By Dr. Prepper
It amazes me when I see one of those “Survival Garden in a Can” products that supposedly sells you the peace of mind that if you purchase these heirloom seed kits, you will be able to strew these seeds around your yard and your entire year’s food supply will be ready and waiting at your fingertips, easy-peasy. They makes it seem that I can simply check that box off my list, since my future gardening needs have now been taken care of. Every time the topic comes up about potential upcoming food shortages and the possible inability to reliably get food at the store, I hear otherwise rational people say, “When that time comes, I’ll just plant a garden.” If I conversationally ask if they have ever gardened before, I usually get, “No, but how hard can it be?”
This post may fly in the face of the hard-core hunters out there, but there was a time when gardening was a true survival skill. In other words, if you could not produce enough food from your garden to feed your family, you went hungry. Yes, the mighty hunter could go after game, but it was not a slam dunk. The weather might be bad, there might be no signs of game, or maybe it was just not in the cards that day. If no game was shot, there was no meat for dinner. The average homestead might have a few chickens and maybe a milk cow, but there was not enough to slaughter regularly. Also, don’t forget that in the era where there was no refrigeration, there were few effective ways to preserve lots of meat reliably. So, the garden was THE most important and reliable food source they had. So you will rely on yours as well, because no matter how much you have stored up, it WILL all run out someday (or get “appropriated” for “dispensation” to the “less fortunate”, but that’s another post).
Starting the Garden Plot
Gardening always starts with an area of dirt ready to plant. Now, most people think of their back yard when they talk about gardening. They believe that they can simply remove the grass and get busy, but it’s a little more complicated than that, as many will find out the hard way.
Back to the pioneers, who were able to start with healthy, thick topsoil usually loaded with organic material, which needed few amendments and would grow almost anything right out of the gate. These stories that made it back east were some of the primary incentives for the mass migrations of would-be homesteaders looking for their spreads in the past.
If you ask most people if it is a good idea to keep planting the same crop in the same place over and over again, they usually will knowingly shake their heads “no”, as it depletes the soil and is generally a bad idea. Well, lawn grass is a crop, and a really tenacious one at that, and with all likelihood one that may have been growing and cultivated in the same spot for years, if not decades. Again, it’s the same crop that has been grown in the same place for YEARS. Dig up that grass, plop in some seeds or plants, and you may be in for an unwelcome surprise (sickly or scrawny plants that won’t grow well, if at all). However, for most it’s all there is to work with, so you have to deal with it. Removing the grass is pretty straightforward– chop it out any way you can. Here is where preparing for a garden NOW will pay off, as they have these marvelous machines that are powered by electricity, gasoline, or diesel to help you with the hardest stuff. Whether it’s a tractor, a tiller, sod cutter, or some other means of mechanical disruption of the soil, this MUST be done if your soil used to grow grass. Wait until “after”, and you may be stuck with having to use a shovel, pickaxe, and garden fork. Trust me, especially if you have rocks in your soil, mechanical is the way to go. If you have a friend with a tractor or a tiller, offer a case of beer and a tank of gasoline or diesel in exchange for an afternoon of tilling. Also, you can rent just about anything at your home center or Rent-All place. Just be sure you know what you are doing to prevent injuries; in the best case, this will be extremely heavy labor that most will be unused to doing, so, stock up on NSAIDS and Ben-gαy. Your goal is to mechanically churn up the soil down to 12 inches deep or so, if you can, so that the roots of your new plants will be able to reach water and nutrients easily.
One note, the hardcore organic types may take exception with the tilling, stating that it disrupts the earthworms and “natural” ways of the soil. First, the earthworms will come back, never fear, in greater numbers than before. Second, even the earthworms can’t survive well in hard, packed clay subsoil, so you may actually be doing them a favor in the long run. The bottom line is that plants like loose soil better than packed clay.
Rows, Raised Beds, Squares or …
Once the garden plot has been tilled, now you need to make a decision as to how you will want to organize and plant. It doesn’t really matter, as long as you follow one unbreakable rule– NEVER walk or stand where your plants will be growing, either now or in the future. So, you will need to plan for walking rows or aisles between your planting rows or beds, and if you can, plan to be able to roll wheelbarrows, or anything else you’ll need down the aisles, so make them at least three feet wide. Once the walking rows are set, then it may depend on your type of soil, whether it is rocky or not, whether it is so poor that you will have to haul new soil in, or a combination of all three which determines whether you make long rows, raised beds, or other variations. Standard rows will usually have furrows in between for walking and irrigation, while raised beds use either lumber or other materials to form containers that hold good soil on top of your existing soil, hence the “raised” part. They are generally no more than four feet wide so you can reach from either side to weed or pick produce. Raised beds are limited only by the materials you use as the edging; just don’t use treated lumber as the chemicals leach into the soil and may be toxic. Some have tried to make raised beds without edging, but eventually the bed edges will collapse, unless you leave generous space for the sides with no plantings. I have heard about using used tires as raised beds but all those petro-chemicals leaching out worries even me.
Amending the Soil with Compost
Remember that plot of grass you dug up in the beginning? The soil you have now tilled and organized is the same depleted soil that was under that grass and without amending it will not grow anything well. So you need to improve the soil by adding nutrients, and that means compost. (You could use synthetic fertilizers, but I prefer natural if at all possible, and a source of bagged chemical fertilizers may not be easy to find later.) Many non-preppers are familiar with composting kitchen scraps, and this is a fine practice, but there is a rude fact about composting for a large garden that few consider– you may literally need TONS of compost for your large garden, and it is simply impossible for even a large family to produce enough kitchen waste that makes enough compost to suit your needs. That brings to mind two essential sources– animal manures and bedding, and leaves.
If you are fortunate enough to either raise your own large animals that produce manure, or have a nearby source that will let you haul it away, you are very lucky. All of that manure and bedding is compostable, and once mature, will add the needed nutrients and organic material to your garden soil. There simply is nothing better. Just be sure it is truly mature and composted well– many find it hard to believe, but fully composted manure smells like dirt, even if held to your nose. So the “eewww” factor is greatly reduced. (Fresh manures have been applied to crops for millennia, but the risk for bacterial contamination is higher, and it tends to attract more varmints in my opinion. YMMV.) Just put all that manure and bedding material in a large pile, keep it moist and turn it as it needs to. When there is no more smell and it is cold, it is ready to mix into your soil. (If you raise chickens, NEVER put fresh chicken manure on or around your plants– the nitrogen is so concentrated it will burn the plants and possibly kill them. ALL chicken manure must be composted first.)
If you have no source of manure, your next best bet is plain old leaves. ALL leaves, once they are brown and on the ground but no pine needles for now. The more the better; I’m talking 10 contractor bags full every weekend is what you are looking to achieve. I have found that using a shredder will greatly cut down on the bulk and helps them break down faster when you start composting. If you can’t scrounge enough leaves from your property, maybe your neighbors may let you take theirs, especially after they have been raked and bagged. (Be aware of your local laws, as some municipalities consider removing trash bags or “yard waste” without permission to be considered theft, punishable by arrest.) There may be landscaping companies that collect leaves in your area that will cheerfully dump a truck load on your driveway for free for you to haul to the back, or your municipality may have a leaf “dump” that you may also haul away. Be creative, but get those leaves. Once shredded, I leave them in the bags and store them behind the shed, or you can just put them in one huge pile covered with a tarp. Once spring rolls around, you can start composting in earnest. Once you have the shredded leaves, you can either mix them 1:1 with grass clippings (at last the lawn is helping you with something), moisten and turn weekly, or just go with the leaves alone– they WILL compost by themselves as long as they are kept moist and get some air. Others don’t bother with turning and just let the pile sit all season; they have a nice pile of compost after a few months.
Be aware that especially when using only leaves, the compost reduces in volume by almost 2/3 as it matures. Your huge pile may not be so huge when you are ready to us it. In my opinion, more is always better. So it’s better to make too much than skimp on your piles.
One caution: Do NOT compost wood chips of any significant volume in your compost piles because they basically bind all the nitrogen in the breakdown process of the wood, and you lose all your nutrient value in that batch. Use the wood chips as mulch and just rake them aside and reuse on your rows and walks.
Finally, when the compost is ready, generously mix as much of it as you can into the soil with a garden fork or a lightweight tiller. You shouldn’t need too much power since the tilled soil should be fairly loose. Just pile it on top with a bucket, spread it around a little and then deeply mix with a long-tined garden fork to get the soil thoroughly mixed with the compost. And I truly mean as much as you can apply or can afford. You can never have too much compost in your soil.
I hope this helps somebody who may have erroneous ideas about gardening, especially starting one from scratch, and the need to get started sooner rather than later.
Part 2 of this series will cover garden fencing, varmint defense, and garden maintenance.
In Part 1 of this series, I discussed the need to start a garden sooner rather than later, the pitfalls of starting a garden where grass has been cultivated, the creation of your gardening beds (whether rows or raised beds), and the use of composting for amending the soil. In Part 2, I will continue with discussing the structures of the garden with emphasis on fences, gates, and varmint control.
Fence Basics
Maybe you are one of those fortunate few where there are very few varmints– an undesired animal in an undesired place. (Some would ascribe the term to certain two-legged creatures as well, but I digress.) These animals may be small and unobtrusive, and maybe they don’t jump fences. In such a case, only a short, upright fence barrier of lightweight materials is necessary, just to discourage the little critters from entering your garden and going elsewhere, but for most areas of the country, varmints are a reality and can wreak havoc on a garden to the point of destroying your entire crop overnight. In a survival situation, this could mean life or death for you and your loved ones. In this case, proper fence design, installation, access, and maintenance is a necessary part of the process in designing your garden.
How tall a fence should you build? It is an indisputable fact that there are more whitetail deer in the U.S. today than there were in revolutionary times. I will spare you the ecological reasons, but the bottom line is that they exist almost everywhere, and due to restrictive hunting laws, they are used to being around human habitats without fear for the majority of the year. These deer can and will get into your garden if they are starving, just hungry, or even only curious. An adult whitetail deer can jump a six foot fence flatfooted, and in the southern U.S. the joke goes “a six foot fence is only a suggestion to a whitetail.” So at a minimum, as I believe deer to be the incarnation of rats with hooves, as far as my garden is concerned, you need an eight foot tall fence. While some deer may be able to jump such a fence while at a run, there are ways to deter this, and the eight feet height greatly deters almost all of the other varmints. Eight foot fences are the standard for most ranches trying to keep deer out (or in) and work well for most situations. It will also give pause to most two-legged varmints as well.
So what about those varmints that are small, so small they can squeeze through the holes in the fence wire? Many of these creatures, like rabbits and voles, will show up at your nicely installed fence with the expensive welded wire spans and get through the wire holes and start chomping away. What’s the solution? A second layer of woven wire with ½ – 1 inch spacing, set at the bottom of the fence, extending up to 24 inches above the ground level. Now, the varmints can’t jump over, and they can’t squeeze through (at least most can’t or won’t climb UP a wire fence to get above the small wire barrier).
Well, what if they can dig? Your fence does you no good if they can simply burrow under it, right? Not if you bury the fence wire in a trench 12 inches deep, along with the smaller woven wire panels. A rented gas trencher, such as the Ditch Witch (which is just one brand), will make quick work of this in an afternoon, or you can use an old fashioned spade, but then it takes a while. Most typical burrowing varmints will not burrow deeper than a foot to get from point A to B.
That leaves only the varmints that can fly or climb. Birds can only be controlled by preventing them from reaching the ripe veggies and fruits with bird netting. Sorry, but that’s the facts. Scarecrows and “heads-that-move-in-the-wind” owl figures are cute, but they generally get ignored after a day or two. Just get cheap bird netting in bulk and drape it over the plants or trellises. If you need to prevent a climbing varmint, like a raccoon, then your only solution is an electrified wire at about a foot off the ground, with maybe a second one two feet high, or the really big ones. A solar charger takes care of the energy needs, all at a reasonable cost.
I’m sure there are myriad posts on how to deter the varmints in other ways, such as human hair and soap for deer hanging from fence posts or trees trick, pepper and garlic sprays, teaser plots of corn just for the deer, et cetera, but a well-designed, well-constructed fence will do more to keep the varmints at bay in my opinion, and if you ever wanted to multi-purpose the garden, it would keep other animals in (like chickens.)
Fence Construction
The actual building of the fence is a book chapter in itself. Particularly if you are fencing a ranch or homestead, there are principles that apply to construction that should be adhered to, especially when corners and gates are involved and when you use barbed or high-tension (electric) wire. However, if you are not designing a fence to keep large animals IN, like cattle and horses, then you can get away with less rigid construction techniques.
My preferred garden fence is built with wooden posts for corners and gates and T-Posts on the spans. Most people should have access to 10 foot materials, although your local store may need to order them from a more rural branch in the Midwest somewhere that caters to farms and ranches. Even the more traditional home centers can get 10 foot length T-Posts, or may even carry them in stock. Check around and remember Google is your friend. For the panels, I like six foot tall woven wire with two inch holes, and ½ to 1 inch hardware cloth for the bottom section. As to the actual installation, it is not that hard; just physically demanding. You dig a two foot hole with a post hole digger or a powered augur, place the pole, brace for plumb with 2×4’s, and DO NOT fill the hole with cement for now. Drive your T-posts with spans no more than 10 feet, and install your 6 foot and 2 foot wire with the bottom edges in the 12 inch trench. Once tightened using a stretcher and a come-along, secure to the wood posts with staples and to the T-Posts with clips. NOW, fill the wooden post holes with the cement with rims above grade so the water runs off, and back fill your trench with the dirt you took out earlier and tamp it in. Like I said, it’s not hard, but it’s physically demanding labor that’s all toward an end.
By the way, there are more than several dozen YouTube videos on how to perform each one of the steps I’ve outlined. Some are professionally made. I’d definitely watch these if you are new at this.
For the top three feet of fence (remember you buried the bottom foot of your 6 foot wire in the trench), you can stretch either barbed wire or fence wire and use one wire about every foot of length. It’s pretty easy to stretch and tie off. You will also need the wire to construct stretchers in your corners. Again, look to YouTube and Google for technique.
There is, of course, a financial cost to all of this, and I will not tell you that you can or should improvise with reused pallets and the like. If it truly were TEOTWAWKI, you would do anything you could, even if suboptimal. That is why you need to get this done NOW. The cost is incurred only once, and if you coordinate with neighbors on a community garden, for instance, the cost will be spread amongst many. Try to think how you would feel to wake up one morning and your entire year’s work has been ravaged overnight because you chose to use poor quality materials on your fence.
Fence Gates
You need a way to get into and out of your garden, so you will need at least one gate. Keep in mind everything that may need to go through that gate, including wheelbarrows, lawn tractors, ATV’s, or even a truck pulling a trailer (full of compost??!) My own preference for a large garden is a single gate at each end, and a double-wide gate mid-way along the length going all the way across the garden width to a second double gate, so you could drive a vehicle through to offload supplies and equipment if necessary, or to haul away stuff, like produce (yay!) or rocks. It’s possible that a single gate may work for you, if you are looking to save cost.
The best, easiest gate to install and maintain, in my opinion, is a prefabricated galvanized chain link fence gate. These may be found in stock in heights of 72” and widths of the same. Some may be ordered as kits that adjust to your specific widths, which is handy if your gate posts are a little off their perfect design dimensions after installation. All standard home centers and others that cater to the farm and ranch communities should either have such a gate in stock or be able to easily order one for you.
Installation is as simple as getting the gate post attachments for a few dollars and screwing them into the gate posts, securing the post hooks to the gate and a latch to the other gate post, and you are done. An added bonus is the latch usually allows for a lock, so that a casual passerby cannot just walk on in, but of course a determined trespasser will not be deterred. Optionally, you can use a piece of twisted heavy wire to keep the gate from accidentally opening.
Fence Maintenance
The good news about fence maintenance, once it has been properly installed, is that it is very minimal. Posts would probably benefit from a coating of protectant every few years, either commercial if available or just some sort of oil to prevent rotting, especially on top where water may collect. The wire may become slack and tightening may be done by stretching and using stringers to keep it tight. Again check out YouTube to see it being done live. To prevent weed encroachment I have a border of gravel around the outside edge that keeps grass and weeds at bay, which also allows me to toss the small rocks I encounter each and every time I dig. (Such is life with a garden.)
So now you have learned how to start a garden, prepare the soil, build a fence, keep out varmints, and install the fence gate. What’s left is how large a garden to build, what you should plant and why, and how to maintain it, which will be detailed in Part 3 of this series.
In Part 1 of this series, I discussed the preparation of a survival garden where grass used to be, amending the existing soil with compost, and the creation of rows or raised beds. In Part 2, I discussed the construction of an eight foot tall fence and gate with the intent of keeping out varmints. Specifically, and perhaps strangely to some readers, no mention has been made yet as to WHAT should be planted in the garden or how much and why. This is because many who are not familiar with subsistence gardening may be surprised at the true facts of growing adequate calories for consumption.
Calories Needed for Sustenance and Typical Garden Vegetables
Most typical vegetable gardeners, or those families that benefit from the labors of a vegetable gardener, immediately think of salads– nice, fresh lettuce in various flavors and textures; ripe, juicy tomatoes; crisp cucuмbers; celery; and some may also think of fresh peas and green beans, too. It all sounds wonderful. In fact, nobody appreciates a nice fresh salad with all the trimmings fresh from my garden more than me. The main course frequently is an afterthought for me, but there is an unfortunate and unpleasant fact that must be addressed if ALL there is to eat is salad vegetables– YOU WILL EVENTUALLY STARVE. It is simply not possible to consistently get enough calories from salads alone.
Most experts agree that an average person needs at least 2,000 calories per day. This may not be optimal, and if you are doing heavy labor, this would certainly be much less than optimal. Let’s assume it is a starting point. So in order to ingest that many calories, you need calorie-dense foods. If there are no animal meats or fats, this leaves only a few vegetable groups that qualify. Such higher calorie choices should be high-yielding, relatively nutritious, able to be stored for the future, and self-propagating with seeds or other reliable methods of starting anew. In my opinion this leaves the following staples: dried beans, grains or corn, potatoes, and hard squashes. Those familiar with the prepper/survival mindset will immediately recognize the “three sisters” of the Native American lore– corn, beans, and squash. Potatoes are added since they are also high calorie starches that are relatively easy to plant and store well.
Now of course, no one would recommend that ONLY these vegetables be grown. All other vegetables should also be grown, in as many varieties as you can find space for, with proper planning to can and preserve as much as possible, but again, for survival purposes, you should grow these four to get enough calories in your system.
How Much of Each to Grow?
If you assume the following facts:
One pound of beans = ~2000 calories, one 50 foot row produces 5 pounds of dried beans.
One pound of corn = ~ 1800 calories, one 50 foot row produces 10 pounds of dried corn.
One pound of hard squash = ~ 250 calories, one 50 foot row of produces 175 pounds of squash
One Pound of potatoes = ~450 calories, one 50 foot row produces 75 pounds of potatoes
Divided out equally as your only diet, for an entire year, you would need the following for one person:
Beans – 5 fifty foot rows
Corn – 3 fifty foot rows
Squash – 8 fifty foot rows
Potatoes – 3 fifty foot rows
Assuming one fifty foot row is 3 feet wide with a 2 foot aisle, that comes to in total in excess of 4,000 square feet of garden (that’s a 63’ by 63’ plot) needed for growing the caloric needs of just ONE person. Start multiplying accordingly by the number of members in your family or group and you start to see the magnitude of what is needed for a true survival-type garden. It is quite possible that you may need one-half to two-thirds of an ACRE to feed yourselves. Also, to reiterate, this is based on providing a minimal diet of 2,000 calories per day, which is not a whole lot of reserve for exertion or stress, and this estimate does not allow at all for crop failure or rotation needs, so you really should plan for a larger garden.
The Good News Is …
While it may seem overwhelming, believe it or not, all of this was just to help point out your true gardening needs. If you plan to rely on a garden for sustenance, because many may not see the need of a large garden due to the erroneous notion of “It’s only the four of us”. Also, yes, we all have dealt with the overeager gardener who planted too many broccoli (or squash) plants, and then annoyed everyone by trying to give the excess away, but YOU will be planting vegetables that are able to be stored for the winter months, so there are no worries about annoying anybody with your “excess.” Once you are aware of what you need, NOW you can start planning correctly and getting it done. Believe it or not, the difference between constructing a small garden right vs. a larger one is only a matter of scale. You will need the same equipment, just run them a little longer. You will get the same seeds, just plant a few more. You will build the same type of fence, just a little larger. You will still need to water and weed, just a little longer. You may still be able to do it alone, or you can get everyone to pitch in and help. As the Nike ad goes: Just Do It.
Here are some specifics about the staples:
Corn
Corn is easily grown in most areas of the country. While everyone starts salivating at the thought of nice, fresh, sweet corn on the cob dripping in butter (and feel free to grow some of this sweet corn as well), the corn from the above example is called field, dent or flint corn. It is intended to be dried on the stalk and then harvested as dry kernels to be made into meal or flour. Get open-pollinated (OP) varieties, listed as heirloom or OP in the catalogs. As corn is pollinated by the wind through the corn silks, corn needs to be tightly spaced in the same area (i.e. no leaving empty or differently planted rows between your corn rows.) The whole kernel of field corn can be stored dry, unrefrigerated, in buckets, if you prefer, with oxygen absorbers, et cetera. It should be ground fresh as needed for flours and corn meal, as it will quickly spoil once ground.
You are not limited to corn as your only grain. If you want to try your hand at growing wheat, buckwheat, quinoa, amaranth, `or oats as replacement or additional grains, go for it. I have not tried these personally, but I have read several accounts, even on SurvivalBlog, on how best to do it. Many say they just use an available field without cultivation, but I’ve never seen it done.
Potatoes
Potatoes are rather easy to grow. You need to start with seed potatoes, which are normal potatoes that have grown “eyes” and have been cut into small pieces with at least one eye (two is better) in each piece. Let the cut pieces dry for a day or two, and then put them all in a trench in your garden row about 12 inches apart for each piece. Cover with dirt or compost and wait for the leaves to appear. Once the plant seems to be growing well above ground, you need to “hill” the potatoes vines by pushing dirt on top of the plant until only the top leaves are exposed. Keep doing this every few weeks until the vines start to die. Then dig up the potatoes! Store in a cool place, and they will keep for months. Five pounds of seed potatoes can plant one 50 foot row, which produces up to 75 pounds of potatoes.
Beans
Beans are ridiculously easy to grow. Just plant a dry bean one inch deep, water it, and wait for the plant to grow. There are many, many types of beans. Some are intended to be eaten green only, while others are to only be eaten dry and still others can be eaten both ways. There are beans that grow on bushes (hence their reference as bush beans) and vining beans that will climb poles (hence the name “pole beans”). I prefer the bush beans because there is less maintenance. For green beans, pick them when they are ripe and plump, then cook and eat them and can or freeze the extra. For dry beans, wait for the beans to dry in the pod on the plant. The pod will be crispy dry, and the beans may rattle. I pull up the whole bush, put it in a bag, and then beat and smash the bag until all the beans are separated from the pods. I then shake the contents of the whole bag slowly in front of a box fan with a large pan on the ground. The beans drop whole into the pan, while the chaff and sticks blow away into the yard. Beans may be stored dry in a bag or bucket. I usually freeze each batch for two days to kill any possible bugs that might be hiding inside before sealing in a bucket with oxygen absorbers.
Squash
Squash is another easy “set it and forget it” plant. Good types that I like are Waltham Butternut, Acorn squash, and Patty Pan squash. You want winter squash, not summer squash, like crookneck yellow squash and zucchini. You don’t plant winter squash in the winter; you harvest it when it’s ripe and then STORE them in the winter, as they grow very hard shells. They are very easy to bake in an oven, or you can peel off the rind and boil the flesh. Just plant the seeds in a hill, thin out to the best two or three plants and then wait for the squash to start growing. You can accelerate production by artificially pollinating the flowers with a small paintbrush or tooth brush for larger yields. They tend to spread out so if space is at a premium consider training them up trellises to save on ground space. Once ripe, harvest, and store carefully in a cool place.
In Conclusion
I hope I have helped some people dispel some notions of just waiting for the balloon to go up before they start preparing for growing their own food. Also, I hope a it has become quite clear that a little postage stamp yard is not going to cut it. You will need some serious real estate to grow enough food for your family, and you should consider the higher calorie foods, like corn, beans, squash, and potatoes. While this post may make growing the staples sound easy, gardening is a skill like any other that takes practice and repetition. You must allow for the mistakes that will happen so they don’t occur when you can’t afford them. Start your garden NOW, while there is still time to get the needed materials, practice the skills, and make mistakes, and you may accidentally find yourself enjoying a fulfilling activity that is healthy and practical, and find your blood pressure and weight dropping. Also, you get to eat the best, healthiest, pesticide-free, GMO-free, tastiest vegetables and fruits you ever tasted, while food availability gets more and more precarious by the day.