3 Fab Tips for the Pre-Garden Plan!

                                                                                   By Jeanette Vale

Time to plan the beds.  Here are some tips I learned from last year's garden.

#1  Don’t plant a lot of something you’re not familiar with eating.  We planted half a bed of turnips.  There must be a way to cook these right, but we never found it.  That is an unpleasant vegetable.  

How do we store it?  Like we do other foods we dislike:   until they rot and launch spores,  THEN we throw them in the trash.   

We can’t toss them early-on, because we poured $80 of water on them.

There must be a way these are made delicious.  What does this pair well with?  Turnip people, please weigh in.  

#2  Put in a watering system.  Do things right the first time.  There is working hard and then there is working smart.  At my house we work hard.  We water by hand all summer, so that by autumn we are doing the angry-hose-dance.  If that sounds kinking, you're right. 

I want to write a sister article to this on the ‘poverty mentality’.  Titled: I can’t afford to put in a watering system, but I will work two-hundred times harder to keep this garden--nine years in a row.  Grrrr!

#3 DO plan to grow plants that supply your favorite recipes.   A Salsa Garden is an example of this.    Tomatoes, onions, cilantro, peppers, and garlic are pretty easy to grow.   Making your own salsa has its benefits.  Food that is delicious to your version of perfection is one of these.   Condiments of this kind will be a mental blessing if we are reduced to eating very basic staples from our home shelves.

Does your gut love pickled foods?  I'm talking sans pressure canner.  Pro-biotic gut loving jars of carrots, cucumbers, peppers and such.  It seems to me that all the cells of my body smile when I eat vegetables packed this way.  Plan the garden for some pickling projects. 

Take a look at recipes from other countries when it comes to pickling.  

My sister lived in Japan for years.  She reported that they have pickled foods that were out of this world.  I came to that same conclusion when I ate at a Korean restaurant and tried several pickled items.  My cravings from that culinary experience have not diminished and it has been over fifteen years. 

I love rice and wheat for flour, but I don't have the room or knowledge of how to grow those in abundance.  The next best thing I can do is plan on potatoes. They are almost dummy-proof to grow.  

There is no hardship that cannot be made light with a pile of gold and crispy  hash browns.

See this delicious video  “Breakfast from the Backyard”  .

IN CONCLUSION

I love stores, truck drivers, farmers, and anyone that brings me food.  But nothing beats walking out into the backyard and shopping off the stalk!  The freedom and joy in having a garden is priceless.

If you take the time to plan it well, you will have an organized experience.  But, guess what?  Even if you don' t plan it well and it begins as a slap-it-together effort, the plants will still bring their abundance to you and feed your family. 

Don't get too caught up in perfectionism.  Grow food.  Rejoice in self reliance.

That’s a good start.  Come visit us.  If growing and canning food is not your thing we carry Legacy freeze dried food storage!  www.emergencyzone.com