I'm working on learning how to be more self-sufficient, and living quot;off the grid.quot; One of the things I've been researching is gardening. Specifically, I'm wanting to start a well balanced fruit and vegetable garden. I live in the NorthWest, and we get a lot of rain. The hottest it gets is like 100 in the summer, and things usually freeze in the winter. What should I grow in my garden? The goal is to be able to grow food to provide for my family all year around. Yes, I understand I'll need to store some of it through the winter, and that I can hunt and fish, etc. Also, let's just say the size of the garden can be as big as needed, so no worries there. My focus is on what specifically should I grow to have a well balanced diet ongoing.
You can plant cool season crops in early spring and fall - things like onions, peas, broccoli, cabbage, etc... In the summer, you can grow just about any warm weather veggie - potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, melons, squash, green beans, sweet potatoes, etc... Ideally, you'll want to be able to eat some starch, some green leafy veggies, and some fleshy veggies/fruit all year long. They key is finding veggies in each of these categories than can be stored for eating over the winter months when nothing is growing. Root vegetables store well as is or they can be frozen - potatoes, sweet potatoes, turnips, carrots, onions, garlic, etc... Sweet corn can be canned or frozen for winter consumption and is a good, starchy veggie. Leafy veggies like cabbage, kale, lettuce are usually best fresh and don't store well. However, veggies like broccoli and cauliflower freeze well and have almost the same nutritional value. Winter squash (acorn squash, butternut squash, pumpkins) can be stored as is in a root cellar and will last throughout the winter months. They can also be cooked, pureed and then frozen. Green beans and peas are very nutritional and can either be dehydrated, canned or frozen. Tomatoes and peppers can be canned. Peppers can be frozen raw. Tomatoes can be made into a sauce and then frozen. Cucumbers can be pickled for long term storage. Fruits like watermelon and cantaloupe will not store for very long. They will be reserved only for summertime eating. Things like summer squash and zucchini also don't usually store well and are best eaten fresh. (you can freeze them, but they end up too soft) Berries (blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, etc...) can be frozen and provide a good source of vitamin C over the winter. The following link has tons of good info about planting, watering, fertilizing, harvesting and storing a wide variety of different veggies. Good luck! www.backyard-vegetable-gardening....
Plant the things you will eat. Canning stuff you don't like will not be smart. Consider a plot of corn. Tomatoes, beans, okra, figs, peaches, pears, and corn was our staples which we had in our pantry. I grew up on a sharecropper farm. We got by real well in spite of no money or luxuries.
it really depends on what you and your family like. you can also try new vegetables that you have not tried in the past. we have our own garden for a family of 5-where we grow tomatoes (you can make your own salsa), corn that you freeze for the winter months, cucumbers to eat fresh with salads or pickle them, okra can be fried, baked, or pickled. you can also do squash, eggplant, onions, swiss chard, peppers, broccoli. the list is really endless. you have so many choices. i would plant many rows of things that you know your family would eat and half rows of things that you are unsure of. i hope this helps and good luck.
Lettuce Parsley Tomatoes Pepper Garlic Onions Sugar Snap Peas
Sorry! why don't people say which country they live in?. Internet is international . You wrote 'North West'-- where India -- USA ?. Ian, Germany
