3 main vegetables you'll have in a survival garden

When it comes to survival, you want to grow something that will have a turn low around time. In other words, what can I grow and be ready to eat in shortest time possible?

These are my top picks, because of growth time and my personal cooking choices.

1. tomatoes
2. lettuce
3. green onions

I love tomatoes but they tend to take longer to turn red. You are looking at 40 to 60 days. Just grow a lot of them and in 2 months you'll be happy you did grow them.

Lettuce and green onions take 30 days til the first harvest. So that is why I chose those final two. Turn around time is the main factor here. If you had massive fields and time, you could have a lot of vegetable every month.

 

I would grow potatoes, only because you can grow many potatoes from one potato. They can be very filling and satisfying, and can be easily cooked over a fire. They do take some time, but would be well worth the wait.

I would also grow spinach because it takes off like wildfire and is very beneficial to your health and digestion.

I'm not a fan of tomatoes, but I would grow and eat them only because they are juicy, and are fruitful. Also, tomato seeds do not always properly digest, so you can actually grow a tomato plant from your poo. I know this because my father in-law had to use the restroom in buckets when his plumbing was out on his land. After he got a few buckets filled, he would take them and dispose of them with waste management. He did keep one bucket, however, because when he looked at it, it was growing a bush, which he immediately recognized as a tomato plant. He claims that he hasn't eaten any yet but that his outdoor critters love them. I've never really heard of plants growing from human poop but I've seen the bucket and the plant and there's no other explanation for that one.

 

My greenhouse is full of vegetables, lots of root vegetables. We can them and store them in our stockpile, saves so much money right now and it could save out lives later.

 

Not sure if you've seen the Movie, The Martian, but he does grow potatoes from slicing up a single potato and fertilizing them with his own poop. Your post reminded me of that movie.

I don't have much experience with potato and spinach growing, but that is a viable alternative then to those that I did mention earlier. As far as the tomatoes growing in human waste and compost, I don't see why it wouldn't work in the situation that you explained. I just wonder how the human digestive tract and acid will affect the survival rate of the said seeds. I don't doubt it, I just never heard of that happening before. It's probably because I've never heard of anyone keeping a bucket of human waste around for observation purposes. Yes it turns into compost over time. Still funny to think about.

People normally buy seeds, but why not just throw a almost rotten tomato in the ground for growing purposes? Isn't that how it grows naturally. Birds also carry them in their bodies and take them far and wide and spread the seeds when they poop as well.

 

If I had to pick three main veggies to grow, it would be tomatoes, zucchini, and lettuce. It's hard to pick just three! Onions are a great choice though, only because they are also easy to grow and I'm pretty sure they have some sort of medicinal purposes as well. I really can't live without tomatoes though. No matter what I would have to grow those! It doesn't bother me waiting for them to turn red though. I love fried green tomatoes just the same while I wait!

 

Not as much as others. But in a survival situation this will be one of my veggies of choice because it is ready to be harvested in 30 days. It is a veggie thread, not a fruit thread. I chose those 3 because of the turn around time. 30 days on average. Longer for tomatoes but I can deal with green tomatoes.

 

I had not considered seeding and planting so that when one row is used up another row would be available for consumption. (Very smart idea. Thanks.)

My list of top 3 plants would be the following:

1. tomatoes for its nutrients and these plants can produce in a prolific way.
2. green beans for its nutrients
3. potatoes as it is starchy and would help provide a good carbohydrate load to support my increased physical activity.

Any berry is a good idea, however, one needs to research berries thoughtfully. For example, the blackberry plant does not produce its first year. If you or your household is needing food to be produced within weeks or months of planting, then the blackberry plant would not help you.

 

I was just anout to say potatoes! They are super filling and easy to cook in various ways. Also, they last really long too.

 

In Virginia edible greens grow wild for most of the year, so I'd anticipate less need for lettuce or spinach. Wild garlic grows for most of the year, so that wouldn't be in my top three either. I think I'd go with corn, beans, and squash, the "Three Sisters" that grow well together.

 

Tomatoes are a high value crop they are healthy containing Vitamin C and Lycopene. Potatoes are relatively easy to grow and a high source of nutrition, fiber and Vitamin C. Beans would also be a high value food to grow and one that would give you lots of bang for the buck.

 

Gardening for survival means you need plants that can give you something to eat and quick. The first I can think of is sweet potato which grows fast and can provide food in a matter of 1 month. But it's not the tuber for it takes 3 months for it to yield a good sized tuber. The young leaves can be your vegetable. Second food source is moringa which is also prolific like the sweet potato. Third vegetable is the native spinach with the local name talinum. All 3 mentioned are fast growing and durable against the elements.

 

What we are working towards is growing more plants that are perennials and will come back on their own each year, or at least will re-seed themselves. We have planted blueberries, strawberries, asparagus, and grapes. One grape vine has started to produce this year, and the asparagus spears were small but edible.
I think that waiting until the world falls apart to plant your survival garden is waiting too long. it might happen in the dead of winter when you can't even plant anything, or even in summer when you could plant; but are too busy just trying to forage and stay alive each day. Plus, you have to already have seeds to plant these foods everyone is mentioning, so it only makes sense to me to start growing things ahead of time, and things that come back each year are even better, even if they take longer to get to a stage of production.
We also have Jerusalem artichokes, which have tubers with nutrition similar to a potato; but they multiply each year and you have to do very little to care for them. Most people would only think you were growing sunflowers; so it is unlikely that someone would even know that you have food storage underneath that pretty yellow flower.

 

Corn, beans and yams. Vitamin C is easy to get. Pine tree needles are packed with it. If you try to live on lettuce, tomatoes and green onions you will starve to death. They are good supplemental but don't provide enough calories to live on.

A pound of lettuce has 68 calories
A pound of young green onion tops has 113 calories
A pound of tomatoes has 81 calories

How many pounds of these would you have to eat every day to get 2000 calories???????

A pound of corn has 1637 calories
A pound of beans has 580 calories
A pound of yams has 535 calories

Notice a difference in how much you would have to grow and how much you would have to eat to survive?

There are on average 750 calories in a pound of meat.
A pound of sugar has 1755 calories
A pound of lard has 4073 calories

After calories you need to make sure you are getting enough protein. A little research will tell you where this is best found.

In order to survive you need to grow things that will feed you enough calories to live. A variety will make you more healthy and make your diet less boring but if you don't get enough calories you will die. This is why you need to be prepared to feed yourself either from stored stocks or off the land for several months. I also have several years of one a day vitamins. This will help until I can get a full garden producing with a good variety of vegetables and fruits.

 

Instead of trying to grow lettuce learn to identify weeds that are common in your area. In most of North America and Europe there is a plant called Lambs Quarters. This is a weed that grows all over the place.

Nutrition FactsServing Size 100 g Amount Per Serving...Calories 43 Total Fat 0.8g Sodium 43mg Total Carbohydrate 7.3g Dietary Fiber 4g
Vitamin A 232 % • Vitamin C 133 %
Calcium 31 % • Iron 7 %


This is just one of many plants that are all over the place and will provide for you until you can get your first crops in. I'm sorry but why would you want to plant something and have to care for it when there is better all around you if you will just take the time to learn what is there where you live. Now, that said I will indeed plant lettuce, tomatoes and several types of onions but they will be a part of a bigger garden that I will plant after things settle a little bit. I'm afraid that a well maintained garden plot might attract the wrong type of attention in the short term.

 

Another good plant that grows almost everywhere is plantago, also called plantain (no relation to the plantain in the banana family), and it comes in both a broad leaf and a narrow leaf variety.
We see it in lawns all the time, and in the summer it goes to seed and sends up spikes about 6-12 inches tall. Both the leaves and the seeds are edible, and the seed husks from this plant are what we get the fiber/laxative psyllium from.
You would have to pick a lot of plaintain tops to get very many seeds; but between the seeds and the leaves, you could make a decent meal.
I agree with @TexDanm that it is totally worthwhile to learn which plants that grow in your area can be eaten, especially the more common ones. Violets can be eaten, both the leaves and the flowers, and the same with dandelions . The roots of the dandelion can also be used to roast and drink like coffee, and the dandelion is a close relative to the chicory plant.
Clover is another plant that has edible leaves and flowers.
One website that is seriously awesome for showing you edible plants, both tame and wild, is called "Eat the Weeds". You can look up just about any kind of plant that grows where you live, and this man probably knows how to identify it and also the best ways to prepare it as food.
Another really good perennial that I forgot to mention, is rhubarb. It doesn't do good in really hot climates, but in the northern areas, it grows and spreads with no attention at all.
If you are able to stock up on th dry foods like beans, corn, rice, lentils, and wheat berries; then you should be able to supplement these foods with the fresh greens that you can find near where you live.

 

The fact is that there are a lot of very nutritious plants and such nearly everywhere. Apes live well in jungles that people suffer in simply because they know where to go and what to eat. Anyplace that has wild hogs has plenty out there to eat. We have very similar digestive systems. Education is the answer to hunger.

People seem hung up on the idea that they can only eat and survive on foods that they grow and are used to. ADAPT or die is the mantra of survival. If there is food everywhere then why waste a lot of extra effort in the short term to grow less nutritious foods that are less hardy?

Once things settle then the grains and spices will be wanted and needed. I even have plans to plant sugar cane but in the rough short term of the tribulations I will lay low and survive on what I have stored and what I can so easily gather from nature. Where I live, by choice and planning, the winters are short, there is no snow and the plants grow year around. A winter garden is just as productive as the summer one and there are a LOT of animals all around me both wild and domestic.

 

Poor folk grow squash, potatoes, beans, and some sort of greens, like curly mustard. Polk greens grow wild, so you boil polk sprouts twice and mix them with your mustard greens or collard greens. You cut your coffee with chicory. Asparagus comes back and spreads year by year. I hate digging potatoes, but the starch will keep you alive. But me, I don't grow potatoes; too many memories, boy in the burning sun, spading fork busting red clay, tryin not to run a tine into a tater. Maybe I'd grow them in old car tires stacked 4-high, fill with manure, sand, what dirt you got, peat moss. To harvest, just kick over the tires. Squash is nutritious; bread them with corn meal, salt and pepper, fry them in grease, yum-yum. I'm getting a bumper crop of summer squash. Next year, I'm going to grow runner beans. My grandmother and I (as a little boy) would sit on the front porch stringing and cracking beans; we'd fill big old stainless steel pans like restaurants use. I'm not growing corn. Too much work and I've shucked more corn than I'd ever want to ... in three lifetimes.

My squash plants are getting dangerously large. When harvesting squash, I have my wife hold a shotgun on them lest they grab me, drag me in there, and try to kill and eat me. I fear them.

 

We grew corn, beans, peas, tomatoes, peppers, carrots, onions and melons during the summer and then squash, cabbage, Brussell sprouts, multiplying onions, mustard greens, collard greens and turnips during the winter months. The corns was harvested in two steps. First you harvest it for roasting ears and make whole kernel and cream style corn; then later in the summer we finished harvesting it as dry field corn that we could feed the animals and make hominy and cornmeal with. The tomatoes were harvested several times too. We made green tomato relish then we gathered them all the time to eat as was in salads then a strip harvest to can all the different various tomato products like sauce, diced, stewed and whole. We didn't have a lot of money but we sure did eat good.