Small, but happy surprises come from random starts!

At some point this spring, I planted just a few radish seeds from a packet that was stored in the fridge. I didn’t think they would germinate but they did. This morning, I stumbled across a good sized one along with a couple of carrots. I brought these in to have with my evening salad.

Since then, I’ve purchased more radish seed as I discovered that even though they aren’t heavy hitters when it comes to nutrition, they do grow fast and they add another dimension to the total salad concept. So, from now on, I plan to sow a few anytime I’m either harvesting or planting new starts or seeds.

Why grow your own onions!

 At first glance, you’d think that a green onion would be pretty much a zero from a nutritional standpoint and definitely not have a place in a survival garden. Well, you’d be wrong! Green onions grown from onion sets develop amazingly fast and are packed with Vitamin A. If you let one or two go to seed, you can collect those seeds late in the year to save for sowing next season. Here’s a blurb I found concerning onions on another web site:

‘Green Onions are a great source of vitamin A. Research has shown eating Onions may result in a number of health benefits, including lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Onions also contain a substance that prevents the formation of blood clots. Green Onions are also a good source of vitamin C (providing 15 percent of the daily requirement); iron (10 percent), and calcium and fiber (six percent).’

Wow! Not bad for something that grows almost as fast as a weed! I always make sure to plant fifty or so onion sets early each spring. Then, I can enjoy green onions early and big mature onions later in the summer.

Raised bed soil selection can make all the difference!

I’ve just put together a small 2 x 4 quickie survival bed and now want to get the most out of it that I can. In this bed and for the purposes of survival, it will be quality that counts over quantity. Now while I would never get very far trying to live off such a tiny space, It will still be interesting to track not only the weight of the produce obtained but also to figure out what the caloric contribution will be. In a survival situation, after all, it’s the calories your getting that count the most. Next in line, it’s the overall nutrition. You want to make sure that you’re getting all the essential amino acids you need to survive long term.

 But, before you can even think about what to plant, you’ll want to make sure that the soil you put into that growing space is all that it can be. Three very essential elements must come together for it to work properly. One, the soil must contain a good balance of minerals and organic matter or humus. That is to say, it must be able to supply your veggies with the proper mix of ions (anions and cations) that all plants need in order to be productive. Two, the soil must be porous enough to allow for excellent drainage while still being able to trap water to feed the roots. Three, the total soil mix must be in a certain range of acidity-alkalinity or pH to allow for proper ion exchange to take place. Get all three of this in the correct balance and the microbial population of you soil will increase greatly. This is a good thing as in the final analysis; it is the microbes that feed the soil which feeds your plants. Got that?

So, when your trying to figure out what to place in your raised bed it sometimes pays dividends to use pre-prepared bags of ‘soil’ made by companies like Hyponex that contain the right proportions of these three elements to get your bed off to a proper start. From that point on, all you need to do it to plant some seeds, water and weed and then harvest the bounty. Oh, and also make sure that you add compost (humus) at the end of each harvest to renew the soil. Simple is as simple does.

For this space I used 4 forty pound bags of Earthgro. Two were plain topsoil and two were a peat moss and manure mix. Total cost was about $10. End result; a great soil that feels right, is porous and ready to go!

Next post: plant selection, crop yields, companion planting and other considerations.

Jupiter Bell Peppers: Are they worth the trouble? Can they find a spot in a survalist garden?

Well, at least the little tag picture is encouraging!

While visiting a local grocery store in my town, I purchased one of those little four cell trays of vegetable plant starts that are so prevalent this time of year. The little stick informed me that these were Jupiter peppers. I’d never grown this particular variant before and was curious as to how they would turn out. 

The four little plants looked healthy. Not lanky like some of the other peppers that were offered. After I got home, I browsed the internet to see if there was any information. Surprisingly, there was not all that much. One site informed me that the mature plant was prolific and produced ‘thick walled’ fleshy plants.  Another indicated that they did ‘well’ in Missouri. Hmmm. OK, sounds good to me. I’m a game animal.

I planted two of these in a front small raised bed and two in the backyard in a much larger and more established bed. That front bed was built just a few days ago and I used a soil mix from a company called ‘Earthgro’ which is produced by the Hyponex Corporation. The forty pound bags I used are no doubt on the lower end of the scale of products they offer. (My bags of dirt cost just $2.50 each, but I will say that the feel of the soil was encouraging).  So, two plants in ‘new’ soil versus two plants in aged soil that has seen about seven years of use. This could be interesting!

At some point, most likely around August, I’ll do a post on how well these little guys turned out. Just do a search on this blog, using the word ‘Jupiter’.

Build a 2 x 4’ Quickie Raised Bed

Question: Just how hard is it to make a raised bed and how much could, say a small 2 x 4 space, actually produce?

Answer: I decided to find out and assembled the following materials together so that I might ‘throw together’ a quickie raised bed!

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Materials:

6 bags of composted manure ($2.50 for each 40 pound bag)

Bag of peat moss (leftover from last year)

Potting mix to start seeds (Miracle Grow potting mix)

4 Starting trays (from previous years)

Weed block

(2) 2x6 by 8 foot lengths of lumber

Outdoor Paint - white

16 nails

Hammer

Measuring tape

Staple gun

Saw

Garden digging tool

Assorted seeds

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Time to assemble, paint and install: 3 hours

Time to place in soil and amendments: 1 hour

Material cost: About $12

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I think most anyone can install a simple raised bed with whatever materials you might have on hand. In my case, I had a couple of eight foot lengths of 2x 6 lumber that I could use to make the containment area for the garden soil. However, almost anything (rocks, brick, etc) can work, or you can simply hill up some earth without any containment sides at all!

I began construction by taking two eight foot pieces and cutting them in half. That gave me four sections that were each about four feet long. Next, I painted each piece and then nailed everything together. I then situated the construct over an area next to my driveway after first clear off the top layer of sod. I then attached weed block across the bottom making sure to staple the cloth to the sides. This material allows water to easily drain while blocking any weeds that might want to spring up from underneath. 

So, start to finish for the construction, it was about three hours. The hardest part was clearing the sod, but once done the rest went quickly. Note that since I already had the lumber, I didn't figure this into the cost.  But, even so, this should cost all that much to throw together. 

My next post will cover some of the considerations for what kind of soil mix you might want to consider using.

Heirloom seeds are a must for survival gardens!

After visiting a new store by the name of WindRider’s located in Forsyth Missouri, I purchased a couple of packets of heirloom seeds produced by a company named Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. Heirloom seeds are great in that you buy them once and then are able to use seeds from succeeding generation to grow new crops. This is a great item to have in you survival garden arsenal.

The two packets contained a bell pepper variety called ‘Pepper Ozark Giant’ and a bush bean known as ‘Contender (Buff) Valentine’. The pepper is supposed to be quite large while the bush beans that are ‘earlier’ than most others on the market. Now, while it’s a bit late to be starting peppers from seed, I’m right in the perfect window for the beans. I’ll begin the pepper seeds in a 6 cell starter tray filled with 'Miracle Gro Potting Mix' while the beans are going to go into my new 4 x 4 foot raised bed which is still under construction. (I’ll be doing a post on how to build a ‘quickie raised bed’ in a future post).  My purpose in creating the new raised bed will be to show just how much produce you can get from such a small amount of space!

Does lettuce have a place in a survival garden?

Leaf lettuce starts after one month!

During hard economic times, ANYTHING a home owner does that eases the pocketbook is a good thing. In my life, vegetable salads play a big role. Most every lunch and dinner has a salad in it somewhere. With a head if iceberg lettuce running at $1.30 and more, there's nothing wrong with planting a tray or two of lettuce starts you began yourself from seed. (The cost for seed and soil is minimal and, if you plant romaine lettuce, you're getting more nutrition to boot)!

Fresh romaine lettuce

In additional to the romaine lettuce, I also like to plant carrots, peppers ans onions. All these have a welcome spot in the salad bowel too! In addition, both the carrots and onions can spend time hanging out in the soil for long periods after they are of 'picking' size. This helps me to create salads according to my schedule and needs. That plain old romaine lettuce also contributes to the mix with about four calories per ounce! All things considered, this is a must have addition to any garden, survivalist or not!

Remember that most any piece of ground that is well drained can grow veggies. Even a small four foot square area can produce enough salad material to keep a person out of the produce isle for much of the summer! Add a little more space and some canning equipment and you can stretch a harvest on into the winter months.

Fall planted lettuce is feeding me in the spring!

Note that these received no special protection from the elements!

Last fall I seeded a few lettuce plants and placed them in the front yard close to my walk way. They were able to get to some size before the cold weather came in and halted all growth. But, then when the warmer weather came back, so did the lettuce. And, even now when most of them have bolted, I’m still harvesting a good crop that end up in a daily salad bowl! Note that I've also added some parsley and onions for a real salad bowl effect.

Soon, all these will be used up. However, there are new seedlings that have been planted out to take their place. Now, about every other week I’ll start a tray of six or so to plant out in about a months time. I’ll do this right up until the end of May when I know hot weather of summer will be detrimental. Then in the fall, long about late August, I’ll start the process all over again.

Then end result is a more or less constant flow of lettuce with the exception of the coldest and hottest months!

What is a casual (garden) survivor anyway?

A few people have lately asked me if maybe a little senility has set into the deep and dark recesses of my mind. They wondered what I meant by the term casual survivor? Isn’t survival anything BUT casual??

OK, let me handle that first question. Yes, I may be a little senile… in which case you have to be nice to me. Second, what I meant by the term ‘casual’ was anyone who takes a ‘I’m going to be prepared for bad times, but will not be crazy about it’ attitude. The sort of people who are keenly aware that throughout history civilizations has grown big only to fall. And, as you might guess, should a big concern like the United States fall, it would do so big time! So, yes, they have the attitude that if there are things they can do to help shelter and feed themselves even in the event of a total collapse, then they’ll go for it. But understand, these people are not survival nuts who spend their time stashing guns and ammo and gas masks in the basement. Rather, they prefer to focus on doing those things that can maybe help get them through a rough spot or two. Like discovering the grocery market will have no food for a week or two or three. That’s what I mean by the casual survivor.

In this blog, I’ve tried to focus primarily on the food issue. That is, if everything goes down the crapper, you still must still eat. And, the best way to insure that is to either hoard some food or grow it. Gardening for the Casual Survivor is all about doing a little of both. In the coming weeks and months, I hope to be able to add some insights on how to grow stuff in a hurry. Included will be articles on what to grow and what not to grow. Some vegetables offer ‘nutrient dense nourishment’ while others are pretty much a waste of time. Radishes come to mind. They taste great and are easy to grow, but off very little in the way of substance.

So, in a nutshell, that is what this blog is all about. Growing and saving food in an economical and efficient manner. The casual way…