I get about 80 % of all the produce I eat year-round from my garden, without using greenhouses or even cloches and minimizing the need for indoor storage of produce. My total garden space is about 800 square feet, half of which is a seasonal plot at my P-Patch and the other half a year-round garden in my back yard. In combination with a few fruit trees, strawberry and raspberry plants, I am pretty much self-sufficient for about 10 months of the year.
Potatoes are my most important staple, providing the basis for about 5 meals a week. My 100 square foot potato patch produces up to 200 pounds of potatoes, which will last me for about 9 months. I start harvesting potatoes in early August, about one plant a week, and during the last week of the P-Patch short season I dig the remaining potatoes and put them in winter storage. I wait until the very last moment so that the temperature will only be in the 50s to low 60s at harvest time. Then I can put the potatoes in winter storage in my unheated garage right away where they will keep for up to 6 months. I cover the potato crates with a blanket to prevent frost damage during cold winter nights. Huddled together under the blanket, the potatoes give off some heat and keep each other from freezing, even if the outside temperature temporarily drops into the teens.
Parsnips and rutabagas are wonderful root crops for the winter. I harvest my rutabagas along with the potatoes and put them in storage, but leave the parsnips in the ground through the winter. Rutabagas are wonderful in stews and casseroles, and keep in good shape in storage for about 4 months. I usually dig parsnips until the end of April, sometimes longer if the spring is cool and keeps them from going to bloom.
I keep harvesting my fall carrots as long as they last into the winter, and begin harvesting my fall-sown overwintering carrots in the late spring. I grow all my carrots in a cage covered with mosquito wire to keep out the carrot rust fly whose maggots can be especially troublesome in winter.
Leeks also overwinter in the ground without problems. I mulch them along with the parsnips before the first hard freeze to keep the ground from freezing so that I can keep digging them. Leeks almost completely replace onions in my winter diet, since they are so much easier to deal with as compared to onions which must be dried and stored.
Cabbage is an important crop to me. My fall cabbage stays in the ground well into November. I pick any remaining full-grown cabbages at this time and store them for another couple of months in the fridge. My overwintering cabbage sown in August starts producing in March or April.
I sow spinach in the middle of September and start harvesting it in early April. If the spring stays cool, the same spinach planting can keep producing into June before bolting.
I even eat my own fresh tomatoes for about 7 months of the year. My super-early tomatoes (Early Swedish) start producing at the end of June, being planted in a warm protected spot against the south-facing wall of my house in early April. I pick the unripe tomatoes from my storage varieties at the end of October, and ripen them indoors in a dark place. They will keep for over 2 months.
A great inspiration to anyone wishing to achieve self-sufficiency with only moderate labor is the book "The Good Life" written by Helen and Scott Nearing. They moved out to the country from New York City back in the 30s, built their own house and tended their garden. A guiding principle for them was to work only 4 hours a day for food and shelter, and devote the rest of their time to cultural activities. They were both vegetarian, and lived to the age of about 100.
Tomato Growers Wanted:
To provide a large selection of tomato varieties for the 1997 Great Tomato Taste-Off to be held in early September, I am looking for about 10 growers from different P-Patches who would each grow a few different varieties. If you are interested, give me a call at 783-1273 in late January, or call the P-Patch office before that at 684-0264. We will have a planning meeting early February to decide who will grow what.