Just as you have a supply of candles and batteries or even a generator on hand for power outages, and a supply of bottled water available in case of a water shut-off in your neighborhood, it’s probably a good idea to always have crops growing in your home and garden to sustain yourself if there is an interruption in delivery of fruits and vegetables to the grocery store or, for that matter, a breakdown in the supply chain of food transport in general. “Survival Gardening” (Storey Press, 2025), by Sam Coffman, addresses this concern.
The most instant food source is sprouts, and you grow them in nothing but water. Many types of seeds meant for this purpose, after being soaked for 12 hours or less, will have sprouted and may be consumed in 3 to 5 days. Seeds grown for their sprouts include several types of beans, black sunflower (meatier than ordinary sunflower seed), broccoli, cabbage, chickpea, fenugreek, kale, chives, and many others.
Microgreens are grown from many of the same seeds as sprouts except they require soil to grow. Seeds from which you grow microgreens must be kept in the dark for a few days to a week while the greens begin to grow and then are exposed to light for another week so that the total time from planting to harvest is around two weeks. Although microgreens have less amino acids than sprouts, they are more nutritious in terms of vitamin and antioxidant content. Moreover, microgreens are 40 times more nutrient dense than mature plants grown from the same seeds. All cole crops — broccoli, cauliflower, kale, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, collards, mustard greens, and kohlrabi — can be grown as microgreens, but many other seeds are also recommended for growing in this manner. It should be noted that dried beans — whether kidney, mung, pinto, or lentils — sold in grocery stores can be used for growing sprouts or microgreens.
Coffman devotes a chapter to cultivating mushrooms since they are a preferred crop for indoor growing. Two kinds of mushrooms — lion’s mane and oyster — are also among the author’s “12 fast-growing crops,” together with arugula, green beans, kale, lettuce, mustard greens, beets, radishes, spinach, Swiss chard, and turnips; all of these may be harvested after 5 weeks of growth. Where mushrooms are concerned, you can grow a new crop from stems of fresh mushrooms placed in a container with sanitized (disinfectant-treated) wet cardboard. Oyster mushrooms, in particular, lend themselves to this practice.
Sweet potatoes are a highly nutritious garden crop that is easy to grow and can be a constant source of subsistence throughout the year. Not only are the tubers good for you, but the greens that grow from them are edible and equally salubrious. Please note that sweet potatoes have no botanical kinship with ordinary potatoes, whose green growth is highly toxic.
Chickens are a source of eggs and offer a constant supply of manure — after at least three months of aging — for the survival gardener. Bringing in a rooster has its advantages since it will ward off predators and provide new chicks for your flock. Then again, a rooster can be a noise nuisance in the early morning hours and it requires its own space or it may become aggressive with and harm the hens.
Coffman extols vermicasting, which is the production of worm castings (a euphemism for worm poop) through the proliferation of red wriggler worms, easily ordered from online vendors. Vermicastings are a ready-made fertilizer that can be topically strewn around plants. The mineral nutrients in the vermicastings will be soaked into the soil and absorbed by roots from rain or irrigation. You can make a simple vermicasting (usually referred to as vermicomposting) device out of a 5-gallon bucket with holes drilled in the bottom and the sides. Raise the bucket off the ground on stakes or bricks to make sure air circulates below. Fill the bucket halfway with shredded paper or newsprint together with a little garden soil and sand. Now add your worms and, a day later, any of the following materials: vegetable and fruit peelings, eggshells, sawdust, hair, barnyard manure, leaves and plant clippings.
The author delves into certain cringeworthy subjects, which have their place in the context of survival gardening. Humanure is human waste that has been composted for a period of at least 12 months to remove unhealthy microorganisms. The author also explores the topic of insect consumption. Among the insect dishes mentioned are grasshopper fajitas, baked locusts with soy sauce and honey glaze, cricket coconut soup, deep-fried beetle salad, stir-fried scorpions in ginger sauce, and wolf spider tempura.
If there is a nuclear event, you will want to test the soil before planting to make sure it is free of heavy metals such as cesium and strontium. One of the best plants for absorbing these toxins is the sunflower. In the Chernobyl area where a nuclear disaster occurred in 1986, sunflowers have been used successfully to decontaminate the soil in that locale.
California native of the week: Yerba buena (Satureja douglasii) grows along the California coast where it is found under the drip line (canopy edge) of oak trees. It grows four inches tall and creeps along the ground but is not at all aggressive. Pinch stem ends to accelerate lateral growth. Its minty oval leaves are used for making tea and its demure white flowers are fragrant too. It will not require supplemental irrigation where winter rainfall is 15 inches, about what we get in an annual Los Angeles winter. However, soaking it once a week when weather warms will give it a boost. Yerba buena is a shade lover and is an excellent candidate for container growing.
Do you have any tips for a survival garden? If so, send them along to Joshua@perfectplants.com. Your questions and comments, as well as gardening conundrums and successes, are always welcome.
