Yeardly Arthur wrote:...Some are genuinely concerned about being able to feed themselves in the months ahead.
Like most things, gardening is easy enough for a six-year-old to do, after twenty years of practice. So how might we advise beginners or hobbyists to effectively negotiate future caloric challenges - assuming they have a strip of land (or a spread of porch containers) available for cultivation?
I say keep it simple, focused on calories and nutrition that's easy to grow and store: potatoes, carrots, beets. The pioneer staples. I would also add various pole beans (scarlet runner beans, blue lake pole beans) for the amount of food they produce throughout the season, in a small area.
Growing the bean soup mix has merit, if only for green beans at their various stages. Add to that growing dried field peas for easy greens (there is a great thread somewhere on this).
Personally I wouldn't bother with corn or bird seed. It's exceedingly unlikely that people with zero experience in growing anything will graduate to milling their own grains.
Taking a step back, I would argue that the more realistic solution is in the kitchen, not in the garden. We are not even remotely facing a food shortage. It's just that the luxurious foods we are accustomed to are potentially being priced out of reach. Canadian and American farmers produce massive quantities of lentils, chickpeas, field peas and export almost all of it. Our population is not familiar with the wonderful, tasty, filling dishes that can be made from these items. People in India, for example, know the value and know exactly what to do with these items. We are facing a shortage of kitchen experience with these highly affordable and nutritious foods. My 2c.
