How Much Garden You Would Need to 100% Survive On

[justdimin]

My father lives in a rural town where there's ample of land for gardening or even farming. And he indeed grows his own food. Actually, the entire neighborhood is partially independent when it comes to food. They've got chickens, pigs, cows, goats. They've got all kinds of vegetables and fruits around, both planted and wild.

However, they're still not 100% self-sufficient. For example, there are still spices that they can't grow but they need everyday. They also need condiments that they can't produce. So they still have to go to the market every once in a while. But when worst comes to worst and survival is the only thing that matters, they could probably get by, at least in terms of food.

Those are few of the reasons on why I like to live in a rural area. I can raise my very own crops there and then grow some animals like pigs because here in urban places the space here is only limited and people will get angry at you if you raise animals like chickens especially pigs because of the strong foul smell. You know, houses here are very close to each other. The soil on rural areas are also soft and healthy, perfect for gardening.

The only downside here is like you said, the market is too far away. Before you go on town, you need to make sure that you list all the things that you will be needing for quite some time so that you won't missed anything.

[Lucius]

It was nice to remember how everything was beautiful and green in the spring, and now, unfortunately, the heat waves are destroying everything in front of them, regardless of all the effort. Anyone who tries to grow their own food under these conditions really needs to be incredibly persistent or as some would say a little crazy.

[TheNineClub]

This source claims an average of 200 square feet needed to produce adequate food for 1 person. Which conflicts with many claiming its impossible to grow sufficient food on 1 acre of land, which is 43,560 square feet.

I think it assumes the usage of chemical fertilizers, which are increasing in price due to them being manufactured from natural gas. While it may be possible to grow food in a reasonably small space, the dollar cost of soil, dirt, containers, compost, seeds, plants, mulch. And the man hours of care necessary could make the bar to entry prohibitive for many.

Money, experience and time appear to be the largest obstacles to solve for the world to fully embrace independent & organic food production.

I mean, how can we objectively calculate this, seeing as we do not all eat the same amount of food. It could theoretically be enough, but it also depends on what foods you are growing and how much you need on a daily basis. There is also an issue of seasonality, you would need to alternate what foods you grow as well as have a bunch that can keep through the winter.

[kryptqnick]

I think whether gardening is therapeutic depends on a person. I know people who are really into it, but I personally hate sand and dirt, so doing something that requires a lot of contact with them is annoying to me. Also, while I've noticed that fresh produce is sometimes very expensive in Western countries, it's very cheap in my home country, so unless it's something like growing your own basil, chillies or cherries, it doesn't make any financial sense to put lots of effort and resources into growing your own veggies, for example.
It all really depends on where you live and what you have. If you live in a flat you're renting in a city, it's much harder than if you have your own house and land in a village. But even in a village, people tend to specialize (someone grows potatoes, someone grows corn, others have animals and get tons of milk), and then cooperation with others when you exchange goods works much better.

[NotATether]

Anyone who has ever successfully grown a tomato plant in their backyard has wondered if they could go off-grid, grow their own food, and be done with their local supermarket. The answer is yes, but thats the wrong question.

Actually, that is just about the right question. Because half of this population would die from depression if you took their phones away from them, or if they were impaired in some other way e.g. could not access the internet.

Now you take the surviving half, and also take away electricity as well for several hours, in unpredicable times of the week. You'd kill off 90% of THAT out of despiration.

So 95% of the population would wilt if the electricity was cut regularly. Taking away markets and food stores too? That would finish off the rest of the population.

Seriously, it just shows how dependent society is on electricity, and how even more dependent they are on stores - that this entire article is just wishful thinking, far away from reality. I will bet $100 that most of the people who read that article do NOT want to attempt something like that unless they were in extreme desperiation (And I will take your $100, because once you know how basic things are in the 3rd world, you will start to think that most people in developed countries are spoiled).

[virasisog]

It was nice to remember how everything was beautiful and green in the spring, and now, unfortunately, the heat waves are destroying everything in front of them, regardless of all the effort. Anyone who tries to grow their own food under these conditions really needs to be incredibly persistent or as some would say a little crazy.

The environment, as well as the climate, isn't the same as before so growing plants and crops isn't as easy as before. There are also lots of things to consider for us to grow crops and plants. We need a good location, season, and so on so mostly, only professional farmers and agriculturists could grow good plants.
Also, we now have different focuses and priorities. Most of us don't have enough time to do things like planting so we rely on supermarkets when it comes to our necessities. Our generation now is different. We rely on technology and our time each day is limited to doing important stuff for us to survive so planting couldn't be our top priority if there are still other alternatives.

[be.open]

It was nice to remember how everything was beautiful and green in the spring, and now, unfortunately, the heat waves are destroying everything in front of them, regardless of all the effort. Anyone who tries to grow their own food under these conditions really needs to be incredibly persistent or as some would say a little crazy.

Evil tongues say that this is the work of Putin's secret climate weapon, but I think this is the consequences of the accident in the Gulf of Mexico in 2021, which almost killed the warm Galstream current, which made the climate milder in Europe, when there is no extreme heat in summer and there is no extreme cold in winter. Although I don't have an extra chromosome like Greta Thunberg to be a big climate change expert.

[DVlog]

This source claims an average of 200 square feet needed to produce adequate food for 1 person. Which conflicts with many claiming its impossible to grow sufficient food on 1 acre of land, which is 43,560 square feet.

I think it assumes the usage of chemical fertilizers, which are increasing in price due to them being manufactured from natural gas. While it may be possible to grow food in a reasonably small space, the dollar cost of soil, dirt, containers, compost, seeds, plants, mulch. And the man hours of care necessary could make the bar to entry prohibitive for many.

Money, experience and time appear to be the largest obstacles to solve for the world to fully embrace independent & organic food production.

You can grow more crops in a small place if you have enough knowledge and resource to do that. In many urban places where open space to grow crops is hard to find, people use their rooftops.

People in the modern world like to be involved in service work that doesn't require any physical effort and they intend to buy foods from the market. Very few show interest in growing their own foods by investing some time because they can earn more money within that time if they do other work.

[AmoreJaz]

You can grow more crops in a small place if you have enough knowledge and resource to do that. In many urban places where open space to grow crops is hard to find, people use their rooftops.

People in the modern world like to be involved in service work that doesn't require any physical effort and they intend to buy foods from the market. Very few show interest in growing their own foods by investing some time because they can earn more money within that time if they do other work.

i guess, that's one way to look at it. if you have no time or no interest in growing your own food, you can always find another option or job that can give you income to cater your needs. we can't really expect people to tend their own garden if it is not in their vocabulary. but in that case, he should be the one looking for his options how to survive in this crisis.

also, when it comes to having your own garden. you can always make a barter to your neighbors or friends regarding your harvests. so you can you have variations of vegetables.

[carlfebz2]

You can grow more crops in a small place if you have enough knowledge and resource to do that. In many urban places where open space to grow crops is hard to find, people use their rooftops.

People in the modern world like to be involved in service work that doesn't require any physical effort and they intend to buy foods from the market. Very few show interest in growing their own foods by investing some time because they can earn more money within that time if they do other work.

i guess, that's one way to look at it. if you have no time or no interest in growing your own food, you can always find another option or job that can give you income to cater your needs. we can't really expect people to tend their own garden if it is not in their vocabulary. but in that case, he should be the one looking for his options how to survive in this crisis.

also, when it comes to having your own garden. you can always make a barter to your neighbors or friends regarding your harvests. so you can you have variations of vegetables.

People would really be just ending up on getting consideration on having a garden is on the time where there's famine or severe economic crisis and also attached with some total devastation that affects crops
and plantation on where it did really come to a point that there would be scarcity.Yes, it might still be impossible to happen as of this moment but we cant really remove the probability that it might really be a reality in upcoming years to come.

For now we are still fully dependent since there are supply from different aspects which as long you do have the money or funds then you wont really be finding yourself to be in trouble in terms of food
or sustaining or simply surviving yourself. Garden is a good option though but not all would really be having the interest and would just simply stick out into their fiat and bought simply.

[yhiaali3]

One of the things I love the most and I put it as my first goal within the future plans is to own a small garden for farming, unfortunately the city in which I live is difficult to get a garden no matter how small, the houses here are adjacent to each other and there is not enough space to form a small garden, the solution is to go out to the countryside or Resorting instead to surface cultivation, surface cultivation can be a good alternative in such cases, but it requires more experience and skills required.
Individuals like nations need food self-sufficiency, otherwise we will never be free. In addition, wars and famines may occur and we are forced to feed ourselves so it is necessary to acquire farming skills.

[a1 Hashrate LLC2022]

As a suggestion. Storing canned food  is likely a better option.

If the world goes to shit an outdoor garden will attract a lot of people.

Maybe a thread on what foods should be stored.

Canned chickpeas would be one as they take a long time to go bad.
Bottled water no better would be some ceramic filters.
Interesting problem.

What size of food room and how many cans would last 2 years? this could be done.

Also 5 years of stored food is it doable?

[NotATether]

Evil tongues say that this is the work of Putin's secret climate weapon, but I think this is the consequences of the accident in the Gulf of Mexico in 2021, which almost killed the warm Galstream current, which made the climate milder in Europe, when there is no extreme heat in summer and there is no extreme cold in winter. Although I don't have an extra chromosome like Greta Thunberg to be a big climate change expert.

I wouldn't be surprised if Murmansk completely freezes over this coming winter as well /shrug

The whole idea of a "Climate weapon" is quite silly to be honest - I can't imagine Putin being dumb enough to get his only western sea port in the Arctic frozen off as a collateral effect.

[be.open]

Evil tongues say that this is the work of Putin's secret climate weapon, but I think this is the consequences of the accident in the Gulf of Mexico in 2021, which almost killed the warm Galstream current, which made the climate milder in Europe, when there is no extreme heat in summer and there is no extreme cold in winter. Although I don't have an extra chromosome like Greta Thunberg to be a big climate change expert.

I wouldn't be surprised if Murmansk completely freezes over this coming winter as well /shrug

The whole idea of a "Climate weapon" is quite silly to be honest - I can't imagine Putin being dumb enough to get his only western sea port in the Arctic frozen off as a collateral effect.

These are not problems, considering how many nuclear-powered icebreakers Russia has. It is also possible to burn gas from the unused Nord Stream 2 and heat water locally in the waters of Murmansk. There is only a fraction of a joke in this joke, and everything else is true.

[Cyl0nius]

All of this was already thought about in the pre-digital age.
And John Seymour wrote a book about it.

The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It - The Complete Back-to-Basics Guide
Das grosse Buch vom Leben auf dem Lande - Ein praktisches Handbuch für Realisten und Träumer

I have read the book long time ago.
It's not in my nature to kill animals and farming is too exhausting for me.

Today i live peacefully in a country with a local crypto-exchange, where electricity is cheap and i can't read/understand the daily newspaper.

Everyone finds their own way 

[wmaurik]

Today i live peacefully in a country with a local crypto-exchange, where electricity is cheap and i can't read/understand the daily newspaper.

You should be more grateful when you are still able to live in peace and hopefully the country you live in can always be peaceful because it is also the initial foundation for citizens to be able to live in peace.

Everyone finds their own way 

That is true because there are many ways and paths that can be used by everyone in their own lives which in the end are for the purpose of a better life.
May your life continue to be enjoyable after reading the book compiled by John Seymour.

[Lucius]

Evil tongues say that this is the work of Putin's secret climate weapon, but I think this is the consequences of the accident in the Gulf of Mexico in 2021, which almost killed the warm Galstream current, which made the climate milder in Europe, when there is no extreme heat in summer and there is no extreme cold in winter. Although I don't have an extra chromosome like Greta Thunberg to be a big climate change expert.

No one can blame the current politicians for what has been happening for decades, all the politicians who put development first, regardless of the price that the next generations will pay, are to blame. I just cannot understand all those who claim that climate change is a fabrication and that all that is happening is just a natural development of events.

I read somewhere a very detailed explanation of why the temperatures have risen so drastically in parts of Europe, and the reason is a disturbance in the flow of air that stays too long near Africa and sucks in too much hot air that then comes over Europe. In short, everything has been disrupted and nothing is the same as before, and it doesn't look like anything will get better in the future.

The environment, as well as the climate, isn't the same as before so growing plants and crops isn't as easy as before. There are also lots of things to consider for us to grow crops and plants. We need a good location, season, and so on so mostly, only professional farmers and agriculturists could grow good plants.
Also, we now have different focuses and priorities. Most of us don't have enough time to do things like planting so we rely on supermarkets when it comes to our necessities. Our generation now is different. We rely on technology and our time each day is limited to doing important stuff for us to survive so planting couldn't be our top priority if there are still other alternatives.

Unfortunately, people are increasingly becoming some kind of techno zombies who spend more and more time looking at screens, instead of trying to deal with other things. Large corporations produce food that is unhealthy and poisoned, poorly paid workers put the same food on the shelves, and then people like ants grab that food and deliver it to their homes. It doesn't seem like a promising direction to me, because if for some reason the crops fail or the supply chains are seriously disrupted, I wonder what all those people will do when they realize that the shelves are completely empty?

[stompix]

It was nice to remember how everything was beautiful and green in the spring, and now, unfortunately, the heat waves are destroying everything in front of them, regardless of all the effort. Anyone who tries to grow their own food under these conditions really needs to be incredibly persistent or as some would say a little crazy.

Solariums.

Despite what some believe that they are meant to keep vegetables as exposed to the sun as possible and warmer in spins/autumn they are also pretty good at dealing with every extreme weather also, be it rain, hailstone, and even extreme sun.
If you have a glass solarium and you don't want to spend a fortune on the reinforced glass all you need is some cheap rolls of standard white 0.5 polyethylene that you can simply pull from the rooftop down to the ground. If your solarium is already made out of a bit higher quality LDPE then you're set, all you need for your plants is to avoid direct radiation at peak sun times, otherwise heat alone won't do any harm to them.

And if you think of esthetics, there are a lot of them who ware works of art, looking far better than some houses!

Unfortunately, people are increasingly becoming some kind of techno zombies who spend more and more time looking at screens, instead of trying to deal with other things. Large corporations produce food that is unhealthy and poisoned, poorly paid workers put the same food on the shelves, and then people like ants grab that food and deliver it to their homes.

You're not going to like it, but int he near future even the farmers will be looking at screens, J&D just brought their autonomous tractors CES, our company has in plans to test by 2025 the first full autonomous loader /unloader in one of our logistics centers, and delivery will probably start being dominated by pi-cup delivery locations like those safe boxes that have been popping up like mushrooms from Denmark to Bulgaria.

Evil tongues say that this is the work of Putin's secret climate weapon, but I think this is the consequences of the accident in the Gulf of Mexico in 2021, which almost killed the warm Galstream current,

Some angelic tongues say it's because of what's been happening for decades at Karachay, quite coincidentally is in your region so that might explain a lot of things

[Lucius]

Solariums.

Look what hail did a few months ago in my country, and even greenhouses with glass that was supposed to be resistant to hail impacts were destroyed. Conditions have become extreme in every way, be it hail or temperatures going over 40 degrees Celsius in the shade. You must be aware that some plants cannot bloom and form fruits if the temperature does not suit them, so for example, we do not plant green beans in spring at all, but in late summer, which is more suitable for them and they produce good fruits in autumn.

https://www.zagorje-international.hr/2022/05/25/tuca-kakva-se-ne-pamti-nema-kuce-i-staklenika-koji-nisu-osteceni-usjeva-koji-nije-unisten/

You're not going to like it, but int he near future even the farmers will be looking at screens, J&D just brought their autonomous tractors CES, our company has in plans to test by 2025 the first full autonomous loader /unloader in one of our logistics centers, and delivery will probably start being dominated by pi-cup delivery locations like those safe boxes that have been popping up like mushrooms from Denmark to Bulgaria.

It is logical that technology enters every pore of society, and agriculture is no exception. I have no doubt that in the future everything will be automated to the extent that the entire farm will be managed from one center, provided that it will be possible to produce food at all, given that some areas will look more like deserts than arable land.

https://ec.europa.eu/research-and-innovation/en/horizon-magazine/stretching-sands-desertification-spreads-europe

[stompix]

Solariums.

Look what hail did a few months ago in my country, and even greenhouses with glass that was supposed to be resistant to hail impacts were destroyed.
https://www.zagorje-international.hr/2022/05/25/tuca-kakva-se-ne-pamti-nema-kuce-i-staklenika-koji-nisu-osteceni-usjeva-koji-nije-unisten/

The glass alone can't resist the impact of ice the size of baseball balls, you need sandwiched reinforced one, and clearly, from the pictures that ain't one, it's not even tempered glass. That's why I recommend PE solution on top of that, it will take the initial blow and it will prevent much of the impact, if you're living in a dangerous zone you can renounce glass at all and go for double-layered LDPE, extra 20cents more on sqm and you get the UV resistant one which will not degrade even in 5 years of exposed sun, we have that on top of our normal PE sheets and it has withstanded everything to date, from rain to hailstorm to crows.

You must be aware that some plants cannot bloom and form fruits if the temperature does not suit them, so for example, we do not plant green beans in spring at all, but in late summer, which is more suitable for them and they produce good fruits in autumn.

Well, green beans will be more prolific now with this warm weather, you could theoretically plant them in March since I doubt the soil below 30cm in southernn Europe is still frozen by that time, probably in excellent conditions you might be able to harvest it even before the first summer heatwave in July.

For others, yeah, it's going to be the end of home farming, I doubt anyone would be able to grow watermelons, cabbage, cucumbers or any other fruit or vegetables that have a late harvest schedule and requires tons of water, we've stopped growing the normal tomatoes and gone for the roma of plum type, rather change a bit the taste than have nothing at all.

Looking back at this topic, probably best to read it in spring or late autumn when the weather is nice, everything is fine, and everyone thinks that farming is fun, if you read it after getting back home from 40C outside all tried and sweaty from just walking reality kicks in, farming is a pain in the ass, it will always be and home farming is fun just for a few days while you know that if it goes wrong you can still pull the phone from your pocket and order a pizza in 15 minutes.