness can be started in late summer and grow into winter . The large ballhead type get unfermented after a few skin senses of frost . We grow a few early cabbages for coleslaw in spring . Most of our Brassica oleracea though is crepuscule farm and used for fermentation like sauerkraut to keep us healthy in winter .
“ battlefield crops ” are crops that do n’t necessitate much tending after you gear up the soil and water until the seedling are strong . They tend to grow in long words rather than beds . Our field crops are Zea mays , helianthus , dry noodle , and wheat .
We grow the wry noodle with the clavus , so the Indian corn stalks act as raw treillage . Sweet Indian corn is dandy , but not utile enough for us to grow . corn whiskey crossing - pollinate easily . To save seeds from corn , we stick to growing edible corn for repast .
Mammoth helianthus have head the size of it of large plate and the seeds are copious . We use up some , but we also uprise the seeds for our poulet as a winter protein source .
You require at least an acre to grow meaning amounts of pale yellow . However , hard winter wheat is a terrific nitrogen pack rat and grows well after edible corn . It ’s a effective use of land in off - season and also adds a few gram calorie to your dieting .
Tip # 3: Choose Your Non-Staples Wisely
After you have make up one’s mind your staple harvest , you’re able to tote up in some food for thought just because you love them . Many people seetomatoesas a staple fiber because they are delicious , multi - functional , and can bewater - bath cannedfor round-eyed computer memory . From a ego - sufficiency view though , they are calorie - lightness , take up a lot of way , and tend to be high maintenance .
We grow mostly spread tomatoes for salsa , sauce , and condiments . We also grow cherry red tomatoes for salads . If we had to be completely ego - sufficient , tomatoes would be out . rise what you bonk , but be ready to change over gears to more staples if necessary .
Tip # 4: Grow Staple Crops Like Your Life Depends On It!
Even if get a self - sufficient garden is a taste rather than a necessity , you ’ll get good results if you pretend like you have to be on what you get . The following concepts are “ musts ” if you desire to be successful at growing a self - sufficient garden in the long - term .
Choose plant varieties that rise well in your climate and soil . Test a few variety to determine which are most productive for you . When I lived in Maryland , Bull ’s Bloodbeets grew well . Now , in North Carolina , Detroit Dark Redbeetsare doubly as productive .
Seed sellers andseed saving methodsmake a great difference in industrial plant productivity . Usequality seedsfromtrusted sellers . If you keep your own , use appropriate planting distances to manage pollination and save seed only from your ripe plants .
There are a lot of room toamend your soilfor right planting final result . Find method that work for your filth character and the variety of amendment you have access to . Whether you extend crop , make compost , or useanimal manure – every metre you take food out of the garden , you must put nutrient andorganic matterback into your ground .
salubrious grime isalwaysmoist . If your soil dry out , the biological life dies , and it gets a lot hard to grow food . For juiceless time , water on a regular basis . Mulchto cover bare grime . For wet times , make certain you have good drainage when you set up your garden .
craw rotationforpest control , pathogen prevention , andnutrient managementis vital for spring up a self - sufficient garden . Using cover harvest on off - seasons prevents territory densification . “ No - till ” practice session produce the good results in home gardens in the long - foot race .
There ’s a lot of oeuvre involved with growing a ego - sufficient garden , even when you choose easy to rise staples . get laid you have the skills , infinite , and scheme to grow your food , though , is one of the most rewarding aspects of homesteading .
Grow it like you mean it and glean the reward !
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