I was wondering if people could share their experiences with growing food at home, and how much it has supplemented their total food intake. I know it would take a lot of space to actually provide food for myself. I am moving into a new apartment with tonnes of natural light, I am going to squeeze edible plants into every spot I can!
It is more then possible to grow the majority of your own food, assuming you have the space and depending on your diet. When I was growing up, we never really had many shortages of food when we were gardening and raising animals and it always GREAT food. Things like hotdogs and KD and such commercially prepared food were things that were 'treats' because we rarely got them. What you have to keep in mind though, is that it isn't all about space or containers or lights etc... those things all have an effect of course, but they pale in importance next to one thing that means more then the rest combined. How much effort are you going to put into it? When we were kids, our family was 3 kids, 2 adults, plus anywhere between 3 and 12 other people hanging around. At least a couple of people spent a couple of hours everyday in the outdoor garden, another couple of hours was spent looking after animals. On the other end of it, a buddy of ours who has been gardening for a long time, who at one point was growing (or raising) 95% of his food for him and his family of 6 (maybe 7?), and is now only growing for himself... still spends at least an hour a day in his food gardens. Indoor container gardening is more work then conventional outdoor planting as you have to replace almost every natural aspect of it with your own effort and money, but it is still worth it... In terms of the total possible that 'could' be done... It depends on whether or not you are willing to change your diet to match what you can produce. Salt, sugar, coffee and some herbs and spices are ones that most people cannot produce at home. You can replace some of that stuff with alternatives that will grow where you are, but that requires a change of mindset. It comes back to the same as the issue of the gardening work itself though... How much effort are you willing to put into it?
If you don't have much room to grow, perhaps you could focus on growing more expensive produce? That way you would save as much on your food bills as you would growing large quantities of cheap staple foods.
Last year I managed to grow- halapenos cantelopes honeydew tomatos and cherry tomatos apples and pears strawberrys blueberrys cabbage lettuce raddishes chives raspberrys and blackberrys carrots pumpkins, butternut squash, and zuchinnies I had a pretty succesful year for once.
well, im an urban gardener. i teach low income families to help supplement their dinner tables w food they grow. in our community garden we each have 11 by 15 foot boxes as well as the many containers that we grow on our individual porches. the list above by Sugar, is perfect example of things that you can grow easily,i grow lettuce in my planters right on my porch. it looks really pretty as well as being a food source. i rarely grow inedible plants i prefer to only grow that which i can eat. flowers included. as far as container gardening, it is way less work weeding and maintaining than a traditional garden. and its portable in an emergency move. less watering is also needed. you can move them in and out of the blaring sun, flooding rain or frost too in complicated climates like Missouri. id say that w my small garden,government food drops, and the containers im able to survive nicely. my kids and i also are members of the 100 mile diet in our community so ive been able to trade for meat and eggs. i spend on average of 150 dollars a month on extras BUT i do say and agree that you have to learn to love what is on your plate. the kids dont really like radish stew and that is where grilled cheese comes in handy. lol . look up freeganism as well as the square foot gardening, and find locations near you that have government food drops or Harvesters food pantries. this has been a great source for me and my kiddos.
i have a garden....the Most BENEFICIAL aspect of your own garden is that YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE EATING!!!! I know i am eating totally organic food outside of the petrochemical industrial machine with its pesticides fungicides and herbicides..... last year i grew... chillies tomatoes lettuce squash pumpkin zuchinni carrots beetroot potatoes beans onions cabbage broccolli corn no matter how much you get from your garden you are eating Healthy...not empty food
growing your own veggies,they r a lot tastier than store bought ones,also growing your own weed to smoke is quite addictive!
