If push comes to shove...?

lostinrates

I know I have to get something.*sigh* I'm worried about a tunnel with wind damage but the cost of a green house isn't too fun either.

we don't have a conservatory or even any really good window sills here for starting stuff off either.

Rummer

Check on gumtree and freecycle as we often see greenhouses advertised on there.

lostinrates

Rummer wrote: »

Check on gumtree and freecycle as we often see greenhouses advertised on there.

wow,really?Crazy! I will do. thanks.:)

Rummer

Honestly we regularly see greenhouses and sheds especially on the freebies part of gumtree. I imagine it is people who buy houses and have no urge to use them and want the space. In most cases you have to take it down yourself but still a great opportunity if one comes up, also worth posting a wanted notice on those sites too.

Rummer

wssla00 wrote: »

I bought a book called make your garden feed you- a reprint of a book from ww2. It is very interesting and not one scrap of land in a normal garden is wasted. Very interesting. I think I paid about £3 for it, so may be a good ready for anyone interested in the subject?

This sounds really interesting I will go and have a wee look for it now . Ordered!

COOLTRIKERCHICK

rhiwfield wrote: »

..how will you put food on the table? Will it be doing without a holiday, converting your lawn to fruit and veg, changing diet, starting a community farm or something entirely different?

About 15 months ago I posted about yesterday's farm, and whether it could come back. Fast forward and some of the reasons for posting that thread seem more relevant than ever:

• UK self sufficiency in food down to 59%
• UN says food prices at danger level
• IEA says oil prices at danger level
• Caroline Spellman (dont you just love the woman) says it should be illegal for countries not to export their food

So in this brave new world of 7bn+ people, climate change, economic chaos, peak oil and conflict, how will you put food on the table if you are faced with bananas at £5 per kg, potatoes at £3 kg, no carrots cos they've gone to Poland, bread rationing due to Australian floods and Russian fires and no rice or soya because China has outbid the UK on the global commodities market.

We dont go on holidays as such, just the odd weekend away,


If we were in this type of senario, then more time would be spend growing and looking after the fruit and veg, basically treating the veg like livestock... you bend over backwards to make sure they are kept well...

We would def utilize every inch of land/space... We would seriously have to think about making sure that one member of the family was home at all times, as I think there could be a high potential for veg theft...


food ready will post later...lol...

RAS

lostinrates wrote: »

we don't have a conservatory or even any really good window sills here for starting stuff off either.

Don't get me on that. Lovely Victorian windows, with big sills - outside! So I have to stack up things inside to make space for seedlings in the spring, except in the attic, which has massive almost south facing windows meaning that everything cooks if I go away for the weekend.

Am thinking about getting something on the allotment as we seem to keep the worst of the vandalism close to the main track or down the bottom these days. But my plot is very windy, so it needs nailing down really well.

rhiwfield

Rummer wrote: »

This discussion should be about how to maximise yield from your garden should the need for homegrown food become more important.

Agreed

Its amazed me how long its taken (years) to ramp up home production to a level that not embarassing! Partly its knowledge, partly its getting the soil in good heart, partly its planning, partly its getting into the garden, usually daily, to make things happen when they should.

A case in point on yield, was given some parsnip seeds last year and 16 germinated. They're now averaging 1/2 kg each and are far superior to the ones bought in the shops. So thats saved about £11 compared to standard parsnips or £24 for organic ones. And they took up less than half a 4'x4' bed. This was the least important veg crop but turned out a real bonus and will be a staple from now on.

A second case, bought some allium fistulosum seeds via the internet 4 years ago. For the past 3 years the welsh onions have provided onion leaves for stir fries, stocks, salads and sandwiches. Initial cost £2 including compost, ongoing cost nil.

And with sunk costs on soft fruit and tree fruit, and garden compost free locally, expense now per annum totals about £20-25 for sowing compost and seeds, which cost can be kept minimal by seed saving.

But after all that, just when you start to feel slightly happier about the growing, you realise there is yet another set of skills to be learned, how to store produce so that there's food in the winter and spring :mad:

RAS

rhiwfield wrote: »

I've no desire for the fall of civilisation. ...

You said earlier "If the poor cannot afford to pay the price that the market system requires to make a profit, they go hungry". Precisely.

When the really poor cannot afford to pay the market price, they starve. Just about every famine has taken place at times when those same countries and even districts were exporting food in large quantities; India (several times), Ireland, Ethiopia, Sudan. Two things kill indirectly, lack of purchasing power and poor logistics, rather than lack of available food in the country concerned. About the only exception maybe North Korea, but even that was partly logistics.

The world actually grows enough NOW to feed 9 billion on a very basic but adequate diet, but we die of overeating and others die for lack of food. I have the horrid horrid feeling that some people in afluenza would be happy to let other people starve, as long as their motor cars were chugging along on bio-fuels.

I regard learning to grow food and teaching others to grow food as a way of securing and supporting society, not as an indicator of the fall of civilisation. And I regard teaching those who are least well prepared as a priority. If these problems never happen, fine; quite a lot of people on low incomes and poor diets will probably be living rather better as a result. If they do, having a few thousand people down the road who have enough to tide them over an emergency is much better than having the same number trying to clear out the local supermarkets. And if we need to ship some muscle power out into rural areas to help farmers, they will be much more useful much quicker.

RAS

rhiwfield wrote: »

But after all that, just when you start to feel slightly happier about the growing, you realise there is yet another set of skills to be learned, how to store produce so that there's food in the winter and spring :mad:

Yes, and what and how to grow things that are still useable in the spring. With this hard December things have died that were staples in previous years. White cabbage useless, pretty much on all the plots. Red cabbage and Savoys, fine.

The corn salad and the bitter cress both reappeared from under the snow and the ice, fine to eat. Staple salads now.

I used to get rocket lasting through to the spring, but not the last three years. And it is about that long since I got a late sowing of mangetout through to December.