Plants

[First off I am not a Nutritionist nor am I a Doctor, and nothing on this website should be taken as medical advice. All statements made are simply my opinion.  Secondly I do not use affiliate links for anything. If I recommend any specific product it is because I like and use it. I do not get any financial gain from any of them. This site is funded by me personally and by donations from readers.]

My thoughts on growing your own food

When considering self sufficiency one of the first things that should be looked into is growing your own calories.  Forget for now things like tomatoes and lettuce.  Those are great, and we will get to those later, but for now they are in no way the best use of your time, space, and effort.  Root crops are what you should focus on first and foremost.  Those are going to be the most calorie dense crops per square foot of growing space.  Even in a small area you can grow alot of calories with root crops.  

Grains are great in theory, however they take alot of land and ALOT of labor to process for those of us without access to expensive machinery.  Corn would be the exception to this, though I would recommend either dent or flint corn instead of sweet corn for now.  I would only suggest other grains be grown for animal feed as they won’t require quite as much processing.

Beans and other legumes are another good use of your time and space.  They are easy to grow, add nitrogen back to your soil, store almost indefinitely, and are more calorie dense per pound than the other crops I will be discussing. They do take more space than roots for you to grow enough of them though.

Next I would suggest squash, and particularly winter squash.  Though not as calorie dense as some roots, they are easy to grow, produce abundantly, and have a terrific storage life if cured properly.

Another very important thing to consider, especially if you are vegetarian or vegan, is getting enough protein. The protein your body needs comes from amino acids. Most plants don’t have all the amino acids your body needs to create complete proteins. I have an article here that discusses amino acids and why they are important to you, and an article here that discusses plant sources of different amino acids and whether they are complete proteins or not.

Once you have gotten the hang of growing these staples then perhaps consider growing some of the more frilly fruits and veggies if you have the time and space available.