Yesterday I described the backyard destruction and subsequent transformation for my sorta-rural, sorta-suburban garden area. There was a fair amount of square footage for a first time gardener, and I had no illusions that I could take it all on the first year. So I sectioned off manageable spaces ….
In the first raised bed you can see where made “squares” with twine. That was to help employ a little square foot gardening action. The upper two raised beds are 4′ wide TEOTWAWKI potato beds. Knowing the path areas would quickly become consumed by weeds, I went to the hardware store and bought numerous bails of straw, thinking I’d mulch the shit out of it with straw to help keep those weed seeds down ….
You can see old boards I had salvaged sitting between rows of seedlings. I figured these would 1) reduce soil compaction around the plants, 2) allow me to flip them over to find and slay slugs, 3) be cool to walk on, and 4) finally get the friggin’ boards out of my basement. Those tomato cages you see stuck in the ground really suck. They’re too weak to properly support the tomato plants that grew. Those will change next year. In the back left corner you see more TEOTAWKI potato beds.
I knew it’d be important the first year to establish a few perennial beds to get those moving along. I built an herb bed out of stones I had laying around.
That thing is a pleasure to weed, because my hands always smell like chocolate mint after I’m done. The left corner of the stone bed contains horseradish. In the left corner of the fence you can see rhubarb I transplanted. Behind the fence is the beginning of a new compost pile. Near the bottom of the pic is a strawberry bed. Not pictured is a raised asparagus bed I built inside cedar boards.
There was additional garden space that I didn’t have time to deal with, so rather than let it all go to weeds, I spread more straw. Around the edges of the fence I put down newspapers with soy-based ink under the straw to help the weed slaying process even more. The garden is entirely organic. Things were going well with the new garden up to this point.
Tomorrow – Satan’s Seed!
- Ranger Man
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{ 7 comments }
Hey cool pics. Why do you call ‘em TEOTWAWKI potato beds? how many potatoes can you produce here? I’m completely new to gardening but want to get in on it.
Look forward to reading more about your successes (and failures) — good luck
“TEOTWAWKI potato beds” – because it sounds cool, and if you click on the link in the article, you’ll learn a bit about potatoes as a TEOTWAWKI treat.
Potatoes are good things to grow. Pretty easy too. Not to mention that they can keep, in their raw state, for 6 months or more. That is dependent on the conditions where they are kept. Cool and somewhat dry, but not too dry, or they shrivel up.
Still like it.
Hmmm…. Know I’m going out on a limb here…
Have you thought of a “medical/recreational” garden? A lot of plants have medical usees and other very useful charateristics. The Hemp plant also known as Cannabis or Marijuanna… In a TEOTWAWKI sceanario the hemp plant has great merrits. The hemp seeds contain ALL the essential amino acids and essential fatty acids necessary to maintain healthy human life. The stems make great fibers for rope/twine and fabrics, the leaves can be used in salads, the seeds contain about 30-35% oil that can readily be made into biofuel.
In a TEOTWAWKI sceanario marijuana would be a great trading item because of its “recreational” uses but also a great pain reliever. Imagine going to a dentist in a TEOTWAWKI sceanario without a general anaesthetic… Now imagine the same sceanario stoned out of your mind… Doesn’t seem so intimidating anymore…
DISCLAIMER: In the world as we know it growing hemp is restricted to licenced hemp/marijuana producers. But in a TEOTWAWKI it is the end of the world as we know it…
I second the use of hemp in a survival situation (and otherwise) for its versatility, multiple uses, and strong fibers. There is something to be used in literally every part of the plant.
If you are a current pot head and have the misfortune of smoking poor quality cannabis, do yourself a favor and make a not so great thing beneficial by saving all the seeds you can make room for. This plant is one of the most useful and powerful species in the plant kingdom. It would be a great folly not to utilize it.
Also learning to GROW poppies would be useful for preparation purposes. They can be a bit tricky to grow at first but once you get it down you not only will have a garden full of beautiful scarlet flowers with deep black centers but in a TEOTWAWKI situation the alkaloids the poppy produces would be of great value and usefulness. In the meantime grow them for their beauty and do your best resist the urge to score them with your pocket knife lol.
Forgot to mention that cannabis does great things for the soil that it is grown in. It replenishes essential micro and macro nutrients that most plants leech out of the soil. A great feature when you need to replenish the soil from heavy cultivation of fruits and veggies.
Don’t overlook a great survival asset by buying into the fear, uncertainty, and doubt that almost a century of prohibition has done to damage the reputation of this highly useful plant.