Could you really grow enough to survive with a family?

[enjoy the ride]

I was checking out a garden site and was amazed that people were having trouble growing squash and greens. I haven't really gardened seriously since I built my house 7 years ago- small things but not serious- too many othe project.
But I have been doing some last year and did more this year and will be focussing on the garden next season.

Is it a really bad year for gardens or do people really have that much trouble with the whole idea? The people both answering and asking seemed mighty short on what I consider basic information.

I have basically grown enough in the past to fulfill my needs and spread the treasure around. But I wonder if something has basically changed for the worse.

I was working with a 19 year old and mentioned that I was planning to plant an insect garden because I remember that there would be flock of butterflies around when I was a kid and there are so few now. He said that there were even less than when he was younger (I was going to say kid but to me he's still a kid-lol.)

Could this be an issue- am I deluding myself that I can just grow things like I used to do?

 

[Nuggetsowner:)]

I have heard many people have not had a good garden year. I personally have had a great garden year despite a bad storm. I think alot of it has to do with weather and experience, or lack of experience. I have put alot into my freezer and canned plenty this year as well as drying many herbs for use this winter. So if your question is can you feed a family out of a garden? My answer is definately, if you are willing to do the work that goes along with it!

 

[patandchickens]

As for the subject-line question, I am quite sure I could if I *had* to, but it would require opening up (and improving) vastly more garden space than I have, and it would really really suck, workwise (and I am not sure how our well would feel about it, because in that case I would really want to be watering regularly tho I am not now) and I devoutly hope to never be in circumstances that would require it! I would also have to build, and learn to maintain, a largeish root cellar type dealie, which might be rather challenging in our swamplike conditions. Oh, and it would help if my family really, REALLY liked eating canned tomatoes and frozen green beans

Weather: I don't know about other parts o' the continent, but here it has been a very good year if you are a lettuce plant and fairly lousy for much else. OTOH, how many 'average' years are there ever?

I think people having trouble with squash and greens is quite often one or more of the following: people trying to garden on crappy soil (which could be, but has not been yet, amended and fluffed and improved); people who are new to gardening who do not yet know that every little thing is not necessarily a problem (e.g. 'my squash has started flowering now but the blossoms just fall off w/o setting fruit' b/c they are male or unpollinated flowers); and people who are just getting into gardening and are at the early part of the learning curve.

(It may be hard to remember but there really IS a learning curve in gardening (move to somewhere with very, very different climate and soil and you will be reminded of this yourself ) and many things that may seem patently obvious are not necessarily so. Plus, remember that people are much more likely to seek out and post to an online gardening forum if they ARE, or think they are, having problems, so there is probably extra sample-bias that way)

But you know what, everyone who's astonished because they can't grow watermelons in brick-dry clay up north in September will (if they stick with it) EVENTUALLY be much more adept and sensible, and then if they had the land and time and energy to put into it, they too could support their family (or pretty much so) on what they can grow

JMHO,

Pat

 

[Beekissed]

I would say yes, with the proper place to store food and methods by which to preserve. My garden was a might crappier than usual but managed to put up some food for the family.

I can't imagine NOT having food from the garden put by! I don't know how most folks feed their families with the food prices the way that they are without supplementing from the garden.

My mother managed to feed us out of the root cellar for years, as did my grandmother for her family. I think its easier for kids to adapt to that kind of food when they were started out on it, though.

 

[FarmerChick]

Absolutely a family could survive on a garden...of almost any size if done properly and good soil (improve it yourself if necessary)

People usually now garden but don't tend it. Why? Cause the store is the backup. But in times when the garden WAS survival, you didn't play in it, you tended it to live and eat.

So it is lack of needing I believe. If it was truly needed, yup, you can do anything.

And you need to understand what grows in your area, how to tier plant, etc. to get maxiumum benefits etc....things not needed and are alot of work.

 

[me&thegals]

Nope--I would not even want to think about having to grow grain crops beyond the pile of sweetcorn we grow. But, maybe potatoes would yield enough calories to get us through. On the other hand, I could definitely grow/forage enough fruits and vegetables for our family for the year.

I had an excellent lettuce/spinach/greens year! But, my squash are a bit stinky. I rotate, improve the soil, use floating row covers and pick off squash bugs by hand. But, the squash bugs have killed off some of the summer squash and zucchini plants anyway. A few of the winter squash are rotten from what I think may be squash borer. We are also getting hit quite hard by Japanese beetles, which seem to like eating EVERYthing!

You know, I think growing vegetables has a fairly steep learning curve and so many people have not grown up learning how to do it. I feel really lucky to have already had a lot of experience in it by the time I left home

 

[pioneergirl]

As a new gardener, I would have to answer yes to your question. There was a lot of learning for me, but overall, I was giving stuff away to family after canning my own....some stuff I had an abundence of, other stuff, eh. I kept a book o' notes, and will know for next year.

Beyond that, I went to Old Thresher's and they had a story board about soil conditions, etc. 100 years ago the good topsoil was 12-14 inches deep, now its like 6 inches. Maybe that is a contributing factor, maybe not. Climate change, etc might make us all have to adjust, but I think I could grow enough to feed my family.

 

[enjoy the ride]

I think that I was lucky when I started- the climate was very temperate and the water plentiful- the soil was deep but clay so I amended with manure from the stable. The only trouble I ever had was raccoons and corn- a little with deer.
But that is next to the city (ie 25000 population.) Now I garden in a place when it's in the fog a lot, gets snow, gets very hot at times, has limited water and the soil is maybe 3 inches deep. The surrounding redwoods make a lot of shade.
It also has a very impermable layer of something about 2-3 feet down. So our rain of about 60-70 inches, which all falls between the end of November and May each year, saturates the top layer and I have water everywhere-dig a hole and water is 6 inches down til late summer when it all is bone dry.
This is much more of a challenge. I am trying to make raised beds in the place that gets the most sun. I tried to double dig but there are broken redwood logs everywhere that I could not get rid of.
But I am not sure I could raise enough here to be self-sufficient. Good for berries but the wild life's an issue.

 

[krjwaj]

We have the space to do it, but our soil is hard and clay-ish and its need to be properly prepared. We tried for tomoatoes, pumpkin and cukes this year and failed.

We did move the tomaotes plant to another location however and now there are a few little guys growing on there.

So, I guess with proper prep and maintenance, many people could...or hire someone else to...

 

[Beekissed]

I had to laugh a little when I was reading on all the forums about all the produce people had canned. Then came in all the pics of the shining little jars all lined up. Maybe a few pints of this and a few quarts of that and folks were so excited about all the vegetables they had gleaned from their gardens!

When I was growing up, it was nothing to put in 100-200 qts of tomatoes, 100-200 qts of corn, as well as a whiskey barrel of pickled corn, 100 qt. of green beans, 100 qts. of apple sauce, 25-50 qts. of assorted veggies such as pickles, peppers, green tomatoes, jelly, and honey. Our bin of potatoes would be approx. 3 ft. X 3 ft. X 5 ft. and filled to overflowing. Not to mention around 50-75 qts. of deer meat.

All of this was done without running water and on a wood cook stove.....in August...in a tiny kitchen with no electricity.

My mother, even now, usually puts in around 100 qts. of tomatoes. She and Dad are vegetarians, so they still live very much out of their garden.

We worked our garden like it was the difference between life and death back then, so it can be done with the proper motivation and some hard work.