Fruit trees, if you can manage pests on them. Once established they'll yield a tremendous number of calories for the space they take. Winter wheat is a great option in much of the U.S. as it exploits a part of the growing season that you might not otherwise be able to grow anything in.
These are all good crops for calorie storage, but don't forget the calories in the edible green parts during the growing cycle. Sweet potato leaves have 60 calories per 100 grams, Amaranth has 23, and then there are things like purslane (20) and lambsquarters (43) that produce abundant yields. Greens have lower calorie densities than tubers and grains but they also take less energy to harvest and make edible. The net caloric yield from the total farming cycle is something to keep in mind.
Rookie here with a dumb question, are there any flower combinations I shouldn't mix with veggies? For instance is it OK to put a BES Hirta with a marigold and a tomato in the same big half barrel container? Last year it timed nicely that when my tomato was finished I lopped it off and the marigolds took over and made quite the fall show for my front doorstep. I was thinking adding in the Cardinal basil too... Are there flower/veg combos you enjoy?
For sunchokes, slice them up and cook them in an acid like vinegar or lemon juice. This breaks down the inulin starch, which is indigestible to humans, into fructose and glucose. They will be noticeably sweeter after cooking, and have a higher caloric density since you've converted the starch into sugars. You can also pickle them in vinegar to achieve the same effect.
I started growing amaranth for the grain, but after about 6 months of the same tangle of plants giving out new growth after new growth, I adore them for the leaves as a salad green absolutely full of iron. They weren't kidding about amaranth bring prolific, I physically cannot kill it haha
Last year I successfully grew sweet potato and Jerusalem artichoke dry farming style with no watering and using rain water only. I used a thick layer of mulch to preserve the water in the ground throughout the season.
@@generalsmedleybutler340 Central Valley CA? If so, I am in the same zone but I have to keep sun chokes well watered; otherwise, they wilt😢 They are in pots. Maybe that is the difference.
In my personal opinion, if the world is ending and you can only grow one plant that you have to live off of, it would be sweet potatoes. Nutrient and caloric dense tubers, and nutrient dense vines that are very much edible. But this is a great list. Depending on where you are, I’d add cassava, true yams (dioscorea), and taro. Maybe throw in moringa for likely the most nutrient dense greens possible and high caloric pods.
I live in southern Montana and with only about 120 growing days one has to consider that also. sweet potatoes would require a lot of special handling to get any amount of food. In northern climates the lowly potato is the go to crop.
@@arnoldreiter435 Yeah, for us living in civilized reaches where there's winter, I'd say the potato, onion, beans, and greens are our staples. Most of those aren't terribly thirsty crops, they do well with our shorter growing seasons and in a garden, and (unless you catch blight) are pretty darn hard to kill. Between the four of 'em, you can get a lot of good meals and most of the nutrients and calories you'd need to get by.
i weigh 560 lbs, i have a goal to only eat what i grow starting june 1st. i committed a long time ago, my plants are so tiny, im so scared, but im gonna do it.
Good luck, even if you have to cheat a little just keep eating what you do grow and only buy something that came from a garden and not shoved into a box at a factory
Find a farmer's market near you. Not only can you supplement if needed but they can give you all kinds of tips for growing local to you (what to plant, when, etc). Baby steps!
good challenge. personally i found that just cutting out sugar/bread/pasta was a huge help. my uncle's doctor once told him to count calories for meat, oil, sugars (including drinks, that's where all the sneaky calories are!), carbs, starch, etc. and stay under 2000 per day, but to not worry about vegetables at all just eat all the greens you want/can. so if you have to make a healthy choice and buy from a farmers market i think that would be a reasonable compromise p.s. your primal brain patterns might go into a fearful 'fight or flight' mode for the first year or two, just try to keep calm and carry on, it does get easier after a while
Dear Kevin, I would like to add, that all the plants, that you have mentioned are good for the stabilization of your sugar level and keep you sated for a long time. I try to eat them every day and within eating them I am loosing weight too. So that´s another benefit when eating them :)
Excellent list! I think grain sorghum would be a good addition to this list. It’s heat and drought tolerant, high yielding, self-fertile, and tolerates somewhat infertile soils, so it can easily be grown on a small scale. It’s relatively easy to thresh and is one of the best textured gluten-free flour options for those of us with celiac.
I grow amaranth to add to my quail feed. It's got a decent amount of protein for a bird. And they don't mind over sowing, are low maintenance, require one large dump of fertilizer or manure with sowing and nothing more until they're done. And they are gorgeous.
I learned about the Jerusalem artichoke in my anthropology of food class this last semester in college. I planted a few as well as a yaupon holly because of that class… and then I started a garden. I love this channel, and I have definitely learned a lot from the Epic Gardening crew.
Tell Jacques he can stop harassing you by phone. I decided to take you up on your crazy offer and sprung for 4 beds...which will complete my garden with birdies beds now. Getting the soil to fill these will be a feat, even if i fill the bottom half with logs branches and such. But it is a good problem to have. As always enjoyed your video and learned something, thanks
Grew it last year and despite pretty intense drought conditions, it performed REALLY well. Totally spot on with the slow start observation though. Took a bit for me as well
Use a heat source like a heat mat to germinate them, and keep them in a warm place, like a greenhouse if you have one. Amaranth is a hot season crop, and will grow very quickly in the middle of summer. You can intercrop them in the Three Sisters as kind of a fourth sister, serving a similar function to the corn.
I love sweet potatoes! I’ve been growing for about 4 years and added more, another variety, this year. Learning as I go for sure but I feel accomplished with these because I’m growing them in MIchigan.
I grew tons of cranberry beans last year. We ate them all year long and still have a couple gallon bags of frozen "fresh ones" and a quart jar of dried ones. Scarlett runner beans were also great and we still have a half gallon jar of dried ones, though we used all of the frozen "fresh" ones.
Very cool thinking! I am a big rice eater, but didn’t think it was possible to grow. I need to look into that. I was able to grow potatoes this year and they worked out pretty darn well considering that was my first time trying it. I may have missed it, but peas are also decently calorically dense and high in protein (albeit incomplete protein). Thanks for the fun video 👊🏻🌻👊🏻
I'm watching this in Jan 2024 from Central California, and am inspired! I especially love the emphasis on plants native to the Americas, as I am prepping my 3 Sisters Milpa, and wish to respect traditional foodways. I've just put down some cover crop (13 seed mix from No-Till Solutions), and will be doing 2 stands of cacahuazintle: one in rows, one in hills, both inter-planted with squash and beans. My goal is largely California (or generally American) native plants and as much food independence as possible. Thank you for this wonderful video, I'll definitely put in a rice patch!
I’m growing three from your list this year: sweet potato (Okinawan purple), yellow bush bean, and amaranth. Fingers crossed. We’ve had an unusually cool wet spring for Texas and though it has help the growth so far it has delayed fruiting of my tomatoes. May be in for bumper crop next month?
TIL that I could grow rice without a rice paddy, very excited! Might try it out next year when I get/make a raised garden bed. I also liked the potato bit, did not know how easy they are. Amaranth is a bit of a surprise but it looks pretty so even if it isn't hit with the fam food wise at least it'll add some interesting foliage to the house.
yep, for us (if bs hits the fan) 1. Fava beans (broad beans) one of the best proteins next to meat 2. Sweet potatoes - much much better than normal potatoes (quality and quantity) 3. Pumpkins - very easy to grow, (plant and forget), amazing at storing over winters (last up to April) very nutrient dense, one big pumpkin for us, family of 4, soups/ grills etc lasts for 5-7 days & we have about 20-30 of them each winter
Love the idea for this video! Perhaps you could go even further and factor in the extra calories from multiple harvests in the same bed for vegetables that can be harvested and replanted multiple times per year. This year I am growing more of these types of veggies and less that take an entire season such as sweet potatoes. I'm hoping it will give me more net overall veggies from my garden over the course of the summer!
I love sweet potatoes and purple potatoes. I have never grown rice but I have seeds. Amaranth is also good. In the caribbean, we call green amaranth, Callaloo and eat it with cod fish.
Jerusalem artichokes definitely will take over . Here in iowa they are everywhere . I started with 1 and it took over my entire flower bed and around the shed its next too 😅
After watching one of your videos with Chris, I decided to give Trionfo Violetto Bean Pole a try and man, I am having great success. Huge crunchy yummy pole beans and that's usually my morning snack this season!
Fantastic information and I loved the visuals and figures you provided. Really persuasive in providing how valuable that home garden can be. Thanks, Kevin!
Thanks for the info Kevin. I tried amaranth last year but obviously a mislabeled seed pack because it was not amaranth. I have struggled with my potatoes because of racoons or skunks digging in tbe garden. Not any more because Jock convinced me to take advantage of your going out of business sale, I mean Memorial day sale. Ive already received my order and have set one of them up. Have to wait to set the other ones up because im growing things where those are going to be placed. So I wait til the fall. Got a bunch of seeds too. Thanks so much for the great sale. Hope you do really well because it was a great deal for me and I'm sure everyone else.
Honestly, Kevin, the easiest thing to grow in the garden for calories is the worm that you put on the end of the fishhook… provided you know how to fish and you’ll eat fish. One of the best things about sweet potatoes though is you can kind of trellis them and just use a fence or pathway rather than a bed and keep them in their bags. I used to have them dangling off of the balcony in my apartment in college growing in plastic totes. One thing you might want to also consider is if you have to put in a shade tree, make it one that produces nuts or if you live far enough syrup.
Yep, beans. From four 35L pots I grew so many green beans (climbing) that I have 2 drawers of my freezer full. Lucky if I eat them all before next season.
Here in India we stir fry young Amarnath leaves with lots of garlic, a little salt and turmeric and chilli powder for taste.. do give it try…cover and cook till the stem cooks through. Put over white rice and yummy dinner rich in Iron is ready for you to enjoy!
I have 3 patches of Jerusalem artichokes on my property. I rarely harvest them but I think this year's gonna be the year. I hear pickling them reduces their gassiness.
I grew Jerusalem artichokes for the first time last year and from 4 plants I got 30 pounds of tubers. Not only that but I dug 2 feet down and 2 feet out from where i planted them to make sure I got everything and I still had about 12 plants come up there this year. Still battling them as a weed
great video, thanks! quinoa and potato are also great for cutting carbs/sugars out of the diet, they're two of my daily 'go to's. those kids in your brother's school really missed out, hope they've learned their mistake since then. i do cook my quinoa with boullion and a bit of steak spice just to mellow out that slight ferny taste a bit. both of those plants still give you that feeling of satisfaction from the starch without the negative effects of bread and pasta. i'm a new gardener and only tried quinoa once, i let the seedlings get leggy, didn't harden them off, and i'm sure i damaged the roots when transplanting, so they were small but they still made some seed. can't wait to give it another go, a detailed video on tips and tricks for quinoa in different microclimates would be cool
I have Jerusalem artichokes here. Lots of them. I am not fond of eating them, but the flowers are lovely and attract lots of polinators. They get 10 to 12 feet tall here.
This was an amazing video, I am so behind LOL. Hearing about the amount one can do in a square small bed if done well, I am now newly motivated!! Thank you!!
I planted purple sweet potato about 5 yrs ago every year they come back. I planted them for a pretty ground cover. Didn’t even think I would get any sweet potatoes
You should try callaloo our in antigua known as standing spinach, they grow quick can get a harvest within a month. idk if you would like the flavour but the taste good in spinach rice Edit: they give a lot ans can get multiple 7-10 harvests in a season
So something I have been thinking with the Jerusalem artichokes is turn them into a purée and use it towards the end of a risotto when you add the butter
You guys are awesome!! Hey I get stumped when it comes to fertilizing,, I put a slow release fertilizer on my veggies,, and it says good for 3 months,, but is that all I fertilize?? do I supplement? what about when a plant starts putting out buds ,,, ??
In my current grow zone (6, east cental indiana), sweet potatoes, black oil sunflower, milo (grain sorghum), and scarlet runner bean would be my goto as it stands right now. I have those in my garden, but in more limited quantities. I save seed from all from year to year, and tubers. Oh! I bought my first broad fork! Ill get another after we move this fall. If times get hard (er), we will be able to put the entire yard, and the neighbors yards, into food production.
Planted pole beans in my Birdy bed. I can, so planting a lot. Also planting them at my lake house. No GMOs, all organic. Also potatoes, squash, tomatoes. All to be canned up!
9:29 I’m confused on the rice yield here you said each plant can produce 1/3 of a pound and you can fit 15 per sq ft x4 wouldn’t that come out to more like 20 or so pounds?
Sorry, I'm not sure if I missed this, are the calorie values the quantity you can get from 4ftx4ft beds per year or per the respective growing cycles of the plant in question?
Hi Kevin, I was searching your videos for one that talks about potato blight. However I did not see one. Are you planing on do one on potato blight and how to treat it?
Fascinating video and calculations. I'll note that Quinoa and Amaranth (and their relative Huauzontl) provide protein with a complete and balanced set of amino acids, which are difficult from pure vegetarian sources (though beans plus other vegetables do well too). Note that there are no plain greens on this list -- leaves tend to be calorie-poor, even if high in fiber and certain vitamins -- valuable as a supplement but not a staple.
Would love a good resource for the upland rice. Live in the hot and humid south. If it’s good to try here would love info for purchasing! Love this channel!
A video on how and what to grow for meeting recommend daily requirement for minerals, vitamins and macos for 6 foot'ish a 200 lb male would be complex but also EPIC
agree with another comment by rob would love to know which crops top the list factoring in how many times you can grow from seed to harvest in a season
some of that stuff is not worth the effort or time to grow, harvest, process etc. in his example he said in a season you'd get about 80 pounds of rice, and you could just buy 100 pounds of bulk rice for less than $50. some things are worth growing and some things are better to let other people grow in my opinion. of course ideally we'd love to have 0 transport cost associated with food, but thats just not going to happen where everyone grows 100% of the food they eat, they recycle their humanure etc.
I feel so bad for your brother, I go through the same thing when I bring something homemade to a potluck. People like to eat foods they know and miss out on the good stuff. I'd like to grow quinoa for fun but I have to look it up if I can grow them in ground without them overtaking my garden since I don't have raised beds
How do you like hydroponic gardening? Do you find soil gardening superiour? For my own garden, I usually stick to the nutrient diversity approach. I think calories are more efficiently produced by the bigger farms, and it's hard to buy the really diverse stuff like old strains of Brassicaceae maybe watercress, anything unusual that adds micronutrients.
I have a question. You said the Jerusalem artichoke was hard on the gi track, was wondering if fermenting them would make that easier, hopefully not disrupting caloric density?
I had a beautiful little stand of some scarlet amaranth going and one night this past week the long legged rodents most folks call deer ate the tops off all of them.. and a few dahlias too. I wonder if we were to boil the crap out of those fartachokes with a few bay leaves in the pot, it would take some of the wind out of them. Seems to work on beans. There's another crop I'd like to grow if I could find starts for them.. and they are a starch.. Water Chestnuts.. I love those crunchy little things. No clue on their calorie data.
I know this is about calories and not diversity, but I think 1 worth mentioning is celery. While 1 cup of celery root has only 66 calories, it also contains 156 mg of sodium (extremely important in grid down scenario) and it has a whopping 14g of carbohydrates, 2.8g of fiber and a half gram of fat and that's just the root. There's also calories in the stalk, classified as a "vegetable" and the leaves are classified as an herb, while the seeds are classified as a "spice". So you can maximize growing space by growing 4 completely different items on 1 vertical growing plant which only needs 12" of space. It's a staple carb, a veg, an herb and a spice. They also have: potassium, calcium, zinc, iron and vitamins: c, b6 and k. They keep you from dehydrating because they're a high percentage of water and all the electrolytes help you retain and utilize water (also important in grid down).
What did we miss? There are a TON more to cover (and grow) so let us know what you want to see next :)
This video is a POWERHOUSE of caloric information.
Fruit trees, if you can manage pests on them. Once established they'll yield a tremendous number of calories for the space they take. Winter wheat is a great option in much of the U.S. as it exploits a part of the growing season that you might not otherwise be able to grow anything in.
These are all good crops for calorie storage, but don't forget the calories in the edible green parts during the growing cycle. Sweet potato leaves have 60 calories per 100 grams, Amaranth has 23, and then there are things like purslane (20) and lambsquarters (43) that produce abundant yields.
Greens have lower calorie densities than tubers and grains but they also take less energy to harvest and make edible. The net caloric yield from the total farming cycle is something to keep in mind.
Hazelnuts
Rookie here with a dumb question, are there any flower combinations I shouldn't mix with veggies? For instance is it OK to put a BES Hirta with a marigold and a tomato in the same big half barrel container? Last year it timed nicely that when my tomato was finished I lopped it off and the marigolds took over and made quite the fall show for my front doorstep. I was thinking adding in the Cardinal basil too... Are there flower/veg combos you enjoy?
For sunchokes, slice them up and cook them in an acid like vinegar or lemon juice. This breaks down the inulin starch, which is indigestible to humans, into fructose and glucose. They will be noticeably sweeter after cooking, and have a higher caloric density since you've converted the starch into sugars. You can also pickle them in vinegar to achieve the same effect.
Actually GENIUS
I grew Jerusalem artichokes last year for the first time and I found pickling them was one of the best ways to eat them
You mean FARTichokes....LOL!
@@RolloTonéBrownTown Not if you cook them this way.
@@FrozEnbyWolf150 it's funny
I started growing amaranth for the grain, but after about 6 months of the same tangle of plants giving out new growth after new growth, I adore them for the leaves as a salad green absolutely full of iron. They weren't kidding about amaranth bring prolific, I physically cannot kill it haha
It’s a staple vegetable in Uganda; grew up eating them weekly. Now that we’re in the states 🇺🇸; wanna give it A try😋.
Last year I successfully grew sweet potato and Jerusalem artichoke dry farming style with no watering and using rain water only. I used a thick layer of mulch to preserve the water in the ground throughout the season.
That's awesome! What type of climate do you live in?
very cool, that's the dream. working on improving my rain water harvesting and storage. mulch is the best
@@jonih6809 Mediterranean with mild seasons and rainfall in winter but not in summer
This is amazing to hear!
@@generalsmedleybutler340
Central Valley CA? If so, I am in the same zone but I have to keep sun chokes well watered; otherwise, they wilt😢 They are in pots. Maybe that is the difference.
Kevin, you should be a teacher. Your videos are always well planned and informative. This one was very educational.
Our team does a lot of work behind the scenes to help!
He is a teacher, on a much grander scale with much more efficient methods
In my personal opinion, if the world is ending and you can only grow one plant that you have to live off of, it would be sweet potatoes.
Nutrient and caloric dense tubers, and nutrient dense vines that are very much edible.
But this is a great list. Depending on where you are, I’d add cassava, true yams (dioscorea), and taro. Maybe throw in moringa for likely the most nutrient dense greens possible and high caloric pods.
I live in southern Montana and with only about 120 growing days one has to consider that also. sweet potatoes would require a lot of special handling to get any amount of food. In northern climates the lowly potato is the go to crop.
I tend to agree, so long as you can store
@@arnoldreiter435 Yes, everything I listed would be primarily for zones 8-10.
@@arnoldreiter435 Yeah, for us living in civilized reaches where there's winter, I'd say the potato, onion, beans, and greens are our staples. Most of those aren't terribly thirsty crops, they do well with our shorter growing seasons and in a garden, and (unless you catch blight) are pretty darn hard to kill. Between the four of 'em, you can get a lot of good meals and most of the nutrients and calories you'd need to get by.
Your garden gives people like me MOTIVATION to keep growing. 😊
Glad to hear Candy...you got this :)
i weigh 560 lbs, i have a goal to only eat what i grow starting june 1st. i committed a long time ago, my plants are so tiny, im so scared, but im gonna do it.
I believe in you
See Dr. Brooke Goldner on how she beat disease accidently while trying to lose weight.
Good luck, even if you have to cheat a little just keep eating what you do grow and only buy something that came from a garden and not shoved into a box at a factory
Find a farmer's market near you. Not only can you supplement if needed but they can give you all kinds of tips for growing local to you (what to plant, when, etc). Baby steps!
good challenge. personally i found that just cutting out sugar/bread/pasta was a huge help. my uncle's doctor once told him to count calories for meat, oil, sugars (including drinks, that's where all the sneaky calories are!), carbs, starch, etc. and stay under 2000 per day, but to not worry about vegetables at all just eat all the greens you want/can. so if you have to make a healthy choice and buy from a farmers market i think that would be a reasonable compromise p.s. your primal brain patterns might go into a fearful 'fight or flight' mode for the first year or two, just try to keep calm and carry on, it does get easier after a while
Sweet potato leaves are a tasty edible and are almost always overlooked.
Dear Kevin, I would like to add, that all the plants, that you have mentioned are good for the stabilization of your sugar level and keep you sated for a long time. I try to eat them every day and within eating them I am loosing weight too. So that´s another benefit when eating them :)
Thanks for the seed sale! I'm anxious to use your seeds for my fall crops : )
Of course, enjoy!
Excellent list! I think grain sorghum would be a good addition to this list. It’s heat and drought tolerant, high yielding, self-fertile, and tolerates somewhat infertile soils, so it can easily be grown on a small scale. It’s relatively easy to thresh and is one of the best textured gluten-free flour options for those of us with celiac.
I grow amaranth to add to my quail feed. It's got a decent amount of protein for a bird. And they don't mind over sowing, are low maintenance, require one large dump of fertilizer or manure with sowing and nothing more until they're done. And they are gorgeous.
I learned about the Jerusalem artichoke in my anthropology of food class this last semester in college. I planted a few as well as a yaupon holly because of that class… and then I started a garden. I love this channel, and I have definitely learned a lot from the Epic Gardening crew.
I live in FL, where Yaupon Holly is native. I just learned about it yesterday lol. High in caffeine too
You mean you learned about FARTichokes lol
Tell Jacques he can stop harassing you by phone. I decided to take you up on your crazy offer and sprung for 4 beds...which will complete my garden with birdies beds now. Getting the soil to fill these will be a feat, even if i fill the bottom half with logs branches and such. But it is a good problem to have. As always enjoyed your video and learned something, thanks
This means a lot to hear! The bottom fill solution is a good one!
Could you please make time in one of your upcoming videos about lentil? I really want to know how to grow them in a bed🙏
that would be very handy!
I’m growing amaranth this year for the first time. Seems to be a slow starter but excited to see how big they get
Grew it last year and despite pretty intense drought conditions, it performed REALLY well. Totally spot on with the slow start observation though. Took a bit for me as well
Use a heat source like a heat mat to germinate them, and keep them in a warm place, like a greenhouse if you have one. Amaranth is a hot season crop, and will grow very quickly in the middle of summer. You can intercrop them in the Three Sisters as kind of a fourth sister, serving a similar function to the corn.
Thanks for the sale Kevin! I was able to stock up on new flowers I’ve not seen anywhere else! Can’t wait to add them to the farm!
Glad to hear this!!!
I love sweet potatoes! I’ve been growing for about 4 years and added more, another variety, this year. Learning as I go for sure but I feel accomplished with these because I’m growing them in MIchigan.
I am in Michigan too😊
How do you do it? I'm looking to start because my wife dearly loves them.
I grew tons of cranberry beans last year. We ate them all year long and still have a couple gallon bags of frozen "fresh ones" and a quart jar of dried ones.
Scarlett runner beans were also great and we still have a half gallon jar of dried ones, though we used all of the frozen "fresh" ones.
If you will ferment the Jerusalem Artichoke .. like Sauerkraut .. it will take the gassiness out. You can then eat them like pickles .. tasty!
Very cool thinking! I am a big rice eater, but didn’t think it was possible to grow. I need to look into that. I was able to grow potatoes this year and they worked out pretty darn well considering that was my first time trying it.
I may have missed it, but peas are also decently calorically dense and high in protein (albeit incomplete protein).
Thanks for the fun video 👊🏻🌻👊🏻
Might be the best channel on TH-cam. Never disappoints. Thank you for being you!
I'm watching this in Jan 2024 from Central California, and am inspired!
I especially love the emphasis on plants native to the Americas, as I am prepping my 3 Sisters Milpa, and wish to respect traditional foodways. I've just put down some cover crop (13 seed mix from No-Till Solutions), and will be doing 2 stands of cacahuazintle: one in rows, one in hills, both inter-planted with squash and beans. My goal is largely California (or generally American) native plants and as much food independence as possible. Thank you for this wonderful video, I'll definitely put in a rice patch!
I’m growing three from your list this year: sweet potato (Okinawan purple), yellow bush bean, and amaranth. Fingers crossed. We’ve had an unusually cool wet spring for Texas and though it has help the growth so far it has delayed fruiting of my tomatoes. May be in for bumper crop next month?
TIL that I could grow rice without a rice paddy, very excited! Might try it out next year when I get/make a raised garden bed. I also liked the potato bit, did not know how easy they are. Amaranth is a bit of a surprise but it looks pretty so even if it isn't hit with the fam food wise at least it'll add some interesting foliage to the house.
yep, for us (if bs hits the fan) 1. Fava beans (broad beans) one of the best proteins next to meat 2. Sweet potatoes - much much better than normal potatoes (quality and quantity) 3. Pumpkins - very easy to grow, (plant and forget), amazing at storing over winters (last up to April) very nutrient dense, one big pumpkin for us, family of 4, soups/ grills etc lasts for 5-7 days & we have about 20-30 of them each winter
Wow just heard you are half Filipino. I am a Filipino urban gardener in UK and been inspired by ypur videos. Thanks
A lazy gardener and look for maximum yield and little work. This year I am focusing on building my perrenial garden. This gave me some ideas
Love the idea for this video! Perhaps you could go even further and factor in the extra calories from multiple harvests in the same bed for vegetables that can be harvested and replanted multiple times per year. This year I am growing more of these types of veggies and less that take an entire season such as sweet potatoes. I'm hoping it will give me more net overall veggies from my garden over the course of the summer!
Honestly that's a great call!
I love sweet potatoes and purple potatoes. I have never grown rice but I have seeds. Amaranth is also good. In the caribbean, we call green amaranth, Callaloo and eat it with cod fish.
Jerusalem artichokes definitely will take over . Here in iowa they are everywhere . I started with 1 and it took over my entire flower bed and around the shed its next too 😅
After watching one of your videos with Chris, I decided to give Trionfo Violetto Bean Pole a try and man, I am having great success. Huge crunchy yummy pole beans and that's usually my morning snack this season!
Fantastic information and I loved the visuals and figures you provided. Really persuasive in providing how valuable that home garden can be. Thanks, Kevin!
I took advantage of the deal. Thanks for all you and your team do
Appreciate you
Thanks for the info Kevin. I tried amaranth last year but obviously a mislabeled seed pack because it was not amaranth. I have struggled with my potatoes because of racoons or skunks digging in tbe garden. Not any more because Jock convinced me to take advantage of your going out of business sale, I mean Memorial day sale. Ive already received my order and have set one of them up. Have to wait to set the other ones up because im growing things where those are going to be placed. So I wait til the fall. Got a bunch of seeds too. Thanks so much for the great sale. Hope you do really well because it was a great deal for me and I'm sure everyone else.
Glad you got your order already! Keep on trying with potatoes, it can take a try or two
That ringtone is a FLASHBACK! Aye aye aye I'm a little butterfly~
I find it interesting and cool how 6/7 of these plants originated in the Americas, Indigenous farmers really know what they're doing
Honestly, Kevin, the easiest thing to grow in the garden for calories is the worm that you put on the end of the fishhook… provided you know how to fish and you’ll eat fish. One of the best things about sweet potatoes though is you can kind of trellis them and just use a fence or pathway rather than a bed and keep them in their bags. I used to have them dangling off of the balcony in my apartment in college growing in plastic totes. One thing you might want to also consider is if you have to put in a shade tree, make it one that produces nuts or if you live far enough syrup.
Yep, beans. From four 35L pots I grew so many green beans (climbing) that I have 2 drawers of my freezer full. Lucky if I eat them all before next season.
So potatoes, amaranth, green beans? I already love those things!
Here in India we stir fry young Amarnath leaves with lots of garlic, a little salt and turmeric and chilli powder for taste.. do give it try…cover and cook till the stem cooks through. Put over white rice and yummy dinner rich in Iron is ready for you to enjoy!
I have 3 patches of Jerusalem artichokes on my property. I rarely harvest them but I think this year's gonna be the year. I hear pickling them reduces their gassiness.
I grew Jerusalem artichokes for the first time last year and from 4 plants I got 30 pounds of tubers. Not only that but I dug 2 feet down and 2 feet out from where i planted them to make sure I got everything and I still had about 12 plants come up there this year. Still battling them as a weed
That's very cool you grew FARTichokes for the first time last year
Amaranth can be eaten as a green vegetable well before it sets any seed. Vietnamese add it to soups.
Any tips on harvesting quinoa and amaranth?
great video, thanks! quinoa and potato are also great for cutting carbs/sugars out of the diet, they're two of my daily 'go to's. those kids in your brother's school really missed out, hope they've learned their mistake since then. i do cook my quinoa with boullion and a bit of steak spice just to mellow out that slight ferny taste a bit. both of those plants still give you that feeling of satisfaction from the starch without the negative effects of bread and pasta. i'm a new gardener and only tried quinoa once, i let the seedlings get leggy, didn't harden them off, and i'm sure i damaged the roots when transplanting, so they were small but they still made some seed. can't wait to give it another go, a detailed video on tips and tricks for quinoa in different microclimates would be cool
Sweet potatoes maybe but not normal potatoes are lower in carbs.
I love both.
Agree - they're so filling!
I have Jerusalem artichokes here. Lots of them. I am not fond of eating them, but the flowers are lovely and attract lots of polinators. They get 10 to 12 feet tall here.
Your ringtone sent me a blast from the past, I love it. 😂
Sweet potatoes produce fast where I live in Florida about 80-100 days. Same as regular potatoes.
Great video! I'm looking forward to the nutritional video you mentioned. 👍💪🙏
This was an amazing video, I am so behind LOL. Hearing about the amount one can do in a square small bed if done well, I am now newly motivated!! Thank you!!
I planted purple sweet potato about 5 yrs ago every year they come back. I planted them for a pretty ground cover. Didn’t even think I would get any sweet potatoes
You should try callaloo our in antigua known as standing spinach, they grow quick can get a harvest within a month. idk if you would like the flavour but the taste good in spinach rice
Edit: they give a lot ans can get multiple 7-10 harvests in a season
Aww your poor brother! He was ahead of his time.
Interesting. Shame we cant get the tower stalks in uk. Perhaps you could look into getting them in your shop over here. Please.
So something I have been thinking with the Jerusalem artichokes is turn them into a purée and use it towards the end of a risotto when you add the butter
my problem with beans last season was that it really doesnt grow well in regular bed soil. that sandy soil thing really helps it take off!
Experimented with growing rice this year, it was a success!
I would like to see a video on how he grows rice in containers
You guys are awesome!! Hey I get stumped when it comes to fertilizing,, I put a slow release fertilizer on my veggies,, and it says good for 3 months,, but is that all I fertilize?? do I supplement? what about when a plant starts putting out buds ,,, ??
In my current grow zone (6, east cental indiana), sweet potatoes, black oil sunflower, milo (grain sorghum), and scarlet runner bean would be my goto as it stands right now. I have those in my garden, but in more limited quantities. I save seed from all from year to year, and tubers. Oh! I bought my first broad fork! Ill get another after we move this fall. If times get hard (er), we will be able to put the entire yard, and the neighbors yards, into food production.
Planted pole beans in my Birdy bed. I can, so planting a lot. Also planting them at my lake house. No GMOs, all organic. Also potatoes, squash, tomatoes. All to be canned up!
I’ve never had much luck with quinoa. Seems like it’s just too wet here in maryland. Also be careful with amaranth. It is an amazing self seeder
Maybe you can create a video that shared what kinds of flowers are in your garden. 😊
What is that beautiful blue indigo flower plant in the back left at 1:27
Honestly forgot the name!
9:29 I’m confused on the rice yield here you said each plant can produce 1/3 of a pound and you can fit 15 per sq ft x4 wouldn’t that come out to more like 20 or so pounds?
Growing Amaranth. I have 5 plants and they are gorgeous. I have the red ones. Also trying to grow potatoes, three varieties.
Thank you for the visuals!! Really helpful
I enjoyed the different take on the possible things to grow, keep up the good work. I learned a lot
Sorry, I'm not sure if I missed this, are the calorie values the quantity you can get from 4ftx4ft beds per year or per the respective growing cycles of the plant in question?
Hi Kevin, I was searching your videos for one that talks about potato blight. However I did not see one. Are you planing on do one on potato blight and how to treat it?
Fascinating video and calculations. I'll note that Quinoa and Amaranth (and their relative Huauzontl) provide protein with a complete and balanced set of amino acids, which are difficult from pure vegetarian sources (though beans plus other vegetables do well too). Note that there are no plain greens on this list -- leaves tend to be calorie-poor, even if high in fiber and certain vitamins -- valuable as a supplement but not a staple.
Would love a good resource for the upland rice. Live in the hot and humid south. If it’s good to try here would love info for purchasing! Love this channel!
Omg that ringtone was my jam when playing DDR as a kid and you just brought me back 😅
What are the red and yellow flowers near your red poppies at 4:28 in the video?
Those are just poppies
A video on how and what to grow for meeting recommend daily requirement for minerals, vitamins and macos for 6 foot'ish a 200 lb male would be complex but also EPIC
agree with another comment by rob would love to know which crops top the list factoring in how many times you can grow from seed to harvest in a season
I got curious about what species is poppy is growing in your beds. Very beautiful and nice combination.
Do you also need to consider the time it takes to get your harvest? Some might be quicker than others and in the end, have a larger output
Definitely, if you analyze w/ time as a variable it gets even more interesting (and complicated)
some of that stuff is not worth the effort or time to grow, harvest, process etc. in his example he said in a season you'd get about 80 pounds of rice, and you could just buy 100 pounds of bulk rice for less than $50. some things are worth growing and some things are better to let other people grow in my opinion. of course ideally we'd love to have 0 transport cost associated with food, but thats just not going to happen where everyone grows 100% of the food they eat, they recycle their humanure etc.
Any tips of what to do about snails? they're a big problem at my place.
I feel so bad for your brother, I go through the same thing when I bring something homemade to a potluck. People like to eat foods they know and miss out on the good stuff. I'd like to grow quinoa for fun but I have to look it up if I can grow them in ground without them overtaking my garden since I don't have raised beds
I'm in love with this information about the Incas plant and their high caloriec density 💯✨
Just went and got a bunch of seeds on that amazing deal ok BI! Thanks for the great content and the excellent deals!
Glad to hear this!
How do you like hydroponic gardening? Do you find soil gardening superiour? For my own garden, I usually stick to the nutrient diversity approach. I think calories are more efficiently produced by the bigger farms, and it's hard to buy the really diverse stuff like old strains of Brassicaceae maybe watercress, anything unusual that adds micronutrients.
I started in hydro, but prefer soil!
Love learning from you.
Wow I’m going to try growing rice thanks for all the helpful info! 🌱 💚 🌱
For cold weather planting: simple living Alaska has a lot of information on that
Take a shot every time he says "powerhouse"
I died.
Alcohol is a good way to store carbs and drinkable water long term!
Binge drinking bad tho yeah lol.
Lmao 😂😂😂
I got too excited
@@epicgardening fermentation series? Or did you already do that?
Maybe theres some way to pre-digest those fartichokes... I'mma go research
I have a question. You said the Jerusalem artichoke was hard on the gi track, was wondering if fermenting them would make that easier, hopefully not disrupting caloric density?
I would imagine it would!
Great suggestions I will try them . Currently I have purple sweet potatoes.
I had a beautiful little stand of some scarlet amaranth going and one night this past week the long legged rodents most folks call deer ate the tops off all of them.. and a few dahlias too.
I wonder if we were to boil the crap out of those fartachokes with a few bay leaves in the pot, it would take some of the wind out of them. Seems to work on beans.
There's another crop I'd like to grow if I could find starts for them.. and they are a starch.. Water Chestnuts.. I love those crunchy little things. No clue on their calorie data.
I think it helps a bit - I hear fermenting does too
How deep are the 4x4 beds that you are referring to
Wonderful video🌹🌹🌹❤❤❤
Hope you do another survival video soon!
I know this is about calories and not diversity, but I think 1 worth mentioning is celery. While 1 cup of celery root has only 66 calories, it also contains 156 mg of sodium (extremely important in grid down scenario) and it has a whopping 14g of carbohydrates, 2.8g of fiber and a half gram of fat and that's just the root. There's also calories in the stalk, classified as a "vegetable" and the leaves are classified as an herb, while the seeds are classified as a "spice". So you can maximize growing space by growing 4 completely different items on 1 vertical growing plant which only needs 12" of space. It's a staple carb, a veg, an herb and a spice.
They also have: potassium, calcium, zinc, iron and vitamins: c, b6 and k.
They keep you from dehydrating because they're a high percentage of water and all the electrolytes help you retain and utilize water (also important in grid down).
Exactly what Ive been searching for on TH-cam.
Sweet potatoes grow great here in Georgia…have had good success growing them
Excellent video, thanks for the info
Another great video Eric