A Survival garden would be one where it is essential to grow all that one needs to eat. This might occur in what the prepper people call a “grid down or SHTF situation” or even if one finds oneself in a really difficult financial situation. A Self-reliance garden can be a little less intimidating or self sufficient in only one or a few veg, or for a only part of the time, perhaps just summer salads. However, moving from a kitchen garden or even a garden with an aim to reduce the grocery bill a bit to an actual survival garden would be a paradigm shift, but it might be something to just think about.
So, what makes the difference? In my mind there are a few requirements for the species that would be chosen for such a garden. The veg for my survival garden would have to be easy to grow from sustainable seed sources, easy to harvest, and easy to store.
Which veg would make the list? It would not have to be an extensive list, or a prescriptive one. John Steed of Homesteading Downunder suggests a list of five categories: a starchy staple, a high protein legume, a vitamin rich coloured vegetable, a leafy green, and a fruit.
Here is how I would choose:
There would first have to be a staple. That is, a high carbohydrate food like potatoes, sweet potatoes or grain. While I can and have grown lots of grains in my climate, I would probably choose potatoes because they are far more productive than grains per square foot of garden space. Calorie rich spuds contain lots of vitamins and minerals as well as an appreciable amount of protein. I don’t need any special equipment to plant or harvest them and they will keep just fine for months in some kind of cool, dark, frost-free storage area. Next year’s crop can be planted from this year’s tubers, so no problem with seeds. For variety I might also plant a little corn. This is one grain that is easy to grow and harvest without any equipment.
I would choose at least one legume. This is essentially beans or peas. Good for fresh use in summer and simple to dry and store for winter. Legumes are where all “plant-based proteins” come from. Soybean is probably the most complete protein of all legumes, but it is not well adapted to my climate. I would instead plant a variety of pea and bean cultivars. Lentils are not commonly grown in Saskatchewan home gardens despite us being one of the world’s largest commercial producers of lentils. We export them instead of eating them …? Like corn and potatoes, this year’s crop can be used for next year’s seed.
A coloured vegetable would be essential for vitamin intake. Root veg like carrots, beets and rutabaga can be stored along with the potatoes. Winter squash will keep just fine in the same conditions humans enjoy. Seed for the biennial roots crops will take a little more work as stored roots have to be replanted the next year and allowed to grow to maturity for seed production. Squash seeds of course are inside the squash, but keeping the genetics pure requires a bit of planning and attention.
Leafy green veggies are nutrition powerhouses that should find a way into any survival garden but are a bit trickier if one is planning for a grid-down situation. In summer our gardens provide ample selections of lettuces, spinach, kale and summer brassicas; but how can they be stored. In my selections the leafy green I would choose would be cabbage. We often forget this humble veg is a leafy green with all the same nutritional benefits of kale. I would make it into sauerkraut for winter storage, and grow a few plants in a pot to store in the cold room and replant in spring for seed production.
Fruit growing has proven exceedingly difficult in my garden. Raspberries and rhubarb being the only reliable ‘fruits’. However, from a nutritional perspective, tomatoes are fruits and I can grow them really well. Tomatoes can be dried or canned and they grow their own seeds.
In my survival garden I would also plant some alliums. Onion and garlic are easy to grow and supply many health benefits. Also, they make stuff taste good! For the same reason, I’d grow a few herbs like dill, parsley and basil that could be dried.
I would also grow a few plants for the express purpose of obtaining some seed stock for winter sprouting. Radish for sure and probably some type of annual brassica like rapini or even canola.
I dearly hope neither you nor I ever have to, but yes, we could grow a survival garden, meeting all our year round nutritional needs, even here in Saskatchewan.
Grandma's Prairie Garden 