These 5 Crops Can Save You HUNDREDS On Groceries | INFLATION-PROOF Gardening | Great Depression Tips
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- Опубликовано: 9 июн 2024
- Cost-effective gardening choices come down to lifestyle, and these 5 plants save us the MOST on our grocery bill. More resources below!
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0:00-0:54 - Intro
0:55-3:53 - Berries
3:54-5:43 - Fresh Herbs
5:44-7:43 - Microgreens
7:44-9:30 - Leafy Greens
9:31-14:23 - Prolific Bearers
14:24- - Fruit Trees & Chickens
15:14-16:07 - Closing Thoughts
We're not experts, so we always recommend talking to the pros for the best advice. This post and comments below contain affiliate links, which may lead to a commission if purchased. This comes at no extra cost to you. Thanks!
Strawberries are one of the "dirty dozen", so that alone is reason to grow them
I live in the city and everblooming strawberries are a lovely "plant" that can grow in the front yard for their flowers.
If u dehydrate your tomatoes and turn them to powder and THEN vacuum seal them the powder in jars, u can MAKE paste and sauces by adding water to the powder 2:1..... saves greatly on jar space and ur not using ur freezer.
Excellent advice particularly for people off-grid with photovoltaics who have electricity to burn in a sunny summer but might struggle to keep a freezer running through winter. The extra electricity to process the tomatoes is well worth it for not needing electricity to store them.
This is great advice. How do you dehydrate them? Just a food dehydrator?
I treat my garden as both a soul filling hobby and a job. Jobs make money to feed our family. I just skip the paycheck and go straight to the food. Treating it as a job motivates me to make the time for gardening.
By far, the best investment is to teach your children to do all of this. I’m also planting things that I may never see a harvest from, but my daughter and her children will; it’s not always about supplying my needs, but theirs.
Very solid points 👍
Exactly. Like Little House on the Prairie type stuff. But unfortunately, just like in the show, people gave up their farms and land to move to the city for “better” jobs. Some people were forced to. But we got played. Now look at us trying to save money by growing food. Lol. The irony.
Grow perennials like Jerusalem artichokes n such
Grow n sell them
@@JustOutHereTrustingGodNot sure if you have read up on the Industrial Revolution in England, but the destruction of the commons and forcing people off the land while tempting them into the city to be fodder for the factories was entirely intentional and an outlined and much discussed long term plan to destroy the self sufficiency of rural people who were seen as the main bulwark against the collection of power by the elites as they didn’t need anything from the government beyond protection of their rights. If really dark reading the words of the industrialists and the destruction of the commons and the evil plans they had for ordinary people who were quite happy with their bucolic rural lives. This whole dynamic was actual the basis for the Lord of the Rings which was written at the time, with the hobbits representing the happy, healthy self sufficient people of England in the shires, and the endless burning and ravaging of the lands at the hands of Sauron to feed the fires of industry were quite clearly the industrialists. The intellectuals and elites are the elves and wizards etc who either held themselves above, with their plans to simply depart to greener pastures, or came down on one side or the other. At the time there was both types of intellectual, some consumed by greed aligning and making the case for the destruction of the commons, and the other defending that which makes England what it was; the common people and their ways of life (represented by Gandalf and the elves who showed up to fight).
Sorry for waxing poetic here, but it is extremely important to preserve what shreds we have left of the life and land that was our birthright, and to claw back what we can from the ever hungry maw of industry that wants to devour us all for profit. And to hand off what we have protected and regained to our children and theirs.
I think fruit trees are absolutely the number one way to save money. The return on investment is out of this world. Speaking from experience of growing fruit trees for the past 8 years in my Suburban Backyard Orchard. I grow a ton of figs, apples, plums, cherries, and peaches.
I have been wanting to do this for years but only able to grow trees in containers. Any suggestions?
And they play a major role in the environment. They store a lot of carbon and they enrich the ecology. Thank you for the advice
@@terrisserose What's your climate? (USDA hardiness zone, precipitation level/pattern, length of winter ["chilling hours" is how that is measured in South and Southwest, where it is vital; but I supposein the extreme north, the converse problem of a very short growing season also restricts what you can grow to that which ripens early in the season, before frost screams "STOP"--for that the measure is probably # of frost free days), maybe humidity, the sun available to your containers?) Obviously smaller plants are easier to keep in containers. Usually that means berries (though mulberries grow on big trees so you'd need Geraldi Dwarf) though there are dwarfing rootstocks for apple (Budagovsdky-9 is excellent) and loquat (namely, quince). "Flying Dragon" trifoliate orange will dwarf Citrus a little, but I'd still stick with small types like kumquats, limequats, and calamondins (which may stay small on their own roots). You can't really dwarf a grapefruit. Peaches have some genetic dwarf types (not the best quality nor adapted to the limits of peach culture). Pie cherries have the University of Saskatchewan crosses that grow as shrubs. Obviously you won't be able to grow kumquats in cherry country without a greenhouse etc. Deciduous trees tend to need this thing called "winter" (hence the counting of "chill hours") and therefore do poorly in Citrus country. Heck, these days even Citrus is risky in Citrus country, because of the spread of diseases like canker and hualongbing (facilitated by our addiction to industrial monoculture agriculture).
What do you spray the apple trees with. I have loads of apples full of bugs
Yes much better ROI then vegi gardens, most fruits only produce excess for short time then nothing for rest of yr, biggest handicap IMO. Citrus, Avocados and a few others may produce near yr round assuming multiple types of each. For me in zone 9a, farther NorCali, citrus is super easy and make fine hedge walls for privacy too, don't require excess water and zero pests except for ppl picking in passing my oranges along the road.
I find that I can't buy berries, cherries, peaches, pears and more after home grown experience, they are not only expensive they are crap from the store. Blueberries I get for a couple months per yr of my small bushes, good ROI if you don't mind the picking time required and I need to add some acidifiers a few X per yr.
What I'm finding is that the growing a garden and chickens and trees, it's the overall time commitment that people need to be aware of; especially when you work full time and are single :) then, it turns into a few hours a night more sometimes....However, it's also nice that my salad is 100 feet away and my eggs are next to it.
This is true. I now get up at 6, spend several hours working in garden and taking care of chicks and dogs then same thing at 6 pm. I figure 4 hours a day. But I feel healthier for it, as a single lady it’s good exercise and good for the soul. Legs feel much stronger than before raising baby chicks, there’s a lot of squats required, lol. Also I guess weeding my 1/3 acre and putting down 80 bags of mulch by myself helped too. 😆
it's better to spend a few hours in the garden after a day in the office, rather than plunk ourselves down on the couch and watch crap tv 😊
You need to work smarter, not harder. No time to weed? Use ag fabric. No time to water? Use a roll of drip tubing (not tape) and a timer. That way you’re only spending time planting and harvesting. Then you have all winter to pull plants and prep for spring.
I am pushing towards that myself. ( making a small tree cabin/chicken coop) once my son and grandchildren out grow it. I add more garden space every year and next is pear and apple trees. 😃....
I've explained to my neighbors when they ask about my garden that the experts always advocate eating local. It doesn't get more local than my back yard, now does it? There's just something so satisfying about going into the garden and picking dinner, and the flavor of the food is incredible compared to what the store has on offer.
Bolting greens is a seed savers dream. Those seeds can be used to grow baby greens and micro greens thereby saving more money. Plus you know where the seeds come from.
So, so true!
And when you're growing sprouts and microgreens, you're not worried about selecting for plants that take longer to bolt. You're not selecting for a long harvest of repeat-pick leaves. You just want a big mass of seeds as quick as possible!
It is no more about saving money, it is moving into the realm of survival.
Absolutely true! bidenomics is a scourge...
After spending some time in Taiwan- we learned to eat vegetables at every meal, even breakfast. We grow green and ruby Swiss chard along with several types of kale. We plant close and cut individual leaves while they are small. I would never buy the huge clumps in the organic section of our market. It is so very expensive and big and tougher. We grow 85-90% of our vegetables from a 35 by 50 foot backyard garden. Tomatoes, onions, peppers - we made 100 jars of salsa last year. It is our grandsons ‘favorite vegetable.’😂
Haha I'm gonna start saying that
Nice work! Salsa is also my favorite veggie! 😂 Especially from the garden salsa!!! Happy Gardening 💚
I would love your salsa recipe!
that's a meal at our house, greens w/ garlic or onion and protein (which is often eggs). or basically the same but in a kimchi or kraut. save the bread or crackers for a snack if you need it later.
I went shopping with a friend and forgot what it's like to be a "nightly" shopper (which I totally was once upon a time!) buying based on whatever looks good. So much energy. We have the same grocery list basically every week. When things run out of stock in our cupboards we replace them. I watch for the sale cycle of our essentials and get everything at a lower price. I don't buy for recipes, I cook from what I have in the cupboard.
Nobody is wondering how to get dinner started. heat up the pan. Chop some onions and greens and we'll go from there.
@@anneh7725 tomatoes are not vegetables they are fruit
For the leg sized zucchini (when you skipped a day checking on them), make a soup base by boiling them with onion and garlic and pureeing it. You can can it or freeze it and then use it instead of water when making soups. It does not taste like zucchini but just a rich broth.
Sounds good
That is a fantastic idea!!! Thanks for the tip!
Interesting. I usually use the large ones as chicken feed
My Mom requests a large one from my garden. She cuts it in half, scoops out the seeds and stuffs it with a meat/rice stuffing then bakes. So good! :D
That’s what I use for the base of my spaghetti sauce. Just add Italian seasoning and a big can of crushed tomatoes. Just add some cooked pasta.
It's warms my heart to see a young lady like you learning to be more independent and sharing what you've learned with others.
Another benefit with berries is the longevity of the plants. I inherited my grandparents place. We are still picking blackberries from the same berry patch my grandmother did 100 years ago. A berry I don't see in stores but I love is black raspberries. These basically grow as weeds but are delicious.
Pole Beans will take longer to begin bearing but they will continue to give fruit until frost (here in Vermont - very similar growing conditions to Wisconsin.
What a treasure to be able to pick berries from the same plants your grandmother did
Black raspberries (blackcaps to some) are a favorite berry of my wife and myself. We've foraged bunches of them from local woods. More complex in flavor than red raspberries or blackberries. BTW, the reason they're practically nonexistent in stores is that their delicate, easily spoiled flesh doesn't tolerate shipping, so enjoying them when absolutely fresh is a must.
That is so awesome!! 100 years ago! I love that!
Wow, I had no idea blueberries could live so long, it's a real legacy plant!!
If you can’t find a black raspberry to propagate, they can be ordered online easily. Mine came from either Stark or park Seed.
I’ve also found that butternut squash is insanely easy to grow and yields a ton of fruit. You can make an entire meal out of two big ones, and the shelf life is really long.
Butternut squash are often my potato replacement. They store longer than potatoes plus I freeze them...roasted, pureed, chopped, etc.
Winter squash is definitely a great idea, acorn squash is also very prolific. Requires quite a bit of space though as they run all over the place. Pumpkins would be great too, the smaller sized varieties, but with squash you're best off picking a single variety so that you can save the seeds for planting again since they will all hybridize with each other.
The bugs though
Its also very resilient to vine borer infestations...and has a long shelf life. I had one i ate that was almost a g3ar in the pantry...it wasnt as sweet prevuous butternuts but still perfectly fine to eat.
I have had several last almost a year in the basement.
The newest item I am growing this year to save money is asparagus. I found out that it will come back in its own every year for between 20-40 years! I bought 2 year old crowns and it was a bit more work getting their bed ready, as you have to add sand etc. And you cannot harvest the first year. But asparagus is very expensive and we love it, so it’s worth the extra work up front.
I bought 20 crowns not realizing the space and soil you need for them. It's crazy. I have to build a new bed just for them
We have had asparagus that was planted by my now passed away in laws. I have lived on this farm 50 years & my husband was born here & he's 78. So it has longer life than what you stated by far. It's not in a garden spot but along our property here & there whereever it was planted.
I've heard that leeks come back and grow prolifically as well. I know it's late in the year but I'm trying to start some so I can eat a ton next year!
It is a seasonal crop (spring only, but occupying space year round). If you are short on land, greens like kale, chard, amaranth (spinach substitute for warm weather) or in z8b+ chaya or moringa will give you more food/nutrition.
I ploughed up my 10 year old asparagus bed and planted perennial rye grass...now a 1000 lb. jersey cow grazes there and gives me 5 gallons/day and a beef calf once per year. The asparagus bed was miserable to maintain. The cow is pure joy...
for your leafy green, don'T forget swiss chard which are a good replacement for spinach and are cold hardy and don't bolt in the hot summer. They comes in many colors, very prolific and you can eat the stem and the leaf as 2 different produce.
Also, try Bok choy, prolific, yummy, and you can plant it at different time in the season for a continus harvest.
I think anyone who has a decent size garden should have chickens. They really go hand in hand. Chickens are omnivores so they will eat most of what kitchen waste you can give them and that reduces their own feed needs like you said. But the larger benefit is the amazing compost they make for the garden. It really is a winning combination.
And if you don't have enough space, try quail. My quails are arriving this week. They prefer smaller spaces anyway. I'm starting with 20. Besides eggs, they give compost, eat very little and are cute af
@@fiffihoneyblossom5891 yes, and I think more housing zones are open to quail (callem' pets)
Problem is zoning/local government regulations. You have to check whether you're even allowed to keep chickens, and if you are, how many are allowed. Roosters will definitely be a no unless you're in the countryside, in a rural zone.
No, cuz you'll be giving cats, racoons, hawks, etc easy meals. There is more to it and a lot of ppl never find the "time" to do anything in the day of "neflix and chill", lol.
@@SY-ok2dq Ya need to put wire over their run to keep them safe. Also buried the wire around the coop and yard 2 ft to keep the diggers out. Haven't lost any and we have fox, coyotes, skunks, possum, porcupines, bear, eagles, and hawks. Use metal trash cans to store their food in so no worries with mice or rats.
Green onions! I use them so much and I started to replant the small part that I cut off the bottom of store bought onions. I planted them in my aquaponic growbed and they did so well. Also kale grows great in the winter in my growbed.
Sweet potatoes are another great one to grow. 😉 the best part is you can grow your own over and over with slips.
I rather not slip, but do it right the first time.
and the greens are edible.
I learned from the Okinawans to choose to eat the nutritious green leaves of sweet potatoes as well.
I am canning sweet potatoes...and have planted them also for later this summer.
I've been thinking about sweet potatoes but the extended curing process and the temperature needs has me a bit worried.
I planted 4 blackcurrant bushes 11 years ago and haven’t touched them since, except to harvest. They grow in thick weeds and produce enough for apple-blackcurrant compote every breakfast for the year. Best garden investment ever!
What zone are you in?
We are in alaska and black currant does really well too
What zone
Potatoes, you left these off, super easy and twice a year harvest. Love the channel!!!
In Australia a bunch of spinach runs circa $9.00 at the supermarket. For the last 12 months I have had a small 2 metre X 1 metre patch where I have grown English spinach, OMG what a saver, I go out every could of days and just trim off a whole bunch from the plants and they are prolific, they just keep growing back and so now I have greatly improved my diet and saved a lot of money. Great video, thank you, everyone kids themselves about not having time, get off social media, turn off the tv and go get some garden therapy while enriching your well-being and wallet.
I have found that growing many types of plants has improved my diet immensely. When I started growing eggplants for instance I had no idea what to do with them so I had to look up eggplant recipes. I made a moussaka last week that would knock your mousakka's off. I grew habaneros and had no idea what to do with them all and now I make fantastic hot sauce.
Share the recipe!
Moussaka is a favorite. Bien gon kabarta(sp) is heavenly too. This is an Indian dish the can be used as a dip or over rice depending how thick you make it
Yes agree. I think it's a good idea to set aside 10-20% of your garden for experiments and 80-90% for reliable producers. That way you can still scratch that itch to try crazy new stuff from the seed catalogue and expand your palette but you still have your staples as well. I found the quantity of vegetables that I eat increases a lot when I grow them as well. So while I almost never buy snap peas, if they're growing in the garden I munch on them all day and almost never have any left over for cooking.
I think you need to experiment to find the sweet spot of things that grow easily in your area, that you like to eat, and that are worth the time and effort to grow, harvest and process into something. That won't exactly reflect your pre-garden shopping list, but agree that that's a good place to start to identify your staples.
The other way to come at it is "What's hard to get at the store where I live or is poor quality at the supermarket because it doesn't travel or store well?" For me it's chili peppers other than one or two types, ingredients for Thai food like kaffir lime leaves, turmeric, and lemongrass, and fruit like feijoa, elderberries, and gooseberries which are delicious but just don't travel well. So a better use of my precious garden real estate can sometimes be more unusual varieties than onions which are so cheap at the store but take so long to grow and apples where you have to stay on top of pests so much.
A big golden courgette works well in Mousakka as well, if you haven’t got an eggplant.
@@shanghaiallie There are quite a few disease resistant apples around, especially heritage varieties. You need to know which ones work in your area though. Rootstock is important for your soil type.
You can also save money by having your chickens make compost for your plants and not buy expensive fertilizers. Permaculture saves money.
I always heard that chicken poop doesn’t make for good fertilizer given they eat bugs and not a plant diet?
@@miguelregalado1319 Any livestock manure can be aged for fertilizer.
@@miguelregalado1319 it has to be rotted for at least 2 years before it can be used on plants
I would also add potatoes and onions to the list.
Calabrese broccoli, harvest the center head and continue harvesting side florets until next spring. Absolutely awesome
I'd add potatoes to the list cause you can grow so much in a small area. It stores a long time if you store them properly. Not very nutrient dense, but they are calorie dense as far as plant foods go.
Also I like your perspective of "things may or may not get better" for the simple fact that you see a future beyond this fall. I've heard many many people talk about how this fall will be the big one and everything is going to crash and burn and we're all gonna die etc etc. I'm being hyperbolic, but I like to hope that we will have a few more years to get some things established for food security. Cause this is my first year growing food and let me tell ya it isn't enough. 😅 Thanks for reaffirming my desire to grow a ton of fruits.
Great point on potatoes! And they actually ARE quite nutritious. Not many people know this but they are exceptionally high in a very valuable kind of protein. It will never substitute animal protein but my point is, don’t overlook the humble but powerful potato as a source of good carbs, calories and a suplemental protein! 🥰🥰
Potatoes have lots of nutrients! This is our first year gardening also. We're growing corn, green beans, and peas in an old 10 x 18 dog kennel(to keep the deer out of the corn), and have 2- 4 x 8 raised beds with tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, eggplant, and other veggies in them. We're also growing some things in containers. We want to do so much more, but also don't want to get overwhelmed in our first year. We'll do a few more raised beds next year.
Just be sure NOT to vote for Marxists aka Progressive Democrats and We WILL get through this... "Remember We are ALL in this together" so long as you vote and think accordingly like us (The Progressive Mantra)
@Cindilas I think we're on year four. We're just now starting to produce what you might call "some" food from our own garden. This is mostly due to laziness in weeding and watering when it's 157 degrees outside. Keep it up long term and you'll see results!
It's hard to live on only vegetables - unless the vegetable is potatoes. Outside of potatoes you're pretty much stuck with grains, which require a LOT of processing to get to be ready for the table. I recently saw a video about Jerusalem Artichokes as well, supposedly they yield even more than potatoes in terms of calories per acre, and they supposedly store incredibly well just left in the ground until you're ready to dig them up and eat them as needed.
We give eggs to friends at church and they bring excess from their gardens ❤️ Waiting for things to harvest still here and still learning
Swiss chard and ameranth can be good spinach alternative for hot weather
Berries ==> homemade shelf stable dehydrated fruit rollups and berry chips
It's also really easy to forage for greens. Often the weeds that grow in your garden are more healthy than the greens that you plant. Also you can harvest extra, dry it and supplement your chicken food in the winter.
Wow, thanks as I have 3 chickens. Do you crush these dried plants and put in with other grains?
Peterson's has some very good books for each state or area. Edible Wild Plants, Medicinal Plants and Herbs. Build yourself up a library on similar books.
Like making hay, but for chickens??? 😳
@@PatrickKQ4HBD Pretty much, yeah - but it's healthier than hay. My chickens adore dandelion leaves (dried or fresh). Sometimes I freeze our leftover berries to give to them in the winter, if I have room in the freezer. Apples keep pretty well overwintered in dry, cool conditions too. I leave them separated from one another in cardboard trays in our garden shed. I just keep a close eye on them in case rodents come (thankfully ours is quite well sealed up).
Foraging is a big part of my survival system but growing things is another part. You should have multiple means in acquiring food. Survival cares nothing for ego, infact ego is often counterproductive to survival. Don't rely on only one means to aquire food.
Other than berries, these definitely wouldn’t be on my list but it is a great thought experiment everyone should work through. I’ve narrowed my garden space down to only to grow items that produce a lot of calories and are hugely successful in my area such as potatoes, beans, corn and tomatoes. My list:
1) Apple trees
2) Potatoes
3) Beans
4) Tomatoes (paste for pasta sauces)
5) Berries
Bonus item: giant sunflowers for snacking/winter chicken treats
Right!, I just started growing potatoes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, corn and sunflowers. things I know I will eat. I'll have to research beans, thanks.
just watched a video on pinto beans, I'll be growing some soon, thanks again for the idea.
Sweet potato greens - tasty, very productive, and grow easily from cuttings.
Pumpkins - so easy to grow, and easy to store.
Cherry tomatoes seem to get less-affected by the bugs than the big ones (or at least there are a greater number of undamaged tomatoes)
I am finding the same thing with cherry tomatoes, they are less buggy, more to harvest.
Herbs in the garden are fantasic! Fresher than grocery store, and often repel pests.
Keep them right on the back deck and snip before dinner 👍 the best 😀
This year, I'm incorporating wild edible food (AKA weeds) into parts of our garden. For example, I'm not taking out Lamb's Quarters (wild spinach) and dandelions that are growing in several parts of our garden; instead, I'm letting them grow and multiply. I use them for smoothies and salads.
me too. I left the dandilions in my raspberry and gooseberry beds so i could try them and see how they taste- the ones in the lawn are unedible as we have a dog. I tried my first dandilion flower this year, as i didn't know they were edible.
Dandelion leaves make tea. Kinda bitter, but supposedly good for you
Also purslane!!!
Every part of the dandelion is edible, and the plant is beneficial to the garden since it draws up nutrients from deep underground. You can cut the bitterness of mature dandelion leaves by cooking them with vinegar or lemon juice.
Also dandelion root is great natural medicine for blood poisoning
ATTENTION Kathalene------ For the first time this year we planted Ground Cherries. Ground cherries are a winner for us in our zone 6b.. They produced an overabundance of fruit up to our first frost. If you have never tried them. Please do so. You can plant them under your fruit trees. The 3 x 3-foot plant hugs the soil. It doesn't get over a foot high. Thanks for everything you do. You helped me in my first purchase of chickens 2 years ago. -- Ray Delbury Sussex County NJ USA
Preach ! Ground cherries are freaking amazing !
I was planning on planting some ground Cherries too, do you know what type you have? I would like to know what grows good in our area
What I find worth the time, energy, investment is Louisiana Purple Pole beans. I planted two 40’ rows last years and canned 80 quarts beside what we ate fresh. I grow lots of tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers for pickles, peppers of multiple varieties I either can them freeze them eat them fresh. I grow lots of herbs, a lot of them will overwinter here in N Mississippi. There is so so much more.
Plant something, start somewhere… it’s addictive!
Blessings y’all
Sneaky goats ate my purple pole beans and everything else except mustard greens.
Purple “pole” peas… I believe you mean purple HULL peas and as a Louisianan I second that they are easy to grow(if you can keep the deer out of them) and delicious. I blanch and freeze mine instead of canning.
Purple Hull is a cowpea and should do well in the South. In a pinch you can add the foliage to stews also.
I doubt anything cucumber-ish is nutrient dense, but sometimes the cooling snap is just pleasant and experimenting with pickle recipes is fun. Anyway, I have found Mexican sour gherkin (Melothria scabra) to be much more resistant to fungal diseases than are cukes. (Don't plant the native Melothria pendula though--it is "the mother of all laxatives.")
Economies are always going to fluctuate so it is wise to be prepared with food, water, cash, and such. If you buy only what you like then you will be fine but I also try to buy some things that my neighbors enjoy as well. For example, I started a raspberry patch about 15 years ago in my back yard. I started with 4 plants, a few years later I gave 6 to a neighbor who now has about 90x4ft curbside raspberry patch that he allows anyone to pick from without having to ask first. Goodwill is one of the most important commodities we can cultivate. If you live in a place where you don't have any outside area think about growing cherry tomatoes, herbs, edible flowers around your interior using the sunlight you have available and small grow lights. You can grow things in hanging planters as well as pots on your window ledges, etc. If you have a small balcony you can grow things there or you might be able to set up some grow pots on the roof of the building you live in. It doesn't hurt to ask. There are all kinds of edible "weeds" everywhere that can also serve as medicines. For example, I have wild lettuce, purslane, dandelion, and thistle in my yard. These are also growing in the big cities. Purslane can be found growing out of the cracks of the sidewalk as can the wild lettuce and dandelions. They are everywhere. These are all edible and the wild lettuce can be made into a pain medication. Get familiar with those in your area and learn how to use them in both categories mentioned. Learn how to make foods that can be dried and stored long term like pemmican, jerky, dried fruits and veggies (these can be done in your oven at a very low temp about 160 degrees for 12 or so hours - learn as much as you can on how to do that and the best way to store. I have a large food saver machine that I use. If you live in an urban or rural area (I'm probable preaching to the choir there), look for wild berries AFTER you have learned how to identify the ones that won't make you sick or kill you outright. I like chokecherries as they make great jam, jelly, and syrup. Also mushrooms are good to know about and you CAN grow them inside. Check out North Spore or search for "how to grow mushrooms at home" on YT.
I started keeping bees this year mostly to help the apple trees and other fruiting trees and plants that aren't doing very well in my neighborhood. I will end up having to harvest some honey and that will go to my neighbors as well. There are now hives that you can actually keep near a window INSIDE your home so the bees can come and go as they please through a tube that comes in from the outside and you can watch how they are building comb, and so on. If you have people in your neighborhood that have skills you don't, figure out a way to barter so you can share your skills and help each other. Know and grow.
I started growing food for the first time only four months ago, but am now growing enough greens so that my family and my rabbit have salad every day. I still have to buy one small bag of kale every week. I’m growing all of my veggies hydroponically.
I've planted a couple of perennial kale plants. They last a few years. Taunton deane and daubenton
Good advice here. A year, two years will come and go whether you plant berries and trees or not, so you might as well get some in the ground. That's how I see it, anyway. Plus, you can propagate them to sell or trade.
I do want to push back on the lettuce thing a little bit though. Yes, lettuce does bolt quickly when the temp goes up, but it's like $10/lb or more to buy in the store. Lettuce seed is super cheap, and it can be ready for harvest in 30 days. Every week, sow a week's worth, and keep on a 30-60 day rotation, and it ends up being a huge money saver. Kale certainly has it's place, but if that's all I have to make salad with, I'm probably not going to eat much salad; Especially in the summer when it turns bitter.
Just my two cents. Great content! Thank you!
My biggest bang for the buck is Swiss chard. It be cut and come again, a few plants feeds your family. Re broccoli, eat the leaves.
Yes - please make a video on how to plant and harvest microgreens! This is such good information!
Saving money? I don't know, but there is something to be said about cooking and just stepping out the door tu pick whatever the recipe calls for. I am 100% with you regarding the herbs. I think it is part of a way of life. We almost never go to restaurant, but we work from home. This whole pandemic has been a great beneficial change for a lot of people (unfortunately not for all...)
If you live in the south, grow Malabar Spinach! It loves the heat and is very prolific. Use the leaves like true spinach, as wraps, dry and powder to use in sauces etc.
I bought seeds of this, Eqyptian and New Zealand spinach, plus other heat loving plants like Mexican potato, moringa, amaranth, sorghum, yacon, and so much other exotic things I can`t remember. I got around 200 types of open pollinated seeds that I can grow (hopefully) all year and also got indoor hydro gardens and a bunch of nutrients for those. Buttercrunch lettuce and many other greens are mindblowing in them. Moving to a very rural Louisiana lot soon. Blackberries everywhere and a small stream with lots of fish (and cottonmouths but they seemed calm) nearby.
The Malabar spinach grows well in the greenhouse when it is too hot in there for anything else.
Growing it for the first time this year. Great stuff.
Does Malabar Spinach taste good? I grew Warrigal greens/New Zealand spinach - and it was horrible - even the chickens wouldn't touch it! And it self seeded everywhere so years later I'm still trying to get rid of it!!
I agree with NZ spinach and Magenta Spreen! And they both self seed, too well haha! Lots of greens...
For town dwellers do stealth gardening. Asparagus and dill look like ferns, fruit trees are seldom identified as food. Indeterminate tomatoes going up the porch railing covered in blossoms looked just like the squash blossoms growing underneath to neighbors. Basil and rosemary growing in a pot with marigolds just looks pretty. Chives tucked next to the rose bush looked like intentional flower not herb. Strawberries are where squash was this year. Change it up, keeps em guessing. Also getting the half priced greens is wonderful when the groundhog grazes things down. Mark down stickers are my best friends.
I grow tomatoes and peppers because I love them- not sure how much I’ve saved as this July we didn’t have much rain, and they need lots of water.
One thing I’m growing and saving lots on is mint and basil. This year, I’m using all of it, making mint jelly, using it in salads, ect, basil- pesto as well as in cooking and with toast and tomatoes.
Happy growing everyone!
Depending on your climate Peaches/Nectarines are heavy producers and fruit often next year. Plums and Apples can produce the following year. Figs and Mulberries can also fruit the year you get them.
Reading this makes me want to start canning more sooner than later. My grandmother made the best fig preserves ever!
One thing you should mention to people who are planning to grow their own microgreens is to be sure to plan out the watering schedule since they need watered fairly heavily every 12 hours without much margin for error. This makes growing them tough if people have a variable schedule 1-2 days of any given week where they are gone from their house for more than 14 hours at a time. 🤘💚
We started our tiny vertical farm 2 years ago and sell microgreens to our local community through farmers markets and roadside market resellers. We just went open source a few weeks back and all are welcome. We are posting all our methodologies for everyone to use, get inspired by, etc. ✌️🌱
Yeah my son always gets strawberry plants, he don't like to eat them but likes the white flowers, 2 yrs ago He got one and I have saved it for 2 yrs from snow and heat, and they've survived and this year started to give us fruit 🍓 very tiny but very sweet 😋
As long as they don't develop root or crown rot, mine have thrived through 2 years with an abnormal amount of snow for Arkansas, like week long, foot of snow on the ground with no protection 😁
I live in a very similar climate to you. I grow my lettuce and leafy greens in a window box that's shaded most of the day and then use the cut and come again method. I get to harvest all season because they get bright light but no direct sunlight so they don't get too hot ☺️
Really good reasoning and explanations; thank you!
I'm too lazy to scroll through the comments to see if anybody already mentioned that one way to control zucchini/summer squash is to use the blossoms, not just the fruits. They can be fried, stuffed, roasted, used as pot herbs, or just dropped into salads.
We're still a very young homestead at 2 years. Our biggest thing is figuring out what plants like our conditions. We put perennials (raspberry, blackberries, strawberries, friut trees, asparagus, rhubarb, and walking onions) in as soon as we got on our property. Our pet chickens an turkeys are also great at tick control witch is priceless. For your surplus summer squashes just shred it an freeze it to be used in the winter. Excellent video
As a lifetime learner and a lifetime gardener I was curious what you would say so I clicked on your video. You had me nodding and smiling at several of the things, actually a lot of what you said here. Good job staying on topic.
There are a few things I would add or amend to what you said. Raspberries is one. You can get an amazing harvest of raspberries the very first year you plant them. I say that with confidence because I planted just 3 thornless raspberries this Spring and I was eating LOTS of them right up to a hard frost.
An other thing I would like to mention is kale. Everyone should plant kale that is worried about food prices or security. Plant just ONE kale plant if you wish, and it will give you greens all year. Right now I have several kale plants alive and well in my unprotected garden out there with temperatures around 12 degrees. OKay, I will have to check after this cold snap to be sure they are still alive, but my money is on that they will be. Kale is a biannual. IF you overwinter them and let them grow the next season. You will get lots of greens again. iF you let them go to seed, you will never have to buy kale seed again.
LOL okay enough!
Good job.
The main thing about growing a large portion of your own food is it helps take the load off the system for the folks that are disabled and cannot grow gardens. But if your ever get used to the taste of home grown food vs store bought! going back to the store is difficult!! you can taste the difference immediatly!
POTATOES! I've experimented a lot with potatoes. It seems best to leave them in the ground over winter and just harvest a little from an area as you need. Leave some there that will grow back next spring. They do great in a shady location like under a tree because it helps them retain lots of moisture. They will flourish in full sun too but they require excessive watering or excessive mulch for water retention (+nutrient bonus). A location with lots of indirect sun or just a couple hours of direct sun exposure will be adequate for moisture retention. I'd suggest:
Layer 1.Bury the potatoes. Optionally mark their locations with sawdust or other material.
Layer 2.sticks and twigs (easily gathered from an open tree forest with a rake) +compost and any other debris you want. Optional to skip or go thin on debris you don't want to dig through later but it's ez moisture retention
Layer 3. cardboard. don't cover directly over the potatoes unless shredded.
Layer 4. Seed Mulch or Mulch which is either just sawdust mix or sawdust mix with seeds mixed in.
I bought woodstove pellets from tractor supply which are compressed sawdust @ just under $6 per 40lb bag (I bought a pallet in bulk for discount
I mix pellets with some cheap compost manure mix I bought for $1.50 a bag to bulk it up and add worm castings and sometimes some fish manure or other "swamp water" a term for water + plants brewing in a bucket (with a lid cuz smell). Everything past the sawdust is just extras that help bulk up the substrate and add nutrition. Not necessary but atleast add some fertilizer water because it's gonna soak it up good.
Mix your pellets in a wheelbarrow or a {kitty pool ~ $8-20} with your fertilizer water. It will quickly expand then add your seeds to the mix and let it soak overnight. Alternatively for larger seeds that are more prone to birds and mice devouring them like sunflowers you can ideally soak seeds in water 12-24hr but not necessary then layer the seeds first then the mulch over top. I'm still experimenting with my seeds to mulch ratios but I put a lot of seeds and ideally a good 1/2in to 1in layer of mulch but even if you spread it thin it will work just try to avoid having bare spots in an area where you see the underlying earth/material.
-I've used the seed mulch method over bare dirt and cardboard both with great success but if done over cardboard a thick mulch is necessary or the roots may struggle to get through the cardboard if it's dry.
Seed mulch method:
-increases moisture retention drastically
-Slowly releases nutrients over time
-Makes spreading seeds SUPER easy (just toss by the handful or scatter around plants)
Most importantly don't forget to pray for your garden(:
And thanks for the great video and awesome ideas.
We bought a homestead in Kerala, India, 6 months ago that has existing fruit trees and vegetables: jackfruit, coconut, mango, guava, lemon, avocado, water apple, passion fruit vines, yam, taro, chayote, neem, ash gourd, pumpkin, banana, green chillies, basil, arrowroot, Mexican mint and curry leaves. Have established a small flock of 6 chickens and 40 quail and am selling the eggs at a small profit. Started growing amaranth and am considering adding berries, tomatoes and coriander soon.
The vegetation is extremely lush here, so weeding is a big job.
Thanks for your input!! 🙂
75, retired and just learning the truths in gardening. Thanks for the info
Try Egyptian walking onions 🌰. They come back every year and they make new sets on top of the plant instead of seeds. You can plant the sets or let them do it naturally. When the tops get heavy they naturally fall over & grow new onions. They do not bulb up, however.
Oak abode coming in with another great video. Thanks for the great info.
This spring I planted in my backyard raspberry bushes, blueberries, gooseberries, currants, elderberries and honeyberries. Some are just decorative, some will attract birds, most of them are for my family. And I'm sick of mowing grass, I'll keep planting anything I can - herbs, tomatoes, cucumbers, even wildflowers.
Loved this perspective and your thoughts. Made me think about your berry plants comment and that an another bonus is you would eat more berries than you might buy. I might not buy raspberries each week due to the ccost (more of a treat), but I would have no problem eating a ton (literally) of berries if they were "free" from my own bushes.
Gotta run... and check out more of your videos!
I agree...we are looking at a "long haul" regarding the economics situation. It's great to walk out in the garden in the mornings and eat fresh strawberries and blueberries. Even my dogs will carefully pull off the ripe berries. Beans are very important and I grow lots of them. Great in soups! Mulch well which cuts down on weeding.
Appreciated hearing the distinction between plants that give continuous harvest versus ones that you harvest once and that’s it.
Great video! So helpful! Another idea for easy fruit for jam or jelly is serviceberry tree.. if you have time mid June to process them. It’s a one time harvest. Delicious right off the tree too. Plant in high traffic area to discourage birds.
Another easy green to plant spring summer fall is tatsoi. It will make its own seeds easily and can take both heat and cold, dry or wet.
We garden as an activity, to get us off the couch and into the sunshine. Once the gardens are up and running, it is minimal (and enjoyable) work. When we retire in a hand full of years, I hope to move. We will then invest in fruit trees/bushes (we have blueberries now), and other perennial food plants (asparagus, sunchokes, etc) and even a greenhouse. For now, our gardens are a source of enjoyment and learning, with a fair bit of produce as an additional reward. :D
I’ve actually bought an herb plant in the greenhouse section of the store to use and then planted what was left to see if it would grow…..and it did! 😁
Most herbs can easily be propagated from cutting in water too.
Nothing helps your recipes to taste better than fresh herbs. And they are also very healthy and have medicinal uses too.
Hubby and I use a LOT of potatoes......organic ones. They are outrageous now in the store ($7.99 for 3 pounds), so that is one thing I gladly devote space for. Onions , garlic are also big on the list as you can make good, healthy, hearty meals with them .
I grow chards instead of spinach. It always bolts on me. I grow boc choy but it bolts too BUT my grandson comes over, he runs directly to the garden and picks the blossoms off the choy and eats them!! He loves them so I HAVE to grow them. 😉 I can grow leaf lettuces and they dont bolt. I plant them in the shade of taller plants and with leaf lettus, you plant once and harvest JUST the outside leaves and they grow all summer. You can plant an latter crop to carry you through till winter. And if you have an fish aquarium, a $7 pump and a (small tub on a shelf above, filled with stones, full of fish water, an overflow to drop back into the aquarium), makes a GREAT way to have lettuces all winter! I keep my cut scallion bottoms and stick in there too for fresh onion greens all winter! If you place the tub in a window for light, dont put your aquarium in the sun! You will either cook your fish or grow great algae!😂🤣😂🤣 I also keep a lg fish bowl of duck weed there too off (to the side), my fish love the stuff! Put a little in the aquarium from time to time. I dont eat my duck weed because it kinda grosses me out with the fish water and all. Dont think it is safe to eat when fish are involved. 🤢🤪😖 but heard you can eat it. I never tried, both inside or outside, I have fish out there too! 🐠🐟 my mom always said, "If there is a WILL, there is a WAY!!" Happy designing your gardening systems!!
💖🍃🌱
Mulch around your plants to decrease weeds. Check on your plants daily for pest and weeds and overall health, it doesn’t take long. Do a little in the a.m. and again in the evening or at least in the evening. Time well spent is putting in a watering system hooked to a dial timer so set it for 15 min and go. I used a drip system to each plant last year and it wasn’t a good idea as you plant different plants in various locations. I changed to a drip tubing system that has a drip every 4 or 6 inches depending on which you choose and it can water the whole raised bed which is what I have.
I am in Central Florida and have saved strawberry seeds and now I am harvesting runners. Looking forward to berries late summer and this fall. I also have three blueberry bushes that have given me more this season.
There are a lot of great food plants/trees you should be able to grow in that region. Eqyptian, New Zealand, Malabar, and other types of hot weather spinach substitutes, moringa, sweet potatoes, Mexican potato, yacon, sun chokes, amaranth, and some tropical fruits. Moringa can be replanted (or saved) if freezes kill it back.
raspberries "take over" here in NW Montana; straws also doing very well!!!!!
Strawberries are usually an expensive (b/c you buy plants every fall) winter crop in Florida. Nematodes and Red Steele tend to kill them in the warm season. You live in Florida; don't think like a Yank--it just doesn't work in the Deep South.
Even before i have my own tomatos i cut store-bought with my lettuce, rockett etc In the early spring i collect young dendelion, plantago and radish sprouts and chop it into cottage cheese - naturally grown "weeds" are nutrient- dense and delicious. Lettuce is efficient when planted indoors and transplanted outdoor when it is still cold.
Have chickens (need more though), 3 of my 5 have started laying. I'm in Australia so this is our low season for gardening, but I've got broccoli & cauliflower, lettuce, parsley, strawberries. I'm looking forward to September when I can start all the summer crops.
Hi Melissa what part of Australia as I am in Brisbane Qld - this is our perfect season to grow here. Cheers Denise
Great information. The only thing about micro greens to keep in mind is that you’ll have to have a source for continued seeds since the plants aren’t completing their life cycle to seed save. Thanks again.
Black sunflower seeds from the bird food isle at Walmart. Saw that on RoseRed - the prepped with a gadget! Several sizes!
@@kellywilson3688 I’d be concerned that those seeds carry more toxins from sprays. Microgreen seeds are safe to eat but with the cost of seeds, I don’t think they are cost effective.
I'm running into that issue already. I can easily use microgreens as fodder to reduce my feed costs, but I can't store years and years of seeds! Who has space for that?? I've got to figure out a way to get a crop to make it to seed
@@unnamed2737 If you have land, you can plant sunflowers (from birdseed or the expensive types) and harvest the seed heads for sprouting. Those of us living in apartments are not so fortunate. I do sprout some grocery store seeds, but am only successful with the bean family and raw flaxseed and buckwheat (both of which can be phototoxic in excess and I am as pale as non-albinos get, so that is a concern). Maybe with dirt, chia and basil (="takmaria" at Indian groceries) would work, but they don't in jars (soak up water in their gel layer, then rot because of all that water). I am fascinated by plants in the carrot family that have edible seeds and greens, but have literally zero success with those. One gets tired of fenugreek, mung, and lentil sprouts.
I'm in Eastern Canada with cold winters. I grow most of our spinach in the fall and we can eat off it all winter (along with kale) providing we cover the bed with some sort of dome (can be PVC hoops with Vapor barrier over it-our approach to all winter growing) in the spring the spinach that did appear to die off often sprouts into full production very early spring and will be the best tasting spinach, kale too, so sweet from the cold weather!! An added bonus is that the kale is a biennial and will produce these awesome broccoli like sprouts before going into flower...just fabulous greens to focus on for fall and winter instead of the unpredictability and short spring window before bolt. Try it, you'll grow it every year, I promise!
Don"t forget dry beans. Pintos, Navy, and many others are high in nutrients and are easy to grow and store. No need for refrigeration and can have a very long shelf life.
I'm growing tomatoes and the plan is to can tomato soup spaghetti sauce and pizza sauce. I started digging potatoes today and froze the smaller ones for stews this winter. I also grow cucumbers okra garlic onions and I have kale. Love gardening. One of my favorite pastimes. Also have chickens.
These are GREAT tips! Yesterday I discovered that a bunch of my seeds got wet (long story) so now I've planted WAY more than I anticipated (because why waste them) and I just hope to stay on top of them all!!! We're about to have our own tomato-beet-squash-green bean-pea-lettuce famine...🤪🤪🤪🤪
God Bless you
Make sure to seed save
I grew 100 Lbs. of potatoes, I also grew onions and carrots I want to start growing micro greens. We grow a lot of beans and purple hull peas. Thanks for the Video.
I grew some mini bell peppers for the first time this year, and was amazed by how prolific they are. They gave us much more per plant than regular bells. I can use them in salads and as an ingredient in so many Mexican, Italian or Asian dishes, too. A bag of them costs us about $7.50, and I swear I got about ten bags' worth out of eight plants.
Also, if you get blackberry plants, be sure to get thornless ones. The yields are similar to the varieties with thorns, and your hands will thank you at harvest time.
Roma tomatoes and cucumbes are what saved me a ton of money. I also have a lot of clay in my soil so I grew them in containers. This year my goal is to buy as many berry and bushes as I can to have mature over the years. My toddler loves helping. We also do a lot of radishes but we like to just snack on those any that don't make it I let go to seed
Do you use fertilizer? Which kind? Do you put anything else in the soil? Thanks!
Try oven roasted radishes 👍 toss with evoo, some herbs, garlic, balsamic vinegar, roast until tender. Yummy
Eat the young green seed pods, great tasting. Bees also love their flowers.
I'm very impressed with my newest additions this year. We started two different types of gourds picked young. They love our hot Georgia weather and we have already picked 40lbs off 4 plants
My biggest recommendation is to start small with two or three different things and grow just them. learn the plants you're growing and then add more the next year or season but slow and steady or you'll just get overwhelmed and burned out.
What types did you plant ?
I grow a lot of hot peppers🌶 and bell peppers🫑. We love pepper jelly, peppers and onions as a side dish and in other dishes, then fresh. Peppers along with herbs 🪴add lots of flavor to foods that can be bland and boring 🌻
Love your advice! I tend to eat way more veggies if I grow them. I moved a year and a half ago to a new climate and it’s a huge difference. I’m putting a greenhouse in next month and until then I’m growing potatoes, zucchini, Roma tomatoes, beefsteak tomatoes, peppers, and I have 3 green stalks for herbs, beans, cucumbers and salad stuff. I’m in the mountains so I have and acre of blackberries but very little rain. I’m now watering regularly the berries close to the house so I can utilize those for eating. If they don’t get watered they’re little hard berries. I’m babying my blueberries this year and giving them lots of fertilizer as I moved and they’re not happy. Thank God for my chickens. They’re really giving me the fertilizer that’s so hard to come by right now. I subscribed the minute you started talking! Love your advice. 🙌🏻
It has a lot to do with your grow zone. I can't grow cold crops in the Spring here in zone 9b. My spinach bolted with an early heat wave of 90 temps in early March. I grow broccoli, cabbage, spinach, lettuce, etc.. from late fall to early spring to have my beds in full use. My heat loving plants are planted out late March/early April and produce until late October/ early November. If you have space or grow bags potatoes and sweet potatoes are good producers.
Grow Malabar spinach, amaranth, Lagos spinach (which is a Celosia; boil it with a change of water to get the tannins out; those tannins keep pests away), Talinum, or even chard (if geosmin doesn't bother you) through the warm period if "spinach" is important to you. Even chaya (Mayan tree spinach) but that one must be cooked for safety as well as palatability.
Last year I got 20 bags of Blue this year due to cold and wet I got 6 single berrys
Climbing Spinach aka Malabar, grow it on tall tomato cage and many healtyy greens to feed a family. Leave the flowers and they will reseed, even in Central Illinois.
Potatoes are a great return for investment and can grow in very small spaces. I am in an apartment and only have a small balcony so I grow all of my lettuce, carrots etc and plan to grow some corn zucchini and summer squash in the complex garden that I have permission to use.
Look into simple indoor hydroponics. Krakty method. I use the all-in-one tabletop units for buttercrunch lettuce, bok choy, various greens, basil, etc, but have bought food grade buckets/lights to convert to Krakty growers for vitamin C loaded peppers and other plants that drink more water. I have little choice if I want fresh produce because I`m on SSI with no transportation in a very rural area. Gonna do my best to grow an outdoor garden but I`m in a lot of pain.
I'd would also look into aquaponics where it's less chemical based and more about using fish poo as fertilizer and well they nibble the roots which helps both win win
@@baneverything5580 Good for you, doing what you can. Thanks for the reference. God bless! hope you feel better soon.
I LOVE growing potatoes in pots, because they’re no dig!
Love growing sweet potatoes... due to lack of warmth (coastal CA), use abundant leaves & stems. Taste great... saves$$$👍
Take a 8-10 “ slip in the fall. Dip it into honey. Pick off the leaves leave 3-5 leaves on the stem. Root the stem in water. Plant it over the winter. Hey I live in 3b zone. Calgary, Ab. Canada. I like Kale too. My kids love kale chips. Zucchini’s growing this year vertically with Tomato cages.
Thank you for this! Store bought tomatoes are so gross. Red on the outside and green or hard on the inside. Perpetual spinach grows just about year round.
I've planted two apple trees and have found them to be one of the most favorite of my fruits because they really don't need much care and I can juice like crazy during fruiting season...woohoo
Get a crab apple for good pollination
Coming up on 2 years in our home and I have planted a small orchard in our backyard (apples, peach, plum, cherry, blueberries), an herb bed in front, a strawberry/rhubarb bed, and an expanding veggie garden. Planning to add a few nut trees to the backyard as well.
I haven't had much success with lettuces so I think I'll give the microgreen thing a try.
Try lovage or good king Henry or sorrel for greens. Think about sea kale if you like broccoli they are great
When considering what i would use space, time, & money on, i made a list of as many perennials and self seeding annuals as i could, and prioritized them as i grew my skills and space.
Spinach and Lettuce alternatives are worth learning about. Bolting and pests are always an issue with these tender goodies. I personally sprout indoors, because I just can't stand the slugs i battle every year. Sprouts save me during the winter months as well when I desire that burst of fresh, crisp goodness.
One example for spinach is good king Henry. It's a perennial, a win-win.
OR Honestly, foraging lambs quarters is free and gives you the same satisfaction and similar nutritional profile as spinach.
Lovage is another alternative perennial (celery).
Biggies for our house potatoes & sweet potatoes, turnips, beets (we eat a lot of them and they aren't fussy. You can also eat the entire plant). Winter squash is another staple for our house. Butternut isn't as fussy as some, you can train them to a trellis if needed, they store well, and seed saving is a breeze.
I grow in town tomatoes, eggplant, carrots spinach, beans, and potatoes I've start growing them in tub along my house that save sooooo much digging 😀 and save on not choping a potato or two. This has saved us a lot of money at the store by doing this!
Winter squash stays months just as is picked in cool storage.It grows separate from garden anywhere on the lawn clear small areas and let them go!
Great video! I always grow cucumbers and what we don't eat the chickens get. My ladies LOVE cucumbers. Tomatoes are a staple for us in the summer. I freeze them for cooking in the winter. Something new this summer is green beans. We were hoping to have enough to pickle, but have only harvested enough for a couple of stir frys. I started with 36 plants from seed, but only half of them survived. I am hoping they will produce more as the summer gets warmer here in Northern California.
Bush beans are better than pole beans in production and they prefer crowding so more plants in one spot. 3 or 4 seeds in one hole and 12 inches or so appart. We use blue lake bush beans and provider bush beans and you can re seed about a week after first sprouting of the first batch because critters will eat some.
I am experimenting with growing azolla (duckweed) in order to use it as a substrate for oyster and shiitake mushrooms. I'm not sure if it's going to work, but given that 10m2 of pond can grow enough azolla to fill a grow bag (and thus be able to regularly harvest mushrooms) every couple of days under the right conditions it seems like it's worth a try.
It can also be fed to ducks (unsurprisingly) as their primary fodder either dried or fresh, in order to reduce their feed costs to close to zero. One duck can be sustained on just a couple of square meters of pond space, which would make duck eggs a cheap option for protein. Other poultry doesn't like duckweed so much, but even so research suggests you can replace about 5% of the daily fodder for most animals with duckweed without any loss in productivity or growth rate (compared to high performance feeds).
The other place duckweed can be useful is if you're growing mealworms or black soldier fly larvae for your ducks/quail/chickens/aviary birds/reptiles. Both mealworms and BSF larvae seem perfectly happy eating duckweed, although you might have to partially dry it off for mealworms (not entirely sure on that point). Obviously if you're hardcore mealworms are edible by humans, but I prefer to feed them to my birds as 10% of their daily fodder and enjoy the meat from the birds instead. Much less gross all around. :)
The other thing is that duckweeds can be eaten in small amounts by people. I hear they make an ok part of a salad for fresh greens. It's not gonna replace lettuce anytime soon though I suspect, as humans don't deal well with too much of the flavanols, tannins, etc either.
Finally, azolla in particular makes amazing fast compost. Harvest it wet, and put it in a pile under a tarp for a fortnight or so and it will have self digested into super nutritious high nitrogen fertilizer.
Duckweeds are species in the genus Lemna, flowering plants that seem to be absurdly minimalist floating micro-arums except unlike arums they are edible w/o extreme cooking (I would still cook that intended for human food because of the risk of free swimming aquatic parasites). Azolla is a floating microfern. Both multiply absurdly quickly and have historically been used for fodder. I am a bit leary of Azolla because it uses cyanobacteria to fix nitrogen, and I don't trust cyanobacteria (b/c of non-protein amino acids like BMAA which is associated with Parkinsonism, dementia, and more recently, Alzheimer's; also other cyanotoxins are found in algal blooms at least) Lemna doesn't fix nitrogen, so it is theoretically less productive, but in my opinion safer than anything that associates with cyanobacteria.
Second year in a row where we are getting tomatoes but not in a way that makes it easy to can them. We did determinate this year, yet they aren't all ready. We get about 3 or 4 ready every couple of days. I think we'll never have enough ripe at the same time to can. My berries were bad this year because we didn't know about the problems in the beds before they fruited. We have so many zuc's already and weren't planning on this kind of yield. Only hubby eats them. Now we're scrambling to preserve them in ways that he will want later. Hubby says he planted an eggplant this year, but I can't find it. The peppers are tiny where last year they were huge. The fripping cuc's this year! Last year he ordered the wrong number and got these weird cuc's that are all spines and no meat. This year they are strange shaped and spines, but we made sure to buy normal cucs already started from the co-op. Like, wth happened. Why are they covered in spines? Why are they all curving into mini circles? The herbs have gone to seed. We were gone for a week. Weren't quite there before we left, were seed when we got back. All this 'it's easy and affordable' nonsense. No, it's not easy or affordable for everyone! Do your calculations include soil, your labor, and all the other expenses that people normally don't include in comparing growing your own to buy at the store? Had my berries been good, I would of gotten 4 pies worth. It cost $60 to fix the beds. We're not even sure it solved the problems. All this 'it's easy and affordable' nonsense! No, it's not. Not for everyone. Factor in the cost of prepping the land to produce crops and your labor. Include the cost of equipment and fertilizer, etc. when talking about 'savings'. 'Well, you only buy it once..' Learn to amortize! These 'other' costs are important factors in if your really saving or not.
You have to put in maintaining time yes and you have to make your own mulch yes and yes its work and yes things can go wrong. Like you grew those weird spined cucumbers and they pollinated and contaminated the local co-opt seed and plants. And yes herb will bolt it happens but you just have to keep going when mistakes happen. It happens to everyone heck be glad you didnt have poison ivy show up in your berry bed like we did. It happened get over it and keep on going and figure out what went wrong and go from there. Fix what you can this season and plan better for next year. You just deal with what you got or learn to like what you got or learn what works better.
My garden grows kale great but I couldn't acquire a taste for them. Finally I found one, a creamy spinach recipe that I changed to kale. Now I enjoy the kale. I don't have the difficulties to grow kale, as I do with spinach,collards and mustard. Happy!
Could I get the recipe? I have the same issue with kale!
Thank you for this video. I've canned and dehydrated food for years. This year I am focusing on dehydrating and powering all my berries, fruit, herbs and other veggies. Saves space and stores longer. Doing blueberries and Arapahoe black berries right now. Good stuff.
Great ideas! I wish I lived in a climate I could grow berries.
Growing eggplant and having a ton of it forced me to learn how to use it. There are a lot of great ways to cook eggplant. I've gotten my money's worth and then some considering the plants are now three years old and still producing tons.
If I lived in Arizona, I'd be growing cactus berries. Some Echinocereus taste a lot like strawberries. Horse Crippler is also good. I don't like the rocklike seeds of Opuntia, but it is a fail-safe emergency food as both fruit and vegetable (nopales). Just make sure you have a blowtorch or flamethrower to get the spines and glochids off. (Eggplant is technically a berry, but doesn't taste like one.)