Lately I’ve seen quite a few “preparedness” articles advocating starting small when it comes to gardening. Start small? Are you kidding? Are these writers working for the opposition? The same experts who told us masks don’t work, then they do, but all of scientific and medical research tell us that they do nothing to stop the spread of COVID? Are those hell-bent on destroying our economy and this nation “starting small”? Is the sudden lack of lumber small? The collapse of shipping? The “stimulus” checks from the government, actually from us—taxing us to death so that others don’t have to work at all—small? Companies being totally unable to hire workers because they can make more receiving unemployment, and that making it harder for the rest of the country to just do their jobs because supplies aren’t being shipped? Is any of this small?
Those advocates of “starting small” with the garden are living on Fantasy Island. The rest of us here in Bizarro World are staring down some seriously hard times. Inflation is here. Hyperinflation is just around the corner. There is nothing we can do to escape either. The reality of a collapsing workforce includes those who pick, process, and ship crops. Not being able to find canning lids or yeast in the store is one thing. With all the COVID madness last year, at least there was always food in the stores, even if it wasn’t what we necessarily wanted. That may not be the case going forward.
If you’ve never gardened before, or if it’s been a while, now is not the time to “start small.” This is the year to be ambitious. Here’s why:
The first year of a garden in a new area isn’t going to produce as well as it will in coming years. There are the usual learning curves, but there is also the matter of turning new soil, getting the microorganisms going, building soil health and texture, etc. That only comes with time.
The powers that be have planned this war against us for some time. They have the upper hand right now. There is no doubt that there will be food shortages this summer. Anything and everything that you can grow at home will allow you to put the money saved toward foods that you can’t raise at home.
And the situation will only worsen in the coming years. Do you think that those currently collecting unemployment (the welfare class that are choosing not to work) are suddenly going to develop a work ethic? Or will more people become more hopeless about the situation and choose the easier unemployment route? That means the food situation is only going to deteriorate. We’d better get those gardens going and get the major mistakes out of the way this year.
It’s daunting, I know. During two of the five years we lived in Missouri, those blessed Obama years, I wanted to learn what it took to grow and preserve all our own produce. Of course, we planted fruit trees, but they weren’t bearing yet. And we didn’t give up eating bananas and citrus. But I basically grew and preserved everything else. We had about one acre devoted to vegetables, melons, and berries. I was in my early 40s, in pretty respectable health, and it knocked me out every day.
Now I’m in my mid-50s, breaking new ground to establish new garden beds and growing areas in a less than ideal location. Well, our location is absolutely stunning—the mountain and valley views are breathtaking to say the least. But growing in a short season at 6400 feet on the side of a mountain presents a few challenges. I don’t have any illusions about being able to grow all the produce our family will consume in the coming year. But I can grow a whole lot.
Part of the deal with getting this house that my husband really wanted and I really didn’t was that I got to tear out the back lawn and turn it into a garden. That turned out to be way more of an ordeal than my daughter and I imagined. Fortunately, several missionaries from church came and helped us out. However, there is nothing to be done about the plethora of rocks. Building raised boxed beds like we did at the last house is, unfortunately, out of the question. Even if lumber can be found, the price is astronomical.
So we are relegated to amending the soil we have. It’s what most people will have to do. Fortunately, Becky is a crop and soil science major and loves what she does. One of her classes last year involved conducting some research projects. And one of those projects was growing vegetable seeds in various soil mediums. This research had not been previously conducted, so there weren’t any notions about what the results should be. They started seeds in regular soil, concrete blocks, and some soil with a lot of broken terra cotta pot shards and rocks. All were regularly fertilized. To everyone’s amazement, the plants grown in the pot shards and rocks did every bit as well as those growing in regular soil. Rocks are no excuse for not growing a garden, though they are highly annoying. Of course, rocks are bad for root crops.
Another challenge to face is correcting the pH, texture, and mineral content of the soil. Adding compost and fertilizers will improve soil, but it doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time, and trying to make the improvements all at once may result in overcompensation and poor harvests. Unfortunately, we’re going to have some poor harvests as we take this wait-and-see approach to improving the soil. That means we need to have a larger garden and more plants to make sure we have the food we need for our families.
Indeed, now is not the time to “start small.”
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I am 71, body is pretty worn out, husband is more nimble even though he is 79. We are expanding our garden every year. I started way too many cucumbers, tomatoes and squash, so we will be planting as much as we can and giving the rest of the plants away. I wholeheartedly agree, this is definitely NOT the time to start small. Do as much as you can, even if you have to plant in buckets.
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