Survival Gardening 10, self reliance emergency preparedness

[PostPetroleumPrepper]

I guess im pretty good then thanks for the compliment. Study aquaponics if you want a small self sufficient ecosystem

[xyzzy29]

Even if you have large animals, you're going to have to feed those large animals. Feeding a cow year round is going to take a good sized hay field and pasture, which will need fertilizer to yield well. And you'll need feed for the cold weather months. Hard to do without outside inputs or an acreage that is already set up to feed animals.

[PQRLOVE]

I live on the richest soil in the world, the IL prairie. I grow my vegies in 5 gal containers. Much easier. I spread a straw mulch down on the traditional garden space and then set the pots in the same area. Much less weed problem. Much cheaper in that the expensive worm castings don't get lost in the dirt. Rich soil means big weeds. This system solves the problem. I use about 150 containers. Better than raised bed since you won't lose the soil supplements you add. There are two of us

[TheEdward8888]

use rockdust



[ivankinsman]

You can easily get some cow manure from a local farmer or, alternatively if you have the land and the time, get a cow yourself. Alternatively, you can put in nitrogen rich plants (people use a plant called lubin in Poland) and then dig these in. We have very poor soil in our area - grade 6 (grade 1 is the best) and admittedly we do need to manure it every year and add addtional compost when required.

[DrReaper]

Buy some worms and make some great soil. 

[gigantopithecus01]

He's right about the compost. If you're very lucky, you'll get 1 cu.ft. of decent compost for every 10 cu. ft. of material you start with. And it takes time, time, time. I have two small heaps for my little garden. It's not enough. I also grow beans for covercrop/green manure, and other little tricks. It's not enough.

[WoodlandRavah]

I live in colorado and the soil here is crap! Pine needles, 50% rock and pebble, 0 organi matterc... This is gona be a challenge... I need calcium, ash, mulch, and humus...

[Eaglecreekbrewer]

Great series. One thing you never touched on as far as soil maintenance is crop rotation. By growing certain crops and rotating them around you can help not deplete one area and better prepare that area for a different plant the next season. It's far from a cure all and the need to add other things to it, but every little bit helps.

[SurvivalReport]

@Eaglecreekbrewer Should be in around 13-15 IIRC. Thanks for watching.

[Eaglecreekbrewer]

Yeah, I spoke to soon, I see you covered it in the next video. I enjoyed it, great information. It's nice to see someone separating reality from the delusion most people have. I found you through your beekeeping vids as it became apparent they would be a great addition to both my orchard, garden and sustainable food supplies. Great channel and I will explore it further as time allows.

[SurvivalReport]

@Eaglecreekbrewer No problem, thanks for watching and glad you have enjoyed and benefited from them.

[YouMockMe]

Humanure. Problem solved.

[jakearick]

if you prepare properly you absolutely can grow 100% organically enough food for five on a 150 by 50 sq ft area. Ive watched a few of your vids and i agree with everything but your views on being able to garden organically and sustainably. You should definitely check out permaculture design by Geoff Lawton. It is a whole knew take on growing food. You already do practice some basic permaculture principles. Anyway like the garden vids

[SurvivalReport]

@jakearick A 150 x 50 area is much larger than most suburbanites have, many house lots are not that large in the suburbs. Keep in mind also that when I talk about growing enough food for your family it means enough to eat fresh AND put back to keep you till next year- NOT JUST some to eat fresh during the season. Thanks for watching.

[trippticket]

Seems like there are always two ways to approach agriculture - the industrial way and the "green tech" way. Just as there is blue vs. red, conservative vs. liberal. In this case it's conventional vs. organic agriculture.

How about a third option? Snail pace soil building has been put to rest. You can improve soil rapidly and organically, and ultimately do away with inputs altogether, with permaculture methods, including keyline plowing and water harvesting.

[SurvivalReport]

Look forward to seeing your videos with your ideas in action on a large scale. .....

[donze52]

My parents in the 1929 depression, garden, in road ditches for extra land.

they made their own bug repellent for their crops. worked then and I still use it today for free.

use your own PEE for fertilizer, works great for free

save your own seed, near the weight of gold in value.

[SurvivalReport]

We got some goats a few months ago and have included "done" garden areas into their pasture rotations. You might could do the same with the sheep. The goats get in there, clean up a lot of the residual plant material, poop everywhere. Use combination panels to keep them where you want them. We'll shoot a little video covering this soon. Basically let the animals do some of the garden cleanup and fertilization for you- saves some work hauling manure, etc.

[ggmorvaj]

That sounds like a practical arrangement. But for us, we already invested in wire fencing& it's adequate for sheep......but goats have a talent for escaping wire fencing(& any other kind, too) so I'm thinking we'd better stick to what we've got....besides, my mom spins & knits AMAZING warm sock & sweaters (my favorite Christmas gift)..........& she loves the wool.

[ggmorvaj]

We keep 4-10 sheep(& their lambs for the spring/summer)on 4acres pasture from May to Oct .Keep them out there 24/7 & manure replenishes pasture.We need another 4 acres hay to keep them over the winter &most of this winter manure is put on the garden(acre +).We rotate crop/hay/pasture so fertility's maintained adequate(only the garden needs really high fertility). So I guess it takes us 8 acres of hay/pasture to keep our garden productive! Still need to "import" lime every 4-5 yrs.This is.....

[ggmorvaj]

in the North East. If we had less than the 10 acres (+woodlot) I know for sure we'd have to buy some fertilizer. It'd be interesting to hear from other people if the "formula" is different in other areas.....almost forgot to add....Thanks for the awesome & helpful videos.

[merloutre7]

I love that you talk about the weeds. Every time I see people pulling up all the weeds to make the perfect little rows it drives me crazy. Any sort of decomposing plant should add nutrients to your soil. As long as it's not a forest it's not a big deal.

[CorpusChristi83]

I agree, you can't really always grow EVERYTHING with 100% Organic everything, but you can use a majority of at least 85-90% organic, it just tends to be more expensive, But if you're hungry enough, it's not important if it's organic, or not, as long as it's edible, and gives you some nourishment.

[blowuputube]

great stuff man, watched through #10 will catch the rest after dinner.

[ch0n9]

Then you use bokashi, indigenous microbes, compost tea to feed your plants. HEY but really thanks for what you are doing is NEEDED!

[ch0n9]

Thanks for the good info, there will not be any fertilizer if there is economic collapse. People that are self sufficient have inverted in their soil for years and years (compost adding). Ag was like that before (100yrs ago) but it was screwed by fertilizers killing the microbes and worms as well as fungicides and other. The only way that you can really be 100% self is adding adding compost compost compost all years... kind of late to do that for many folks.

[SurvivalReport]

Should probably take a gander at episode 14 if you really believe that putting any fertilizer on the soil will kill earthworms.... Their is undisputable proof that isn't true in that video.

Yes, kinda late for folks just getting into it to do a lot to build their soil. That's the main reason we are covering this the way we are covering it. Do everything you CAN for your soil, and we show that and talk about that, but most people will only start serious gardening as they get hungry.

[mog99]

I hear about composting toilets. Does anyone here know anything about those? Is that a practical idea? I know its sort of cave-man to 'make' and a hole- but if it works...

[SurvivalReport]

I'm all for soil improvement, crop rotation, cover crops, use of manures, etc. however I'm NOT into "absolutes" and I will use a spray to SAVE TREES (which it did!). Does that mean I slather DDT on the ground everywhere? Of course not, but to the granola heads, if you EVER have to use a single chemical your practically a heretic! I guess that is why you see so few of them actually LIVING out their beliefs. I'm upfront and honest about the fact that you MAY need them, but I prefer not to! Thanks

[pjchmiel]

Commercial fertilizers work well in the short term, but in the long run they will break your "bank" as they have done with the large-scale monoculture farms. The soil of this country is nearly ruined from mismanaged agriculture, plowing, and chemical inputs. In the longer term, there won't be any more chemical inputs, so people will have to adapt to growing without them, it can be done! I think you can grow a lot more food with a lot less land if you layer crops using permaculture principles.

[SurvivalReport]

Well keep in mind as I've mentioned before that we did the full "organic" thing for many years. Wouldn't say results were "miserable" but they were a LOT less. I realize to the organo-nazi's I am a heretic because I mentioned using 34-0-0 on a corn crop and spraying to SAVE FRUIT TREES, but the reality of the situation is that we have only sprayed to SAVE FRUIT TREES when their was NO OTHER RECOURSE, no "organic control" that would work. Their isn't always easy answers in the real world.

[pjchmiel]

I noted that, and I realize that with fruit trees especially the difference may be tremendous. The variety of tree you planted may have some vulnerability that another may not?...dwarf trees stocks aren't as robust as full-size, though they bear much sooner, etc. I'm just saying that there are different approaches within "organic" agriculture. I'd love for you to check out the video I linked to in another comment, and also "forest gardening" videos. Long-term, we won't have chemicals to use. :)

[charper3006]

excellent advice

[FriarTuck1961]

Wonderful advice.

Thank you.

[steelhorses2004]

I guess you have a tractor do the discing. I've used the little ones towed behind a 4 wheeler on food plots and they don't get it as fine as your soil is.

[SurvivalReport]

Yep, 6' disc and small tractor

[Signzit]

google or youtube: Soil Secrets

[Carlstens]

Keep up that relationship with the farmer that has the cows!