Top Survival Crops

[@HaroldJohnston-ku3eo]

I live in a van , I plant on public property and abandoned property , try to do indigenous plants . Videos like yours help me alot

[@baneverything5580]

Try some Dwarf Mulberry...zone 5 to 10.

[@AudreySmallcombe]

Good on you! Love and respect from London, UK. x

[@skipdegraff6547]

Fence row planting is excellent

[@xperyskop2475]

Try to grow Jerusalem artichoke they grow crazy

[@baneverything5580]

In Louisiana mine grew then turned brown, grew again, turned brown, then died. @@xperyskop2475

[@solanisomeni]

The "Dirty Dozen" Corn (The kind that you can dry and grind to flour. When younger you can eat fresh) Green Beans Heirloom Beans Winter Squash Squash Peas Kale Sunflower Tomatoes Okra Onion and Garlic Spinach Potatoes Sweet Potatoes

[@waynehendrix4806]

I am amazed at your ability to take notes. 🙄 Which ones are nitrogen fixers?

[@whitefarms3274]

@@waynehendrix4806 🥩peas & beans🥚 🕊

[@ronbrendag7131]

List needs field peas, asparagus, sunchokes, taro, and peppers.

[@clayc5929]

I’m 27 am I young enough to eat fresh corn?

[@bonniemoon6790]

Lol they mean when the corn is young, im 27 too and plan on growing some corn soon, you bet im gonna eat it fresh. Happy gardening :)

[@squirrelbrains2197]

I really wish people who make gardening videos would mention which climate zone they are in. Climate has a huge impact on the kind of crops that grow well in your garden.

[@luablau]

YES! I was just watching another permaculture video where it was saying that greenhouse is essential, but in my zone I need to protect some plants from heat, and never care about frost or snow

[@TheBingram]

He said that he is in USDA hardiness zone 6.

[@RonJones_eVisibleMarketing]

You kinda have to search these things out for yourself.

[@fiffihoneyblossom5891]

I disagree a little here. A quick Google search could tell you what variety to grow in what climate. I live in an African country, that does not have much in common with any zone in the US. Pests, climate, rain.....nothing in common. And since so little specialized information is actually available on line for me, I end up experimenting anyway. It leads to much more learning, that no amount of reading up could have taught me anyway.

[@ellisprescott1415]

Rule #1, thank you very much!!

[@joannecordone6831]

In the edges of a property I suggest berries. Plant once and harvest yearly. Grandma knew what she was doing when she planted a crabapple tree.

[@ellencox8415]

These types of videos always miss out on the EASIEST crops... fruit trees/bushes. He could easily line the garden with cherry, Asian pear/apple, and persimmon with blackberry/mulberry in between for a natural food fence you have food all spring/summer/fall and can all be canned. They are the ultimate set it and forget it crop.

[@lisawallace3124]

yes! even if you don't eat crabapples, they make great pectin for jellies of the fruit you DO eat!

[@dianedoyle-mccahon4979]

Elderberry, lots of uses

[@baneverything5580]

Elderberry plants are growing everywhere in Louisiana. I had a huge patch of mixed Elderberry and Blackberry already on this lot when I moved and ate blackberries for breakfast every morning until July and I`m still eating small bags of them in the freezer. Sprinkle just a little raw sugar in the bag and some cinnamon and real butter powder and they`re amazing. The drought ruined the Elderberry crop and hungry birds got the tiny stunted ones. I`m planting 4 or 5 Mulberry and 8 Fig trees this spring. I want to make wine and have plenty of fresh fruit and hopefully this many trees will be enough for the birds to leave me some. I just transplanted strawberries into pots today and I hope to one day have an in ground bed of those but I`m gonna take good care of the first ones and not risk them dying or getting destroyed by critters and transplant their runners. @@dianedoyle-mccahon4979

[@scrivyscriv]

I like the idea of having fruit trees and bushes, and we do have them, but they aren't staples for survival! They help with variety and a sweet snack, but are relatively low on calories. Most definitely worth planting, but not as a primary food.

[@LaineyBug2020]

Sunflowers are the lesser known Stepsister. If you plant a row in between corn rows, it breaks up the soil and helps the corn grow better, and the other 2 sisters can help the sunflowers!

[@doloresreynolds8145]

Corn is an extremely heavy nitrogen feeder. If you have poor soil - sand, clay or just depleted - corn will not grow well. Corn also needs fairly regular water of about an inch per week. The reason you usually see corn being rotated every other year with soybeans is that soybean, a legume, adds nitrogen to the soil which will benefit the corn in the following year.

[@tealkerberus748]

That's why traditionally you'd grow corn with climbing beans or peas in a guild. A vigorous corn provides a frame for the legumes to climb on, and the legumes provide the nitrogen for the corn to flourish.

[@marilynmitchell2712]

​@@tealkerberus748the 3 sisters method.

[@RobertFulton-o9j]

Better than soybeans would be pinto or some red bean

[@HurairahHomestead]

I planted a single, just one butternut seed. I got so many butternuts from that one seed that I'm still eating them and they will probably last till my next butternut harvest starts coming along. It was way more than I expected!

[@___.51]

Kale is great, no denying. If you’re lazy like me I’ll suggest horseradish instead, edible greens, similar taste when blanched, similar nutrition, perennial, and would grow on the surface of the moon without your attention. And, homemade prepared horseradish can be better than a box of tissues for clearing the sinuses.

[@thistles]

Reading your comment made my mouth water 😊 gotta go harvest some from my backyard moonscape

[@edwardzarnowski5558]

We planted Kale one year and it kept coming back every year for like 4 years ! It was great!

[@mattjohnson9727]

In terms of survival, learn how to nixtamalize corn like the natives did, using wood ash or lime to cook it in an alkaline solution. It makes the nutrients more bioavailable and then can be used to make tortillas or tamales if you want

[@galenhaugh3158]

I "noodle" for red potatoes starting in late summer 'till frost--after hilling up the plants, new potatoes will grow on the sides and are easily found by running your fingers through the soft soil, removing those large enough to eat and replacing the soil so more will grow. Continue harvesting by "noodling" until frost kills the plant then dig up the big ones under the middle of the row and store.

[@trkstatrksta8410]

It's called bandicooting, not noodling

[@ralphpeed3596]

One crop that I substitute for corn is sorghum. Way more draught intolerant and for me more useful. There is also amaranth which is a pseudocereal that like sunflower looks great growing and tastes great too..

[@TheGoodEarthFarmChannel]

I agree, we use them both, and they would be my choice in a drier region. You can also plant them alongside corn and save pure seed!

[@baneverything5580]

My amaranth made very few seeds and my sorghum failed last year in Louisiana. 30 bucks worth of sun choke tubers were another waste of money...they all became diseased and died. I want some good sorghum varieties but that`s impossible when you have to order everything. I wasted money for over 2 years just trying to get REAL Tiny Tim tomato seeds.

[@breesechick]

I want to plant sun chokes /Jerusalem artichokes this year where did you buy yours that were diseased?

[@maecarpenter6735]

*tolerant

[@jerrykmack3074]

Completely missed Stinging Nettle. Grows itself, largely pest free, Actually Time And Again Proven super crop that helped Mankind through war and other disasters. Extremely high in nutrient's and itself forms a Complete Digestible Protein. Very Tasty. This plant deserves to be at the top of every list. Throughout Medieval times Large monasteries grew and it as the major element of their subsistence. Fiber from it also were utilized for cordage, paper and cloth.

[@alicepettit164]

Has become my bff herb for chronic allergies but now will eat it also. tu

[@dernwentheshy8446]

How do you keep it from stinging when you use it in food?

[@jerrykmack3074]

when dried or subjected to heat,Boiled, Steamed, Stir Fried) it loses the "Sting" @@dernwentheshy8446

[@cristiewentz8586]

​@@dernwentheshy8446cooking or dehydrating deactivates the urtic acid. For cooked greens, use them when very young and most people recommend blanching, then changing that water to cook the greens in clean water. The growing tops are edible during much of the summer. The entire plant, chopped up and soaked in a bucket or barrel of water for a couple of weeks makes a great fertilizer for other plants. Dried, the sting disappears and you can use the leaves for soups for you, or feed the whole dried plant to the farm animals for a high protein feed.

[@dernwentheshy8446]

@@cristiewentz8586 Thank you!

[@cherylanon5791]

we are zone 3, and to my surprise, several sunflower plants emerged in my large garden, which I certainly did not plant! I allowed them to remain, and cut off the heads (after I saw the birds enjoying them). Hung them to dry further along with the onions & shallots. The process of removing the seeds was interesting, and they were 100% solid black seeds, so much fun. I will save an ounce or so, and try re-planting them in my small greenhouse to transplant in late May. The seeds are very tasty!

[@weirdsweetcoolplants]

I have to say here and I'm sorry to discourage you, but sunflowers do not transplant very well unless you have a very deep pot and you get them transplanted when they are less than a week old. They have a taproot and it doesn't like to be disturbed.

[@baneverything5580]

I saw little birds hiding sunflower seeds when I put some out for the Cardinals and when I was harvesting dry okra pods for seeds I found black oil sunflower seeds inside the cracks in a few pods. So some bird, mouse, or squirrel hid seeds in your garden. There are no hickory trees around here that I know of but some animal is finding them somewhere and planting them on my sister`s land. I see baby hickory trees coming up around here. I was gathering leaf mold and forest soil for my garden and dug up a hickory nut buried nearby.

[@lisalapoint7022]

​​@weirdsweetcoolplants. When I first grew sunflowers, I started them in my house and transplanted in late May. They did fine. I don't do that now. I had no idea how hardy they are until I saw them popping up in March in my garden! Im in zone 6 in a cold mountain mountain microclimate. Go ahead and try starting seeds indoors and also experiment with planting outside in very early Spring! The seeds are free...what have you got to lose?The ones you start inside you'll have to keep up- potting until transplant.

[@SariClark-z9j]

Sunflowers are widely grown in North Dakota as an oil seed. N D is mostly in zone three😊

[@reneebrown2968]

Garlic and onions are a great medicinal plant as well

[@Shevock]

Dandelions. Not as an explicit crop but something to leave in your non-beds, in between, or in resting plots, and allow to cultivate to add various nutrients through its flowers, leaves and roots.

[@gregzeigler3850]

Dandelions are also good to eat and full of nutrition, as are another lawn crop, Plantain.

[@CalmCowBell]

Dandelion coffee is a great liver cleanse. Chickens and rabbits love dandelions.

[@maecarpenter6735]

Lamb's quarters taste sweeter than spinach and grow wild, also. They grow vertically so they yield a lot of food per plant. Cut and come again.

[@That.Lady.withtheYarn]

I love dandelion tea.

[@maggietaskila8606]

Dandelions are a indication that your soil is lacking calcium (maybe other minerals too, not sure abut that) the roots are very deep and pull nutrients from deep in the soil. Let them grow they will improve your soil , also great food.

[@FidoHouse]

"Dirty Dozen" may be an unfortunate title choice, as it is more commonly used to describe the crops with the heaviest treatments of herbicides and pesticides...i.e., "the Dirty Dozen and the Clean Fifteen" I see your Zone is listed in the description - helpful. Thank you. Gives context.

[@stefanklein7500]

The flower buds of kale make a nice "substitution" for broccoli in late spring. Flavour is much stronger than broccoli, so might not be for everybody. I still suggest to give it a try, since they are "free" at a time of year where there isn't much else to harvest. Instead of spinach I would have chosen beet roots, their leaves can be used the same way as chard/spinach and the beets store very well. It seams like in England it's pretty common to sow peas very early to harvest the shoots, again a fresh early crop to satisfy the ravenous appetite for something fresh after winter. Peas, sunflower and kale can even be grown as micro greens inside in winter, this might be "wasting" seeds/calories, I would argue to keep the mood up is as important as feeding the body.

[@baneverything5580]

I plant from cheap bags of store peas and beans.

[@sz4179]

Good info! Dirty dozen is also a term for commercial produce highly contaminated with toxins. These are more like the Hero Dozen. Foundational Dozen. Consider a better name

[@TheGoodEarthFarmChannel]

Yes, many have reminded me of that. I should have probably used a different name, but I had in mind the 1967 movie with a dozen indispensable characters! And I never liked the dirty dozen list of vegetables, as they don't by any means cover all the ones with lots of pesticides! Thanks for watching!

[@helenebennie3961]

@@TheGoodEarthFarmChannel Yep! I thought of Steve McQueen and Lee Marvin in that movie!

[@Highlander.7]

cheers man! i was sent here by TJ of the Bear Independent Yt channel.

[@TheGoodEarthFarmChannel]

Glad you are joining us, and thanks to Bear Independent!

[@camperspecial9666]

I just found your channel, this was a top-notch video on survival crops. Im a well seasoned gardener who raised his 5 kids on our 100x200 garden, chickens and venison. Everything you mentioned is accurate and well thought out. Your mention of sunflowers exhibits your practical knowledge. Most people neglect its useful nature. I look forward to checking out more on your channel.

[@marilynmitchell2712]

Your garden is larger than my entire property.

[@juliemcgugan1244]

Sweet potato leaves are edible, so def an addition to your diet. I blanch and freeze mine like spinach.

[@smhollanshead]

The twelve crops are: corn, green beans, aka: pole bean, winter squash, garden pea, kale, collard greens, cabbage, sunflower, tomatoes, okra, onions, garlic, spinach, potatoes, and sweet potatoes.

[@reneebrown2968]

Pickled okra is awesome, and fried as well

[@baneverything5580]

I ate all of my okra last year from 70 plants raw each day. I froze a bag or two and saved seeds.

[@musicteacher5757]

I'll eat fried okra for dessert!

[@CalmCowBell]

We grow okra seed to give as a winter treat to our chickens.

[@cliffmays442]

Now don't me wrong, I am from the corn husker state and I love sweet and popcorn. But I am growing in a town with limited space. So I do not grow them. Potatoes in a grow bag does well. Peas yes and squash. Lettuce both loss and bib, spinach, radishes, and kale for early and late. Amaranth does well. Carrots, cabbage are good for storage. Okra, who doesn't like fried okra? Well I would be one, (but fried is not a bad way). A church work in Africa that I send seeds to help them feed their orphans, they love okra. I always send them open pollination seeds to they can save the seeds. Here are some of their favorite types, all of them do well there as much as in Nebraska where I live. Sweet Spanish onion, butter crunch lettuce, yellow popcorn South America, rutgers tomatoes and roma. Danish ballhead cabbage, and Chinese cabbage, (they love this one), okra Clemmet, and nantes carrots. These are a few that do well here and there and the orphans and their elderly do very well on these. Oh forgot to mention cucumber market 76 and straight 8.

[@Meskarune]

I'm growing corn in a grow bag on my balcony. I'm growing a dwarf sweet corn called golden bantam and it does really well in containers in a small space.

[@jerrykmack3074]

Also Stinging Nettle is very high in iron and presents itself in nettle in quantity and in a very digestible and metabolizable form. Particularly valuable to children and women from childhood through childbearing years.

[@ramtharthegreat]

I have good luck planting my sweet corn a week or two after my dent, and i get almost no cross pollination since they will be in silk at different times. They're typically only maybe 50-100' apart. Sometimes i will grow mammoth sunflowers between them as a physical barrier to help reduce cross pollination. I plant the sunflower at the same time as the dent corn, the sunflowers quickly outgrow the corn.

[@TheGoodEarthFarmChannel]

Good idea with the sunflowers as a physical barrier, and we also plant several types on our farm, no more than a few hundred feet apart, but time the silking period to not overlap. Thanks!

[@vickiephelps5169]

Great list! I would add strawberries. Set in the ground in early spring and then pull them after the harvest and keep the sets for next year. Survival is one thing but treats keep it tolerable for the long term

[@deidrebuzbee5466]

Not sure where you live, but strawberries can be left in the ground to multiply. The runners they produce can start new beds and keep with strawberries forever! One year I buried a bunch of strawberry tops in my garden . The next year baby strawberry bushes came up. The next year I had a huge strawberry patch and a ton of strawberries. I cut the runners and started new beds.

[@florawillis1384]

My strawberries are called White Strawberry, variety, and produce early summer to Nov. Never do anything to those. They just keep making more plants. Probably would be larger, more productive if not so close.

[@florawillis1384]

TN, from SC. About same weather.

[@gsmscrazycanuck9814]

We moved to the Ozarks zone 6 almost 2 years ago. it's been a steep learning curve. Great video. We grew sun chokes for the first time and had great success.

[@katrina6627]

Love sunchokes

[@gsmscrazycanuck9814]

@@katrina6627 I'd like to find more varieties of them to plant.

[@sharonritchie6365]

I’m planting Sunchoke for the first time this year. I have a small area that isn’t being used for anything so the plan is to just let them loose just to have in case of emergency. What’s your preferred method for eating? Some people ferment them to decrease tummy issues from what I understand.

[@gsmscrazycanuck9814]

@@sharonritchie6365 I have no plan beyond growing them at the moment.

[@bridgetdoyle5820]

I love that you put your book in there. It’s awesome is exactly what I was looking for. Do you have any other survival books that you recommend?

[@maggierainville3321]

Corn is harder in zone 4: I’m near Canada and married a grain farmer!!! We do 85 day corn, professionally. As a gardener I’m looking at a variety called Mandan Bride.

[@joman104]

Another great addition to this list would be radishes. They grow quick and are a great cold weather crop(I'm in zone 6 and it direct sowed from seed in March, harvesting now May )

[@___.51]

I let maybe a dozen? Radishes bolt this year, they just kept growing and growing, beautiful flowers blooming all season, ground bees loved it, and now I have more radish seeds than I could ever plant in five years. One radish, dozens of seed pods, each seed pod, 10-ish seeds. Next year’s goal, eat as many radishes as I can haha. I’m in zone 4.

[@gregzeigler3850]

Daikon grow into the cold weather.Planted in middle August. Pulled mine in December. Big, 6-7 inch fat roots. (Zone 5).

[@CalmCowBell]

Allowing the radish to go to seed, means I never need to plant radishes. The chickens love the radish flowers.

[@maecarpenter6735]

Hummingbirds absolutely love radish and beet flower nectar!

[@edwardzarnowski5558]

Your farm is stunning in the opening ! 🇺🇸👍💪

[@Meskarune]

The yellow sepals of the sunflowers can also be used in tea blends.

[@poeticpursuits1332]

I only started gardening last year, but what I did to get two types of corn in a very small yard in a duplex was cultivate a sweet corn that matures within 60-70 days and also a popping corn that matures in 105 days. I also staggered the planting and actually planted the fast corn first and the slower corn a week later, just to be sure they absolutely would not be at the pollinating stage at the same time.

[@TheGoodEarthFarmChannel]

Yes, that is a great technique we use as well! Thanks for mentioning it.

[@ursamajor1936]

I've grown all corn types in one garden and have never had a cross.

[@reneebrown2968]

Collards and turnips are awesome and grow great here in south Alabama

[@baneverything5580]

Peanuts too.

[@dan.1235]

I appreciated the benefits and reasoning on these survival crops. I counted 12 crops out of your baker's dozen, which one am I missing? 1. Corn. 2. Green Beans. 3. Winter Squash. 4. Peas. 5. Kale and Cole crops (Collards too). 6. Sunflower. 7. Tomatoes. 8. Okra. 9. Onions and Garlic. 10. Spinach. 11. Potatoes. 12. Sweet Potatoes.

[@TheGoodEarthFarmChannel]

I was counting onions and garlic as two separate crops--probably confusing that I mentioned them together! Thanks!

[@cristallaprade5487]

I live in Maine so trade beats for sweet potatoes.

[@kengrow3992]

I’m forest farming in Hawaii. I love it when people make these lists to remind me of the crops I forgot to throw in. And thank you to the person who wrote down the list I get so into listening I worry I missed things and then I look through the comments somebody’s got them written down for me. love and happy gardening to all of you

[@rodhatte]

I thought he said dirty dozen and not baker's dozen.

[@sandrah583]

He was listing green beans and heirloom beans as two separate plants.

[@Im-just-Stardust]

That was a great video man ! New sub

[@geedee2420]

Same 👍🏽

[@reneebrown2968]

I love Cherokee tan pumpkins. They produce prolifically and are very pest resistant

[@cristiewentz8586]

IF you can find seed!

[@reneebrown2968]

@@cristiewentz8586 it only takes 1 seed to make a lifetime of seeds with a pumpkin

[@cristiewentz8586]

@@reneebrown2968 except I can't find even one seed!!! Seriously, everyone that sells them seems to be out of stock. I found a close one, Seminoles, from southern exposure seeds.....but not the Cherokee. Any leads?

[@elevatorman7750]

Great video guys

[@janetmacdonald6030]

GO Big Blue!! Loved the UK hat. We live in Ky also. I learned a lot from your video. Thanks for sharing.

[@TheGoodEarthFarmChannel]

Great to have some fellow Kentuckians on board!

[@deborahdanhauer8525]

Thank you for this list! I subscribed🤗❤️🐝

[@lesliea.m.5392]

I’m in NH and grow lots of sweet potatoes, I start my slips myself indoors about February and plant in May

[@roxannern9393]

We like the Long Island Cheese, Butternut, Seminole and Cherokee pumpkins here in E TN zone 7a. Yummy!!! I wish we had more room for corn. We do get great crops of sunflowers, peas, green beans, squash, greens, cabbages and tomatoes. We will try potatoes next year. Having less than 2 acres, including the house and pool, we try to grow enough of 3-4 crops to store (in different ways) for 2 years. That way we alternate crops every other year. 2022 and 2024 green bean trellis. 2023 and 2025 cucumbers and winter squash. We haven't tried tomatoes in the high tunnel yet. We don't need storing tomatoes this year, we had 152 plants 2023. I canned tomatoes until I couldn't. 6 bags in the freezer. We do grow fresh eating every year. I think I'll try some in the high tunnel. Thanks! Garlic is in the tomato garden now. Onions will go in there too 2024 spring. Rotating crops. Also some peppers will go there. Love the "dirty dozen" in this video and the movie;) Oh, greens, spinach, mustards, lettuce growing well in the high tunnel now. Thanks for the ideas and information!

[@TheGoodEarthFarmChannel]

Wow, you guys sound like you've got it dialed in for a small acreage. Love to see folks doing what you're doing to show how much you can grow. You might want to try a late crop of tomatoes in the H.T. in August that will ripen in Oct/Nov in TN. If you use a storage variety like "Longkeeper" or "Golden Treasure" they will store at room temperature for a long time. We are still using ours in January, and while not as good as summer tomatoes, they break up the monotony of the canned and frozen ones! Keep up the good work and thanks for sharing!

[@BostonBB]

When you get ready to grow potatoes if you opt for some sweet potatoes you'll get a bonus of 2 crops.. the leaves are highly nutritious and tasty.

[@baneverything5580]

Try peanuts too. You can boil them fresh.

[@qkcmnt1242]

I'm sorry. I am not familiar with your term, "high tunnel," which you mentioned 3 times. What is it?

[@baneverything5580]

A large greenhouse. @@qkcmnt1242

[@CindySorenson-r4m]

A friend experimented with mystery potatoes one year & one that did very well out in the dry desert's hot climate of NM was a type of potato that grows all along his fence on a vine. The potatoes grow on the vines, not in the soil. You can see them, possibly a sweet variety. I forgot the name of them. 5-to-8 times a regular potato's mass. The Jerusalem Artichoke is another amazing crop to help you thrive, not just survive.

[@dirtfarmer7472]

A suggestion for the crops needing a trellis use rewire it has a 6 inch mesh

[@rjsheffer2]

Yeah we seriously need one of these for the desert Southwest

[@deca12351]

Great video !! I really learned a lot !!!

[@cobococreek1224]

I'm about 1/2 thru and paused to say thanks for the making this informative vid, really what I needed this morning - was prepping new fields yesterday, and today it's freezing and an inch of snow :) so coffee and youtube here in Kentucky zone 6

[@carolyn6290]

Thank You for your recomendations!

[@tryingndoing]

Thank you. Subbed. Bear Independent gave your channel a shout out. Good advice ! Blessings!

[@namastenurse]

I’ve learned a ton. This was excellent

[@johnday8451]

Texas Hill Country Red heirloom okra does very well in climate zones 8a and 9a, where I grow it. I grew 3 kinds of okra for 3 years, always including the winner from last year. The Texas Red always won, so I have only grown that since then, allowing me to collect seeds. The pods grow unusually large before hardening, and the flavor is exceptionally good.

[@williammaxwell1919]

I like growing Madagascar Beans. The young beans can be used like string beans, and dried beans can be rehydrated to use in soups and stocks or for seeds. Also, it is a perennial that lives for about 7 years, and in the right climate, you get 2 crops per year

[@pascalxus]

Great presentation.

[@humbllbug]

Recommend you add Sunchokes (aka Jerusalem Artichokes to your list. It is native to North America, it was cultivated by many of the native tribes. They can be eaten raw or cooked any way you cook potatoes. They are excellent for diabetic diets, as well, due to the inulin content. Can also feed the tubers to pigs, dogs, etc.

[@baneverything5580]

They won`t grow in Louisiana. I wasted 30 bucks trying.

[@humbllbug]

@@baneverything5580 im currently growing 14 varieties in louisiana in 15 gallon containers filled with potting soil....

[@johnndavis7647]

@@baneverything5580 why do you think you failed? Was the soil ph wrong? Not enough of some important element? Too wet a spot? Too dry? If you can figure out what the plant wants you can generally make it grow. I would try again plant in several spots. Full sun, morning sun with afternoon shade. Try different things.

[@baneverything5580]

Terrible soil, a drought, etc, but I did try to water and care for the plants and they`d get 2 or 3 feet tall and the top would wilt and die, then two shoots would form on the stem, grow for a couple of weeks, wilt, and die. And sun chokes are supposed to be indestructable. @@johnndavis7647

[@ursamajor1936]

​@@baneverything5580I have found that rubbing the tubers with a little olive oil will preserve them until spring. I have one growing in a pot in the livingroom right now. It's already 4 inches tall.

[@clintlewis1715]

Beans and Potatoes are the most important. I wouldn't waste space for corn. Amaranth is a better option for grain, animal feed, flower, as well as a spinach substitute. You have to soak or boil repeatedly, but acorns can cover you flower needs. You earn my respect by putting sunfowers on you list. One the most versatile super foods. (good animal feed, good source of protein and carbs, the leaves are more nutritious than spinach, and it take some work, but you can produce you own sunflower oil, which is high in Omega 3 and 6 for brain health). For me, asparagus (nutrient rich, very low maintenance), beats (nutrient rich and the greens are higher in antioxidant than spinach), parsley (on of natures best immune system boosters), elderberry (put you immune system on overdrive), amaranth (protein rich grain and the green are more nutritious than spinach)and cayenne (another immune booster plus anti-fungal for healthy blood).

[@TheGoodEarthFarmChannel]

Great input, thanks for contributing to the conversation! Can't go just for calories and ignore nutrition.

[@alanmcrae8594]

Liked & subscribed! Excellent, no nonsense presentation. Your recommendations sound very solid, and we'll definitely put the dirty dozen at the top of our list.

[@LaineyBug2020]

Space saving hack - you can graft any nightshade onto potato stalks and grow them together!

[@jillachen7217]

Most Excellent video! Thank you, from Baudette Minnesota USA! ❤

[@iDreamOfOkra]

Great video! My recommendation for Okra is Clemson and Burmese. Absolutely love both. The Burmese can grow to almost a foot without getting woody and spiny!

[@jbrunogds]

This is just awesome, thanks!

[@sandramorton5510]

Best, to the point video out on You Tube. Thank you for the explanation on peas, only one on your list I was not growing. Thank you Chris, I will get your book, you certainly are an expert.

[@stevenfeil7079]

Corn will cross pollinate up to THREE MILES

[@darrencorrigan8505]

Thanks, Good Earth.

[@RangoTheMango]

Instead of sunflower you can use sunchokes they are in the sunflower family and produce the flowers but have a calorie dense tuber like a potato

[@ursamajor1936]

I rub the tubers with a little olive oil to preserve them over the winter.

[@RangoTheMango]

@@ursamajor1936 they are actually perennials they can survive over winter plus if you harvest around late winter the the inulin turns to starch removing the gassy effect

[@marycrosiar5571]

great content thank you farmer

[@SgtSnausages]

My top survival crops are Geese(we do American Buff) and Muscovy (the standard White meat bird breed) They both can (and do, here) subsist 100% on forage - lawn, pasture weed. They both breed prolifically and raise their own young. Ours roam the property semi-feral (we don't feed, we don't water, we don't house, we don't fence them in (though you do have to fence them OUT of your garden areas - but we already had to do that to keep the deer out). They live out there on The Ponds and surrounding pasture in and amongst the wild/native Mallard and Canada populations. They do their thing in Spring (makin' babies) and starting about now (mid to late Aug) they are sized up to harvest. No need for storage - they are stored "on the hoof" so to speak. Let them live their best lives out there and only pick off one or two as needed. We take a Muscovy a week, give or take, and one or two Goose a month... all year long. Roughly 400+ pounds of tasty animal protein a year for ZERO work other than harvest/butcher.

[@acrad7187]

Thank you! Great list- really helpful!

[@Atimatimukti]

Rabbits will eat everything from the sunflowers, not just the seeds.

[@SgtSnausages]

Ours only eat the stalk/leaf when still green ... which means if you chop to feed you dont get the seeds. By the time the seeds are mature and ready for harvest, the stalks/leaves are yelloe/brown drying out and crispy. At this point, they'll snub their nose at it and ignore.

[@Atimatimukti]

​@@SgtSnausagesmines eat even the dryed head after all the seeds are out. They also love to eat all parts of Jerusalém artichokes. Not the same family, of course, but I just remembered it because the flowers looks alikr

[@reneebrown2968]

Here in zone 8b-9a we grow alot of corn but even more sweetpotatoes. We can usually grow regular potatoes in the late winter or early spring or later in fall

[@hobbyart364]

this will always be relevant

[@catezaida8081]

Glad to see you added okra and sweet potatoes to this list! 2 of my favorites, although I will pass on the collard greens. My mom was from the deep south and when she finally convinced my dad to grow them, there was something in the soil that caused them to be EXTREMELY bitter! Regardless of the way she cooked them, they remained inedible, so dad and I dug up the entire crop and took them to the pig pen. The pigs were VERY excited! Until they tried to eat them. They were so bitter, even the PIGS would not eat them. The entire crop sat in that pen and rotted. Probably why I don't like them to this very day! Dad sent a soil sample in and the next year amended the soil. Thank goodness I had already left for college and did not have to endure those again, bitter or not!

[@TheGoodEarthFarmChannel]

Ha, that is an interesting story. One year our pigs wouldn't eat the leftover summer squash. I guess they are pickier than most think!

[@baneverything5580]

Mammoth striped sunflowers and peanuts are great sources of calories due to the oils and protein.

[@baneverything5580]

Black eyed pea leaves are up to 40% protein. Few know this.@@TheGoodEarthFarmChannel

[@Johnny_Benson]

Great video brother man. Liked and subscribed.

[@qotsadet]

Liked the reasoning with the choices and omissions. Just bought the book.

[@BetsyReitzel]

If you have a long enough season (I have 170 frost free days), you can grow 2 types of corn as long as you stagger and detassel. I plant the faster maturing corn as soon as it is warm enough and then plant the 2nd 4-5 weeks later. After the 1st is pollinated (and before the 2nd is ready to be), pull the tassels and you won't have to worry about the cross pollination. Also, if you use the corn for pole beans, make sure to give the corn a minimum of 2 weeks before planting the corn or the beans will grow too fast and pull the corn over

[@thefreedomsquad]

I love it! It’s so informative!!! Thank you!

[@KeithBarrowsToday]

I grew some small hobby gardens in Anchorage, Seattle, Denver, and SE Florida. I'm now on property and building out about 1/2 acre with orchard (permaculture?), dirt garden, aquaponics and chickens - to start. I'm finding several things grow on the shoulder seasons and winter here. The hardest part is we have no cellars, no cool dry places. 🤣

[@Utah_Mike]

Excellent

[@TheSondysue]

Great information. Thank you. I just ordered your book.

[@TheGoodEarthFarmChannel]

Thanks! Best of luck with your gardening!

[@mingabarry6117]

Your information is varied and interesting. For folk who have just found your site it would be helpful to have your location, even which hemisphere, continent and then maybe zone. Your audience really is global! Thanks from NZ. But no snow in winter at my place, though excess rainfall is becoming more common.

[@marilynweber7957]

Can you explain the cold room - - - - I have a basement and my potatoes sprout too fast and my sweet potatoes last 2 years

[@TheGoodEarthFarmChannel]

We use a CoolBot, like most market growers I know. It allows you to take room air conditioner and basically turn an insulated room into a walk-in refrigerator. If you keep the temperature at 35-40 F, the potatoes won't sprout very fast and you can use them all winter. You can often insulate a basement corner and install one, so you might want to check it out.

[@johnclarke6647]

I am thinking about planting some tatters this year. I am going to increase the length of my garden with my Mantis and put some taters in this new section. I have spinach and turnips planted in it, right now. I have beans, peas and tomato seeds in my Jiffy covered seed tray right now. I planted them on Ash Wednesday and will transplant them in the garden on Good Friday. You are assuming everyone has enough space to plant corn. Indians planted beans squash and corn, together. I planted Kentucky Wonder beans this year. My peas are a sweet green pea. I usually plant yellow squash in the spring. My favorite store away food is bread flour and yeast. I can always make bread and our ancestors survived on about 80% of their nutrition from bread. A lot of the seeds we can get, today, are hybrids, so their seeds do not always germinate. Turnips are a good winter crop. I planted a row in the garden this year and they have flourished even in a very cold winter. 14:17

[@christianschmidt1556]

I started sweet potatoes here in Dallas/Fort Worth last year and they produced a lot, grow faster in the hot months, but you must water them often. They seem to need water and we are a dry hot summer climate. They also store well once cured inside the cooler house. I always save a few green growing slips in large pots over the winter inside for next year. I suggest you try them.

[@alicepettit164]

Fabulous clear practical and inspiring. Your10 Permaculture projects is my fave practical permaculture video ever seen and I have seek countless. Looking forward to your book. Keep up the great vids.

[@mikeash7428]

Nice presentation. Thanks.

[@bradlafferty]

Fantastic content, so useful! New sub.

[@reneebrown2968]

The only area a sweetpotato may get a fungal or bacteria in the plant is where the slip comes off the potato. So as you go to plant break off the first inch or so then plant away

[@Mifune41]

Eagerly waiting to see the video on the calorie/sq foot data.

[@ShinigamiOni]

Sunflower stalks look like they would make good biochar.

[@TheGoodEarthFarmChannel]

Yes they do, one of the better biomass crops often overlooked.

[@maureenparran8918]

Great video and great information, thank you

[@maryjane-vx4dd]

I grow floriani dent and sweet corn. One is early and the ither late. Don't tassel at the same time

[@williamswan9114]

The other crops I was thinking of for like a woodlands ditches or just along the edge Rosie or regular fields they used to grow trees mainly or not or Berries, buckwheat, chickpeas 26:31 as, beats turnips and rutabagas nutritious greens and the tubular is well suited for hard storage they're bi annuals,

[@Planzman1]

Dnt forget hulless oats, winter wheat and upland rice.

[@kathleenredick275]

I like bush beans, but I have grown corn and beans the way you're talking about - beans running up the corn stalk.

[@nittygrittykitchen]

Love your videos. Keep it up! And thank you

[@dianedoyle-mccahon4979]

Tjank you, font forget the herbs and medicinsl plants

[@anitaditzler-id6bh]

Beautiful gardens!! I’d love to grow sweet potatoes but the rabbits and deer just gobble them up!

[@gardenlifelove9815]

I grow alot of thornless blackberries, blueberries, and honeyberries in the areas that I can't grow regular crops. I also grow mostly tomatoes and greens, corn needs so much space that I don't grow it. Last time I tried it wasn't getting properly pollinated.

[@kentuckycowboy7660]

🇨🇳Chinese artichokes, also known as chorogi, betony or crosne... are an unusual, gnarled-looking winter vegetable that are also surprisingly delicious. The artichokes themselves are white tubers that grow from the base of this herbaceous plant. They take 5 months or more to grow, thus, with a spring/summer planting, they can be harvested in the autumn or winter, or left to grow into the following planting season. The tubers are used in Asian and French cuisines, and have been used 👉medicinally to treat colds and pneumonia. 👉 Chinese artichokes are quite fibrous, consisting of carbohydrates, dietary fibre and water. They are an excellent source of folate and vitamin K, and a moderate source of vitamin C, manganese and magnesium. Compared to regular artichokes, they have a much higher fibre content, however, they take much less time to cook (10-12minutes)