Useful prepper gardening book

CR - April 22, 2021

Advice

Hi all! Not sure if this is the proper place, but would like to recommend a book I, as a lifelong gardener, have found very handy and prep related. Steve Solomon’s  Gardening When It Counts, Growing Food in Hard Times has lots of good tips for food cultivation & for when the garden center isn’t available. I enjoy his slightly grumpy, but very knowledgeable style. It’s a great edition to the prepping library. I included the link for info only. FYI, storing your seeds in the deep freeze in a mason jar keeps them viable years longer. https://www.amazon.com/Gardening-When-Counts-Growing-Mother/dp/086571553X/

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It’s a great book, which is why it’s one of the top picks in our new gardening guide. His advice on sharpening tools is invaluable.

 

Lol! You beat me to it! Didn’t see that nice gardening guide on here. Thanks!

 

I’m more of a visual learner so I would rather watch a YouTube video on gardening. CR, do you feel like I would enjoy this book? It is just like a text book or is it easier to digest?

Also, I also only want to focus on a few plants at a time. So if next year I’m just going to grow peas and carrots would I like a whole book about gardening? Or do you think I would get more out of just looking up guides online on peas and carrots?

 

YouTube is great & certainly is a fun resource! However, I feel it’s always good to have a hard copy of a needful reference written by an expert in his field. As gardening books go, it’s useful for beginner to advanced gardeners; per your example, you can get all the info you could need (likely more than you want!) on growing just peas and carrots, including where to order from (retail seeds at the store are usually garbage). It’s the only place I ever found that answered why my heavily mulched, mild climate garden kept getting harder and harder to start seeds: in mild climates pests build up in that nice cozy mulch, in colder climates they freeze.  
To your point about readability, it’s kinda like a mix between reference & memoir. I read it initially in chunks, now use it per problem to solve.  It’s not a big, expensive book, but I consider it to be very comprehensive for its size. My copy has many “”dog ears” and highlights. Happy gardening, Olly!

 

That does sound like something I would enjoy and would be a good resource. Thank you for your recommendation and explanation of the book. 

I laughed at the “dog ears”. I’ve never heard that saying and it took me a second to understand what you were referring to. It’s a good name for it though.

 

If you want a starter guide that’s a bit of an easier read, check out David the Good’s Grow or Die, mentioned in the garden guide linked above. I also embedded a bunch of helpful videos there.

 

Sounds like I need to buy both! I’ll check them out thank you Josh Centers.

 

Thank you for the seeds in the freezer tip. Going to go put my seeds in there now. Probably let them thaw out for a day or two before planting though if I end up doing any growing this year. 

 

Yep, that’s the way to go! Mason jar with good lid prevents moisture migration & greatly reduces freezer burn (also true of any food products you freeze.) Keeps you from wasting seed, and they last much longer. Take care to only thaw the amount you’re planting, and it’s most gentle to thaw in fridge. Interesting link on frozen seed storage on massive scale:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svalbard_Global_Seed_Vault

 

Ooo yes! Thawing in the fridge only the ones I want to plant  will be much less of a shock for them. You are full of tips!

I just packaged up my seeds and put them in the back of my freezer. Thank you again for the advice. During the end of the world when I pull them out and grow a garden big enough to feed my family and neighbors, I’ll be thinking of you!

 

You’re most welcome! Home grown stuff is always a blessing, plus good exercise for mind and body in the cultivation. Happy gardening Conrad!