My survival garden is kind of small: An orange tree, and a lemon tree. I tried to get an apple tree going, but it didn't work out. The home came with a plum tree, but it died due to termits, so we had to get ride of it.
I also have a couple of large barrels of water with some bleach in them behind my garage, with a piece of cut hose to get the water drained out, if need be. They are too heavy for me to tip over and drain.
So there they sit. If I really needed it, I suppose I could poke a hole in the bottom to drain them. But, why bother? They aren't hurting anything being there, so there they sit.
My orange and lemon tree are the gifts that keep on giving. Every once and a while I pat them, and say, "thank you" (they are a living thing you know, and every one wants to be appreciated once in a while). :)
I don't do much of anything with them beyond pruning them a little once in a while, just let them be, and let the bees pollinate the trees for me. Leave bees alone and do their thing, and they will leave you alone. A wonderful feat of nature, all of which I can share with my family and neighbors (depending on the season). The lemon tree provides lemons all year long. It pleasures me to be able to share this food with them, and at no cost to them, or me.
My daughter has an avocado tree, so I can ask for one if I desire one, and they make a wonderful sandwich treat on brown toasted bread.
So, my answer is "yes", I have a survival garden--counting my daughters' avocados. Fortunate me.
My neighbor who works part-time at Home Depot already has some vegetables going on her enclosed patio -- lettuce, tomatoes, and something else. It's a bit early for Maryland, but she might be able to get away with it. Normally Mother's Day is the "go" date here, but April can sometimes work, especially for spring crops like lettuce.
Survival gardening is my specialty as a Tennessee Master Gardener.
Getting the most “calories for the buck”, so to speak, differs depending on the region of the country where you live, what your weather tends to be like, how much rainfall you do or do not get, the type of soil you have in your yard, etc.
Wish it were more simple - where I could just list a few garden foods that would work for everybody. But it just isn’t that way.
In much of the southeast US - where we tend to have generally fertile, clay based soils, long growing seasons, and plenty of rainfall most years, I would probably recommend growing bush beans or southern peas for a newbie. Purple hull peas, or pinto beans (green beans, if harvested early while the pods are still thin and the beans immature) work very well for newbies in my region. It is too late in the season now in my area, but if you are in the Deep South and you can get strawberry starts (not seeds, but the little startup plants you can stick in soil) that would work very well during the first year, and if allowed to spread in fertile soil, will be wildly prolific in the second year.
...heirloom seeds are great, but the prices are higher, and unless you are going to let them go to seed for next season, there's no cost benefit. Heirlooms are mainly used by commercial non-GMO/nursery growers to take advantage of that particular genetic factor.
...determine your growing zone; if zone models predictions say more cold/wet conditions, then extend the ground-planting date by 2-3 weeks. Extremely wet soil coupled with continuing harsh Spring conditions could compromise a good harvest. In my zone, I am still only sprouting and planting cold-weather crops as a safeguard. Sprout and grow indoors until seedlings can tolerate any adverse outside conditions.
I know we're talking survival here, not fun foods, but I wouldn't want my only choices to be foods I hate, three times a day, every day, just because they grow well where I am. I'd rather die, because that's not living.
...in a SHTF scenario, best to stock up on sproutable seeds that can be started in Mason jars or sprouting trays. Non-pesticide simple seeds. Believe it or not, many have great results with some birdseed blends. Check seed types for edibility.
..lots of nutritional energy are contained in these home-sprouted seeds.
Thanks topper. I was just thinking today that i would probably want to plant potatoes in my survival garden if i started one. Would definitely want some of those cherry tomatos because they are very tasty.