I was wondering that your plan is when/if Jiffy pots and potting soil are unavailable. I'm going through a bit of a shtf time right now and since I'm a bit of a prepper, I don't need to grow a garden to survive but I already had seeds so I figured I'd try to use mostly stuff on hand. Everything is growing, albeit slow on some.
Is it just compost, compost? Other things?
Well, if the SHTF, I’ll be direct seeding more than I do now. If I don’t have electricity, I don’t have the luxury of starting things inside under grow lights and then moving them to the greenhouse, so weather depending, at worst I’ll get a later start than normal and have tomatoes and peppers later.
But, I may not even grow them because if I don’t have electricity, I won’t be canning all sorts of stuff, so I’d focus more on the ‘bang for my buck’ veggies like beans and taters and the more nutritious greens like kale and spinach. Tomatoes and peppers would be ‘luxury’ crops then - but I’d still try to grow them for the nutrition, especially the Vitamin C in sweet peppers. And I’d need hot peppers to make sprays for insect and critter control.
Dirt? We’ve got the most DELICIOUS dirt in the pasture that has built up through years of erosion and has never had anything other than cows and wildlife walking, pooping and grazing on it for eons. I mean, seriously, you could eat that dirt with a spoon if you were of a mind to. ;)
I’d use that for starting soil and then add compost when I re-potted to larger containers. Plants don’t NEED any nutrition until they have a few sets of adult leaves; just light and water.
A seed is one of God’s miracles, IMHO.
If it was really awful, I guess I’d find a way to feed myself - or die trying and it wouldn’t matter then, anyway. Beau and I have this discussion often. Neither of us WANT to be ‘Last Man Standing’ if it came down to it. We’re no heroes; we’re spoiled Americans with everything going for us despite what Mother Government throws in our path, or tries to hobble us.
So, as always, save a bullet for yourself! ;)