’09 Garden Catalogs Arrive!
In the after-holiday post-glut bleak January doldrums, our gardening lives are once again enlightened with hope for the coming season with delivery of those ever popular new seed catalogues. They’re as much fun to peruse and dream over as they ever were, but the planning that goes with may be more important this year than it has been in years past.
Previous posts have detailed the unfortunate situation of current and worsening food shortages worldwide and in America that should cause us to plan this year’s crops in more practical terms than usual. As if we were planning a Victory Garden instead of just growing the specialty items we like eating fresh during the summer.
As an indication of just how bad things may get in the coming year due to the collapse of our economy – along with its banking collapses and credit shortages – consider the fertilizer situation in our midwestern “breadbasket.” High costs of natural gas for fertilizer production and virtual standstills in shipping are causing fear of widespread shortages for spring, and credit shortfalls may put what does become available out of reach for a great many farmers. Much of the breadbasket may be fallow this year, and that will trickle down to very high prices for what is available and shortages that will leave significant portions of the population without anything to eat.
We who rely upon organic and ‘green’ fertilizers to keep our land and crops healthy may secretly applaud a situation that may force ADM and other huge agribusiness concerns to go back to stewarding the land as if it were a real and valuable resource, none of us should applaud the fact that without the means to fertilize the fields or purchase seed for the coming year, a lot of Americans will likely be starving by this time next year.
Granny is already turning earth in the garden bottom to be planted in hard red winter wheat. From what I can tell, it is to be sown this month so it can freeze before sprouting, should be ready for harvest by June. This is a variety commonly grown in North Carolina, but this is my first try. Just to see if it works, and if it does I may plant many more terraces in winter wheat next year (just because I can). I will also be planting flax, three times as many sunflowers as usual, and at least three kinds of beans for drying.
There will be intensive beets and turnips this year, and not just for greens, which has been my usual habit because no one in this family is particularly fond of beets or turnips as a root crop. I figure they’ll be good for barter for something we do eat, and they’re easily stored. If nothing else, they’ll keep us from starving, and in that situation who cares how they taste? Will triple up on potatoes as well, try for two full crops. The season’s technically long enough to do that, but I haven’t tried it before. Will also double crop spinach, cabbage, lettuce, peas and onions, though that means I must spring for double the fertilizer/compost. Guess it’s time to mine the rich black stuff under the kudzu again…
Celeriac, sweet and field corn, lots more kale and collards, tomatoes and peppers. Leeks, eggplant, pumpkins. No gourds this year, they take up room and provide no food. Fewer cukes too, more storage squashes. By Halloween this year I want the root cellar at the spring house as well as the storage shed to both be full to the brim, and I want a full winter crop rotation in production.
I urge my readers to consider that this coming year’s garden may have to supply a lot more food for basic survival purposes than ever before in their gardening careers. Do your homework on how many crops your climate will allow you to grow, and of what type, and don’t forget to amend in between. Even if we can’t grow every single thing our family needs to survive, we can grow a significant portion of it, trade for some more, and end up having to purchase much less.
In the spirit of the changes – both good and bad – that must come in this new year, Yes We Can!
