12 replies to this topic

[Midnightmom]

In a convulated journey, I followed a link from the Pinterest thread, and came upon this very long article about prepping. This gardening thread is a small excerpt from it..........
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During a serious hard times event I suggest you consider growing mostly root vegetables, such as beets, carrots, onions, potatoes, radishes, turnips, and peanuts.

The edible part of a root vegetable grows below ground. Therefore it is invisible unless you know what is growing below the vines or leaves you see on top of the ground.

However, in order to provide some reasonable variety in your meals and to help avoid appetite fatigue, you will also need to grow some vegetables where the edible part of the vegetable is above ground. Anyone who happens to walk by your garden area will see these vegetables and they will know exactly what you are growing and how much you are growing.

Therefore in order to help minimize the complete loss of your entire vegetable crop to looters and thieves during a serious hard times tragedy event, it might be a good idea to have at least two or more vegetable plots. One vegetable plot should contain your above ground vegetables and it should be conveniently located in any area that gets full sun all day. A second or third vegetable plot should be in a more obscure area that also gets full sun and it should contain your below ground vegetables. You should probably allow a few random weeds to grow in this area to help hide your below ground vegetables. Since the vegetables will be growing below ground the only thing visible above ground would be some leaves or vines. And unless a person knew exactly what type of leaf or vine it was, then it would be very easy to mistake those leaves and vines as random weeds. In order for this to work you should not plant your underground vegetables in a nice neat straight row. Instead plant them in a random haphazard fashion all over this remote garden area, and whenever possible, mix the different types of vegetables together so you don’t have all the leaves of one specific type of vegetable growing close to one another. This means each type of vegetable would be randomly scattered throughout this garden plot and this would help to create the visual picture of lots of different types of weeds just haphazardly growing together.

http://www.grandpapp...fo/hseedrec.htm

[Jori]

Interesting. Thanks for sharing!

DH and I have actually talked about using the back yard of the office for extra growing - raspberries, more blackberries, things that can look "wild", since we could hike there in a pinch. Maybe additional root crops scattered in, too.

[Amishway Homesteaders]

now THAT was a nice read.

Good advice too.

I like the idea of having more then one place to garden.
Just like you should have more then one place to hide you BOB's when out and about in case one is found.

[Twilight]

Just know what you are planting
peanuts for instance do not grow well everywhere-
need lots of sun and warmth and lose soil.
If stocking up on seeds make sure they will grow in your area.

[Midnightmom]

Just found this video and thought I would resurrect an old related thread to post it in.

[Daylily]

Very interesting video and information. One thing I might complain about is his statement right at the end that "store bought" seeds are sterile. That simply isn't true. First of all, he means hybrid seeds. All "store-bought" seeds are not hybrids. Hybrid seeds are not sterile. Hybrid cucumber seeds, for instance, will grow cucumbers but they won't be the hybrid variety that you originally planted. You don't know what they will be like because they will have DNA from the varieties that were used in the cross-pollination to create the hybrid. They might be tasty, they might not be. You just don't know how the quality will turn out but they WILL be cucumbers and they will grow and produce.

It is true that big companies are working on their terminator technology for their big agri-seed hybrids but those are not available to home gardeners. Any hybrid seed that we can buy is not sterile.

Over all, I enjoyed the video. I just wish folks would get their facts straight!

Edited by Daylily, 03 December 2012 - 09:44 AM.

[ScrubbieLady]

I wish they would get the terminator technology done and apply it to GMO seeds.

They may already have it and not use it to push the use of GMO through intimidation (your crop got ruined by GMO pollination but they sue you) or to mess with the clean seeds of heirloom varietys (so you don't have the heirloom varieties anymore).

Who knows.

[Daylily]

SL, I agree! It's a crazy world out there!

[Philbe]

I recently watched some pics (or maybe a video) on a blog site (permies?) and they showed how they gardened in "berms" with vegetation all around. I found it interesting because I had mentioned to Mountain Man when we were motorcycle riding, how strange it looked to see all the crop fields so brown, dried out and bare...yet areas around them where the vegetation and trees grew without any interference from man...were thriving...and yet had the same access to water? These "berms" are supposed to hold whatever water does come down and serves sort of as an aquafur? Anyway, these berms are piled with mulch, compost, and whatever, about 6 ft. high and about 4-5 foot wide. Then they push small tree limbs down through the sides to keep the berm stable so earth doesn't get too wet and create a slide. They then plant into the sides, tops, and ends and let the rest "go wild" with various other types of vegetation. Again, I thought to myself..."if you were really boondocking, and didn't have alot of tools, this would work?"

[Canned Nerd]

I used acquired some Burpee seeds for growing Corn in containers, rather than having to have a large spread out location. Unfortunately their initial seed packets had the wrong growing instructions on them, but they gave me the correct one when I inquired. This is a brand new product, but unknown at this time whether they are GMO.

[Andrea]

Cool ideas! And what a helpful kitty! LOL

[goatherder]

I think this guy needs to be better informed. Tomatoes don't "grab onto" a trellis, they have to be tied or otherwise secured. You can just let them sprawl. You don't have to till a garden either and I certainly wouldn't want to till much using that silly little garden fork he had. And really, trying to do any significant amount of shoveling with an entrenching tool would be a back killer. Collecting all of the random bits and pieces of junk he had would also be silly IMHO. Why not just do it right and have the proper supplies? This would be for someone who didn't plan ahead and had to scavenge nearly everything.

[Mt_Rider]

LIKE this video! LOL This guy has ideas like me. I don't get out to stores much and would rather not spend extra $$$$. So I collect JUNQUE too! [Garage sales, neighbor give-aways, repurpose our own stuff, natural items gathered from woods, etc] Now the reason you don't want to have shiny new stuff is that the rusted, salvaged, bent, ugly stuff is CAMO! It's supposed to look like junk. Real JUNK. So that anyone wandering around will only see what they expect to see: This weirdo, trashy guy can't even be bothered to clean up his place. Hmph!

I thinking of a time when we might have to be very subtle in heading out into the woods. A long handled hoe/rake/shovel might be a LOT better for gardening but....will you have someone watching for that very slip-up? Might cause old Mrs. Crabitz next door to follow you out there in her bunny slippers and curlers. --or you might be harvesting enough to feed her and her long-suffering hubby. [sorry...reference to the long-ago show - Bewitched ] OK....I think I'd try to stash some better tools (water proofed) out in the woods somehow tho. I do point-of-use tool storage.

LIKED his thots on knowing and using the lands natural resources of terrain and water!!! Must know the land intimately!

If you're doing this type of Guerrilla Gardening, you won't have the most ideal conditions like a ...ahem, PROPERLY laid out bed. So like those of us who already gardening on the fringe of possible, you have to pay much closer attention to all the little peculiarities of each species....and possibly the different varieties within the species.

For example:
Species:tomato..... are NOT frost tolerant. Not only that...they refuse to grow/produce well at all unless it's downright steamy and HOT. My neighbor tried a couple of Siberian varieties that actually produced reasonable fruit last summer within a small greenhouse...with limited direct sunlight (due to forest)...with limited heat . Without the greenhouse, I doubt even that variety would work up here in my zone.

So if you're in the trees, take careful notes on where the sunshine will fall on the ground for the most hours of the day....and that will change thru the whole growing season. Some veggies can be grown with less direct sunshine. [cole crops, peas, greens] Get to know the areas so that you can anticipate how much sunshine will be available towards autumn.

--Check ph.
--Make sure the mature plant will fit into the space you've carved out.
--Check a Companion Planting book. While this is anything but an exact science, there are a few combinations that everyone agrees are favorable or NOT. Combining different plants will lend to more of a camo look.
--How much moisture do different plants require...and place thirsty ones accordingly. Others hate having wet feet.
--Which are heavy feeders, light feeders, soil amender-types like legumes?? Combine or rotate accordingly.

......I think we should figure out which local weeds are light feeders so that we can allow those near our Guerrilla plantings, knowing they won't steal too much nutrient/water from our real plants.

....RE: his loose terminology. Yeah - "store bought" isn't correct. Hybrid vs Heirloom (aka: Open Pollinated). Seed Saving is a whole 'nuther specialty. Get a reference book. Some are 2 years to get seed. Some are easy and rarely cross pollinate. Some cross pollinate too easily with their cousins....and you know what often results when cousins breed.

Corn is one that cross-pollinates well. [....I used to detassle corn as a kid for the seed companies - the 'female' rows..] Hybrids aren't bad...just not good for seed saving.

Unintential cross-pollinations happens in our gardens all the time unless we're already seed saving and take the right precautions. Some plants cross by wind-blown pollen exchange. Some with the help of bees/insects. Some can cross-pollinate with plants miles away. Most...not that far a range. It only affects the next generation ...not this year's produce. [Some fruit trees require crossing with two varieties]

A good reference book will tell you which plants you can simply use reasonable spacing; which to use staggered planting times so they pollinate at different times than their cousins; and which you just have to use tulle(sp) netting. You might need to paintbrush pollinate (pretend to be a bee) on the last method, btw.

One more consideration about replanting hybrid seeds. Yeah, it's a gamble. Even to get any edible production the next year. So if at all possible, it's way better not gamble on anything post-hooeyHitsFan. 'Round here, water is tooooo precious to gamble on hybrid second-generation seeds. Personally, my energy is too precious to gamble away. UNLESS it's your only option....but you might not get anything. You might not regain calories spent....and that means you are losing the battle of starvation.

Calories spent must not outnumber calories gained in any survival venture! [Well, in the long term, nutrient value factors in differently.]

Now I've got my brain working on odd camo ways to greenhouse bigger than his liter bottle. Hmmmmm.....

MtRider ---good food for thot!