Prepping Makes Your Garden Grow!

Start Your Heirloom Garden

When we think of making emergency preparations, we only consider the relatively short-term occurrences most of the time. For example, weather disasters such as tornadoes, flooding, and blizzards are often devastating, but recovery is generally made within weeks or a few months at most.

Thinking about prepping for any situation that requires us to change how we live is always a bright idea. Long-term solutions for what may seem like a short-term problem have the added benefit of providing necessities for your family, no matter the future.

The rising popularity of vegetable gardening is seen everywhere. From the White House garden, first instituted in 1800, by the second president of the United States, John Adams, and first lady Abigail Adams, to container growing on apartment patios, it is a trend that is good for our health and can provide sustenance for years. It may seem far-fetched, but if, for some reason, our food chain collapses, being capable of growing your food would not only make you seem like a genius but keep your belly full as well.

If recent food prices are any indication, even if grocery stores continue to supply fruits and vegetables, the prices we have to pay may exceed our budget. In addition, natural disasters, coupled with conflicts worldwide, could create a situation for many where having a garden or growing some of their food is a necessity rather than a relaxing hobby.

Vegetable seeds can be either hybrid or of the heirloom variety. While the hybrid seeds are not self-pollinating and need to be purchased annually to produce, heirloom seeds can be collected and stored to use years into the future. A bonus to growing heirloom fruit and vegetables is the taste. Fond memories of tasting the tomatoes from your grandmothers? Victory garden or crisp apples from the family orchard can be revived with seeds from yesterday. An abundance of varieties is also found with heirloom seeds.

With spring right around the corner, this is the perfect time to consider starting a garden of heirloom vegetables and fruits. Hopefully, we will never need to supply our food, but if the worst happens, you will be prepared.

Here are a few of the resources I’ve checked out:

Now, if we could figure out how to grow anything in this orange Mississippi “dirt,” we’re good to go.