It is time to dust off the shovels and rakes and get ready for the gardening season.
Those of use who prepare rely on their gardens to supply them with food they can preserve and add to their emergency food supply. Gardening today also gives you plenty of experience with the ins and outs of gardening so that when your garden is your main food supply, you have the knowledge to make it work.
There is a learning curve when it comes to growing food (learn how to here). Not everybody is born with a green thumb. One way you can practice your gardening skills if you don’t have a big piece of land is by taking advantage of container gardening. Even if you do have a big garden space, growing plants in containers is one way to double your harvest.
Before you head to the store and start buying random seeds and tossing them in your containers, you need to think about what you will plant. In survival, everything has a purpose. Growing food that you don’t like isn’t going to help you. You are not suddenly going to like spinach because it is growing in your garden. One rule of prepping is to only stock what you eat today. The same rule applies to your survival garden—only grow what you eat today.
Some of the easiest and most common plants for container gardening are as follows:
Tomatoes—A single tomato plant can produce enough tomatoes to make tomato sauce, eat fresh and dehydrate. You will want to plant at least 2 tomato plants somewhat close to each other for pollination.
Cucumbers—Fresh cucumbers are delicious or you can pickle them for a tasty treat in the winter.
Strawberries—Hang the container or set it in your window. Strawberries are prolific and require very little dirt. You can easily squeeze several plants into a single container.
How To Grow Cheap NON-GMO Food To Feed A Family Of 4 In Only 4 Square Feet Of Space… Indoors or Outdoors
Lettuce—While you can’t preserve lettuce, it makes for a great salad during the summer.
Green Beans—The bush varieties are best for container gardening and will not require any staking.
Herbs—A variety of herbs like cilantro, oregano, dill and so on are all perfect plants for the container. Dried herbs are an excellent addition to any emergency food supply.
Potatoes—A single 4×4 container filled with dirt can supply you with 20 pounds of potatoes or possibly more.
Peppers—A variety of sweet, bell and hot peppers make an excellent addition to your food supply. Peppers can be canned or dried or used as spice.
Broccoli—A single broccoli plant will continue to produce through the summer as long as you harvest the heads regularly. Containers allow you to move the broccoli into a shady area during the heat of the summer to keep the heads from flowering.
Spinach—You can harvest leaves for a month or longer. Freeze, can or dry the leaves and add to your food storage.
Container Gardening Alternatives
Containers are not limited to the vessels you would put on your deck or in your front yard. Nearly anything that can hold dirt can be used as a container. To further take advantage of space, consider hanging makeshift containers from your fence, the side of a shed or off the deck. Old 2-liter bottles make wonderful containers for tomato and pepper plants when turned upside down.
You can grow a variety of herbs or a variety of lettuce mixes in a canvas shoe organizer. The roots are shallow and that old shoe organizer that once hung over your bedroom door can be transformed into a beautiful, life-sustaining garden. Rain gutters mounted to wall of the shed or your wooden fence are perfect for strawberry plants. The vines will hang down, filled with berries without worrying about the fruit being eaten by bugs on the ground.
How To Grow Cheap NON-GMO Food To Feed A Family Of 4 In Only 4 Square Feet Of Space… Indoors or Outdoors
Container gardening is one of the best ways to supplement your existing garden or even as your sole source of food. Get creative and you will be amazed at just how much food you can grow right on your back patio.