r/Homesteading • u/ESMolen • 6d ago
I’m looking for advice to potentially try growing crops to feed my family.
/r/homestead/comments/1vzcxaw/im_looking_for_advice_to_potentially_try_growing/2
u/meh_69420 5d ago
Peas, carrots, and beets are about the only thing you can still get in the ground this year that are calorific enough to be able to replace any significant portion of your daily food intake. Oh sure there is a ton of other stuff you can grow right now, but you would have to eat like 20lbs of spinach to get 2000 calories out of it. Carrots and beets really aren't that good either, but they are the best of what's left. For next year you'd want to lean heavily on potatoes, dent corn (not sweet corn, the hard stuff you make corn meal from), beans and peas. You could even go so far as to grow oilseed sunflowers and buy an oil expeller and make your own cooking oil too. Everything else you can grow like tomatoes and cucumbers are great for variety and nutrients, but they aren't going to actually feed you. But, you're gonna need at absolute minimum like a half acre of intensely farmed crops to feed a family of 4 for a year. If you planted it all to dent corn, you would get twice the calories you need, but you can't do that for nutrition and soil reasons. You're still gonna be planting around ⅒ of an acre of corn and getting half you calories from that alone though. Hope you like corn meal. All the others, beans, peas, and potatoes, are far less productive on a calories per acre basis than corn but you need them for balanced nutrition.
1
u/ImNotAWhaleBiologist 5d ago
Potatoes aren’t that much worse than corn.
2
u/meh_69420 5d ago
Not on pure calories I suppose but macros on corn are way better with 50% more protein and an order of magnitude more fat. Taters are just starch.
1
7
u/PlantyHamchuk Zone 6 6d ago
Hey OP, I saw elsewhere you said you live in Pittsburgh. You probably have time to get some fall crops in the ground. The bittersweet news is that you've got one of the better extension services in the USA, however the info that used to be free.. much of it they charge for. Which is terrible.
Anyway, go here and put in your zip code to find out your frost dates. That site ought to give good info, that's a long standing reputable gardening group not some random spamblog site.
Next, you can grow some cold season crops. Seed packets from reputable suppliers will say things like 50 days to harvest or 80 days to harvest. You need to figure out how many days you have from now until your frost date. Let's say you run the numbers and you have 60 days. Go look for seeds for things that will produce in 60 days or less.
Things to consider: spinach, lettuce, carrots, radish, beets, peas. Not sure you'll have time for any brassicas (broccoli, cauliflower, etc.). However you can set up cold frames to extend your growing season, and some things actually taste better if they get nipped with some frost, like kale and collards.
You can also buy "transplants" or "starts" from local garden centers, which are pre-started veggies, already with roots. This is more expensive but incredibly time-saving. Just because you don't have time to plant something by seed doesn't mean you can't grow it - look for transplants and try those. Personally, I grow a mix, for a staggered harvest.
The biggest thing is grow stuff you actually eat. No sense in going to all this effort if no one will actually eat it.
This is assuming you're just growing outside. If you have space indoors, and are willing to invest in indoor gardening infrastructure, you can grow all kinds of things. Just depends how much you want to get into this. It's more fun if you can get others involved, too.
Try to ask on your local subreddit and search around for local gardening clubs and communities. Experienced gardeners are often very happy to share tips and wisdom, and sometimes even seeds or extra plants they may have. And if possible, try to support little businesses.
Also I've never tried their stuff but I've heard good things about True Love Seeds, I think they may be based out of PA somewhere.
Remember, healthy nutritious soil grows healthy nutritious food. Don't skimp on the soil. If the soil in the ground is contaminated or otherwise terrible, you can grow in lined raised beds or even large containers.
Good luck and keep us posted! Gardening is actually a very exciting journey. If you have further questions I'm happy to answer as best I can, and I'm sure others will have some ideas in chip in as well.
We also have some info/resources in our Faq/wiki thing