Best Veg For Tunrover and Reliabilty? (Temperate Maritime: UK)

Hello there!

Just wondering if any experienced agriculturists have a particular vegetable or veg they have seen produce reliable yields, time and time again?

I have a range of seeds all of which will supposedly grow well in the UK: Leeks, Broccoli, various Lettuces, onion, carrots, cabbage etc. The seeds are part of my paranoid SHTF kit. But since I've not grown any vegetables since water cress in primary school. I thought it might be good to get some practice in. Also have you seen the price of veg in the supermarket these days?

I have it on good authority that Rocket is pretty reliable, and in fact my folks had too much of it last year.

I am completely inexperienced in this area, and can use all the help available!

...Also what about berries?

Any root veg is a good choice and storage is easier, problem with leaf veg is it is very susceptible to pests and has a short storage life.

Potatoes for me are king as using different varieties will give you a crop for most of the year.

Carrots are great as you use the whole plant, not just the root.

As a backup plan there is a good book called "Food for Free" by Richard Mabey which is specific to the British Isles, I have 2 copies the 1989 publication and the 2004 publication. The 1989 one has far more information but the 2004 is pocket sized.

Also I have been building a stash of tinned beef and rice to last my family through the winter if SHTF at just the wrong time.

reply to post by Jamjar


Thanks for the reply JamJar I'm on ebay now gonna have a look for it. Might get a field book, with edible plants, berries and stuff.

Edit: On closer inspection it appears that is exactly what Mabey's book is.

That book covers all that and tells you what is available in each season.

If your going to bug out asap after shtf then get some filter straws, not the cheapest but gives you the option of using almost any water source for a few months.

I used to love foraging for mushrooms years ago. (not the liberty cap type LOL) had some great days out on the woods and fields.

Had my own veg patch as a youngster too.

Good memories.

reply to post by Jamjar


Already got some of those bad boys, BCB NATO issue survival straws, purifies 50 litres of water from nuclear biological and chemical agents. Definitely expensive but I agree they are worth it.

EnigmaAgent

Liberty Caps, they used to grow in a field near my house, and I swear to God if they weren't picked as soon as they appeared the cows would eat them when they were let out!

reply to post by Big Raging Loner

Asparagus is a very good choice in my opinion , just because it comes back every year and will do so for at least 5 years of crops , before it just gets too large to be good eating. It is hard to plant tho somewhat , It needs to be started about a foot and a half down and will take 2 or 3 years to grow to the point of a havestable crop. Also , im not sure it is suitable for your climate but that should easy to check on.

Dont be afraid to just practice too. Seeds arent terribly expensive, test things out and see what YOU are good at growing.

Consider growing more cold-weather plants such as Indian Mustard and Swiss Chard; in mild winter areas they can actually feed you through the winter!

There is also Jerusalem Artichoke that grows like a sunflower but makes wonderful water-chestnut like tubers. This one is invasive and tasty too!

You might introduce yourself to the wild edibles as well! Where I am there is a plant called Lamb's quarters which is very tasty and grows without any care; it is consider a Pot weed (Pot in as Stew-pot!)

I've been focusing on growing more starchy vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, parsnips, winter squash, corn, peas and beans for drying (ie: lima). They store better in a root cellar, especially if the corn and peas are dried, and have more calories than other veggies. I still grow less starchy ones like tomato, swiss chard, etc... and it's nice to have onions and garlic for spicing up dishes, but if you really want to feel full after eating a meal of just vegetables the starchy ones should do it.

I've probably missed a few like cauliflower and turnips, but you could look them up on the internet. And don't forget if you can get heirloom varieties you can save the seeds from year to year. Good luck.

You should have some butternut squash seeds in your kit as well, the squash will keep for 4 to 6 months and are easy to grow. You can make some excellent currie squash soups, or cut them up into small pieces and fry them as they taste just like sweet potatoes when fried in a pan, you can make pies with them and some say it makes a better pie then pumpkins. I am sure there are more things that you can use them in if you looked online.

You may also try doing what the Indians did , they grew 3 crops on one mound called the three sisters, I put a few links below.

One technique known as companion planting, the three crops are planted close together. Flat-topped mounds of soil are built for each cluster of crops

The three crops benefit from each other. The maize provides a structure for the beans to climb, eliminating the need for poles. The beans provide the nitrogen to the soil that the other plants utilize and the squash spreads along the ground, blocking the sunlight, which helps prevent weeds. The squash leaves act as a "living mulch", creating a microclimate to retain moisture in the soil, and the prickly hairs of the vine deter pests.

en.wikipedia.org...(agriculture)

According to Iroquois legend, corn, beans, and squash are three inseparable sisters who only grow and thrive together. This tradition of interplanting corn, beans and squash in the same mounds, widespread among Native American farming societies, is a sophisticated, sustainable system that provided long-term soil fertility and a healthy diet to generations. Growing a Three Sisters garden is a wonderful way to feel more connected to the history of this land, regardless of our ancestry

www.reneesgarden.com...

Thanks for the great replies folks. This site is awesome for info like this!

Root vegetables seem to be the way to go. I bought a lot of the heirloom variety online but I think Ill keep them for the future. To get some practice in I might just buy some standard issue seeds from the supermarket.

One other thing I was wondering the expiry date on seeds, are they fairly accurate or do seeds last for a really long time?

reply to post by Big Raging Loner


It really depends in large how they are stored, and what type of seed. Sometimes they dont even make it to the expiry date, and sometimes they will go a good deal past it.

Here are 2 sites about seed life.


Seed-Storage Times and Viability

Virtually all home-garden-supply seed houses supply seed in far too great a quantity for the average home gardener (even those that famously sell small packets at lower prices). The home gardener will thus often want to save seeds bought one year for use in a later year. The question that must arise, then, is how long can we keep seeds and still expect them to germinate and grow when planted?

There are no exact answers: seeds are living things. Moreover, much depends on how the seed is stored. And there is no drop-dead cutoff point either, just reduced percentages of germination, and what is "too low" a germination rate may vary from gardener to gardener (and even fresh, newly bought seeds will not invariably germinate 100%)

growingtaste.com...

Seed Lifespan or Longevity

How long your seeds will last when the packet is opened will vary according to the seed, storage conditions and how near the end of its life the seed was when packed. The table is a guide, subject to the caveats above.
Checking Seed Germination Rate

If you have a left over packet of seeds that you are unsure of, perhaps it's been kept in poor conditions or results weren't what you expected then you can check the germination rate for your seeds.

To germinate, your seeds need to think they've been sown so take a piece of kitchen roll and dampen it. Onto the damp kitchen roll put a number of seeds, 20 is good if you have a lot, and place into a plastic bag or Tupperware type container. Put into somewhere dark and warm, an airing cupboard or a closed cupboard in an occupied room.

Check the seeds to see which have sprouted and if they fail then you haven't wasted time and effort planting them. The table above gives the average germination time for each seed, so you know how long to wait before declaring a failure. Often they germinate well before the average time, so check frequently.


www.allotment.org.uk...

dude POTATOES!!!!!!!!!!!

lots of things you can do with potatoes lots of different cooking methods

raw,fried,fries,mashed,diced,sauted,baked etc.

i suggest everyone have potatoes!!!!!!!

sorry its the irish in me.

I am also in the same situation as the OP and I am currently in the process of preparing my garden for next year... I am taking out a whole lot of weeds at the moment, which have basically created a blanket of roots within the top soil! So I am taking them out and shaking the usable top soil out, then turning it all over, then I will introduce some compost and natural fertilisers into the soil. As IMO the vegetables can only be as good as the soil conditions that they are grown in.

Next year I will begin to plant all my seeds up and I have a large selection of vegetables to plant, I have all the usual root vegetables and some herbs to also plant. I will also erect a greenhouse for some of those more exotic vegetables that struggle in the english climate unaided.

I do however have a few questions if anyone can help?

Firstly, will planting lot's of flowers in the garden alongside the vegetables aid them? By attracting bee's and the like to help germination?

Secondly, what effective pest control methods can I put in place so that I don't have all my lettuces etc nibbled by the slugs and other pests?

Would putting seed baskets and a bird bath to encourage birds into the garden help with some of the pests?

Dont miss the zucchini
Fast food and lots of em

i forgot you can make a battery with potatos.

sorry.

reply to post by Big Raging Loner


I'd recommend Lovage - which is an herb, but looks and tastes much like celery. It's awesome for creating vegetable stock, filling out stews, making tea, and adding to all sorts of potato dishes. It's a perennial and gets quite large. It doesn't need full sun and it comes up early - even earlier than my rhubarb, but as I'm in the US that's not neccessarily a good measure. Lovage is Mediterranean in origin, but I have friends in the UK who have grown it for years with very little effort.

And speaking of rhubarb - did anyone else mention it? Rhubarb is another perennial that I think is a great way to get started gardening because the plant requires very little attention, but yields great produce with many uses. Rhubarb literally only demands to be divided every five or six years during the winter when it's dormant. It'll grow like wildfire in the UK, according to the same aforementioned friends.

My $0.02 HTH

Originally posted by Resentedhalo08
I do however have a few questions if anyone can help?

Firstly, will planting lot's of flowers in the garden alongside the vegetables aid them? By attracting bee's and the like to help germination?

Secondly, what effective pest control methods can I put in place so that I don't have all my lettuces etc nibbled by the slugs and other pests?

Would putting seed baskets and a bird bath to encourage birds into the garden help with some of the pests?

edit on 6-6-2011 by Resentedhalo08 because: (no reason given)

1 - That depends on the flower. Poppies, Hyssop (Bee Plant), Nasturtium, and Calendula (Marigolds) are wonderful flowers and should be in every garden, IMO. Calendula in particular as it's beneficial to your soil - the roots produce a toxin that kills root nematodes like cutworms which can devastate every other plant. Borage has beautiful blue flowers and while their lactation-assistance may not be of any use to you, they are a great companion to tomatoes. Zinnia, Four O'Clocks, and Bachelor Buttons are also nice to have around. Do NOT plant Foxglove, Hollyhock, or any other digitalis plant near the garden. That's not to say digitalis doesn't have its uses, it's just for more experienced gardeners. Plants from the nightshade family - like Datura - should be at least 50 feet from veg you want to consume. At least.

2 - For slug control, pulverized eggshells have always been my best bet. I stop mulching at least an inch from the base of the plant and fill the extra space with well-crushed eggshells. The added calcium makes leafy greens happy - tomatoes, too, actually. Used coffee grounds are my next tool against slugs. (I forget why it works, though) Horseradish near lettuces and spinach is also a slug deterrent, but iffy at best.

3 - Birds will pick at your leafy greens. I've already had two bunches of peas picked clean of their new leaves this year by a local pair of blue jays and various sparrows. If you're looking for a pest-control bird, I like my chickens - multipurpose pest control and eggs.