How easy to grow food and keep livestock?

[okra]

Why wait to TSHTF - why not get an allotment and start learning about growing your own food or as suggested atrat growing herbs, salad leaves or tomatoes in containers.

[moocher]

If you can nurture ordinary garden plants and capable of looking after cage birds,then your capable of growing veg and keeping chickens or ducks.
The same principals apply.
I don't know why there's such a myth over only country folk being able to live the good life.

Growing vegetables is just like any other skill, it needs practice and more practice and even then you are at the mercy of the weather, pests, and any number of other issues out of your control. Anyone who thinks they can sow a few seeds, wait a few months, and then fill their larder with all the produce is either misinformed or an eternal optimist, or maybe both. No doubt some people would be lucky, but relying on luck isn't the best option for survival.

You're right that you dont have to be a farmer out in the country to grow veg and live the good life, plenty of city residents have good skills and knowledge, but they gained those skills by growing veg in their gardens or on their allotments and by constantly learning from their experience.
Totally agree but for anyone starting out that might be daunted,they don't need to be,most people keep pets and potter in the garden.
But it's true the more you put in the more you will get out.

In my opinion learning how to grow and store your own food is one of the most important skills you can learn from a prepping point of view and it is far more difficult than many people/preppers imagine.

Totally agree but for the novice there's no need to be daunted like its some arcane art form only a country person can preform.

[skinhead]

i have very little knowlage of gardening and dont have much space to grown in anyway, but i am interested in finding out what plants/veg can basically be planted and pretty much left to its self ? i know fruit trees and bushes do this year after year but are there any veg i can plant in various fields and woods and leave them till the shtf ? also will they grow back season after season or do all vegetables just grow then die and rot away if not harvested, i know it sounds pretty basic to most but i've never really had the chance to try and grow plants like this before

[junmist]

i have very little knowlage of gardening and dont have much space to grown in anyway, but i am interested in finding out what plants/veg can basically be planted and pretty much left to its self ? i know fruit trees and bushes do this year after year but are there any veg i can plant in various fields and woods and leave them till the shtf ? also will they grow back season after season or do all vegetables just grow then die and rot away if not harvested, i know it sounds pretty basic to most but i've never really had the chance to try and grow plants like this before

you need to look at container gardening and also permaculture for your small plot. As for throwing veg out into fields and woods first I would look at wild food to see what you can eat that already grows without the hand of man and try cooking and eating it but remember if your not 100% sure leave it. As for the veg you need to look at old types of veg, you can get some that are called heritage seeds or you can enquire to the national seed bank (but they like you to pass more seed around) as these are more likley to bolt and reseed themself than the moden day types

[TwoDo]

Could we learn it all from books?

You are wise to ask. IMHO the answer is that gardening is a skill and you have to learn it by doing it. I advise you to get started now - in pots if nothing else. There are plenty of winter veg which can be planted for spring harvest. Post SHTF you will want to know what, how and when to plant to provide food over the winter. You need these skills in your head, not in a book.

However, if you do wish to just start from scratch one day, you could do worse than to have a copy of this book around. "Gardening When It Counts: Growing Food in Hard Times - by Steve Solomon". This book provides the basic advice and information which will get your garden going if you really, really, need the results to work out. For example, many veggies are tricky and others are pretty much a sure thing. If you are planting a garden in a hurry you'll want to know about that.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gardening-When- ... 86571553X/

As a city slicker, agriculture is a mystery to me, but in a SHTF situation how easy would it be for me and other dummies to go out into the country to settle in a deserted farmhouse and start growing food?

Just as a bit of a challenge, what makes you think that the necessary items will be available post SHTF? Maybe if there is an epidemic and 90% of the population goes there might be an available surplus of tools, fertilizer, and above all, seeds. In other SHTF circumstances everybody, and I mean everybody, will have the same idea at the same time. There is no way to provide gardening supplies to the entire population. You should consider laying in a supply of the basics - even if you don't use them. This issue is of considerable concern to me - I posted a thread on this topic some time ago.

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=3935&p=43908&hilit=seed#p43908

[Maddie_cat]

I seriously echo what they ^^^^ say. You can read as many books as you like but until you actually get out there, you won't fully understand it. For example, you can actually smell good soil as well as feel it but until you have that experience, you can't say one way or the other. The same too with the ability to grow veg. Sure you can bung a seed into the ground and water it but until you have gone through the actual experience of nurturing the seed/ling, you won't know what to do or how to react to situations.

I suggest you start off with container growing and then look at a lotty.

[edward.21]

I seriously echo what they ^^^^ say. You can read as many books as you like but until you actually get out there, you won't fully understand it. For example, you can actually smell good soil as well as feel it but until you have that experience, you can't say one way or the other. The same too with the ability to grow veg. Sure you can bung a seed into the ground and water it but until you have gone through the actual experience of nurturing the seed/ling, you won't know what to do or how to react to situations.

I suggest you start off with container growing and then look at a lotty.

If your area is anything like mine put your name down on the allotment waiting list now as ours is THREE years long

[Maddie_cat]

If your area is anything like mine put your name down on the allotment waiting list now as ours is THREE years long

I was lucky - mine was only a couple of months.

Even so, put your name down for it NOW and use the time reading, preparing and container growing

[TwoDo]

If your area is anything like mine put your name down on the allotment waiting list now as ours is THREE years long

In most allotments, the lot has to be worked and fully utilized or the council will take it back and give it to someone else. This is problematic for the elderly who are no longer physically capable of working an entire allotment but who do not wish to give it up. Maybe go down there on a weekend in the early spring and look at the allotments that are starting to struggle and talk to the holder - perhaps you could volunteer to help them out with physical labour and/or pay some of the allotment fee in return for a section of it to grow for yourself. You will also get a _ton_ of advice.

If you know someone who as an allotment that wishes to give it up, ask them to list you as a joint holder with the council. You take it on, pay the fees etc, and then after a few years you change the list again to show only you as the allotment holder. Effectively the allotment has been transferred directly to you.

Investigate local garden sharing schemes. Maybe post a note in the post office/local store stating that you'll help out in return for access to a patch of land.

[jansman]

Preppingsu had it nailed. Good post, thanks. Can it all be learned from books? Yes-and no. You need to DO it. 22 yrs. I had this garden, and only now do I really feel I know what I am doing. But do not let all that put you off. You have to start somewhere.

When you start, start small. Do it well. Then expand. Those seed catalogues are great at making you think you can be self sufficient!!!
The same goes for livestock. Rabbits are good and so is poultry. This is where books come into thier own. I had a ten year gap at poultry keeping, and by reading -up before stocking, i was made aware of housing, feeding, pests, the law etc. all new in the decade I had not kept fowls!

So have a go at gardening. May I suggest a little wigwam of runner beans, a few tomatoes and courgettes? Easy and prolific, and it may whet your appetite. Who knows? You may venture into livestock? But if you do progress, you need to speak to preppingsu- keeping pigs is hardcore!