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victory gardens, 2026 version: what are your plans?

Tereza Okava

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It's always a good time to plant a garden. Lately seems like a better time than usual, for a variety of reasons.
Many people I know (myself included) are worried about money and food security.

I live in a city, and have a small space (about 7 meters by 7 meters) I use to grow food and save money.
Obviously, where you live, your weather, and what you eat will be important in choosing what you grow. Also important is the prices of other things (for example, I don't grow tomatoes or cucumbers in summer: they're cheap everywhere).

This summer, we had hotter and wetter weather than usual and so I decided to focus most on green beans, winter squash and sweet potatoes. I grew long beans and Okinawan winged beans (instead of normal pole beans) because they are more resistant to mold and pests than normal green beans. Sweet potatoes, we eat the greens too. I probably have gotten 20kg of beans, the sweet potatoes are looking great (I planted purple/purple and normal Japanese white flesh/purple skin versions). The squash are all harvested now and I've probably gotten 50kg. Some rotted already, others have been distributed and we're eating our way through the rest. The picture shows a typical daily midsummer haul with a few figs.

I just put in my fall garden this weekend (started seeds in trays and direct planted starts and seeds)- we are supposed to get extraordinary cold this winter here in my corner of the Southern Hemisphere, and the signs in my garden indicate it's right around the corner. I started some tomatoes (we grow in winter, under cover) but the vast majority is leafies-- cabbage, kale, napa, and also perennial lima beans (what we call Christmas bean, a variegated bean that is great for cooking and likes the cold).

We have many threads about starting gardens, including a recent Victory Garden thread that started right at the beginning of the pandemic.
Are you planting anything specifically in response to current events?
Have you made any changes in what you usually grow (this summer, which was indeed extra rainy as forecasted, I didn't even try growing things that are affected by mildew, for example)?
Are you new to gardening and have questions about what you're doing? (it just so happens, if you're new to Permies, we have a bunch of good folks who are generous with what they know and ready to help you build a better world in your own backyard).

purple-long-beans-squash-and-figs.jpeg

Timothy Norton

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Let me take a crack at this!

Are you planting anything specifically in response to current events?

I have noticed that fruits and vegetables have either not been available or the prices have steadily increased at my local supermarket over the past fall/winter. Planning for this years garden involves looking towards my frequently used veggies in the kitchen that I can store.

Have you made any changes in what you usually grow?

I have realized that I use a lot carrots and onions in the kitchen but haven't tried to grow a bulk of them before. This year, I'm going to try my best to see if I can grow a fair amount to store for the upcoming year among other veggies that I already have decent success with.

Are you new to gardening and have questions about what you're doing?

Why are carrots so finicky?

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Tereza Okava

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Timothy Norton wrote:Why are carrots so finicky? :(

Hahaha! I grew carrots for the first time last year, they're generally so cheap but I had an unoccupied bed that needed something new and thought why not (I also have rabbits who like greens). They actually grew really well, I was shocked. I broadcasted seed and decided to just thin (the rabbits may have influenced this decision)... By the time they started bolting they were still quite small, unfortunately..... I did get a lot and it was fun. I don't think it saved me much money, but we had a few really fancy meals with tiny whole roasted carrots. They definitely did not reach the size I would normally buy, but they did leave the soil well prepared for my next crop (the beans). I'll probably grow them again this year-- in May I'll put in my 'cold winter' crops (daikon, snow peas) and probably add some carrots.

Eino Kenttä

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We will expand our annual gardening area this year. That was the plan anyway, but it feels a bit more urgent because of current events. The idea is to grow mainly staples: a lot of potatoes, sunroots, some carrots, peas, etc. We're also trying for scarlet runner beans, which might not be such a safe bet in our climate, but it would be brilliant if we could grow our own dry beans.

Catie George

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I'm focusing in more on my annual garden this year, rather than my wish which is more fruit/nut trees. Fingers crossed, but I think I MIGHT get a few apples/pears off my existing trees this year. I'd also love a peach or two. If any fruit form, I may bag them. I don't feel like I have enough to share with coddling moths!

For my annual garden it's infrastructure.

More t posts for supporting trellises for beans, cucumbers and tomatoes. Probably some insect netting so I can actually grow brassicas. More heavy duty seed starting trays to replace the flimsy cheap ones that insist on breaking. Hopefully more bags of leaves from the local town.

I'm continuing my experiments with gluten free grains this year, and likely trying a new flour corn variety. I am hoping blocks of grain also serve as a cover crop to push back weeds. Sorghum was my most successful by far.

I also want to try growing some oilseed crops . If I can manage trellising, I plan to increase my dry bean crop again this year.

I am theoretically growing fewer nightshades this year, after discovering they disagree with me, which has resulted in an explosion of my brassica starting. I will enjoy brussel sprouts or die trying!. I'll probably also increase beets. I'm trying celeriac again, and looking forward to pea shoots again.

Sigh, and I've promised myself to do better at freezing veggies for myself! I saw someone online prefreeze portioned veggies for soup, which seems clever.

I probably will grow fewer squash. I love the colours and shapes of the fruit, and the size of the vines, but found myself giving it away en-masse last year. I mostly like it as puree in various dishes. Best way I have found is to cook it whole in the oven, then scoop seeds and flesh after it has cooled, then puree. Honestly, my dog eats more squash than I do.

Before current events, I had begun a ton of native plant seeds. I guess I need to figure out where I am planting those, too.

I'm also planting stuff with an eye to my donations to the food bank this year - more cherry tomatoes, and smaller squash, and more bell peppers, and more baby cucumbers, focusing on what I'd like to receive, that's expensive in stores and lasts the few days between when they accept and distribute the food. I was disappointed with the quality of some of the produce I saw some people donated last year - 2 ft hardening zucchini, really?!

My final resolution is to be more proactive with watering this year.

Nynke Muller

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In 2026, besides doing what I always do, to obtain what I have always obtained (mostly fruit), I will, as in other years, try something new: Tree leaves!

Even in a temperate climate like my own, there are multiple trees with edible leaves. Edible tree leaves are in general very nutricious and supposedly some are very tasty. I have tried a young Linden leave and it was tasty indeed. I have made tea of young dried fig leaves and it tasted like coconut! But for some reason, maybe because it is so unusual and there is only a small window of opportunity for foraging them, I forget about it next year. But this year I happen to have some extra time in on my hands, right now in spring time, when tree leaves are best.

Therefore, I solemny swear, here on permies, that in 2026, I will learn more on edible tree leaves, taste more edible tree leaves, make the dietary change to include more edible tree leaves in my meals, plant some more trees with edible leaves in my garden.

I already have: mulberry; grape; fig. So I will start including those in my meals.
I intend to plant: linden and beach in hedges, because I have the right spot for them.
I will experiment with beech, because it grows nearby in a public space.
I am curious what else I can learn... taste.... and experiment with.

"If you've never failed, you have not tried enough new things"

Burra Maluca

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My plans mostly involve taking a deep breath and concentrating my energies on tried-and-true food plants rather than on experimental ones. And also establishing things like a chive bed, which will give me green onions to use for many years to come with no extra effort.

I have several seed-grown young trees like almond and quince that can be planted up on the terrace behind the house where with a bit of luck I can give them just enough care to keep them alive, then they can produce fruit and nuts long-term for me for virtually no effort. Also goji berries and strawberry trees from cuttings, which grow like weeds given half a chance. I have a load of mulberry cuttings which look like they might have all taken, so they can be planted in less-dry areas in the autumn.

A lot of my garden beds got overgrown with weeds last year as my health wasn't up to keeping them clear, so I'll be concentrating most of my energy on planting up the GAMCOD bed and any beds that are easily salvageable, then any extra energy can go towards de-brambling the others. Any brambles that fail to get cleared can be harvested for blackberries. Veggies to plant will include perennial galega cabbage, sweet potatoes, giant radish, leeks, sweetcorn, green beans, chard and various pumpkins.

We gave the fig tree a severe pruning because last year the first crop was mostly wasted because I couldn't reach them to harvest them all. And then I failed to get enough water to it to supply its needs to support the bumper second crop it was attempting to produce and the whole crop failed. I figured that a heavy prune would mean less waste and more figs to eat overall. Then the emphasis is going to be to harvest everything and waste nothing, designing our diet around what we have available. Which might involve a lot of olives!

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Nancy Reading

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I'm also starting a new kitchen garden this year - I'm not expecting much this first year as I haven't even started preparing the site - I need a low fence to keep the dogs out, but it's already in a deer fenced area so that will help. Some currant and perennial kale cuttings will help provide a windbreak in future years. My beetroot and chard did so well that I'm going to grow more of those and more green, fresh young vegetables (peas and carrots...) for picking "now for dinner". I'm also going to grow salad potatoes, True Potato Seed and grow out some eyes to try and reduce the virus load on my maincrop potatoes (I don't know how much it will help, but worth a try).

My new polytunnel should be up and running too - so I'm hoping for tomatoes, courgettes, salad leaves which are so expensive to buy here, due to our location and they never taste so good as home grown. I'll fill in any spaces outside with grains, beans and potatoes, and plan for next year....

Catie George wrote: I saw someone online prefreeze portioned veggies for soup, which seems clever.

I think I might try more drying vegetables - now I've got my tunnel I can do more drying in there. Then some food storage is less dependent on electricity too.

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Tereza Okava

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Nynke Muller wrote:Edible tree leaves

that's super interesting! I recently read about using fig leaves to make a syrup to replace vanilla, which seems like a good local solution.
you might find this article about the various uses of fig leaves interesting....

Nynke Muller

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Thank you Tereza!
This site is full of helpful information on the subject. If you search for "edible tree leaves", you will find multiple topics. Of course it was permies.com that inspired me in the first place.

"If you've never failed, you have not tried enough new things"

Tereza Okava

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Catie George wrote:I will enjoy brussel sprouts or die trying!

You and me both, lady. I went through my seed stash and found several packs of brussels sprout seeds i have bought with great hopes, only to be disappointed with a warm winter. This might be the year though, so I put in some seeds and here's hoping. My daughter and I can put away sprouts like no tomorrow, our first year here (20 years ago!) we grew them successfully so I know it's possible.....
I also have three fruit trees that have been warned but still are producing nothing. Considering how well the citrus is doing, I wonder if it's not time to get these trees outta here and replace them with something that will actually give me some fruit.
I also have a moringa, which I thought would be so amazing to have, but in fact I dry the leaves and make tea and it lasts all year and then the rest of the time the tree just puts out flowers (no drumsticks, alas) and takes up space. I think this winter I'll prune it way down low, the way I do my fig, and see if we can get it to bush out, then I can actually use the greens in cooking.

Jackson Bradley

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Are you planting anything specifically in response to current events?

I suppose this is part of the reason we are doing what we are doing no matter the political environment. War, inflation, energy costs driving up the cost of everything else and this does seem to be ongoing no matter who is in what office. The direction I planned to take things in spring was developed over winter but the current events are confirming that it is a good direction.

Currently, raising chickens, quail and meat rabbits and hunting deer provides 70%+ of our meat and 100% of our eggs. However, besides the deer, feed comes into the equation. I have been foraging almost daily for the meat rabbits. Berry canes, pine cones, grasses, clover and "weeds". I can see a path to providing everything they need from foraging and growing. I divided a good portion of my bocking 14 comfrey and have around 100 plants currently. I am really focusing on dividing more in the coming month. The regular comfrey just does it's thing and over a couple of years is turning into some nice patches. The bamboo is also picking up speed and that helps for the occasional chew treat for them and I use as much as I can get for stakes, etc.

The chickens and quail are more of a challenge. I do not free range for a few reasons. I do tractor the broilers. The main reason is that the deep bedding is my #1 material for amending and mixing into new raised beds along with aging the bedding and mixing potting soil for starts. I bag grass clippings and put the entirety in with the chickens. Part of the comfrey is going to them as well. I think the vitamin A is why I am seeing some beautiful yolks now. Nice before but really outstanding now. I have been considering tractoring some hens after the broilers are out of the tractors and see how that impacts the feed amount. I am hesitant because I am using 100% of the deep bedding for gardening.

Have you made any changes in what you usually grow

We have our annual vegetables narrowed down to what grows well here and what our family likes. We tried a bunch of different things initially, including different varieties.

Are you new to gardening and have questions about what you're doing?

I have about 3 acres of cleared land. I mow and bag some to go to the chickens. I seed clover in the areas that I tractor the broilers. Once the grass starts growing, it overtakes the clover. I am experimenting to find something that'll grow faster than the grass that I can cut and feed to the rabbits and chickens, along with the grass or instead of. This is done by hand everyday. I am experimenting with sunchokes. I think I can only cut them down 1x a year though. Comfrey is ongoing and if I leave some of the plant, the leaves smother the grass after a year of letting the leaves fall where they are. Any other ideas to try?

"The genius of American farm experts is very well demonstrated here: they can take a solution and divide it neatly into two problems." -Wendell Berry

Tereza Okava

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We've had similar conversations here about sunchokes and whether they're worth it or not. So far, we think not and that they'll take over the small space I have available-- too risky. My bunnies also really like bamboo leaves, I didn't quite expect that!
As for comfrey, I grow it just for fertilizer, and need to keep up on pulling it/cutting it or, like you said, it smothers itself (or maybe needs dividing? i am the angel of death for dividing plants, everything i divide dies, so i haven't tried). I pull the biggest leaves off my comfrey to use for either smothering weeds or for making comfrey tea. the rabbits aren't thrilled with it, even wilted a day or two, so I don't feed it.

Thanks for sharing your info about the chickens. I would really like to have them but a detailed post like this makes it clear I don't have the space, and also it entails a significant amount of work, much more than a few rabbits.

edited to add-- i see you're in zone 8a. something that grows faster than the grass seems tricky, but i wonder if you might like to try sorgum. i don't think i've heard of an animal that doesn't like it, it is generally pretty hardy and drought tolerant, and if i'm feeding it for leaves, i can cut-and-come-again to get a second round out of it. you could conceivably cut part and leave part for grains for your animals.

Jackson Bradley

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Tereza Okava wrote: the rabbits aren't thrilled with it, even wilted a day or two, so I don't feed it.

Thanks for sharing your info about the chickens. I would really like to have them but a detailed post like this makes it clear I don't have the space, and also it entails a significant amount of work, much more than a few rabbits.

edited to add-- i see you're in zone 8a. something that grows faster than the grass seems tricky, but i wonder if you might like to try sorgum. i don't think i've heard of an animal that doesn't like it, it is generally pretty hardy and drought tolerant, and if i'm feeding it for leaves, i can cut-and-come-again to get a second round out of it. you could conceivably cut part and leave part for grains for your animals.

I have the regular and bocking 14 and there is a preference for the 14. It also makes larger leaves than the regular. All around wonderful plant. I have been selecting breeders part on size and part on them going for the things we have around here to feed them! I am sort of surprised that it varies from one to the other somewhat.

I do grow some sunflowers but they get absolutely covered with leaf footed stink bugs. To the point where you can hardly see the plant sometimes.

I will look into the sorgum, thank you.

Have you ever considered quail? I really like them. They don't take up much space, easy to care for and I prefer the eggs over chicken eggs.

"The genius of American farm experts is very well demonstrated here: they can take a solution and divide it neatly into two problems." -Wendell Berry

Tereza Okava

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ah yes the stink bugs, i hear you. the good thing about sorgum is that at least in my corner of the woods, no bugs love it. sunflowers seem to be everyone's favorite....

I may consider quail, we've had a member here who had them on her balcony in an urban setting (in Spain, maybe?), they seem to take up next to no space and not need too much. We go through a lot of eggs so we might need approximately a hundred to keep up with our needs, but maybe I'm putting the cart before the horse.... I do understand they're tasty and really easy to process.

Rebecca Norman

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Burra Maluca wrote:And also establishing things like a chive bed, which will give me green onions to use for many years to come with no extra effort.

I want to give a call out for perennial scallions, sometimes called "welsh onions" or Japanese negi. They are perennial, and in my experience high producing, and they're much more like green onions than chives are. I mean, I grow and use both.

Works at a residential alternative high school in the Himalayas SECMOL.org . "Back home" is Cape Cod, E Coast USA.

Tereza Okava

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Rebecca Norman wrote:perennial scallions, sometimes called "welsh onions" or Japanese negi. They are perennial, and in my experience high producing, and they're much more like green onions than chives are. I mean, I grow and use both.

And nira (garlic chives, maybe?)! All are great cut-and-come again plants, I set up a few beds around the garden and cut them til they start looking a bit ratty (in 9b, it takes usually 2 years or so). And every quarter I start new ones from seed, because a drought will bring the black aphids in and they do a number. But I can't tell you how often the scallion bed has gotten me through times when onions are really expensive. Growing onions takes me something like 9 months, and they don't love my soil, so that doesn't work well, but sometimes you just need An Allium of some type and the scallions are great for this.

Burra Maluca

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Rebecca Norman wrote:I want to give a call out for perennial scallions, sometimes called "welsh onions" or Japanese negi. They are perennial, and in my experience high producing, and they're much more like green onions than chives are. I mean, I grow and use both.

I've been trying for years to grow Welsh onions here - I currently have about five individual plants in a pot, the only survivors from hundreds of seedlings as most of them don't tolerate the heat here. I'm very, very hopeful that the teeny handful I have will produce seed for me this year and I can start growing a more heat-tolerant strain of them. It's quite a long-term project though and I can pick up pots of growing chives at any supermarket, split them into a dozen or so plugs and they grow on beautifully.~

I also want to experiment crossing welsh onion with leek to see if I can create my own version of walking onions, but again that's a long-term experimental project. In the meantime a chive bed would be a very useful addition and I planted out two dozen plugs last week in the hope that they establish nicely.

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Mark Reed

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Burra Maluca wrote:My plans mostly involve taking a deep breath and concentrating my energies on tried-and-true food plants rather than on experimental ones.

Me too, more of less is my rule from now on. More of the things I know will produce and less of the finicky and experimental things.

Nothing ruins a neighborhood like paved roads and water lines.

Dianne Justeen

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Are you planting anything specifically in response to current events?
Focusing in on more storage crops and improving my preservation techniques. Prices of food are already going up and even if the various political problems get sorted out soon, I've yet to see a time when prices go back down in response. My "I've got a dream" is to turn a corner of our basement into a proper root cellar that's walled off from the rest, insulated and ventilated.

Have you made any changes in what you usually grow (this summer, which was indeed extra rainy as forecasted, I didn't even try growing things that are affected by mildew, for example)?
We have a small chest freezer and might want to try growing things like broccoli and cauliflower that can be blanched and frozen. These are the kind of fresh veggies I'd buy in winter for variety that would be shipped from warmer climes. Love me some winter squash, cabbage of all kinds, and storage roots, so will continue to have those. But will try expanding for changing up the daily meals.

Are you new to gardening and have questions about what you're doing? (it just so happens, if you're new to Permies, we have a bunch of good folks who are generous with what they know and ready to help you build a better world in your own backyard).
Haven't gone beyond the basics with winter harvesting. Even though we're much milder that Elliot Coleman's Maine garden, I've always been intrigued by his methods but never followed through with the planning. This might be a good year to give it a go. Anyone proficient at that who has advice?

Joao Winckler

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The perennial scallion suggestion is a good one, those things basically look after themselves once they get going. Garlic chives too, completely indestructible in my experience and you can cut them back over and over.

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Gordon Longfoot

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My wife spends way too much money on strawberries, so I have 55 plants in the ground.

There's an acre I can use but I've only been able to get 1/4 planted so far. A few weeks ago I ran 100' of underground plumbing with two hose spigots coming off of it. Then 100' of hose above ground.

There's some plants in the mounds and rows then 58 pots in the green house.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -
In ground:

55 strawberries
4 Raspberries
2 Blackberries
2 Blueberries
20' of carrots
3 rows of beats
8 broccoli mounds
8 jalapenos
6 watermelon
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Green house:

Slow Bolt Cilantro
Basil
Cumin
Dill
-
Cantaloupe
Early Girl Tomato
Siberian Red Tomato
Tomatillo (makes great pepper sauce)
Pickling Cucumber
Jalapeno
Peppercini
Garden beans
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Then there's 20'x40' of millet, and I spread some more seed on about 10 acres of field. I also have 5lbs of seed peas. A few potatoes growing in a separate garden. Then seeds for corn and onions. Need to form rows for these.

Ordered 350' of trellis netting for $30 off Amazon. Should be great for cucumbers but I also want the cantaloupe on it, and can be used for tomatoes.

We have a booth reserved at a farmers market so any excess can be sold to help the community get locally grown food.

Recipe for Salsa Verde (blended):

9 peeled/roasted tomatillos
1/2 onion (roasted)
1/2 jalapeno (roasted)
1/2 cup cilantro
1 lime
2 cloves garlic (roasted)
2 tablespoons salt

Add more jalapeno and it can be a hot sauce.

Tereza Okava

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Gordon Longfoot wrote:berries.

I just read that berry prices are going to be bonkers this year, looks like you made a smart move!!

Gordon Longfoot

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Location: Arizona

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Tereza Okava wrote:

Gordon Longfoot wrote:berries.

I just read that berry prices are going to be bonkers this year, looks like you made a smart move!!

I was planning on charging a little more for my produce and meat instead of trying to compete with big store prices. But it may be about even. I'm not trying to gouge but I need to be paid for my time, so I can put the money into expanding this operation.

Gasoline has gone up about $1.50 here but hopefully growing more feed for the livestock will make that added cost of transportation irrelevant. I still need to drive to the market, but I'm trying to get away from corn. Even though the feed store grows their own onsite, they need fuel for a tractor. I might be able to get 3 months worth of millet out of a controlled crop, then put animals on pasture the rest of the time.

We have some wild desert dandelions growing out here. Those are pretty exciting to see.

Shannon Lawrence

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Tereza Okava wrote:

Timothy Norton wrote:Why are carrots so finicky?

I cannot figure out how to just reply to the whole damn thread so I figured it start with this quote
I moved into my grandma’s house a year ago and planted 6 dwarf fruit trees in the back and put in 8 raised beds, one of which is fully carrots. 🥕 🤞Did I stop there? Nope! Last week I dug all the grass from the front yard (by hand and my back is still peeved about it) for flowers and tomatoes and peppers. That’s the plan anyway. I have a friend that will make the salsa if I grow the peppers and that works for me!
Anyway, here’s the dirt patch my neighbors don’t love as much as I do! Cheers to growing all the food!

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Jamie Chevalier

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For green onions, we have the best luck with perennial walking onions. They make fat juicy leaves, seem immune to heat, and have a complex, onion/garlic flavor we love.

For fresh vegetables, I concentrate on leaves rather than flower buds or stems (e.i., kale or collards instead of broccoli) both for ease of growing and for high, continuous yields. Leaves are also higher in many nutrients than other parts of the plant. Perpetual Spinach (a type of perennial chard) https://www.quailseeds.com/store/p9/Perpetual_Spinach_%28Leafbeet%29_Chard.html gives us more meals over the course of the year than pretty much any other greens we've found. It's more heat-tolerant than kale, and very drought-tolerant for a vegetable. During the winter when it is dormant, collards https://www.quailseeds.com/store/p337/Old-Timey_Blue_Collards.html and turnip greens https://www.quailseeds.com/store/p503/Seven_Top_Turnip_Greens_%28Cima_di_Rapa%29.html give us greens all winter and luscious budding stalks in spring.

In spring and fall, nothing grows faster and is more versatile than Asian greens. I like Mizuna and Bekana for spring salads, and Tatsoi all winter. Nappa cabbage is easy in fall, and made into kim-chee, it's a staple for us. Korean peppers mature early and have the perfect amount of heat for kim-chee. Both are easier for us to grow seasonally than the long-season European sauerkraut cabbages would be.

Of course, greens are not high in either calories (energy) or protein. That lack is easily filled by growing beans, peas, or other legumes. In our hot-summer climate, dry beans are an easy win. We especially like the King City Pink Bean, a California heirloom bean that is adapted to both short season and high temperatures. https://www.quailseeds.com/store/p483/KIng_City_Pink_Bean.html The flavor and texture are just superb. It feels like a real bonus that our favorite dry bean for flavor is also so easy to grow.

Corn has been adopted by subsistence farmers all over the world because it gives a lot of easily-processed food without the need for elaborate soil prep, harvesting, or threshing. For rock-solid dependability, we like Carol Deppe's short-season polenta corn https://www.quailseeds.com/store/p111/Cascade_Ruby-Gold_Flint_Corn.html For bigger yields, or for three-sisters planting, we've found an open-pollinated corn bred by a farmer who saw in the 1970's that corporate hybrids were taking over. He pooled many surviving o-p dent corns and came up with a superb variety he called Wapsie Valley Dent https://www.quailseeds.com/store/p396/Wapsie_Valley_Dent_Corn.html It seems more vigorous than most of the surviving heirloom corns.

To round out the staples, we grow winter squash. It takes a lot of space, but not all that space needs to be garden soil. We grow it at the edge of the garden and let it romp down a dry hillside. Our winter squash of choice is an heirloom from Idaho called Lower Salmon River, a very sweet, very long-storing squash https://www.quailseeds.com/store/p34/Lower_Salmon_River_Squash.html that is again easy to grow and adapted to short seasons.

As far as root crops, we grow beets and carrots. For flavor, size, and keeping qualities, we like Lutz, a beet that is no longer easy to find because it's appearance isn't up to supermarket standard. https://www.quailseeds.com/store/p258/Lutz_Green_Leaf_Beet%2C_Winter_Keeper%2C_Longkeeper.html But until we are able to provide a bed with metal screening on the bottom and sides, the risk of losing the crop to gophers is high. When we grow potatoes, we put them in tubs for that reason. Peppers do best for us in tubs as well, and can be moved under cover in fall to keep ripening.

William Bronson

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My dad's parents had victory gardens during WW2.
They had moved from Alabama to Cincinnati to work and escape oppression.
They were skilled farmers and knew how to preserve food, but even the family members who owned their own land could only get so far in Alabama.
My mother's parents started better off, but my grandfather was still a farm boy.
His father was well to do enough that he was able to go away to highschool, a boarding school, because there were no local schools he was allowed to go to.
He served during and after the war and he was the one who let me "help" in the garden.

I'm involved with my friends food pantry.
It has a big, under utilized garden.
In the spot where the compost pile was I plan on growing out a ruby red meal corn that my Guatemalan neighbor gave me.
We have pound and pounds of seed potatoes, and I plan on starting new beds by growing potatoes in them.
I also want to grow more sunchokes.
The pantry has acres of land and lots of forest edge, in addition to the fenced garden, and I plan on pushing out less desirable plants by planting sunchokes.

At a different community garden I plan on planting sunchokes in front of the greenhouse, in bucket/ pots.
This will facilitate summer shade for the greenhouse, plus easy distribution of sunchokes to new homes.
Plus, I've watched some videos that make me think planting sunchokes in a smallish pot might actually increase their production.

At my mom's, it's turnip , collard, kale, and mustard greens.
I have also sourced some dwarf sunchoke for a weedy, shady corner.
I'm growing them out in pots for now, because I need to be sure they really are dwarven sunchokes.
Moms yard gets special treatment, nothing too unruly is allowed.

I have 6 hazelnut bushes that need to go in the ground, but I'm not sure where.

Recently I've been thinking about getting pear rootstock with the plan being grow hard, not- sweet pears as a tree vegetable that has some storage qualities.

I wish current circumstances didn't call for victory gardens.
It was recently pointed out to me that the Bracero Program imported Mexican farm workers during the same years we were forcing Japanese Americans into internment camps.
A lot of those Japanese Americans were skilled farmers, who's important work was interrupted and their land "lost".

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Jeff Marchand

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I grew a large garden in 2024. Great success. I grew far more food than I could eat. Problem was storage. Too much of it went to waste. This year because of global events I want to be food self sufficient since I believe food will be scarce and people will go hungry during the winter and spring of 2027. So my big project for 2026 will be a root cellar.

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Tereza Okava

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Thank you William, and for everyone who shared what they're doing. I wish we weren't talking about the need for these gardens as a backup for survival and buffer for general bad things.

When I hear "victory garden" I always think of a book my mother always had around, Crockett's Victory Garden. For Jim Crockett, the victory garden was all about resilience (and his books and TV show hit right about the same time as the US oil crisis in the late 70s). I've mentioned elsewhere, my mother always had a garden but it wasn't usually very productive- she didn't have the time to do the upkeep. But she always had one, because a garden was her survival when she was young; through a series of unfortunate family circumstances, she was ultimately brought up by a neighbor, an Italian immigrant whose enormous garden took up the whole lot because "you can never be too safe." Some of my first memories involve riding my Big Wheel among the rows of tomatoes and eggplant, and being at the table watching as this neighbor canned sauce and beans. For our family the garden may not have fed us, but it was a space for remembering- remembering this neighbor, who was like a grandmother to me, remembering hard times past, remembering hard work to get through hard times.
I feel really honored to hear other people's similar stories and know that we are stepping up and sharing in this tradition of resilience. In some ways growing food is the most basic no-brainer, but sometimes it feels almost revolutionary. Thank you for sharing with me.

Back to the farm at hand....I just read a long-term ag forecast saying that next year summer we should be expecting a Super El Niño, with record heat (at least here in South America) and likely impacts on agriculture. Usually I consider my garden to be more of a hobby and less of a lifeline but I'm thinking maybe I might consider doing some work this winter (starting soon) to maximize the use of space. I could probably add some raised beds alongside the walls containing softer soil to facilitate growth of sweet potatoes (which we use for greens all summer as well as tubers come fall) and rig up some shade cloth for protecting the collards/tree kale that sometimes can struggle in the summer. I grow on a slope and have made some terraces but I feel like my setup is totally inefficient- maybe it's time to get that sorted.

(I was worried about cold weather this winter more than anything else.... now it looks like we're going to be all over the place.)

Nicole Alderman

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Are you planting anything specifically in response to current events?

Potatoes! But, mostly I'm actually working in the garden. This year has been nuts, and if the world wasn't nuts, too, I probably would have not tried growing anything other than the perennials that are already growing. But, because of everything, it made sense to spend Spring Break in the garden. I've so far weeded out two garden beds for planting, and remade my keyhole garden. I bought some peas, beans, radishes and carrots, as well as potatoes.

Obviously, the above garden isn't producing a ton of food. But, I like it because it's really easy for my kids and I to quickly find veggies to snack on all year round. And, it was made with just rotten logs, cinderblocks that came on the property, bricks we got for free, chives I divided from other plants, leeks I got for free years ago and keep dividing, sorrel I got for free from my sister-in-law and keep dividing, strawberries that were free from a neighbor, and Pearl Walking Onions given to me by a friend. Perennials are the gift that keeps on giving, and that you can keep on giving!

Have you made any changes in what you usually grow

No, not really. I'm sticking with what I know likes to grow.

Are you new to gardening and have questions about what you're doing?

No matter how many years I've been gardening, I always feel like there's more to learn. That's why I love permies!

The main things I'm relying on this year are perennials and foraging.

This year has been hard and super busy, but my perennials have continued to multiply. You can buy them once, and they keep making more. One chive plant becomes many (the same with elephant garlic, leeks, walking onions, garlic chives, etc). One sorrel plant can be divided into many. Raspberry and strawberry plants continue to spread.

Not only does this mean that you can continue to expand your food production without spending more money, but you can also share the plenty with others. I love sharing my sorrel, chives, walking onions, lovage, raspberries, mint and other plants with others.

I plan on distributing chive plants to all my students this year, and plant some in the school garden, too. I love sharing how amazing perennials are, and also helping provide food plants to others.

Perennials are also a lot lower maintenance. On the years I haven't had time to do much in the garden, the perennials still produce. We still get apples, sorrel, leeks, chives, pears, plums, peaches, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, honeyberries, mint, and more.

Learning to forage--even just for your own weeds or native plants--is super helpful, too. We're eating a lot of nettle right now. We never planted it, but we have tended what came on the property and encouraged it to grow more. I never planted Oregon Grape Root, but I just harvested some for my husband to help with his crohn's. The native blackberries, salmonberries, and huckleberries are all just out there to pick. I love munching on bittercress and dandelion, and making dandelion tea. There's a lot of food and medicine outside if we just know where to look.

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William Bronson

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posted 4 days ago

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Something that has worked well that I will continue to do is cutting the root end off of onions and planting them anywhere I can find space.
This will usually grow out to 3-5 mini onions, about the size of a quarter.

The next step is to plant them out at normal spacing so they can bulk up.
I've not tried this step yet, but it seems as strait forward as using onion sets.
This uses kitchen "waste" to create a perpetual source of seed onions from almost any onion.
Like growing potatoes from just the skins, we are squeezing more out of our purchased resources.
I plan on trying this with just the smallest rooted ends, to see how little it takes.

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r ransom

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Life and weather is weird this year so I haven't made plans yet. I have planted lots of snow peas as they are easy to blanch and freeze. But it seems no matter how many I plant or how hoodnthe crop, most of it ends up inside the gardener.

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Tereza Okava

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r ransom wrote:I have planted lots of snow peas as they are easy to blanch and freeze. But it seems no matter how many I plant or how hoodnthe crop, most of it ends up inside the gardener.

snow peas = garden candy

Nicole Alderman

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r ransom wrote:Life and weather is weird this year so I haven't made plans yet. I have planted lots of snow peas as they are easy to blanch and freeze. But it seems no matter how many I plant or how good the crop, most of it ends up inside the gardener.

The last few years have been too busy to do any real preserving (other than freezing some berries and dehydrating some apples). I focus on foods my kids can go out and snack on &/or bring in for dinner. They love peas and radishes, so I always try to plant some of those. The berries and sorrel and chives are all things they'll eat while outside.

I figure that as long as the food is getting eaten, it's a success. We're getting the increased vitamins and lower food bills during the summer and fall. I'll be planting more peas today!

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