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http://destinysurvival.com/2008/04/07/potatoes-for-survival-gardening-its-in-the-bag/

Potatoes for Survival Gardening–It’s in the Bag!

Most of my gardening is done in containers. It amazes some people that I’ve grown potatoes in three or five gallon buckets of soil. They just can’t imagine doing anything other than growing directly in the ground the conventional way. This year I’m trying a couple of other experimental methods of growing potatoes, and shortly I’ll tell you about one of those methods.

Some may argue that It’s not worth growing potatoes at all, since they can be had inexpensively at the grocery store. Survival Sam would say such people don’t have the survival attitude. When you grow your own potatoes, you can grow any variety you care to, and you don’t have to worry about whether your potatoes are grown safely and naturally.

Thankfully, potatoes are easy to grow and don’t have to be confined to being grown in the ground. That means they can be grown anywhere. Furthermore, since they’ll produce new tubers along their stems, soil or compost can be piled up as high as you can put it. That’s what makes them so great for a survival gardening situation. I’ve heard of stacking up old tires and filling them in with soil or compost as the potato plants grow higher. At the end of the season, the tires are unstacked to get at the potatoes. I’ve also heard of growing potatoes in a compost container made of chicken wire and heaping up the compost as the plants grow. But what about growing them in grow bags? That’s one small experiment I’m trying this season.

I’ve got three five-gallon black grow bags partly filled with soil made mostly of coir. Coir is simply ground coconut husks. I like it because it has the consistency of brown sugar, and fertilizer mixes in well. I’ve put one potato in each bag, made sure the potatoes are well covered, and rolled down the sides of each bag. I’ll add more soil and unroll the bags as the plants grow.

Incidentally, these bags are sitting in a black tray originally meant for mixing concrete. This allows for bottom watering. The soil in the bags will soak up the shallow level of water I poured into the tray. All I have to do is keep an eye on things so the potatoes don’t get too wet or dry.

Growing potatoes in bags is quite simple, saves space, and will allow for easy harvest later. If you’d like to try something similar for your survival garden, Gardener’s Supply has what they call potato bins specifically for potatoes. They’re 15-gallons each and can hold as many as four potatoes. Gardener’s Supply reports harvesting 13 pounds of spuds. The growing bins can be used more than one year and can be folded for storage.

There are a few more advantages of growing in bags or bins. There’s no Digging or Hilling Required. The porous fabric of the Gardener’s Supply Potato Bin aerates roots, prevents heat build-up and allows excess water to drain away. The 18” diameter size lets you grow your own potatoes in just about any sunny spot. No conventional garden required.

It’s easy to get potato bins from Gardener’s Supply. Just click on the Gardener’s Supply logo and type Potato Bin in their home page search box. You’ll see they have potatoes as well as the bins to grow them in. Click on the picture of the potato bin to go to a description and ordering information. Don’t miss your chance to grow potatoes the easy way. Hurry before the season slips away!

http://destinysurvival.com/2008/06/10/survival-gardening-growing-potatoes-in-bags/

June 10, 2008
Survival Gardening–Growing Potatoes in Bags

Potatoes in Large Gro Bags

This photo, taken June 8th, shows blossoming Kennebec potatoes in three 5-gallon grow bags of coir and rock powder fertilizer, sitting in a black tray. As described in an earlier post, I planted the potatoes with bags rolled down to about one third their full height. As the plants grew, I unrolled the bags and added more coir. A couple of the bags still need topped off. Bottom watering to a depth of less than two inches is done as needed. This is the first year I’ve tried growing potatoes using this passive hydroponics method. I look forward to harvesting bags full of potatoes this season.

If your survival gardening situation requires you to do things differently, or if you want to explore new possibilities, click here for Mittleider Gardening, and order an e–book or two, such as Gardening by the Foot or Grow-Bed Gardening. There’s even a course on Mittleider gardening methods so you can really, uh, dig deep into the subject. No matter which e-book you choose, you’ll discover how to garden organically, no matter what your soil is like or how much space you have.

http://destinysurvival.com/2008/06/09/survival-gardening-sweet-potatoes-in-bags/

June 9, 2008
Survival Gardening–Sweet Potatoes in Bags

Young Sweet Potatoes in Grow Bags

This photo was taken on June 8th. It may not looklike it now, but the vines of these young sweet potatoes will form a jungle of vines later this summer, and tubers will be bulging in the bags when they’re ready to harvest.. The plants were purchased from a local greenhouse and are now growing in 2 gallon grow bags of coir with rock powder mixed in for fertilizer. The bags are sitting in black trays. Bottom watering to a depth of less than two inches is done as needed. This is an example of passive hydroponics.

If you need to garden a little differently because of lack of space, poor soil, or some other reason, click here for Mittleider Gardening. There you’ll find several e-books, such as Grow-Bed Gardening or Gardening by the Foot, which will guide you into the survival gardening methods that will work for you.

http://destinysurvival.com/2009/02/17/survival-gardening-with-an-early-start-for-potatoes/

February 17, 2009
Survival Gardening With an Early Start for Potatoes

Here’s a survival gardening experiment. Try planting a few potatoes earlier than usual this year by putting one potato in three or five gallon buckets of soil in a garage or basement where temps are well above freezing. Provide light from a shop lamp or nearby sunny window.

Perhaps you could start potatoes in grow bags. Roll the sides of the bags down until the potato plants grow and need more soil. Then you can gradually unroll the bag.. .

Potatoes grow best in cooler weather. If you can start them early in containers or bags indoors, you can move them outside when conditions are more favorable.

If you think growing potatoes in the garden in winter is impossible, then consider the experience of one North Carolina grower in this excerpt from a “Backwoods Home Magazine” article.

Plant your Irish potatoes this fall or winter

By Robert L. Williams

Admittedly, this type of gardening is a little harder, takes a little longer, and seems to be a total flop. But wait till spring and see the difference.

During the depths of winter the snows and rains will cause the mulch materials to decay and, as the mulch decays, warmth is generated, just as green hay or green sawdust will generate heat as it decays. The heat is generated for several weeks or even months, depending upon the amount of mulch used, and causes the potato sets to begin their growth cycle so that the roots begin to grow. The second layer of mulch and the dirt on top of it prevents the heat from escaping rapidly, while the soil on top is too cold for the plants to emerge from the soil. Small potatoes start to form very early, and they will grow all winter.

Read the whole article here: www.backwoodshome.com/articles/williams48.html

Excerpt used with permission of Backwoods Home Magazine. www.backwoodshome.com 1-800-835-2418

To understand the author’s growing method, you’ll need to read the entire article. Granted, if you follow his procedure, it’s best to start winter potatoes in the fall. Make a note now to yourself to start a few next fall. Meanwhile, consider starting a few right now and get an early start on your survival gardening.

http://destinysurvival.com/2008/06/18/consider-coir-for-your-survival-gardening/

June 18, 2008
Consider Coir for Your Survival Gardening

If you’ve seen my blog posts from last week about potatoes and sweet potatoes, you know I mentioned using coir. A friend put me onto it a few years ago, and I love it.

If you’re not familiar with it, coir is simply crushed coconut husks compressed into bricks. When you immerse the bricks in water, they expand to several times their original size and can be broken down so that it has the feel of brown sugar. A half pound brick makes 8 quarts of medium. Since coir is made from coconut husks, it’s renewable. That should be good news to anyone who might be concerned about depleting sources of peat.

One of the many reasons I like coir is that it stores conveniently in brick form, unlike trying to keep bags of potting soil. You can buy it ahead of time and make it up as you need it during the season. Coir is great for container gardening or for using in grow bags. It’s inert, which means you’ll have to add fertilizer to it. Also, by adding coir to potting soil, you’ll make your soil mix go farther and add some fluffiness to its texture.

Here’s another good use for coir. If you’re keeping worms for composting, like I mentioned in a post several days ago on the book Worms Eat My Garbage, you’ll find coir safe and easy to use for keeping those worms.

Gardener’s Supply has coir. When you go to their site, type the word Coir in the search box, and a page will come up showing Gardener’s Supply’s products with coir. I recommend the bricks of coir they’re offering for worm bedding. Buying at least 12 or 15 bricks would be a great way to add to your stock of survival gardening supplies.

http://destinysurvival.com/2008/02/07/survival-gardening-hydroponics-potential/

February 7, 2008
Survival Gardening–Hydroponics Potential

Hydroponic Potatoes

In case you’re having trouble reading the caption, it says: “Fig. 26. Choice Potatoes produced by hydroponics. From 60 to 70 percent of the seedbed was covered with tubers. The yield for 1/100 acre was 1482 pounds.” (Emphasis added.)

Gericke planted potatoes at the rate of one plant per 100 square inches in 6 ft. by 10 ft. beds containing about 4 inches of litter made from wood shavings, wheat straw, and sawdust, which was kept moist with fertilizer solution.

An amazing variety of crops can be grown using hydroponics, and the results can be impressive, as you can see. With simple hydroponics practices plants get all the nutrition they need and use less water. Hydroponics could be a life saver during drought conditions.

The wonderful news for you is that hydroponics doesn’t have to be difficult or complicated. You can grow garden vegetables at home with hydroponics. Begin with some lettuce or your other favorite salad greens.

To discover your survival gardening hydroponics potential, go to the Survival Gardening category on the right sidebar of this page and click on Hydroponic Home Gardening. The link will take you to a site where you can buy your copy of The Hydroponic Garden Guide in time for this year’s gardening season.

http://destinysurvival.com/2008/06/05/survival-gardening-with-worms-a-resource-to-get-you-started/

June 5, 2008
Survival Gardening with Worms–A Resource to Get You Started

If you’ve seen very many Three Stooges episodes, you know they have some recurring gags that are good for a laugh, no matter what the context. One of my favorites is where one of the guys says he ate a rotten egg and burnt toast for breakfast. Another asks, “Why’d you do that?” The reply: “Because I have a tapeworm, and it’s good enough for it.”

The next time you burn the toast, you can feed it to worms, too. That is, you can if you have a worm bin. Of course, you’ll be feeding earthworms or red worms, not tapeworms! The definitive guide to get that worm bin going is Worms Eat my Garbage, by Mary Appelhof.

Using worms to process organic waste is called vermicomposting. It provides excellent soil for your garden while getting rid of your kitchen waste. Appelhof has been doing this for more than 25 years. This inexpensive, easy to read book will show you how to make and maintain your very own worm bin. You’ll be amazed at the results.

Click on the logo below to order your copy of Worms Eat My Garbage.

By the way, when you’ve got your worm bin going, you’ll be able to impress the socks off your family and friends by telling them you have a genuine “vermicomposting system”. OK, maybe they won’t be impressed, but your plants will be when you grow them with that fabulous organic, black gold compost. And after all, anything that improves your survival garden is what you really want.

http://destinysurvival.com/2008/04/08/strawberries-for-the-survival-garden-its-in-the-bag/

April 8, 2008
Strawberries for the Survival Garden–It’s in the Bag!

“I liked your blog post about potato bags.” To my utter surprise, it was Survival Sally on the phone for me. What a treat!

“Thank you,” I mumbled.

“Did you know Park Seed has bags for growing strawberries?”

“No, tell me about them,” I said.

“Now, you should know you have to hang these up somewhere for them to really work,” Sally said. “These bags from Park Seed have holes for five strawberry plants. Or you could put ten plants in them if you slit holes in the back. Or you could get longer bags with ten holes in them already.”

“How do they work?” I asked.

“Oh, it’s easy,” Sally cooed. “All you do is fill each pouch with potting soil and set a seedling into each of the criss-cross openings. Then you water the seedlings really well and let the strawberry plant roots develop for about 2 weeks. Now we come to the hanging part. You have to hang the pouch where your strawberries will grow best. You know, someplace like a sunny wall or on a patio. I think it might be fun to hang several from a coat rack and make people think you’ve got a strawberry tree.” She giggled.

“So, what’s the advantage of growing strawberries in bags?” I asked.

“Well, strawberry plants that are grown off the ground have cleaner fruits and leaves. Besides, you can put in the potting soil mix you want, and it’s nice and loose to work with. Also, you have fewer pests and diseases. And something I really like is you don’t have to do any bending or stooping to harvest those sweet, red beauties when they’re ready. Now, the problem is, they’re so tempting, you want to pick them off and eat them all right then and there!”

“That makes my mouth water already,” I said. “I love strawberries.”

“So do I,” said Sally. “And these growing bags make growing them so easy. They’re durable and can be reused. Just imagine those green plants popping out of these green pouches. Did I mention you get four in a package? Well, they’re really a good buy because they can save a lot of space and are certainly less effort. Anyone can grow strawberries about anywhere now.”

“You say Park Seed has them?” I asked.

“Yes. Just click on Park’s logo and type Strawberry Growing Bags in the Park’s home page search box. When I did that, all I had to do was click on the picture of the growing bag on the next page that came up. That took me to a page with a description and info on ordering.”

“That’s simple enough,” I said.

“And, by the way, if you write this up in a blog post, be sure to tell your readers to have fun growing those juicy strawberries!”