Ultimate Survival Garden Guide {27 Best Crops}
These are the 27 best crops to grow in your survival garden — or modern victory garden as I like to call it. I’ll also show you my own survival garden plans for this year.
We will look at garden layouts and practical strategies for every circumstances. There is something here for you whether you are growing in a homestead, a suburban backyard, a community garden, apartment balcony garden.
Don’t be discouraged or overwhelmed at the prospect of planning your survival garden.
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In This Article
- A list of 26 crops to grow in your survival garden with the reasons why.
- How to start planning a survival garden without getting overwhelmed.
- Survival gardening for homesteaders and those with plenty of space.
- Survival gardening for small spaces.
- Starting a garden on any budget.
- What to do if you have poor soil and growing conditions.
- What to do if you have NO garden space at all.
- Growing food indoors.
- Plants that are better to buy in bulk for storage.
- My own personal survival garden layout, strategy, and list of crops I’m growing for my family.
What Is A Survival Garden?
Your survival garden should be used to grow crops that can help you get through tough times by providing you with some or all of your vegetables and fruits.
(In my home country, we just call this gardening as every house will grow something to help supplement the diet and save costs.)
The vegetables and fruits in a survival food garden will be calorically dense (though not always) and nutrient dense (though again, not always).
Some crops are on my list because they are considerably cheaper to grow than buy at the store.
Some are on the list because they can be stored for a long time or fermented (which makes them more nutritious) or even canned for much longer storage.
And some are on this list to give you a way to enliven meals that would otherwise be fairly bland.
We’ve all seen what inflation has done to prices in the grocery store. We’ve all seen the panic buying. And we’ve all lived through lockdowns.
The cost of groceries isn’t going down anytime soon and I fear food costs will continue to rise alongside potential shortages — we’ve seen this happen with eggs already.
I have an article that you should read after this one that discusses beating food shortages in 2023 and beyond through a series of real, practical, and common sense steps.
One of the most important things on that list is to start a garden if you have the option.
(I also have an article that can help you plan how to start growing enough food to feed your family for a year.)
Let’s get into the list of things you should consider planting, but keep reading for more practical steps on how to make this easier for you.
Gardening can seem overwhelming, I know how you feel. It does not have to be. I promise you that it is actually very easy once you start if you garden smart.
Related
Planning Your Survival Garden
Go outside and measure your growing space so that you understand how much square footage you’re dealing with.
Then get a pencil and paper and start drawing little squares and rectangles to represent your raised beds or growing areas.
Allow for room for pathways and consider how wide they need to be to accommodate you walking comfortably between them or something like a wheelbarrow.
Even more importantly consider the walkway space if you’re planning on having arched trellising between garden beds — which you should really seriously consider by the way.
Take note of how much square footage you have to work with.
Teaching you how to plan your garden from start to finish is obviously beyond the scope of this article. I’ll show you my rough garden plans at the end to give you an idea of what you can do.
But getting out of your head and going outside with a tape measurer and then starting to put your plans into paper is a great way to start envisioning the project — which brings me to my next point.
Why No Dig & Square Foot Gardening Is Your Best Bet
We practice a mix of no/dig and intensive square foot gardening.
This year we’re finally installing our raised beds and trellises at the new homestead but I started with these methods in my community garden and on my balcony first. See my article on the benefits of a raised bed garden for more information.
But don’t panic if you can’t afford to buy raised beds or can only buy a few at a time — the no dig method, if followed exactly as laid out by Charles Dowding, doesn’t actually require them. He uses ordinary wooden planks propped up by something heavy (like rocks) to build up healthy, fertile soil in the beginning stages when his style of beds are put down but they are not permanent fixtures as they are removed once the soil is firmly established and in place.
Highly recommend both of these books by the way: No Dig by Charles Dowding and Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew.
Buy them, borrow them, or find them at your library. I promise you will not be disappointed.
You should also check out Charles Dowding’s YouTube channel.
This video explains his revolutionary no-dig/no-till gardening method as well as discussing the importance of compost.
The Importance of Planting Vertically
We have a large annual garden and the space to keep expanding it — but that doesn’t mean I don’t prioritize planting vertically
SO many plants are better grown upwards on a trellis versus allowing them to sprawl wherever they want.
Even large melons and squashes can be grown this way.
A trellis will protect your plants from rot and fungus, give them better air circulation and more sun exposure, and make harvesting way easier.
From beans, to tomatoes, to cucumbers, butternut squash, pumpkins, melons — and more — growing up can double your growing space.
If your survival garden is in a small backyard, community garden plot, or even your balcony, you should absolutely grow your food vertically to maximize space.
Start Composting Now
You might not be planting your survival garden this year, but if this is a serious goal of yours — start composting. Start today. No excuses. It’s easy.
Your compost pile will be the best source of nutrition and fertility in your garden and you cannot have too much.
Don’t Forget Perennials (4 Bonus Crops)
The beauty of perennials is that you can plant them and then forget about them (mostly) and every year they will dutifully return and feed you and your family with little to no effort from you.
Asparagus
Not only is asparagus delicious and easy to prepare, once planted, your asparagus bed will return for 20 years each spring! One of the earliest crops to poke through the soil, asparagus is a must and can be planted out of the way, like right up against a fence.
Rhubarb
Rhubarb rhubarb is prolific and can be enjoyed in classic recipes like rhubarb pie or crumble or preserved into a syrup and enjoyed with savory dishes like pork. It takes up no space and can be harvested several times until the spring season is over.
Earth Chestnut
Earth chestnut? You probably have never heard of this now-rare and hard to find perennial, but it really is worth reviving and planting. Once it was quite popular and cultivated across many places in Europe. I’m planting a bed this year.
Strawberries
Strawberries. Is there anything better than a freshly grown ripe strawberry in June? On top of being extremely expensive (especially organic) strawberries in the grocery store tend to be less than stellar and lack sweetness. Fortunately you can grow your own raised strawberry bed and stop buying them.
Growing Food Indoors
I started growing food indoors when we lived in the condo. Mostly herbs (which are also crazy expensive) but also some mustards, arugula, and other greens.
I started with a wire rack and rather expensive collection of grow lights. I’m still using that and it’s a bit of a pain to setup and disassemble on top of the fact that it’s just huge and ugly.
I now also have a small and practical vertical indoor farm setup. I use it to start my seedlings for my outdoor garden and then I will also use it to keep me in fresh herbs throughout the cold months.
The version I have is the Smart Garden 27 (because it can grow 27 plants at a time) from the Norwegian company Click & Grow.
It uses soil, which I strongly prefer to hydroponic growing, especially since I use it to start seeds.
It’s really small and attractive too so it would work in an apartment perfectly.
It can be used to grow herbs, but you can also grow cherry tomatoes, strawberries, peppers, greens, and more.
They have different sizes of units and price points, so check them out. I actually do wish I had the largest vertical farm they offer which can grow double what I currently can.
I became an affiliate for them, so my code PEASANTSDAUGHTER10 can be applied at checkout and you will get 10% off or whatever the best deal is at the time.
Click & Grow Link (opens in a new window)
Even if you only grow herbs — you’re saving a tremendous amount of money on one of the most expensive fresh foods in the grocery store.
Small Space Growing Strategies
As mentioned several times, if you have a small amount of space to work with — you need to grow vertically, no doubt about it.
And intensively planted square foot gardens with trellises are your best bet.
Growing Food On A Balcony
If you have a south-facing balcony you can grow an absolute ton of food!
I know because I did. And because I had a huge community garden plot, I wasn’t even trying to maximize the space but had a simple raised cedar planter with a trellis where I grew amazing tomatoes, all sorts of greens, herbs, even beets and radishes.
If I was back in the condo, I would still have the same setup but I would also add one of those garden tower contraptions that let you grow a surprisingly large amount of food in a small vertical footprint.
I would also convert any wall space into a trellis to grow more food.
For inspiration, take a look at what can be done on a small rental balcony by Her86m2 who now lives on a large country property, but she started small too:
What if You Have NO space
You grow indoors.
And you take advantage of cheaper in-season produce by learning how to can and ferment it.
You find a farm selling fresh, unwashed eggs and you waterglass them to preserve them.
And you get on every community garden plot waiting list you can and follow up with the coordinators each year in the early new year to see what they have to say.
You can also look to start your own community garden project.
Get on your local town/city/whatever Facebook group and seek out like-minded individuals. Don’t try to lone wolf this — it can be lonely and overwhelming.
The city I lived in before we bought our homestead offered $2K grants to people creating community garden spaces and yours may offer something similar and even have advice on where to start.
Those community garden organizers you’ve kept in touch with — ask them where to start too.
Your community is a wealth of knowledge and experience to draw from. Use technology to your benefit and connect with others.
Oh and guerilla gardening methods might appeal to you too.
Get creative, God didn’t give you a brain for you to waste it and give up.
23 Best Crops To Grow In A Survival Garden
The 5 top crops to focus on in a survival garden are:
- Potatoes
- Corn (flour corn, not sweet)
- Winter Squash
- Beans
- Eggs
If you have minimal space, start there. If you’re not allowed chickens or ducks, add sweet potatoes or carrots.
And if you have space to spare and want to diversify, keep reading.
Potatoes
1 cup of boiled potatoes has 166 calories, 4.3 grams of protein, 36.6 grams of carbs, and is an excellent source of Vitamin C and other nutrients.
Potatoes are an obvious choice for a survival garden. They are delicious and as easy to grow as they are to cook.
Potatoes can be grown in a multitude of ways — in the ground, raised beds, grow bags, 5 gallon buckets, large trash cans, IKEA bags etc. and are a beginner crop that anyone can master.
Potatoes also store very well if done properly (and if you choose a good storage variety to plant) and can keep for months in the right conditions without refrigeration.
Potatoes are low-acid which means they cannot be water bath canned so you must use a pressure canner if you want to can them.
Conversely — potatoes are abundant and cheap. Even organic ones where I am. If you’re short on space you may choose to skip potatoes in favor of crops that are more difficult or expensive to obtain.
I personally won’t take up a whole raised bed for potatoes and prefer containers or in- ground to grow my mine.
See Also
Blitva | Croatian Chard & Potato Side Dish (Recipe)
Beans
Beans are packed with calories and nutrients and they’re a great source of plant protein.
And although plant protein isn’t as bioavailable as meat, beans are something I would consider a must in a survival garden.
Although you can certainly buy dry beans for long term storage (30 years if packed correctly) you can still also opt to grow your own shelling beans.
Organic dry beans are harder to find, pretty expensive, and come in limited varieties compared to what I can grow myself.
They’re also very easy to grow and dry yourself.
Along with shelling beans for drying, you should also plant beans that are meant for picking young and eating sautéed or steamed whole. Green beans are abundant producers that will keep you fed all year.
Some varieties are great at doing both — shelling and drying close to the end of the season, and eating earlier in the season.
Flour Corn
I have a thorough guide on how to grow corn in a raised bed that also covers in-ground planting.
Another thing I have trouble finding — organic masa harina. So I’m just going to go ahead and grow my own flour corn and then nixtamilize and grind it myself for homemade tortillas and tamales.
Corn flour can also be used to make corn bread and a plethora of other tasty things.
It’s easy to grow corn in blocks, either in the ground or in a raised bed corn plot like I’m doing.
This year I’m growing Painted Mountain Corn.
See Also
Winter Squash
I love winter squash. This year I’m growing acorn squash, spaghetti squash, and a very exciting and rare Japanese heirloom black futsu pumpkin that is reported to taste absolutely amazing while also storing well for months.
Winter squash and pumpkin varieties can be stored and are a delicious way to enliven meals as the garden is dying and winter is approaching.
Winter squash can be turned into roasted and mashed sides, nourishing soups (squash and bacon is a favorite here), they can be made into tempura or just simply steamed.
And don’t throw those seeds away! Wash them and roast them for a tasty snack.
Eggs
Okay so eggs are not technically a crop in the strictest of definitions, but I’m adding it to this list anyways. Because if you have the space and ability to have chickens and/or ducks — why aren’t you keeping a flock?
Did you know you can waterglass fresh raw (unwashed) eggs at room temperature for up to 18 months or more? Check out my list of the best egg laying chicken breeds and my breed profile of the Buff Orpington which is probably one of the the best dual-purpose breeds alongside the Bresse chicken.
And don’t discount ducks. Some amazing duck breeds like the Silver Appleyard, Saxony duck, Muscovy, and Cayugas (to name a few) are great layers and meat birds too.
See Also
- The Ultimate Guide to Homestead & Backyard Chicken Keeping
- 25 REAL Ways To Save Money On Chicken Feed Costs
- Are Ducks Better Than Chickens? — I Say Yes!
- 11 Chickens That Lay Blue Eggs — & Why {With Pictures!}
- Your Homestead Needs Geese {16 Reasons Why}
Sweet Potatoes
One cup (200 grams) of baked sweet potato with skin on has 180 calories, 41 grams of carbs, 4 grams of protein, more Vitamin C than potatoes, and a good amount of potassium and B6.
Although sweet potatoes are not related to potatoes they can be cooked in many similar ways.
Sweet potatoes are expensive to buy a lot of the time and often can’t be found in all grocery stores. Organic ones are extremely expensive here, even at Costco.
You should know that sweet potato green tops are also as edible as the nutritious bright orange (unlike potatoes where the greens are poisonous) and can be prepared as a green much like spinach, chard or kale.
They’re a bit fussier to grow than potatoes, but are still a great choice for your survival garden plans.
Peanuts
Peanuts are packed full of calories, nutrients, and plant protein. They’re so delicious too.
We think of peanuts as a Southern crop, but the truth is that they can grow as far north as Canada where I live.
You just have to plant a variety that matures in 100 days.
I’m growing peanuts this year for the first time and I’m actually pretty excited about it. If all goes well each plant should give me 40-50 peanuts.
Tomatoes
Tomatoes are expensive. And that is primarily why they are on this survival garden list.
But they are mostly on this list because the worst tomato you grow yourself will still be better than anything you can buy in the grocery store. And there are so many amazing varieties to choose from.
Tomatoes are extremely easy to grow too so they are a fantastic beginner crop and there are endless recipes (try my smoked tomatoes) and preservation methods — tomatoes can fermented, water bath and pressure canned depending on the recipe.
Tomatoes make up a huge portion of my garden plans alongside peppers.
The past years were so productive that I struggled to eat them before the first killing tomato frost came and I ended up picking tons of green tomatoes which I ripened or used as-is.
See Also
- How To Speed Ripen Tomatoes Before The First Frost & Cold Weather
- How Cold Is Too Cold For Tomato Plants?
- Are Coffee Grounds Good For Tomato Plants? {Not So Much}
- 9 Reasons {& Fixes} for Tomato Leaves Curling Up In Your Garden
- Smoked Tomatoes (Recipe)
Lentils
If you’re growing beans for drying, consider lentils too.
Lentils have a lower phytate content than beans as well as lower amounts of indigestible sugars — they create less gas than beans. Beans are slightly higher in carbs than lentils too.
Lentils are fussier and will have lower yields than any bean variety, so plan accordingly. I personally think it’s a better use of time to buy and store lentils and that is exactly what we will be doing.
Amaranth
Amaranth pops up in most survival garden crop lists and garden plans I find online. And I can understand why — even if I disagree.
Amaranth can be grown for its greens as well for its calorically dense, protein packed, and nutritious seeds. It also grows like a weed and is virtually maintenance-free.
Amaranth is a fascinating grain and was once a staple crop amongst the first peoples in North America.
I’ve never considered amaranth before but I found a random seed packet in my collection and went down a Google rabbit hole.
The result is that I’m adding amaranth to my survival garden. Both for myself and for my chickens, geese, and ducks.
Amaranth is actually even not a true cereal grain. It is sometimes called a pseudo-grain, an herb, or even a vegetable.
That being said — this is not something most people are used to growing and eating. And if you’re short on space or a beginner, I don’t think this is the most rewarding crop. Plant it for fun and see how you feel, but I’m not betting on amaranth as becoming some mainstay in my survival garden.
We’ll see how I feel about it at the end of this season.
Beets
Beets are a must-have crop for me. And beets can be grown virtually year-round, even here in Zone 6 where I’m gardening up north.
It’s just such a versatile and delicious crop and I love the earthy, sweet taste.
Plus I’m Slavic so beets are mandatory.
The beet greens are edible and are great sautéed with some garlic and seasonings. You can use beets instead of chard in my recipe for blitva.
You can use the roots to make delicious, probiotic-rich beet kvass and then drink the kvass liquid or make the whole thing into traditional borscht soup. You can ferment beets or pressure can them as well.
And the roots store for a decent time too.
Organic beets are also expensive here so I can save quite a bit of money by growing them. They grow very easily too and are a perfect beginner crop.
See Also
Beet Kvass {With Apple & Ginger Variation}
Summer Squash
As you wait patiently for your winter squash to ripen and mature in your survival garden — your summer squash will be growing abundant fruits for you to eat all season.
Summer squash is prolific so you can get a lot of food from even a single plant that will produce all summer long.
And it can be cooked in many ways, fermented, pressure canned as well as dehydrated into powders and flours or freeze dried.
Summer squash refers to things like zucchini, cousa, and tatuma but there are honestly so many varieties to choose from.
Sweet & Hot Peppers
Sweet peppers are extremely expensive here, especially organic ones. And my grocery stores and even my farmer’s markets are very short on selection.
It’s mostly just some sad, soapy-tasting bell peppers that can cost as high as $4 for ONE.
This year I’m growing shishito peppers and cramming my garden with many other sweet and flavorful peppers too.
In Croatia we make and can this delicious spread called Ajvar made with fire roasted red peppers, eggplant, olive oil and spices and I’m looking forward to doing this myself as I cannot buy good ajvar here.
And don’t forget hot peppers! They can be easily dried and stored to make chili and other dishes all year long.
You can also ferment hot peppers into your own hot sauce and that process mellows them out and makes them milder.
See Also
How To Grow Shishito Peppers {Complete Guide}
Carrots
In a square foot garden layout like we use, you can plant 16 carrots per square foot. And that plot can be succession planted with even more carrots — carrots you can then leave in the ground and use throughout fall and winter as needed.
It’s true! The cold actually makes them sweeter and you don’t have to worry about storing indoors.
In a standard 5×5 raised bed that means one single bed can potentially yield 800 carrots in a single season if each plant grows successfully.
Carrot tops are also edible and can be sautéed, turned into pesto, or used to flavor stocks much like parsley or lovage is used.
Jerusalem Artichokes
A Hardy perennial tuber that looks like a bush with pretty yellow flowers, Jerusalem Artichokes are common in permaculture projects and we are adding it to border our land for privacy, as well as provide food for us and our animals.
Cabbage
The main benefit of growing cabbage in your survival garden is turning it into nutritious, probiotic-rich sauerkraut you can enjoy all year long.
One of the easiest, most fool-proof ferments imaginable (the gateway ferment), sauerkraut is great for your gut, can be used in many recipes, and the brine can be used to augment or kickstart all sorts of other fermented vegetables too.
Cabbage in general is just so tasty. I love it sautéed in lard or bacon fat and added to soups. I also enjoy red cabbage raw, very thinly sliced with a simple dressing of sharp vinegar and salt.
Kale
I rarely eat kale raw, but I really enjoy it braised in bone broth and crumbled bacon or pancetta and served as a side dish. It’s also fantastic in winter soups with dried beans and smoked dried pork.
Kale grows easily and can be grown well into the winter making it a versatile, maintenance crop.
Berries
Like tomatoes and peppers, berries like strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries are some of the most expensive foods you can buy.
But they’re some of the most delicious and healthiest plants too.
We’re planning a massive raised strawberry bed that, once planted and established, will come back every year for 6 years as a perennial.
I can’t wait to make strawberry freezer jam, canned jam, raw milk strawberry ice cream, and to just to enjoy them fresh for the brief time they’re here.
We also have raspberries canes growing and planted blackberries last autumn.
I look at berries as an integral part of the permaculture projects we are doing on the homestead, but they’re also a fantastic and healthy addition to a survival garden.
See Also
- Easy Low Sugar Strawberry Freezer Jam {No-Pectin Option} (Recipe)
- Roasted Strawberry Vanilla Custard Ice Cream (REAL Homemade Ice Cream) (Recipe)
Mushrooms
I never gave much thought to mushrooms, certainly not to growing them.
But the prices of my favorite mushroom varieties are out of control. I also started learning about functional mushrooms that are also culinary varieties (like lion’s mane) and the potential health benefits and medicinal properties blew me away.
I started with two small indoor kits from a Canadian company called Grow Mushrooms Canada.
And now I’m obsessed.
Amazon also sells kits like this one for oyster mushrooms and lion’s mane mushrooms, and although they might give you as much as 4 flushes of growth — I want to go bigger.
I’m determined to grow my own mushrooms outdoors in my survival garden on logs. It looks easy and I have the highly recommended book Growing Gourmet & Medicinal Mushrooms by Paul Stamets as a guide.
Shallots & Onions
One of the most used crops in my kitchen — onions and shallots.
You can’t make a good bone broth without it and French Onion soup is an example of cheap, nourishing, peasant food.
Grow a variety that stores well.
We’re only growing shallots this year as organic onions are cheap and plentiful.
And look into something called ‘Egyptian Walking Onions’ if you want something unique and basically perennial.
Garlic
Plant garlic every fall and harvest it in the summer for use all year long.
Garlic is another one of those expensive crops that is easy to grow. I have an entire guide on planting garlic in the fall that will show you how to do it, step by step.
In the spring, the garlic will produce delicious green shoots which must be picked for the continued growth and health of the plant and it’s one of the tastiest, unexpected treats.
Cucumbers
Grow cucumbers because they can be eaten fresh, sliced, and are delicious and refreshing.
And especially grow them to make lacto-fermented pickles! I have a thorough guide on growing cucumbers on trellises and although I initially said I wouldn’t make pickles this year, I’ve given in.
I’ve also decided to grow a variety of brown-skinned cucumber that can be cooked and eaten in stir fry.
See Also
Herbs
Fresh herbs are one of the most expensive foods you can buy in the grocery store.
Growing herbs just makes sense. They’re easy, don’t require much space and can even be intercropped with other plants (basil with tomatoes, dill with cucumbers etc.).
Your garden herbs can be preserved easily for use all year and herbs can be grown indoors too with the right seup.
Herbs really make so many meals come alive but they can be used as the primary ingredient too, as with sauces like basil pesto for example.
See Also
- Traditional Mortar & Pestle Basil Pesto {Made In the Correct Order} (Recipe)
- 8 Ways To Preserve Fresh Herbs
- Fresh Sage Herbal Tea {Hot or Iced} (Recipe)
- Easy Fresh Mint Tea {Hot or Iced} (Recipe)
- How To Grow Mint Indoors
- How to Grow Basil Indoors
Survival Foods To Buy In Bulk & Store
These foods are better bought in bulk and stored rather than attempting to grow them yourself — although this isn’t true in every case and some we do both (like tomatoes and beans) for various reasons.
Mylar bags and food grade buckets with oxygen absorbers can be used for dry grains. Others can be vacuum sealed. This is a general list and not meant to be comprehensive as everyone has different needs.
- White rice (brown goes rancid quickly)
- Wheat berries
- Rye berries
- Buckwheat
- Oats
- Salt
- Sugar
- Coffee
- Cocoa
- Lard
- Honey
- Maple Syrup
- Alcohol
- Apple cider vinegar
- Canned meat and fish
- Pasta
- Pemmican
- Jerky
- Portable soup
- Beans
- Lentils
- Ghee
- Canned Tomatoes and tomato paste
- Spices and dried herbs
- Freeze dried food
My Survival Garden Layout (Pictures)
I’m not saying this is the most professional looking gardening chart, but I wanted to quickly snap a picture of what I did to show you how basic it is.
I measured my garden with a tape measurer first and this is the result.
Each square represents one 5×5 raised bed numbered 1-8, and each bed will have an arched trellis between it that is plenty tall to walk underneath.
Each raised bed is further divided into square feet and each square foot represents a plant. Each number corresponds to the lists of plants I have written out. Some plants require more than 1 square foot to grow properly.
The two lists you see on the side of the page are for Raised Bed #1 & #2 where my corn is being planted along with beans and squash. Yes — it’s a Three sisters planting layout minus having the beans grow up the corn stalks.
I’ll come back to update this once I’ve digitized it and made it prettier. I just wanted to get something up here to show you.
As you can see it is not even finalized yet and this diagram doesn’t show my huge raised strawberry bed or my asparagus and fall garlic beds, never mind my fruit orchard.
But who cares? If you’re waiting for perfection or the perfect software to download you’ll be stuck in the planning stages forever.
Go outside and calculate your growing space, divide it, and get to planning your survival garden and planting your crops.
My Raised Beds
My sister-in-law bought these metal raised beds first. I loved them. So I got them too, and now I’m a brand ambassador. I highly recommend these beautiful, functional, long-lasting raised beds over other types. Wood will rot and harbor garden pests like slugs and lice; it won’t look as nice the second year either.
I don’t like the look of plastic and it’s still not as durable as high quality metal.
And yes, metal is completely safe.
My favorite trellis in the garden is an arched one. You can build this yourself using t-posts and hog or cattle panels, or you can just buy a trellis. This is the Vegega metal trellis we are using in the garden this year. We got two of them! It’s big, sturdy, affordable, and easy:
After lots of research, we have decided to install these beautiful and colorful metal raised beds in our annual garden. Metal raised beds are safe, rust and corrosion resistant, and should last 20+ years and much longer. Check out the 9-in-1 Metal Raised Garden Bed Large From Vegega.
Final Thoughts
Planning a survival garden can seem daunting.
I recommend just starting.
Buy a notebook, get outside and measure your growing space and then put pencil to paper and start dreaming and planning. I promise you it will get easier as you go.
Gardening is one of the best ways to increase self-sufficiency, food security, and save money on groceries. Inputs might be high in the first year, but each year after it starts to save more money and as you gain knowledge it becomes easier and quicker.
And there are budget solution to everything too if you really don’t have much to start with.
If you want to follow along as I build and plant the garden this year — and then cook, can, and ferment everything, follow me along on Instagram for the whole story.
