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Best Crops for a Survival Garden?

 
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Cathy James wrote:

Finally, you need to focus on calories first, nutrients and fiber second, and herbs and flavorings last. It's great to have something to spice up your meals, but not at the expense of filling your belly.

The thing I see missing in this list that is important for your belly to feel full, is some sort of oil crop. Tyler mentions squash, whose seeds can fill that need even if you have to sit there pealing them. Ellandra mentions both sunflower and sesame seeds. In your climate, flax seeds might be an option.

Fats and oils have been demonized in the last 40 years, but that's mainly because we eat poorly chosen ones that are over processed. It's the difference between eating a whole organic apple vs cheep apple juice. Reading I've done recently suggests we need to think differently about the fat in our diet and think of home-grown sources of it.
 
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Fun thread! I'll assume we're doing this on a city lot so I don't have any chance to grow all we eat. My strategy, then, would be to produce lots of nutrients and then go for calories as much as I have space. Grains, beans, and other bulk calories are easy to store and probably at least low quality calories will be available. I want to be in a position to supplement them into something nutritious.

Beans - I want to try them but at the moment I don't know them well enough to rely on them.
Basil - A nice spice but it's an annual and I don't think I have seed on hand for it. The oregano and mint will have to suffice.
Cabbage. No seed on hand and I think they take a lot of space. They're out
Carrots - Definitely! Good nutrients, some calories, and they did well this year.
Potatoes - I don't have the space to plant a lot but I'd definitely plant all I could. They were pretty maintenance-free this year.
Corn - Hmm. High fertility and water requirements? Not a chance.
Amaranth - We have Amaranthus retroflexus volunteer here but I wouldn't plant it per se. The greens aren't that great and collecting seeds is really labor intensive for what you get.
Berries - Many and diverse kinds. They're already planted because in normal times I go for extra-yummy foods that are so expensive I'd never buy them otherwise. Raspberries are the backbone as the most reliable producer. Strawberries because my wife likes them and a smattering of currants, gojis, and serviceberries. Grapes are on the wish list.
Chamomile - I've got feverfew which I think is similar but I'm not sure what to do with it.
Cucumbers - We like them but they'd be lower priority.
Strawberries - I don't have a good feel for how well these produce yet, but yes.
Arugula - probably not. I'd probably go for foraging most of my greens. Lambs quarters, orache, purslane, and amaranth. They grew this year whereas the spinach I planted was eaten by bugs. `

Winter squash - Stella blue because we like it. It seemed to do well this year though it needed an earlier start. They store well. These and the potatoes would be the only bulk calories we grow.
Walking onions and maybe bulb onions. The bulb onions took some work to start inside and didn't get super big but they didn't really take much space and no maintenance. The walking onions, however, would definitely be in. They were zero maintenance. Both of these would be good at keeping us healthy and getting some flavor in our lives.

Beets - I like them so I'd probably plant some.
Green beans. We like them.
Sweet potato - I'm trying them and they seem to be doing all right and they didn't freeze early with the squash so maybe they're more hardy here than I thought. As nutritious as they are I'd like to be able to grow them.

Apples and peaches. Maybe cherries.
Hazelnuts. An experiment at the moment. If they produce they'll be good calories including fat. They'd also fit as a bait specie to lure in squirrels for the pot...

Spices & medicinals. Obviously there's a lot of overlap here.
Oregano
Mint
Yarrow
- best first aid plant.
boneset - Great immune system tonic as well as the first aid value. I might lose it without watering it, though.
jewelweed - again, might die without watering.
plantain

Obviously, chickens, rabbits, or bees would be nice but I assume they'll require a much higher learning curve.

I guess I think I'd continue what I'm growing now but plant a lot more of the calorie producers. Oh, diversity is really good so maybe some things will get past the bugs.

DK


 
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Fruit planted to provide year round.

September to March - Citrus, Apples
April - May - Plums, Apricots, Peaches, Mulberries, Blackberries
Summer - Pawpaws, Blueberries, Grapes
And the most important - Persimmons in November. They dry into a high calorie preserved food.

For perennial vegetables I have or am in the process of establishing:
chayote,
garlic,
potatoes
Japanese yams
dandelions
J. knotweed (hah! It is edible though)
bamboo shoots

And herbs:
sage,
thyme,
cilantro
mitsuba,
dokudami

and would like to add:
sunchokes,
ashitaba,
asparagus

Other than that I'd still grow
cabbages,
lettuce,
kabocha,
sweet potatoes,
daikon radish

Or something like that?
 
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Under the area of survival food I would think that adding the natives that thrive on your area would be essential.
Many of us can grow Stinging Nettle and if you look it up for it's nutrient content it's loaded!

I also love the taste.
 
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OK term What does this mean, "SHTF" crop list it was used  at the start of the comments

Ok found it
SHTF. That is, when shit hits the fan.
Unfortunate choice of words in my opinion.
 
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This is a very thought provoking article along with what everyone  has shared.
The area I am in for Midwest Iowa in US some of the growing season for some things is done.
I'm drying seeds and getting ready to do a few cover crops. I just haven't decided which for my area. but need to decide soon.
I'm also planning for spring planting, starting/growing some things inside. In addition,  I'm evaluating what
I'd like to do differently my next plantings as far as the landscape of things & what I will plant.
This year I concentrated on raspberries, sunflowers, loofahs, green peppers, lettuce, rhubarb, green beans, cucumbers, different varieties of squash, pumpkins and tomatoes. Some tomatoes came back this year as they have the last few years.
I do more of a forest garden and grow less conspicuously as possible.
I had some issues with squash borers in some areas of my huge backyard. Although I still had a great harvest in other areas the borers hadn't made it to.
After cleaning up all the vines, I raked the soil 1/4 inch to disturb any over wintering of the these buggers.  
For next year I'll be planting much of the same but adding some squash gourds without hollow stems such as the Tromboncino & Rampicante in case any squash borers are around yet since they don't like solid stems, adding apple trees I've started indoors, tobacco plants for bartering, sweet corn, field corn, beets, cabbage,  watermelon, cantelope, wheat, barley, buckwheat, Amaranth, potatoes, sweet potatoes and harvesting the mulberries i didn't have time to do much with this year. I may add a few more things and herbs just haven't decided which yet.
I dehydrated quite a bit and froze a ton that I didn't eat. I'll more than likely spend time canning some of what's in the freezers doing the winter months so if shtf I won't be scrambling to do so.
I am considering a few chickens for eggs and do water storage with them, pemmican and drying meat.
It's only me and the dogs but if things fall apart and the kids/grandkids need help I'll hopefully be able to help them too.
Does anyone store wheat berries?


Stacie Kim wrote:I recently read an article that suggested the following 12 crops for a survival garden:

Beans
Basil
Cabbage
Carrots
Potatoes
Corn
Amaranth
Berries
Chamomile
Cucumbers
Strawberries
Arugula

These crops were noted for being nutrient dense, easy to grow, and easy to preserve. The basil and chamomile were listed for medicinal/digestive benefits.

I think, for my own family's survival garden, I'd made a few changes:

I'd opt to grow walking onions instead of basil. The reason being that I can use more of a walking onion (bulb and greens) for more versatility. I think onions, even small ones, would offer more calories than basil.

I'd swap the cabbage and grow collards instead. They grow much more readily here than heading cabbage.

I'd grow winter squash instead of amaranth. My family really enjoys spaghetti squash.

I'd grow mint instead of chamomile. The authors of the article cite chamomile's medicinal benefits, but they warn it's a hard plant to get established. I have mint that is un-killable here!

Instead of arugula, I'd grow sweet potatoes. The greens of sweet potatoes are also edible, plus you get a good starchy tuber to eat when you dig up them up.

I'd also put tomatoes on the list. My family eats an alarming amount of tomatoes!

Have you ever considered an "SHTF" crop list? What if you could only grow 10 to 15 crops on a small plot of backyard space? Would you agree with the original list of crops? Do they grow well in your area?


Original article: Best Crops for Your Survival Garden

 
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In defense of strawberries

I haven't thought through the entire list, but it would definitely include everbearing strawberries.  I get big yields end of June and again in August, with at least a small handful 2x a week in between.  In October I put the strawberries under row cover and continue until November, occasionally December, when we get our our first really hard frost.  I live in zone 5-6.  Vertical systems keep the sq foot print to a minimum.
 
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Tyler Ludens wrote:This is one of my favorite topics!
For my semi-arid warm climate ( with irrigation) I am trying to grow as staples:

Sweet potatoes
Moschata winter squash
Tatume summer squash
Garlic chives ( utterly unkillable,  needing no irrigation)
Kale
Mulberry
Chili piquin/Bird pepper
Moringa

The plants which survived the Big Texas Freeze and utter neglect best were Moringa (froze to the ground but grew back), Garlic Chives, and Chili Piquin.  



Wow, Tyler, moringa outside in zone 8.  I didn't realize that might work.  How established was your Moringa before the big freeze?  I'm trying to figure out if I want to risk planting any of mine out.  I have the short bush ones from Baker Creek heirloom seeds.  But it gets tiresome keeping things in pots through the winter...
 
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Kim Goodwin wrote:

Tyler Ludens wrote:This is one of my favorite topics!
For my semi-arid warm climate ( with irrigation) I am trying to grow as staples:

Sweet potatoes
Moschata winter squash
Tatume summer squash
Garlic chives ( utterly unkillable,  needing no irrigation)
Kale
Mulberry
Chili piquin/Bird pepper
Moringa

The plants which survived the Big Texas Freeze and utter neglect best were Moringa (froze to the ground but grew back), Garlic Chives, and Chili Piquin.  



Wow, Tyler, moringa outside in zone 8.  I didn't realize that might work.  How established was your Moringa before the big freeze?  I'm trying to figure out if I want to risk planting any of mine out.  I have the short bush ones from Baker Creek heirloom seeds.  But it gets tiresome keeping things in pots through the winter...



Kim,

Moringa will grow in our zone. The leaves will die back in winter but will regrow in the spring. This happens every year at my dads Borrego desert farm in California.

Miranda
 
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Mk Neal wrote:  I am not sure what is meant by "survival garden." As in, what disaster are we surviving that leaves the garden intact?



Personally, in my location, the mostly likely (and inevitable) disaster that would leave me reliant on a garden and food storage is a major earthquake.  The state government acknowledges that should the main interstate hwys be damaged, it would be very difficult to bring in supplies and so people should be prepared with two weeks of food and water.  Also someday the large volcano in my backyard will erupt and looking at historic lahar flows means that our home will likely be safe but cut off from major hwys. Though if it happens in my lifetime, there's a whole bunch of other things I'll have to worry about... but I'd probably survive to worry about them.  

Minor emergencies, like quarantining during disease or losing employment, aren't disasters, but having majority of your food supply of in your yard sure takes away some stress in those situations.

Mk Neal wrote: This year I made a point of documenting all the food I harvested from my backyard to get a rough idea of what gave the greatest yields.  I only measured the amount I harvested, which is less than the total output b/c I have a dayjob and just can't get to everything (looking at you, carpet of fallen mulberries...) I also quickly realized that a bowlful of lettuce or a handful of herbs or snap peas did not have enough calories to be worth documenting for this project, so these items are left out...
...Total calories documented past year: 24,397
Top 5 crops for calorie yield: Redcurrants (5542 Kcals), Grapes (4099 Kcals), sour cherries (2751 Kcal), acorn squash (2670 Kcals), black raspberry (2136 Kcals)
Top 5 crops for volume: Tomato (10.3 kg), redcurrants (9.9 kg), acorn squash (9.2 kg), grapes (6.1 kg), sour cherries (5.5 kg)



Your record keeping is awesome! I'd love to do something like that in future. Do you just weigh everything daily as you bring it in and have a chart or something?

At this point I'd have a hard time measuring my fruits since my kids and I just eat them straight from the garden May through September. Only wild blackberries make it into the house and into the freezer because there are more of those in our neighborhood than we can eat or pick.
 
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Being in a cold wet climate has it's challenges in growing stuff but some things are do very well here.  

butternut squash  These hold up the best against the pests and mildew issues.
potatoes  I can't plant them too early or the bugs destroy them.  
sweet potatoes  My soil is finally healthy enough to grow the shorter season varieties.  Of course many of them crack when we have a wet end of season like this year.  
carrots  Once they are germinated they do great but saving seed is hard due to lots of Queen Anne Lace in my yard and neighborhood.
celeriac  I love this plant.  It is easier to grow than celery stalks where I live and cook with it all winter.  
parsnips.  Easy to grow and save seed from.
apples  These have a lot of bug and disease pressure in my area.  We are planting more pears and peaches instead because they are less work.  


Stuff that is easy to save seed from. These are easy for new gardeners to grow and I always have plenty of seed to share.
Rattlesnake pole beans.  I plant a lot of them and harvest both green beans and dry beans from them.  
Snap peas.  Planted in spring and fall.  They can be eaten in the pod or grown out and saved as dried peas.
Red Russian Kale.  It doesn't get bitter in the summer.
Crisp Romaine Lettuce  is our favorite lettuce  
Evergreen hardy bunching onions.   Easy to grow and they are perennial if you only cut the greens.  I can harvest these from May  till mid November and they produce a ton of seeds to share.
Sunflowers   We grow various types of them for the pretty flowers. The seeds are good for us and the birds.

Stuff that thrives as long as it has some water and mulch
asparagus
everbearing strawberries
blueberries
black raspberries
pears
peaches
American hazelnuts
winecap mushrooms
Seedless Concord grapes
black currents
highbush cranberries


Stuff we can't kill
oregano
autumn olive
dandelions
chives









 
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Robert Ray where do you live? To have such a variety of food growing?
My list would be in garden space:
carrots
potatoes
onions
tomato
kale
cabbage
Brussels
summer and winter squash
shell beans on a trellis
horseradish
Rhubarb
blueberry

Forage...
elderberry
currents
mushrooms
rosehips
huckleberry
apples
plums
chive
wild onion


 
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Depends on the location (duh!).

Here in zone 4b central NY, from most to least calories I grow potatoes, corn, squash, carrots,  parsnips, and beets. If one likes or dislikes one veg more than another this list could be shuffled accordingly. In 2015 I grew all my own food for one year (actually started planning for the experiment in 2014). I seem to have permanently turned myself off to turnips and rutabagas with that exercise as those two veggies and pork were all I had left for most of the month of June. If I were to do it again I'd definitely grow more potatoes and more corn than I did. Those two staples are easy to make into a base for other flavors to modify. Given the choice between a potato and a turnip I always seemed to choose turnip, until I ran out of taters... It was crazy to have a ton of things going in the garden in June, but almost not calories coming out of it.

For spicing life up a little bit lettuce, kale, aspargus, mustard greens, green beans, melons, raspberries.

Other good options that should be included if one has more acres - nuts, oaks (corn acorn bread is super good), fruit trees.
 
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This list is designed for a hotter summer than I have. I'm in the wet PNW.

Beans - I am one of the few that maintain a family Heirloom variety, and it grows well here despite not being an ideal climate for dry beans, so this is a yes for me. But fava beans are by far the most productive bean in my climate, so I grow that too.

Basil - no, not very productive here. Lots of other herbs grow better. Parsley would be my direct substitute, it reseeds readily and can be used in much the same way. I'd grow perennial herbs of all kinds, but my most used are garlic, onion, oregano, thyme, and rosemary.

Cabbage - and kale and broccoli, I've let all go to seed and hybridize and now the most hardy reseed themselves and it's great.

Carrots - yes, and parsnips and beets. Roots in general have a high calorie production per area. Turnips and rutabaga are good too if you like them (my family doesn't).

Potatoes - King of calorie production in my area.

Corn - I don't get high yields , either sweet or dry. This would not be in my plans. I'd grow more beans or squash in its place.

Amaranth - not my favorite green. Give me more kale and spinach and lettuce, and I'll gather some wild greens too. Nettles are excellent and dandelion is always available.

Berries - yes, all of them!

Chamomile - why?? Not much use. If I really needed tea, I'll grow a tea bush (camellia sinensis). For similar medicinal purposes, California poppy is my favorite. Not as tasty but effective.

Cucumbers - not very productive nor many calories. I'd grow squash, both summer and winter.

Strawberries - yes!

Arugula - see amaranth.

I'd grow figs and plums, they are my most productive fruit trees. And fit in as many other fruit and nut trees as I could. For animals, even in my small urban yard I can have beehives and that can produce lots of calories. If I had the acreage so that I wouldn't have to bring in feed, chickens and a cow or goat would be good too.
 
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I would have parsnip, burdock, turnip, cabbage, carrots, onions, garlic, pea tree, wheat, squash, tomatoes, buckwheat, oats, sunflower, nasturtium, apples, pears, chestnuts, pines, maples, berries of all kinds, (dried berries are really good) a guard dog, sheep and a cow or goat and some chickens. Probably a pig, too.
 
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I'm up in the sub-Arctic and, like several others, it's a question of what CAN I grow more than what would I like to grow. I'm still working on expanding my list, but for now it includes:

    peas - at least two crops per season; they're my main legume.
    potatoes - lots and lots, any variety
    raspberries - they're indigenous up here, they love growing, so fresh, jam, dried, medicinally (great for people with uteruses)
    kale - any and all varieties
    haskap berries - also good growers
    apples - semi-hardy; they're small but very sweet
    honey - I'm using a cathedral hive with a winter blanket and the hive is in a shed
    barley - I started with a handful of Shetland Islands' bere barley and some tibetan barley and they're both producing nicely
    oats - hull-less oats manage to make it in the season
    lettuce
   
Next season I'm going to work with more medicinal herbs, like echinacea, and see if they'll grow. I'm very much hoping to be able to produce some winter squash with my new tiny greenhouse, as well as turnips, carrots, and beets in the open beds. We'll see!

For protein, I'd go for chickens. Not right now, because my neighbours would object and I'd lose the wild roses growing in the yard (also useful medicinally), but when the road up to Whitehorse is looking unviable, yeah, chicks. Also bartering with hunters and doing some of my own fishing. Also plan to begin foraging more.

In terms of full self-sustainability, I really don't see it as coming all from myself. Imagining that would be riding for a fall from too much pride. I've been thinking about developing some community gardens and renting a bit from area farmers and this thread pushes that a little higher on the list.
 
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I have to say perennials are the best & multiplying or even invasive edibles are best.
There are three main groups
1) Greens- leaves & stems, collard, Tree Kale, asparagus, Good Old Henry, Sorrel,
2) Starches like Jerusalem Artichoke, Ground Nuts,
3)Fruits like BlueBerries in acid soil,  Raspberries, pears, apple, plums,  nut trees to name few.
4) herbs like Lovage, garic, mints, horse radishes.

Then fill in with annuals Like beans, peas, corn, potatoes, radishes, turnips, beets, carrots,Swiss Chard.  
What I like about Blueberry plants, is they multiply & 20 plant are now one hundred, as do my Southern raspberry, which I have to mow between the rows every Fall. Strawberries are another plant that multiply.
 
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Mike Barkley wrote:For purposes of this discussion I'm assuming we're talking about a vegetable garden that will get some amount of care & not be subject to ravenous hordes of zombie thieves.



And I'm assuming those hordes of zombie thieves you are talking about are deer?

What I want to know is what you can grow in Zone 8a that our overpopulated, impossible to foil deer population won't decimate.

This is my third year of trying to outwit deer. I'm trying small fenced areas now and also this...

2022-10-15-18.36.25.jpg
[Thumbnail for 2022-10-15-18.36.25.jpg]
 
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Our deer are foiled by a tall fence around the garden. Plus we have numerous food plots planted specifically for deer & turkeys. I've seen turkeys in the garden but never any deer.
 
Joe Grand
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Mike Barkley wrote:Our deer are foiled by a tall fence around the garden. Plus we have numerous food plots planted specifically for deer & turkeys. I've seen turkeys in the garden but never any deer.


Hi, I am in zone 8a also, S.C.
Deer can jump a fence, but would rather walk in & out of an open garden.
So the fence will help & a second fence five feet outside the first or in side the first if that is better,
will look like a trap to the deer &  they will not jump it.
I have a electrical easement that I can not plant trees on, so  am going to plant deer plots on it in hopes that it will keep the deer off my garden next summer. Fifteen deer had been harvested off my land last year & they are back n full steam this year.
Not sure if this helps.
Turkeys I know nothing about, we had them on the farm one year only.
 
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Just dropping by to say; remember survival garden needs to have some hidden crops. People will take your melons but not dig up Dahlias (edible tuber). Many flowers have edible roots(winecups, confederate vine, balloon flower, yam daisy, canna lily, etc) and feed the pollinators that help your veggies. Many people would think Jerusalem Artichokes are scraggly sunflowers & not worth stealing. All fuchsias make edible berrys. Skirret, scorzonera, parsnips & salsify all look like messy weeds. Hamburg rooted parsley. And of course, dandelions! -which I’m allergic to, darn it. Pursalene , ground hugging weed high in vit c & omega 3. The less of the obvious “food crops” and the messier it looks, the less casual thievery. Nettles around the recognizable crops, also discouraging and nutritious
 
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Carol Deppe's Resilient Gardener addresses this question. She chooses to focus on five key crops she could rely on in a pinch; growing other things but putting the bottom line under those staples (potatoes, corn, beans, duck eggs, squash). She also has a book about how to breed your own vegetable varieties. I love her writing and recommend both, but she lives in Oregon, a very different climate than mine, and has celiac disease and a bad back which influence her choices. Thus for me Cindy Conner's Grow a Sustainable Diet is more useful, since she's located in central VA and I'm in WV, very similar climate, and her focus is on growing your food and eliminating dependence on outside inputs. This last has not gotten enough emphasis here. For example, in discussing the pros and cons of beans, no one mentioned that beans, as legumes, fix nitrogen. You don't get as much left in the soil if you harvest mature beans; but still they don't deplete nitrogen. Leguminous cover  crops (as well as carbon-intensive ones) allow you to use the winter season to replenish the fertility of your soil (along with composting, of course, and animal manure if you can get it). I also want to stick up for berries, as low care perennial crops--fruit trees are great but subject to so many hazards (I currently have not solved the squirrel problem). Incidentally one berry no one mentioned is the goumi bush. This is a relative of autumn olive and Russian olive but not invasive, and has bigger berries, loaded with antioxidants. They fix nitrogen, so are a good addition to your orchard The only care they need is thinning the branches and picking the fruit. The downside is they have pits, not easily removed, so I boil mine, squeeze out the solids, and make a syrup from the liquid. It's very sour but mixed with sugar makes a nice ice cream and cheesecake topping. It can also mix well in jams with other fruits. I've recently discovered cowpeas, AKA blackeyed and southern peas, which I consider a bean--but one rabbits don't bother, which doesn't require soaking and can be fully cooked in 45 minutes, and doesn't give me the digestive issues of other beans. Also often used as a cover crop, one which will winter kill and cover the soil until an early spring crop (for which you don't want rye/vetch/etc roots in the ground).
 
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Tubers and pulses would be my go to, along with winter radishes, beets, sunchokes [remember that in Europe, they were an un-killable, unstoppable staple when all other crops were taken/confiscated]
Cabbage, especially the big, tight one you can make sauerkraut from... [Before the arrival of potatoes to Europe, cabbage was a very important staple: If not making sauerkraut, you could give it a twist but keep it in the ground: less roots but cold weather and snow made it harvestable  well into the winter.
Also, I'd add this: If you can easily raise way more than you will need, do so: In lean times, barter makes a return.
Of course, all tree crops, bushes, trees : perennial crops are top of mind!
 
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It's a good idea to see if you can find out what were the local survival crops in the past.

I like to experiment with everything I find that might make it here in north FL, but keep a seed, tree, and seed tuber stock of the old traditionals from here because they'll grow almost no matter what.. A few of them:

Black eye peas - started cover cropping with the red cowpeas that make a LOT of vines and that was a bit of a nuisance.
Black eyes grow short and do a better job of shading the ground in hot weather than the wildly vining ones. This gets me nitrogen from being a legume, a cover crop, and supper. I do have to plan to have the last bunch done before, or right at first serious frost, usually end of Nov. here. usually 90 - 120 days from seeding to crop

Peanuts -  Need 60 degree ground temps to plant, which happens late spring/early summer here. I love eating peanuts but I love what they do for this sorry old sand here more when considered as a cover crop. I'll let George Washington Carver give you the details because his was still some of the best info I could find on doing them old school without machinery:     https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/fruit-nut/carver-peanut/
I dry them as mentioned in the link there but pile them up in an unused section of my greenhouse which gets you around having to protect them from rain.


sweet potatoes - Almost invasive here. Yeah!  Looks like they can stay in the ground for a long time after they're done growing (first frost) here until you're ready for them. Just discovered this last year spring planting in an area the sweets had grown the summer before. You always miss some, and the ones I found were in fine shape. Your mileage may vary, I'm working in fast draining sand.

"Irish" potatoes - you can sneak a few crops in when it's cooler but not freezing. even if the frost clips them in Nov. you'll still get little new potatoes.

greens - mustard, collards, kale (red russian specifically, I love that stuff) chard, turnips, radishes (the "tillage" radishes in particular, better known as Daikon). All are pretty much winter crops here except the Daikons grow all year.

multiplier onions - A few people have found some of the old local cultivars of these that work REALLY well here. Plant one bulb, get a lot more back in return. Hoss Tools up in Georgia has some for sale if you want to try them. I found mine at an old feed store here that unfortunately burned to the ground last winter and won't be back, so no longer a source.

okra - loves killer heat. Big output, you have to pick every day and pick them when they're small, 4"" or under is my preference.

sweet banana peppers - The one I've been growing for years stays covered with peppers. It also likes killer heat. I grow okra and these peppers in the mostly empty greenhouse in the summer and they thrive. I've seen temps of 120 degrees and above and they just don't care. One caveat to that is that they'll need a LOT of water but I have that automated in the greenhouse so not such an issue there. Both do fine outside if you're in survival mode.

alternative and regular lettuce - Perennial ones like sissoo (Brazilian lettuce) or Okinawa lettuce grow well, get knocked down in the frost then grow again when it warms up. Regular leaf (not head)  lettuce in cool seasons.



blackberries - The new thornless cultivars like Prime Arc grow unbelievably well here. Wild blackberries grow pretty well too but not much fruit.

mulberry and persimmon trees -  Thank you J. Russell Smith for the book Tree Crops. These two are just as bulletproof and low to zero maintenance as he suggests. I'm particularly fond of mulberries and I'm trying different cultivars to see how long I can stretch the fruiting season.  I tried what is suggested here with defoliating/pruning mulberries  for repeated cropping  this summer and he's absolutely spot on. Big flush of fruit after doing this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuzAXHspxCE


blueberries - I grow a dwarf one that was created right here locally. sunshine Blue. You don't have to have the super acid soil most blueberries want for this one. Also does well in a container.


Pecans - the only nut tree that does really well here. Hoping to plant some this winter when I can get bare root ones, which seems to work better for trees here.  
A local nursery has created a chestnut tree (Dunstan Chestnut) that will not get the blight, but I'm not overly fond of chestnuts and those "porcupine eggs" the nuts come in are a nuisance if you run around barefoot much, as I do.


Some of the old traditionals didn't work so well, like Seminole Pumpkin, which the bugs got a lot of. It takes incredible amounts of space too and I really haven't got that. Same with most squash here, either bugs or fungus/virus take it out with a vengance.

One interesting cover crop here was hulless oats. I tried it just to see if it would go and it took off over the winter but very obligingly died as soon as it got hot. I'm using it where the sweet potatoes grew to cover the ground for the winter. I got a number of seeds from it so we'll see if they'll germinate after sitting around all summer.

Also experimenting with modifying urine as a fertilizer in case it gets down to no inputs available. One thing discovered ...taking the PH down below 6 with acid makes it both sterile (which it pretty much is anyway) and stops the off-gassing of nitrogen.  Now if I can figure out how to bring the P and K up and get the predominantly ammonia nitrogen to be nitrate nitrogen I'll be happy. Experiments in progress.

Sea-90 sea salt is one thing I'll keep a backup supply of. It's incredible how well it works and it covers all your mineral needs while making everything taste noticeably better.

More finds:  Since it's harvest time for sweet potatoes here due to a very early frost, I went looking for old timey info, particularly on curing and storage. Once again, George Washington Carver never disappoints, he covers it ALL here:

https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/vegetable/additional-resources/carver-sweetpotatoes/




 
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As others have posted, the only thing that really stops deer is a strong fence.  It can either be too high for them to jump, or a double fence with several feet between the two fences.  If you go the double fence route, the space between the fences can be used for gardening, not just the inner.

I have a single strong fence about six feet high, which isn't truly deer-proof but the local deer population have never tested it. They'll come right up to the house, eat the fallen birdseed, and leave deer scat, but haven't tried to go through the fence.

There are no simple, inexpensive tricks that keep deer out. Don't waste time with noisemakers, predator scent products, or other strange approaches.  They don't work.  Invest in that fence.

Carol Deppe's _Resilient Gardener_ is a great resource and well worth reading even if your climate is very different from her Pacific Northwest climate. It will get you thinking even if you ultimately make choices quite different from hers.

Whether you need hidden or unrecognizable crops depends on where you live, your relationship with your neighbors, the local population density, and other factors. In my low-density small-town/rural neighborhood with good relationships and trade in various items (eggs, jam, jelly, chutney, etc.) it's not needed. In a dense suburb with a major city nearby, this could be a bigger concern.

El's suggest of chickens for protein up in the sub-Arctic makes sense, but if you wait until problems close the road from your community to the rest of civilization, it may be too late to get what you need. You might consider building a small coop now, but not actually getting the hens until you think you need them. You can install a few hens a lot faster than you can procure materials for a coop or build it.

 
Cécile Stelzer Johnson
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Cathy James wrote:As others have posted, the only thing that really stops deer is a strong fence.  It can either be too high for them to jump, or a double fence with several feet between the two fence.  If you go the double fence route, the space between the fence can be used for gardening, not just the inner.
I have a single strong fence about six feet high, which isn't truly deer-proof but the local deer population have never tested it. They'll come right up to the house, eat the fallen birdseed, and leave deer scat, but haven't tried to go through the fence.
There are no simple, inexpensive tricks that keep deer out. Don't waste time with noisemakers, predator scent products, or other strange approaches.  They don't work.  Invest in that fence.
You might consider building a small coop now, but not actually getting the hens until you think you need them. You can install a few hens a lot faster than you can procure materials for a coop or build it.




You are quite correct about fences to deter deer. While it is true that a double fence will make it less like likely, the expense makes some of us rethink the problem, plus the space in between must be made productive too. 6 ft in between or less precludes the use of a tractor, so...
I saw a post where the farmer had made a double fence and had geese patrolling in between the 2 fences. In this case, noise might have been the deterrent.
It got me thinking, as I have a fence around my garden, but it is shoulder high by the grapevine, higher elsewhere.
Why is it that a deer will not jump a fence that it could [fairly easily] jump. I'm coming up with a few, you may be able to add to the list.
* noise that will give up the game [literally, as in the case of patrolling geese].
* Height. Yes, there comes a height when they won't even attempt.
* Sight: In the case of my garden, I suspect that with the grapevine there, they do not have a clear view to "stick the landing".
* Messing with their eyesight: A deer's eyes are on the sides of its face, which means that their depth perception is messed up already. My fence, sometime high, sometimes not so high, messes that perception. If deer pressure is not high, this might be enough.
* Besides the fence, there is still this need to not get hurt when landing. I have raised beds, which makes the landing strip uneven.
* I like the double fence idea but the same impression could be given with rebars: I have a rebar at each of the 4 corners of my beds, which I sleeve over with a short piece of PVC tubing. This also makes it easier to drag a hose without dragging it over my plants!]. Having these posts sticking out where they would land may deter them.
* The barbed wire option. Think "concentration camp" look. At the top of the fence, an extension leaning outwards and capped with a strand of barbed wire or 2. Presto, you extend the visual *width* of the fence while not spending the money to make a double fence.
* Their laziness: You mention that the deer have not tested your 6 ft. fence, even though you know that they can jump it.. As you know, everything is relative, and if they have bird seed that they can get without having to jump a fence, that is where they will strike.
* Light: a burglar, for example will go for a house that is dimly lit versus one that is bathed in light. There are a number of solar lights that can be mounted on that fence. If you can afford the movement detector, that is even better. The sudden light is also a deterrent to them. They feed more at night for that reason.
You are totally right about "predator scent" and "noise makers" [except those geese ;-) which on top of that, will feed you.


 
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If I had a large open space, I would set up a large greenhouse(Quictent greenhouse products are great)  and grow apples, peas, eggplant, potatoes, etc. I also want to grow some fruit.
If I only had a small vacant lot, I might consider potted plants.
 
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Cold climate here too. I'm already on that type of garden, i just need to add some cereals to my crops.

Broad Beans and peas because of their frost tolerance
Oregano and chives for culinary herbs
Perenial Cabbage and collards for lactofermentation
Carrots, , Turnips, Potatoes and winter radishes for the root cellar
Buckwheat, Kernza and Sepp holzer's rye for cereals
Berries (strawberries, rasberries, serviceberry, haskap
Many varieties of mint and chamomille for garden's infusion
Spinach, strawberry spinach and mustards for cultivated greens
 
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This thread has me thinking a related thought.  How many of which tools should we have to allow others to join us in growing out and processing/cooking these crops?  If things were rough and I took in 20 people how many of which tools would I want to have available to allow us to work together?
 
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Greg Martin wrote:This thread has me thinking a related thought.  How many of which tools should we have to allow others to join us in growing out and processing/cooking these crops?  If things were rough and I took in 20 people how many of which tools would I want to have available to allow us to work together?

With luck, you would actually be able to coordinate that work to require fewer duplicate tools - 3-6 people chop down the weeds, 3 people mark rows with a furrow, 3 people seed the furrows, just as an example. Too many tools and they're more likely to be forgotten somewhere!

That said, a good variety of size and shape is *really* important. There's nothing like asking for help, and the helper hurting their back because the shovel handle was designed for 5'4" me - not 6'2" him! Even for me, some jobs benefit from a longer handle and some for a shorter one. In some situations, building a mobile tool cart based on something like a dolly, would make a lot of sense also.
 
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Here's a palette of plants to choose from and fine-tune for your area. I've lived in a cold rainy maritime climate and a hot dry Mediterranean one. I love growing lots of things, and think it is better for us to eat lots of things, but I do think a lot about survival crops and yield per unit of space or labor. (When my home had only boat or floatplane access, I went to the store once every couple of months.) These are my choices for most reliable food in both kinds of places. If you pick 2 or 3 that suit your climate and tastes from each category, you'd have a well-rounded and doable set of crops.

For starch and calories, I think growing any three of these would give you dependable staples year-round:
Parsnips love cool weather and are thus a fall-back for weird summers like this last one, where we got frost in mid-June. They are among the most drought-tolerant vegetables and have low fertility requirements.  They go deep and bring up nutrients from lower levels of the soil, as well as producing a large yield. Before potatoes were introduced in Europe, they were the major root crop, particularly valuable during times of warfare, when fields would be burnt or trampled. The roots stayed safely underground. Tolerates extreme cold and stores in the ground.
Potatoes have many of the above virtues, but gophers seem to like them better. They are not frost-hardy and have to have frost-free storage. They require a lot of nitrogen; being a tuber--that is, a swollen stem--they are not thrifty like true roots. However, they are easy to grow and very very useful.
Flint or flour corn is easy to grow, stores at room temperature, and does not require all the threshing that small grains like wheat do. However, they do require warm weather, combined with irrigation in my climate.  
Winter wheat is a blessing for those in summer-dry climates, as it can grow and yield on natural rainfall alone.
Winter squash takes a lot of space and nutrients to grow, but the vines can sprawl over space that is not irrigated, or is not even soil. And really, wherever there are people, there is nitrogen, whether it's grass clippings, kitchen scraps, or urine. These are so easy to grow, store so easily, and don't have to be dug. Where I live, 100-degree days are followed by 50-degree nights, so I can't grow sweet potatoes. This is what most of us can grow instead. Use the little immature ones as summer squash. The male blossoms and even the young leaves are a great vegetable in their own right, and a free bonus. I suggest the rare drought-resistant heirloom Lower Salmon River squash. https://www.quailseeds.com/store/p34/Lower_Salmon_River_Squash.html


For protein
Dry beans are easy to grow, yield a lot, and store at room temperature with no fuss. I love growing them. Common or French beans phaseolus vulgaris is the standard bean and comes in bush and pole forms. Pole beans yield more but take more labor and a longer season.
Fava beans, peas, and lentils are all winter crops in warm climates or summer crops in damp cool ones.
Runner beans are a good choice for maritime climates, as they like humidity, (it helps pollination) yield well in cool summers, and have a perennial tuber that will survive and regrow in low-frost zones.

Leafy greens are commonly skimped in the US, and those I find most useful are comparatively rare:
I love lettuce, but wouldn't devote much space to it in a survival garden, choosing cooking greens and wild greens instead for greater nutrition and versatility.
perpetual spinach grows faster than kale, and has fewer pests. It is perennial in my climate, and can be harvested every week for much of the year. https://www.quailseeds.com/store/p9/Perpetual_Spinach_%28Leafbeet%29_Chard.html
collards are easier, faster-growing, and more pest-resistant than cabbage or broccoli, and much better adapted to heat and rain than kale, with all of the heath benefits of the brassica tribe. One variety, Old-Timey Blue, is perennial in my garden as well. Old Timey Blue Collardshttps://www.quailseeds.com/store/p337/Old-Timey_Blue_Collards.html
Miner's Lettuce is a native salad green with a mild, lettuce-like flavor. It grows during winter and early spring, filling the hunger gap nicely. It grows on natural rainfall, loves shade, and requires no fertilizer or care other than mowing down taller things that might crowd it out. We mow once or twice after the miner's lettuce has set seed. That's all we do besides harvest. https://www.quailseeds.com/store/p2/Miner%27s_Lettuce_%28Claytonia%29.html
Turnips make wonderful greens (cima di rapa in Italian) as well as the roots we all know about. Left in the ground over winter, they make a huge crop of leaves followed by a month or two of delicious flowerstalks. If you make sure to pick them before the florets stretch out and open, they'll keep coming all through the hunger gap, like little broccolini. https://www.quailseeds.com/store/p503/Seven_Top_Turnip_Greens.html

For flavor and vitamins, fruits are the jazzy top notes of the diet:
Tomatoes. Since these are a given in most gardens, I'll suggest a specific variety. Most tomatoes are good either for fresh eating or sauce. And most dual-purpose vegetables aren't outstanding at anything. But Italian Heirloom is a great as a fresh slicing tomato and great for sauce. Heavy fruit, big yields, easier than other heirlooms.
Peppers for homegrown spice
Apples yield more and in a more  easily stored form than other fruit, and can provide enough calories and bulk to be a staple. In climates too warm for them, I suggest prune plums, bred over centuries for drying and storing well.
Blackberries in warm-summer climates and currants in cool-summer climates are luscious and high-yielding with little care, on land too steep or shady or damp or rocky or scrubby for garden crops. They dry well.

Herbs and spices:
garlic is not only an incomparable spice and medicine, but a source of energy as well, being oily and dense.
Thyme is hardy almost everywhere, draws, beneficial insects, is a versatile spice, is perennial, and has myriad medicinal uses.
My suggestion about herbs is to identify those you use or love most for cooking and have a few of those close to the house or in pots.  Have a basic first-aid kit--a wound herb like yarrow, a sedative like valerian,  an aspirin analog like meadowsweet, etc. Work them into your landscape somewhere, not necessarily in an "herb garden".  Then list all chronic complaints, constitutional weaknesses, or health issues that you and your family have, and learn to grow a few medicinal herbs to address those specific issues. For example, I have a tendency to respiratory problems, so I grow elecampane and take it all winter.




 
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There are some plants I love but I didn't find on here- I think everyone said it better for all the big ones (calorie dense ones like fruit, beans, nuts, sunchokes, potatoes, etc).  I like these for a little nutrition but in my area (zone 7) they are hardy perennials that provide greens all winter and you can eat the entire plant.  I also post these because I've left them in areas and the dock and plantain has a good hold over those spots; in one spot I've had dock all around my apple tree for years and they are both doing amazing.  
          1. Dock plants.  I have looked but can't find how many calorie the seeds or roots provide otherwise I'd really tout this plant but the seeds will stay on the plant throughout the winter (zone 7 so frost) and the greens have a lemony flavor to me which is great with the right meal and they are very nutritious.  They are perennials too and are great self-seeders.  They say the root is edible and medicinal but I haven't tried it.  I like the seeds to supplement a meal but I've been making entire meals from them since late June and I can still go collect an entire bowl full even though we've had a couple of weeks of frost below 20 degrees.  If anyone knows the calories then please let me know.  
            2. Dandelion is nice during winter and is very nutritious and the roots are edible.  
            3. The last I love is broadleaf plantain which is completely edible.  
 
Cécile Stelzer Johnson
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Benjamin Abby wrote:There are some plants I love but I didn't find on here- I think everyone said it better for all the big ones (calorie dense ones like fruit, beans, nuts, sunchokes, potatoes, etc).  I like these for a little nutrition but in my area (zone 7) they are hardy perennials that provide greens all winter and you can eat the entire plant.  I also post these because I've left them in areas and the dock and plantain has a good hold over those spots; in one spot I've had dock all around my apple tree for years and they are both doing amazing.  
          1. Dock plants.  I have looked but can't find how many calorie the seeds or roots provide otherwise I'd really tout this plant but the seeds will stay on the plant throughout the winter (zone 7 so frost) and the greens have a lemony flavor to me which is great with the right meal and they are very nutritious.  They are perennials too and are great self-seeders.  They say the root is edible and medicinal but I haven't tried it.  I like the seeds to supplement a meal but I've been making entire meals from them since late June and I can still go collect an entire bowl full even though we've had a couple of weeks of frost below 20 degrees.  If anyone knows the calories then please let me know.  






I assume that you mean the dock as Rumex, right?
https://www.healthbenefitstimes.com/dock/
Or did you mean , greater Burdock, AKA Arctium in the asteracea family? This one's roots are actually more nutritious, it seems and they grow anywhere to soil is rich enough.
https://nutrifox.com/nutrition/burdock-root-raw#:~:text=There%20are%2085%20calories%20in,carbs%2C%20and%209%25%20protein.
In times of need, folks have eaten just about anything, and managed to make a go of it. To get their real appeal, you need to see what happens when we are no longer in a starving phase. Rabbits, dandelions will pull you through, but you won't really thrive on such a diet. I think that is why folks in this thread are looking for calories rich food, or at least nutrient dense.
In a time of famine, one would have to assume that all these plants are no longer available. Imagine the grid goes down, no stores.
We would have to rely on what we could grow. Potatoes are easy for me in our sand country. If for some reason I could not get the tubers to plant, I'd be in a pickle. [Our season is short and we are in a cold climate, so my potato seeds would have to survive in cold storage.  Mom and dad had a basement with a dirt floor, so every potato was cut. One piece would go in the ground, the rest was eaten. Without help, they still got delicious but marble sized tubers.
For this reason, I'm going with sunchokes: No matter how much I hunt them in the fall, anything I miss will pop up in the spring: No effort, no storage needed. During the Great Depression/ WWII, my parents survived on sunchokes, so I know that is doable. Yep, they are derided as "fartichokes", but they are there. All the time...Lots of them...
It is great to know that so many other plants are edible too. I've eaten dandelion leaves and made substitute coffee with the roots. Those leaves are good during a short time in the spring, but then, they get bitter.
Other that that, fruit trees, nut trees, bushes would be my go to.
           
 
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Cecile- I love your name by the way but yes, the Rumex dock.  And your middle name reminds me of Final Fantasy 6's Setzer which has no point but that is always a good thing to a nerd like me lol.  I agree completely, I wouldn't suggest growing these in place of potatoes or sunchokes (fruit, nuts and so on) but the dock grew around my sunchokes quite well also.  So I'll try to keep a few on the edges and see how well they survive.
I'll mention one other that I'd want in this situation too.  Wild Lettuce which is edible and medicinal but Native Americans and the settlers used this as a painkiller, one is called opium lettuce even.  I haven't tried it though because of the great blessing of not being in any real pain.  
This was my first year for sunchokes which did amazing and if they survive in the ground over winter then I'll really tout them to anyone who is nice enough to pretend to listen lol, and the few that will!  I will say everyone (layperson, etc) who saw the plants praised their beauty and they bloom quite late when little else is flowering here.
I think an article about this but with detailed restrictions could be interesting; what do you do with 1 acre?  1/2 of one?  What if your soil is clay and SHTF?  I would have no clue personally.  I'm thinking of buying some 'clay' potatoes to see what they can do (Sharpes Express and Kerr's Pink).  At 16 I asked why did we mow so much land (only 2 acres but still) and thought it was stupid (perhaps I was just lazy lol).  20 years later and the goal of never mowing again has been taken up a notch lol!
 
Kate Muller
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Location: New Hampshire
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hugelkultur forest garden chicken food preservation bee
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When we bought our home 9 years ago we had a goal of growing all the vegetables and herbs we eat in a year. After 8 seasons we have achieved this goal along with producing about half the fruit we eat in a year and a small harvest of hazel nuts.

Have back ups.  In any given year some things have an amazing bumper crop, other things barely produce or flat out die on you.   We have trialed many varieties of various veggies to find the ones that grow the best in our yard.  This has included trying over 30 different sweet bell peppers to  find 3 that thrive in my cold wet climate and sandy soil.   Not all 3 types do well every year.  It all depends on how cool and wet the spring is, when plants drop flowers due to hot temps, and how late the first frost is.  I plant all 3 types knowing that one of them will most likely have a bad year.  This way I still have bell peppers no mater what the weather does.  I do this with just about all my plantings.  I generally have 2 to 4 varieties for any given veggie.  I am fortunate to have enough room to plant the various varieties away from each other to simplify seed saving.  

Those that I don't have multiple varieties of I do grow other veggies that can easily swap out and use in various recipes.  I am giving up on growing potatoes due to the large amounts of work keeping bugs and disease off the plants. (I also can get low cost potatoes in large quantities from my relatives in Maine.)   I will continue to grow parsnips, rutabagas, sweet potatoes, diakon radish, and celery root.  One or more of them veggies can be swapped out for potatoes in most of my recipes.

Be prepared to take advantage of the bumper crops by learning to preserve what you grow and how to cook with the preserved produce.  Learning to cook from scratch with fresh and  your preserved ingredients can save a great deal of money on groceries let alone keep you alive when you can't just go to the store and buy groceries.   Our large garden has been a major asset in the era of supply chain shortages and ever rising food costs.


 
pollinator
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Location: Appalachian Mountains
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It depends on the area you live in, summer/winter growing conditions including temps, precipitation and pest pressure.  

My husband is especially fond of strawberries, so I try to grow some for him.  The western fruit fly has now spread here and destroys all soft bodied fruits, raspberries, blackberries, and those luscious strawberries.  Spraying a calcium mix, just calcium carbonate in water, will help, but not totally eliminate them.  Then there are rabbits, voles, ground hogs, and other critters.  Wood rats invaded one year and dug tunnels all through my raised beds which sat on the ground, and ate the roots and all the ripening strawberries.  When we got pigs, the rats disappeared.  So did our Jerusalem artichokes when the pigs uprooted the gate and got in.
Voles eat roots off anything that grows in the ground, so I’ve opted to use recycled large nursery pots with gravel or small rocks in the bottom to keep them out, and leaves on top of that, then good soil with minerals above that.  
Overall the following is what does best here:

Apples.
Pears
Mulberry
Wild persimmon
Blackberry and raspberry

Lettuce and other greens like kale, collards, Pak choi, spinach
Tomatoes
Sunflowers (but deer eat them all some years, so we put extensions on our fences to make them 8 feet high)
Onions
Root crops:  Radish, beets, turnips, carrots, potatoes (a little cold at our elevation of 2300 feet to grow sweet potatoes, but I keep trying)
Peppers, both sweet and hot
Celery (grown from seed, started in trays under grow lights in the house, then transplanted out.  
Green beans
Sugar snap peas, but they don’t like it hot.  
Corn, oats, wheat.  
Rhubarb
Jerusalem artichokes
Butternut or other winter squash or pumpkin
Summer squash, we grow yellow crookneck and zuchinni mostly, sometimes spaghetti or acorn type.  
Asparagus

Shiitake mushroom logs

It is a matter of finding out what works best in your area and then growing what you like.  

The best things to store are:
Jerusalem artichokes (sunchokes) which store better in the ground if voles don’t eat them all.  
Potatoes
Winter squash, with butternut being one of the best,  we grow those giant long neck which sometimes weigh 25 pounds each.  
Dried sunflower heads for seeds



E091CCC6-1826-40AB-A016-C873649C714D.jpeg
Deer proofing the fence
Deer proofing the fence
B22814D4-FF1B-4C5F-A2FD-4CA95B5B74EE.jpeg
Trellis hoops to keep deer out, and grow green beans over top. Row cover over pots for winter.
Trellis hoops to keep deer out, and grow green beans over top. Row cover over pots for sunprotection for lettuce.
 
Faye Streiff
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Location: Appalachian Mountains
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Kate Muller wrote:

 I am giving up on growing potatoes due to the large amounts of work keeping bugs and disease off the plants. (I also can get low cost potatoes in large quantities from my relatives in Maine.)   I will continue to grow parsnips, rutabagas, sweet potatoes, diakon radish, and celery root.  One or more of them veggies can be swapped out for potatoes in most of my recipes.

Faye Streiff wrote:



Kate,
  Potatoes don’t like lime, but they do like gypsum as a source of calcium, as it has sulphur also in it.   The sulphur in the gypsum doesn’t cause scab the way plain lime does, but also repels the voles which eat root crops.  We use gypsum with a little soft rock phosphate and a small amount of wood ash, for potassium.  One of your problems may be the wet soil.  We have the same problem here some years, but sometimes it is too dry.  Lately we never know what is going on with the weather.  Makes it very hard to grow anything.  This year I had some nice potatoes, but made deep furrows between them to drain the excess water from heavy rains.  Just didn’t have very many of them, as I didn’t plant much.   When plants get the minerals they need they don’t usually have much if any bug damage.   Potatoes are moderately heavy feeders and need plenty of well finished compost mixed into the soil.  

Sounds like you are doing a great job considering all the climate challenges.  



 
Kate Muller
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Location: New Hampshire
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hugelkultur forest garden chicken food preservation bee
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Faye Streiff wrote:

Kate Muller wrote:

 I am giving up on growing potatoes due to the large amounts of work keeping bugs and disease off the plants. (I also can get low cost potatoes in large quantities from my relatives in Maine.)   I will continue to grow parsnips, rutabagas, sweet potatoes, diakon radish, and celery root.  One or more of them veggies can be swapped out for potatoes in most of my recipes.

Faye Streiff wrote:



Kate,
  Potatoes don’t like lime, but they do like gypsum as a source of calcium, as it has sulphur also in it.   The sulphur in the gypsum doesn’t cause scab the way plain lime does, but also repels the voles which eat root crops.  We use gypsum with a little soft rock phosphate and a small amount of wood ash, for potassium.  One of your problems may be the wet soil.  We have the same problem here some years, but sometimes it is too dry.  Lately we never know what is going on with the weather.  Makes it very hard to grow anything.  This year I had some nice potatoes, but made deep furrows between them to drain the excess water from heavy rains.  Just didn’t have very many of them, as I didn’t plant much.   When plants get the minerals they need they don’t usually have much if any bug damage.   Potatoes are moderately heavy feeders and need plenty of well finished compost mixed into the soil.  

Sounds like you are doing a great job considering all the climate challenges.  







I have been working on my soil for years and too much drainage is more of a problem since we are on glacial sand.  We use lots of compost and mulch our beds once the plants are established to reduce watering needs.   I hadn't thought to add gypsum to the soil since it is on the acidic side.  Other than the gypsum we amend our soil the same way you do.  We also add magnesium in the form of lobster and crab shell since our soil is very  low in it and it makes a difference when growing nightshades.  The oldest beds have the healthiest soil and every year they get better.  If I could keep the wind from damaging netting and row covers I would just grow them under low tunnels.  The wind gets bad enough to make low tunnels impractical for netting or row covers.  

 
Benjamin Abby
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Updated Post: I'm still exploring and experimenting but here is what I've personally found for Zone 6B/7A (my location has both zones in the same county).  I'm putting numbers but no particular order.   Hopefully, I'll be able to continue experimenting and maybe this entire list will be changed or at least adjusted by next year.   If I put it in order it'd be a complicated mess.  My top three (without overthinking it) would probably be sunchokes first, sweet potatoes second then potatoes but sorghum might be replacing potatoes (if I get a perennialized version then it would).  
                            1. Sunchokes
High calories (close to potatoes after inulin conversion); I ate a few in September (Stampede) but in my location I can gorge in most Decembers, I'll usually be able to dig them up a week or two in January and Februaries are usually cold but I ate them a lot in this year's mild winter.  So I amazed some old timey farmers by digging up food in the middle of February and won some approval for it.  Perennial, spreads on its own, technically edible flowers and leaves (I soak them in water for a tea).
                            2. Sorghum
You can get a sweetener but I grow dual ones which focus more on the grain.  They grew great in clay and can do great with little water so drought tolerant (a common theme for me).   Very productive and easy to grow and some have perennial possibilities which I'm trying to grow (EFN's M61 survivor).  Grain is insanely easy to harvest.
                            3. Sunflowers
Another crop I've had stored and have ate on all winter.
                           4. Mint
medicinal, 'invasive', I'm trying to grow them with sunchokes.  can deal with part shade (2+ hours I've read) and full sun.  Nice smell so I want to use them for baths and other things.
                            5. Amaranth (red)
Another grain that grew so easily and abundant for me.  Trying to overwinter but who knows.  Edible leaves that  some say can replace spinach.  I have gallons of this grain left over so I'll be broadcasting them.  Very pretty.
                           6. Perennial onions
I love onions and are growing many different kinds in hopes of seeing which do best.  I'm really looking forward to egyptian walking onions but nodding onions are perennial too.  I love the biennial onions and grow them also.
                           7. Garlic
One of my favorite food and this was my first year growing and they are doing great.  The leaves are tasty.
                            8. Potato
I still have some stored over winter and have replanted some.  
                            9. Sweet potato
A lot left over.  One got as big as my head, no joke.  Couldn't even fit it in the pressure cooker without chopping it up some.  I ate so many greens which is one of the best- not due to taste but due to the lack of taste even in mature plants.  Have many medicinal compounds in them and helps prevent cancer.  Due to having many diagnosed with cancer I started telling people about eating these greens.  3 have died since the Fall.
                             10. Stevia
sugar replacement to a point.  If my zone was higher then this would be a top plant due to perennial nature.  I'm going to try and overwinter some this year.  
                              11. Watermelon
Personal favorite.  I used them to replace water during some of the summer- especially when you can get the jumbo ones for $2.50-3, like around July 4th and other times.  I'd buy 5 or 6.  Trying to grow a lot this year.
                              12. Zucchini/Squash
The famous three sisters.  Corn would be on my list but something always messes with it.  I guess this is cheating but zucchini can basically feeds a family bulkwise (low calories which depressed me early in my growing days)- edible leaves and flowers.  I let them go and they can last all winter too and I eat or plant the seeds the next year.  I grow winter squash such as pumpkins.
                               13. Raspberries
I have wild black raspberries which are some of the healthiest berries in the world and they spread and take over just like my wild blackberries like to do.  Edible leaves.  
                                14. Dock
I have to include this one.  very healthy and abundant.  Greens grow all year or come back quick after a bad frost.  Edible root.  Seeds that can just be left on the plant all winter to be picked any time.  If I could find exact details on the plant's nutrition and calories (seeds and roots especially) then I'd really tout this up if it had a good calorie count.  I just eat the chaff or grind it all down together.  
                               15. Fruit
Cheating again but it is really about what grows for you.  I have apples that do great and pears but all my other ones are too young to produce anything.  
                             16. nuts (black walnuts)
These would be very high if they weren't such a pain to break for so little.  Still, one noted that a few squirrels would strip a mature one.  I don't know, perhaps so; I know that I have four mature walnuts (and countless half and baby ones) but they barely put a dent into the walnuts.  They literally cover the ground so walking is dangerous- I've twisted ankles.  But that includes other trees around the locations and IDK how many they eat of this or that from this area.


                            PLANTS I HAVEN'T GROWN
These are plants I want to give credit but can't yet due to lack of personal knowledge.
SKIRRET- sweet root; I can't grow them from seeds worth a crap.  I've read a few say you can dig them up ANY TIME of year to eat on so that is one plus for me.  The leaves are edible and I've heard the flowers were but I'd have to recheck that.  If anybody knows where I can source a good variety's tuber then PLEASE LET ME KNOW!  I don't have an explanation but I feel I must grow this plant.  Maybe I'm hoodwinked by the German name "Sugar Root" but I'd just like a perennial carrot/parsnip.
HORSERADISH: I love strong flavor but I've had things made from it and not made them myself.  Spreads (invasive so that's can be perfect or horrible and I guess I'll find out this year I hope).
Perennial BEANS: I grew scarlet runners but IDK if they overwintered here or not yet.  But there are others I'm trying.  One person, Oikos I think, talked about Hopniss and how great it'd be to have a superior breed just for producing beans and I agree.  
GROUND CHERRIES: taste like fruit; some are perennials.  Reseed themselves.  Easy to know when ripe as they fall down.
HABLITZIA:
Tree Kale/perennial kale: I tossed a bunch of kale seeds into a pit and I've ate greens all winter due to them and other brassicas so major credit to those tougher plants for my zone.  But it'd be nice to not have to replant and to have bigger plants and less aphids in fall would be nice.  I'm trying EFN's kale grex and the seedlings are doing great.  Even lived through their first frost without protection.  
HAZELNUT: I've heard great things but my two trees are still coming along so I can't say.
 
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