Don McDowell wrote:A small garden will definetly provide some food for a family, but there's precious little chance it'll produce enough to keep a family alive over the course of the year. A person can only eat so dang much zuccini....
Yes supposedly you can keep a garden in continous production thru the year. But to do so will be extememly hard on the nutrients of the soil.
And yes for most of my life there's been a garden grown. However in the last few years with just the two of us in the house the cost of watering etc, for the little dab of produce derived doesn't even begin to be cost efficient.
So grow your garden, but back it up with something substantial enough to keep you going for the year.
Don, I'm certainly not arguing that other sources of food stuffs will be needed. I understand that you are meaning well by playing devil's advocate and pointing out the shortcomings of the situation. It's not ideal to say the least, and having more land to cultivate is better in all ways.
My point is that its worth the effort and preparation. Having only 1/2 the amount of food you need is much better than zero and increases your chances of changing the situation.
Let me ask you this: I have 400 foot (on side) of fencing (4-7' tall - avg 6') to use as arbors. What kind of annual production would that amount of vining plants produce? I'm thinking zuc, cucumbers, grapes, etc... I know it really depends on what you plant - so suggest the best and go from there.
I have the sides of buildings to use too and would most probably extend the fencing to the front yard for security - creating another 200' workth of one-sided arbor space.
As to the survival aspect of this - if things are that bad, the folks in the country will no doubt start truck farms and the farmer's market will explode = there will be great demand. Further, every backyard in the city will have a chicken coop and/or rabbit hutch. I could see catfish ponds popping up in the surrounding areas too. The climate is perfect for that.
Yes, chicks and rabbits have to eat too - rabbits would probably (?) be handled with garden-by products and rejects but the chickens would need feed - I would probably start raising crickets for them too - have some experience with that.
One good thing about having the garden and chicks/rabbits is that their waste would go into the compost and in time become fertilizer to cycle into the garden.
I sure would be interesting thats for sure. As in "may you live in interesting times" interesting...