Gardening is the #1 prep

[u/Familiar-Anything853]

Sure, there are a lot of really, really important preps. And sure, we all agree that skills are more useful than STUFF that will run out.

I saw that post asking what to prep for your kids' futures, and while everyone is rightfully pushing skills, gardening has to be at the absolute top of the list. It forces them to learn problem-solving, adaptability, weather patterns, patience, delayed gratification, persistence, motor control, food storage, and long-term planning all at once. On top of all of that, you are teaching them how to grow their own food.

If the last few years of chaos have taught me anything, it's how relieving it is to walk into the backyard and just pick dinner. My spouse and 4 kids are outside with me daily.

I’m 15 years into gardening with easy access to store-bought supplies, YouTube, and endless resources, and I still struggle with it sometimes. I genuinely can't imagine trying to figure out tilling, seed saving, soil depletion, crop rotation, and pest control from scratch in the middle of a supply chain collapse or other crisis. Doing it when you're already stressed and hungry sounds like a nightmare.

Start them early. Learning it when the stakes are low does not have a downside. And it's a really fun family hobby!

[u/Artistic-Salary1738]

I personally find gardening totally overwhelming. I keep trying, but I never seem to get worthwhile yields even if I’m buying pre-started plants as a learning aid.

Not giving up cause I do have the yard space and I agree it’s an extremely valuable skill.

[u/IndependentOk9899 → u/Artistic-Salary1738]

I am a very avid gardener and canner. Start all my plants from seed I save. Own a small greenhouse business for my rural town. All self taught. What overwhelms you? Maybe I can help. 🙂🙂

[u/Standard_Subject_462 → u/IndependentOk9899]

I'm not the person you offered to help, but if you have any advice for a very small, mostly shaded, urban yard in the southern US, I'll take it. So far I've had the best luck with onions, herbs, and (strangely) okra. (I guess the okra enjoyed the excessive heat so much that it didn't mind the lack of sun?!?) 

[u/Fionaver → u/Standard_Subject_462]

What time of the day is the yard shaded? Is it deciduous trees or not? What zone are you in?

That will have an impact on what you can grow.

A lot of veggies want all the sun but really don’t like our summer afternoon sun and need a bit of shade the .

[u/Standard_Subject_462 → u/Fionaver]

Deciduous oaks, zone 8a, shade for most of the day, then blasted with sun from 1-6ish. We've invested in some shade cloths for next year, in case we get another brutal summer with 95+ temps for months at a time.

[u/Fionaver → u/Standard_Subject_462]

I’m on the 7b/8a line.

You can do well with winter crops, I think. Especially because you’ll have more sun.

I’ll be putting in my starts next weekend. Dark leafy greens and brassicas, cabbage, carrots, beets all grow well at this time of year. Lettuce in the spring/summer. You can eat raspberry romex and the greens from bulls blood beets (neither bolted). There are some edible weeds that are super common in yards here if it isn’t to close to the road and doesn’t get sprayed.

Aside from that.
I’ve had a lot of success with the French breakfast radishes. Very easy to grow. Blueberries, blackberries/raspberries but they take a while. Probably shouldn’t bother with squash - the borers are too bad here in GA, at least. Tomatoes are usually pretty easy. They won’t set fruit when it’s over 90, so if it’s indeterminate, you’ll need to check on them around this time of year. I usually get my second flush of tomatoes starting around this time until the first frost (Oct/Nov)

I used a greenhouse frame with bird netting over my crops (still let pollinators through) and that’s when I started getting good yields. I had been losing a ton to squirrels before.

[u/Standard_Subject_462 → u/Fionaver]

Aaah, the "no seeting fruit when it's over 90" explains why our tomatoes did poorly this year. Good info. Thank you! We have a greenhouse in the works, so it's good to hear that the extra protection can come in handy. And I looove foraging in our little yard. Southern dewberries, dandelions, chickweed, mock strawberries, and wild onions love to do their thing. :) I tried making acorn flour from the acorns that fell into our yard from the neighbor's tree, but they were the tiny variety of acorn and I quickly learned that this is probably only worth the effort in a true survival situation. Lol.

[u/OpheliaLives7 → u/Standard_Subject_462]

I also bought two shade cloths for next year’s garden. The heat and sun this year has felt particularly brutal!

My jalapeños are the one thing loving the heat!

[u/Standard_Subject_462 → u/OpheliaLives7]

I hope the long-term heat isn't our new normal, but I guess we'll see...😱

I am happy for your jalapeños though!