How Much Garden You Would Need to 100% Survive On

[wmaurik]

If I could, I would start growing my food. I wish I had the knowledge and expertise to do so, but the other major issue is the land.

If you don't have your own land to grow herbs or fruit that you can eat, then try to rent it to someone else if the rent is not that expensive and you feel it is very suitable to do the job. Because if you are a reliable farmer who has a lot of knowledge about agriculture and is able to manage every crop, then that is an advantage for you in terms of farming.

[Oceat]

If I could, I would start growing my food. I wish I had the knowledge and expertise to do so, but the other major issue is the land.

If you don't have your own land to grow herbs or fruit that you can eat, then try to rent it to someone else if the rent is not that expensive and you feel it is very suitable to do the job. Because if you are a reliable farmer who has a lot of knowledge about agriculture and is able to manage every crop, then that is an advantage for you in terms of farming.

There are lots of way to make a garden though even if you have if you have small space left. Some farmers/gardeners hang it in the wall with a pot but it limits of what you must plant and herbs are the best choice for a pot but for the crops you really need some space to grow them. And if someone was living in an apartment it's not gonna work but if it's your own land you can do whatever you want since no one would hinder what you've been doing since planting really need a lot of time and care to grow.

[BRINIRHA]

Growing crops for yourself and your family will actually be quite easy. because it certainly does not require a large area of ​​land. This is different from farming where the produce is for sale. Of course it requires a large area of ​​land as well as extra energy and high capital.

if you grow crops for yourself and your family, using chemical fertilizers will still be affordable. because buying vegetables and grains from the market will still be more expensive than growing yourself. but if we can grow plants with our own processed compost, it will be much more efficient.

but for large-scale farming it will require large amounts of fertilizer. so of course it will be difficult to make organic fertilizer on a large scale.

unless there is an agricultural group that cooperates in making it.

[noorman0]

My country belongs to the category of half developing countries where many residents of the 70s generation in remote areas still make full use of the vacant land around them for daily food needs without relying on traditional markets at all. Even though it is only a small plot of land (not even 0.1 sq. acre), with the support of 2 tropical seasons,  it can produce food for 4-5 family members with almost complete nutrition all year round from farming and partly for raising livestock.

[wmaurik]

a small well maintained garden will be enough - it gives peace of mind, and it is a very healthy activity too.
Even if you don't have space there is a lot of trend of having a rooftop garden and balcony garden and people are growing there vegetable and fruits there.

For people who have land in front of their own house, it is very nice, because they can immediately turn their home page into a small garden to grow plants and fruits that can be consumed. But this will not be able to be run by those who only have a house without having a qualified front yard. So I think the advice you give is very limited because it is only for certain people.

There are lots of way to make a garden though even if you have if you have small space left. Some farmers/gardeners hang it in the wall with a pot but it limits of what you must plant and herbs are the best choice for a pot but for the crops you really need some space to grow them. And if someone was living in an apartment it's not gonna work but if it's your own land you can do whatever you want since no one would hinder what you've been doing since planting really need a lot of time and care to grow.

I agree to this because the suggestions you are making are factual and very logical with so many examples that have been seen at this point. I have also seen some people who plant herbs on the walls of their homes, but it will not be enough for him even though it is very healthy, because everyone also needs fruits to eat besides they need vegetables to eat every day.

[stompix]

My country belongs to the category of half developing countries where many residents of the 70s generation in remote areas still make full use of the vacant land around them for daily food needs without relying on traditional markets at all. Even though it is only a small plot of land (not even 0.1 sq. acre), with the support of 2 tropical seasons,  it can produce food for 4-5 family members with almost complete nutrition all year round from farming and partly for raising livestock.

0.1 acres is 0.04 ha, best two-season production is around 7 tons of rice per ha, with 0.1 acres you will get 280 kilos of rice a year, or 56 kilos of rice per family member, so even all of it used won't satisfy your needs, livestock has no way to compete on used land with rice or other grains so it would be been less possible to live on it.
Redo the numbers!

It is a very informative post. Infact time is very high that we need to start becoming self reliant for our food production. I think aquaponics can also play very good role for growing food in our apartments.

You forgot the part where the math is completely wrong!
Self-reliance is just a dream, impossible to realize in today's world.
Even with the completely bogus numbers or 1000 sqm being enough you would still need cities like for example Tokyo to grow 10 times in size just so that everyone could have its small garden, how do you think it will look like, not even mentioning that those gardens will displace some other millions who will also need a new home and a  new garden? In countries like Belgium, Japan, or Vietnam you would cover 1/3 of the whole country with small farms, do you think it's still such a great idea?

[Lucius]

Self-reliance is just a dream, impossible to realize in today's world.

Although I agree with that in principle, when you already mentioned Japan, I remembered an example of an office building that contains 43 000 square feet of area for growing about 200 different types of fruits and vegetables. I was really fascinated by such an approach, which not only produces food for the employees, but also creates a very pleasant working environment - except for those who don't really like to be in the natural environment.

https://archello.com/project/pasona-hq

[stompix]

Self-reliance is just a dream, impossible to realize in today's world.

Although I agree with that in principle, when you already mentioned Japan, I remembered an example of an office building that contains 43 000 square feet of area for growing about 200 different types of fruits and vegetables. I was really fascinated by such an approach, which not only produces food for the employees, but also creates a very pleasant working environment - except for those who don't really like to be in the natural environment.

https://archello.com/project/pasona-hq

Hihi, this is one of those 1 in a trillion situations when the close to impossible happens, and, yes it did!
I was curious about how the building looks from the street view and guess how google maps greeted me:

Pasona Tokyo Headquarters
Permanently closed

※Urban Farm’s original address, Gofukubashi Building, was closed in June 2017 and subsequently demolished. Pasona Group Inc. has moved to the new location.

Well, they tried, god knows how much money they've spent on it cause they didn't replicate that stunt anywhere else.
So I guees this counts as a shattered demolished dream.  

[Zlantann]

If you want to survive by growing your own food the space inside your garden won't be enough.
You have to plant vegetables on your own(or rented) piece of property,somewhere in the fields.
This raises another question.Who is going to protect your vegetables from stealing?
Having access to water is really important.What if your property is too far away from a river or a lake?
There's not enough agricultural land for all the people in the cities,so I guess that the division of labor will be preserved.The farmers will keep farming and the people in the cities will keep doing their business.

My country has vast agricultural lands wasted due to rural-urban drift. Before now we lived in agrarian agricultural communities that were self-sufficient. There were no thieves because of our religious beliefs and we have sufficient rainfall. Now the rural areas lack basic amenities and employment opportunities which has made many people flee to the urban areas. But the environment in these cities is polluted and the food is highly inorganic. Sometimes we think we earning a better income in the city unknowingly that when we grow our food and live in a healthier environment we will spend less on food and healthcare. I always feel like going back to the rural area but my greatest challenge is the infrastructural deficit.

[Silberman]

I think that such things should be done by specialists. What can you grow? What food? To grow something you need to work in the garden all day. Maybe bad weather and then the crop will not grow. It could be a hurricane, a tornado, a drought, anything, in some countries it may be sudden frost. I stand for the fact that every case should be done by a professional. And what seems simple is not always the case.

Most likely many people are thinking about growing their own food not because they want to but because they believe that in the future they may have to do it, as we know the economy is not doing well and if there is one thing that you cannot live without is food, and when the country in which you are living or even the whole world is suffering due to an economic crisis, the very first thing that goes up in value is food because everyone needs it, and if you can cut your food expenses that will help you greatly under those circumstances.

[libert19]

I think trees are overlooked. Here where I live, they grow on their own and whenever they yield their seasonal fruits we just eat them, without any maintenance whatsoever. 1 acre land is plenty, surround it with edible trees and in-middle plant vegetables, bit far from tree themselves as in shade they won't grow as proper.

[goldkingcoiner]

For people who have land in front of their own house, it is very nice, because they can immediately turn their home page into a small garden to grow plants and fruits that can be consumed. But this will not be able to be run by those who only have a house without having a qualified front yard. So I think the advice you give is very limited because it is only for certain people.

I think if we consider some time and space saving options, you would need only a minimal amount of garden to survive on.

Something has lately sparked my interest. Namely indoor gardens aka greenhouses and potato growing bags. The growing bags are interesting because you would not have to actually uproot and harm/destroy the potato plants, rather you open a section of the bag and take out the grown potatoes. The plant itself stays unharmed and continues growing even more potatoes for the maximum yield, until exhaustion. Unlike if grown in a field, its more efficient, I would think.

It takes 3-4 months for the plant to grow to the point of harvest and with a potato bag, even though the next harvest will not be as plentiful, it should only take 10 weeks for new potatoes to fully grow.

Whether or not thats more efficient than replanting and waiting 3-4 months for a full harvest can be a point of argument...

You could grow in a greenhouse, or even in a room with sufficient sunlight. Even in winter, so the question is, seeing as you do not need to replant every time, how many perpetually growing potato plants do you need to harvest a steady amount of potatoes and survive?


edit: I am not plant expert, so I might be completely off on how many times you can harvest from a single potato plant. A strategically timed replanting could achieve the same result.