DISASTER GARDENING: A PRIMER FOR THOSE UNEXPERIENCED IN RECESSIONS and STARVATION ![]()
How can I feed my family with this meltdown? Glug Glug.....DARK DAYS ARE AHEAD dear reader! By that I mean that FOOD, UTILITIES, RENTS WILL COST MORE THAN YOU HAVE COMING IN. The remedy? Scrimp on everything & TAKE IN ROOMERS to divide housing costs. And start growing food.
YOUR TO-DO LIST.
1. CREATE SOME KIND OF GREENHOUSE.![]()
MAKE IT YOURSELF OUT OF PLASTIC
AND BRANCHES set in LUMPS OF CEMENT2. PULL OUT the entire LAWN AND TURN THAT LARGE SPACE INTO A PROFESSIONAL VEGETABLE GARDEN
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(AVOID USING LAWN IMMEDIATELY NEXT TO north side of house. ) That is for storage units.
On east, west and especially SOUTH side of house, GROW VEGETABLES, beans, pulse and amaranth. IF YOUR AREA HAS NO SNOW plastic roofing is suitable. If you have snow, load-bearing beams, slanted roof of hard plastic is required. If you have only very short, two hour FREEZEs, a few nights a year, then you can even grow winter vegetables SEPT thru MAY. HOW?
Tarp the entire south side of the house with plastic, (painters' tarps, 4 mil,) staple to eaves of roof, tails coming down to your nursery tables. Keep the vegetables there, in this ad hoc greenhouse. Open window on south side of house so heated air goes in there on freezing nights. You can even keep tomatos until spring. They are biennials and will be bigger, earlier next year.
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3.) FIND torn-down fences to build nursery tables inside your plastic shelter. I tore apart my old ping pong table, cutting two separate tables (one side for each player) into four & adding legs. The tables fit easily on south side of house. All shelving for storage should go on north side of house. Do not waste the sunny spot on the south side of house for anything but food. Baby plants are on the tables. When weather is clement, move babies to ground. Slugs can still get into boxes up there, so flashlight your way around them each night.
4.) Start compost piles. Your Driveway strip in front of house is a great place as you pull all neighbors' green cans to the edge and dump. You see bags of leaves on curbs, brake and load into hatchback. I compost on my curb strips in front of house, making the mounds flatter, like your average autumn leaves, but i mix the leaves with bagged, sterilized manure.
5.) Study the work of greenhouse greats. http://www.imacollector.com/greenhouse/
and go for a real solid, long lasting green house. As the lady said, 'hold on, it's going to be a bumpy ride.'PS. There is enough land and food for everybody if the oligarchs and their employees did not stand in the way of the generous reality of our Creator with their DELAURO laws.
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