| Thanks for your input! > How many cubic feet of soil, at what depth, do I need in order to stop purchasing food plants from the store, year-round. While this is a pipe-dream of many gardeners, it's not necessarily realistic. You would need at least a hyper-efficient acre of land (which would take a few years to design) to provide for a family and neighbours. I think it's a lot easier than we've been lead to believe. You can do it for free (or very cheap) and with very little "quality" inputs. I appreciate your input with this list! We will definitely take it into account. The beauty of plants is their ability to adapt. Obviously you need depth of soil for root crops, but herbs will grow in a yogurt container, and strawberries will grow in 4 inches of sand. Regarding your list, there's an important distinction to make here. While you don't want to argue about "fruit or vegetable" - one of the limiting factors in your list is actually growth habits of said plant. For instance strawberries will grow perennially, and thus will grow in sand with a handful of woodchips, or forest soil or compost -- whereas lettuce, will require a nutrient-rich soil with relative shelter from rain and sun. One of the principles we chase in permaculture is efficiency, via "stacking of functions": For example, I would grow many of things in your list together, in a way that would require only a large pot of soil, top-dressed throughout the year with whatever biomass waste you have on hand (grass clippings, leaves, etc). I'd plant a dwarf fruit tree in a large pot, surround with a rosemary shrub, plant the outer layer with strawberry and thyme to act as a ground-cover. This would require very little in regards to skill or input. The plants themselves carry the difficult tasks, such as pest control and mulch (keeping the moisture in the soil), by mimicking natural niches. Now, depending how much soil/space you have at your disposal will directly affect your output. That would be a concern for aspiring farmers -- not necessarily your backyard gardener! |
I think there's a really interesting pair of problems here:
1) What's my microclimate? How much soil can I maintain with my available time?
2) What crops can I grow and maintain with my available time?
I hope the framework I sketched out helps you consider those pair of questions. I don't know enough about soil to separate the tiers by 'ease of use', so to speak, but clearly you do and so the idea will be much better off with you than I :)
Thanks for taking the time to reply.