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How to Grow Your Food under the Radar

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© How to Grow Your Food under the Radar

How To Grow Your Food

Under The Radar


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

DISCLAIMER .................................................................................................................. 3

Growing Your Own Food Is Not Easy: 5 Problems to Solve ..................................... 4

Problem 1: Lack of Space ............................................................................................ 5

Problem 2: Lack of Biological Safety ............................................................................ 6

Problem 3: Lack of Safe Water .................................................................................... 6

Problem 4: Lack of Security ......................................................................................... 7

Problem 5: Can’t Get the Garden Out of Your Mind ..................................................... 8

More Food for Thought ................................................................................................ 9

How to Grow Food Under the Radar .......................................................................... 10

How to Build Your Survival Garden Indoors ............................................................... 10

Best Container Types ............................................................................................. 11

Soil and Environment .............................................................................................. 12

When to Plant ......................................................................................................... 12

What to Plant .......................................................................................................... 12

When Your Survival Garden Is at Risk ....................................................................... 19

How to Design Garden Plots .................................................................................. 19

7 Ways to Hide Your Outdoor Garden .................................................................... 21

Gardening on the Go: Growing Food when Bugging Out ....................................... 24

How to Protect the Garden Plots from Intruders ..................................................... 26

How to Hide Your Harvest from Intruders ............................................................... 27

Using Aquaponics for Your Food Independence ........................................................ 29

Choosing Fish for Aquaponics ................................................................................ 29


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DISCLAIMER

THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN “How to Grow Your Food under the Radar” IS MEANT TO

SERVE AS A COMPREHENSIVE COLLECTION OF TIPS THAT THE AUTHORS OF THIS

COURSE LEARN OVER THE YEARS RELATED TO SURVIVAL/PREPAREDNESS. SUMMARIES,

STRATEGIES, TIPS AND TRICKS INCLUDED IN THIS E-BOOK ARE ONLY

RECOMMENDATIONS BY THE AUTHORS, AND READING THIS E-BOOK DOES NOT

GUARANTEE THAT ONE’S RESULTS WILL EXACTLY MIRROR OUR OWN RESULTS.

THE AUTHOR OF “How to Grow Your Food under the Radar” HAS MADE ALL REASONABLE

EFFORTS TO PROVIDE CURRENT AND ACCURATE INFORMATION FOR THE READERS OF

THIS COURSE. THE AUTHOR WILL NOT BE HELD LIABLE FOR ANY UNINTENTIONAL

ERRORS OR OMISSIONS THAT MAY BE FOUND.

THE MATERIAL IN “How to Grow Your Food under the Radar” MAY INCLUDE INFORMATION,

PRODUCTS, OR SERVICES BY THIRD PARTIES. THIRD PARTY MATERIALS COMPRISE OF

THE PRODUCTS AND OPINIONS EXPRESSED BY THEIR OWNERS. AS SUCH, THE AUTHORS

OF THIS GUIDE DO NOT ASSUME RESPONSIBILITY OR LIABILITY FOR ANY THIRD PARTY

MATERIAL OR OPINIONS. THE PUBLICATION OF SUCH THIRD PARTY MATERIALS DOES

NOT CONSTITUTE THE AUTHORS’ GUARANTEE OF ANY INFORMATION, INSTRUCTION,

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WHETHER BECAUSE OF THE GENERAL EVOLUTION OF THE INTERNET, OR THE

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WHAT IS STATED AS FACT AT THE TIME OF THIS WRITING, MAY BECOME OUTDATED OR

SIMPLY INAPPLICABLE AT A LATER DATE. THIS MAY APPLY TO THE “How to Grow Your

Food under the Radar” AS WELL AS THE VARIOUS SIMILAR COMPANIES THAT WE HAVE

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WHOLE OR IN PART IN ANY FORM, WITHOUT THE PRIOR WRITTEN CONSENT OF THE

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Grow Your Food under the Radar” ARE THE PROPERTY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNER.

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COPYRIGHT 2015 SurvivopediaTM, How to Grow Your Food under the Radar


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Growing Your Own Food Is Not

Easy: 5 Problems to Solve

We all know the possible disasters that could befall the world we live in. Drought,

plague, nuclear war, biological warfare, the seven horsemen of the apocalypse, etc. I

don’t need to paint a picture of the terrors and chaos that could befall us all.

You are among the small group of people who have chosen to plan and prepare as best

you can for disaster. You, preppers, have chosen to take control of your fate and act now

rather than be caught in the tangle of misfortunes that is sure to overtake the rest.

You have equipped yourself with a variety of tools and skills – from basic outdoors

skills, to hunting, building, food preservation, and more. Though difficult to do with

unknown scenarios, you work to pin down a survival strategy and lay up supplies.


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The future is unclear, so the best thing you can do is learn more than your anticipated

scenario calls for. Learn as much as you can, and hopefully it will be enough to keep

you alive.

Have a fluid plan. With a bit of luck, you will be able to respond to the apocalypse well

enough to survive.

A justifiable assumption is that the food market will have undergone a massive change if

not complete collapse. Fresh food will be hard to come by, and while everyone loves

MRE’s (not), even rations have nutritional limitations, and fresh food is necessary to

health. In a world that is void of readily available modern medicine and flushed with

disease, there is no margin for error with your health.

The bottom line is that you will need an alternative source of fresh food. The solution?

Grow your own.

Of course, different scenarios place different parameters on how we are able to grow

food. The possible scenarios vary greatly, but there are several common themes. Let’s

talk about the most likely problems to appear and how they could be solved.

Problem 1: Lack of Space

Lack of space could be caused by terrain

characteristics or by confinement. Terrain can

limit your available space by being rough or

wooded.

(For example, if you are living in a forest or

very mountainous area, the space that you

want to use for agriculture will have to be

leveled or cleared first. That will take at least

one growing season, if not more.)


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A lot of people think that they’ll be fine with their 10 X 10 foot garden in their back yard,

but you need around half an acre of land (sometimes more) to grow enough food for

one person. Your little veggie garden isn’t going to be enough.

Problem 2: Lack of Biological Safety

The fact is that outside growing might not be a possibility at all. In the case of biological

attacks, nuclear war, or plague, quarantine protocol may be necessary.

For those of you who have prepared a shelter or quarantine space, you may not be able

to venture outside for some time due to lingering radiation of other harmful agents. In

this case, you will be recycling air and water, trying to make do with finite resources in a

small space.

If you can’t grow food outside, what is your plan B? You can only store food for a certain

amount of time, and most apocalyptic events have long, if not indefinite, timelines.

Nuclear radiation takes decades (if not centuries) to fade to a habitable level again, and

in the case of a plague or biological warfare, medical research would need to be done.

(In the movies, a cure is always found in weeks or hours, but that is simply unrealistic.

Medical research to develop a cure for a new disease or virus takes years and years.)

Can you store food to last you twenty years? Fifty years? No.

We need to find a low-input and low-space food alternative. Unfortunately, a low-input

food synthesizer (Earl Grey, Hot, anyone?) has not been invented yet, so we revert

back to growing. But that doesn’t mean that we have to revert back to horizontal

growing in soil.

Problem 3: Lack of Safe Water

In a situation where water has been contaminated by biological agents or chemical

poisons, water use efficiency is critical. Traditional agriculture uses sprinklers, flood


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irrigation, or drip lines to water plants. Then the unused water evaporates or sinks into

the earth, never to be reclaimed by the farmer again- it’s lost in huge amounts.

That’s just not going to work in a situation where water is limited. When using

hydroponics, you will be using saved water. (If you are lucky, it will be possible to distill

water, but distillation takes time and space, and the amount of water distilled will be

low.)

With hydroponics, the only water loss possible is through evaporation- and in a sealed

environment, you could take measures to recapture it and reuse it so that not a drop

goes unaccounted for. In fact, hydroponics uses 5% of the water that soil gardening

does.

Problem 4: Lack of Security

Let’s talk about security, a top concern in the minds of many preppers. All it takes is a

little imagination to anticipate what humans would be like after catastrophe struck. In a

world full desperate people, all on an urgent mission to survive, ethical reasoning will

become a luxury.

Like it or not, impossible circumstances change the way that people think and act.

Thievery would be commonplace, and if you have a resource that others do not, you will

be a target. Growing out in the open draws attention.

Larger areas are difficult to defend. Put the two together, and you’re practically asking

for thieves to give you a visit if you grow in a field. If you are growing in a small space

that’s hidden away in a shelter or underground, however, you employ the old concept,

“out of sight, out of mind” and avoid unwelcome visitors. If somehow your set-up is

discovered, it is now much more defendable.


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Problem 5: Can’t Get the Garden Out of Your Mind

You can forget about soil. Lack of

uncontaminated soil is a possibility that

is rarely addressed but could be

extremely problematic. Many

catastrophic events are likely to result in

soil contamination by dangerous

biological or chemical agents, heavy

metals, or radiation.

While soil substitutes such as

vermicompost, stored peat, potting soil,

and sawdust could be practical on a very small scale (such as growing seedlings), the

fertility requirements of traditional horizontal agriculture are extremely high.

Plants need nutrients. Humans have always relied on the soil to fill that nutrient need.

But when soil is no longer available, an alternative growing medium must be found.

The mindset of modern agriculture, limited as it is to horizontal soil growing, could get

you killed if you can’t force yourself to think outside of the box. Lucky for you, that’s your

forte. (If you didn’t think outside the box, you wouldn’t be reading this, would you?)

So, thinking outside of the Box. To be clear, the BOX is “horizontal growing”. The Box is

“plants in soil”. The BOX is growing food only in the garden. Get rid of those ideas. We

don’t have the luxury of space, as we have already discussed. We need to get more

than one layer of plants growing in the same square footage.

Have any ideas yet? We do.

Vertical farming has been used, and soil-less growing has been used. We thought, “why

not hit two birds with one stone?” This union of agricultural innovations is called vertical

hydroponics, a technique used to maximize space without sacrificing quality.


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When done correctly, vertical hydroponics can yield three to five times the produce as

soil agriculture while using 5% of the water. To achieve these goals, you need to use

growing tools that are well thought out. The best hydroponic tool on the market is

ZipGrow towers.

The towers stand vertically, so you are utilizing the floor-to-ceiling space. They are

customizable, so you can order them specifically to fit your shelter or quarantine

container without wasting any space. The plants grow in a safe spun plastic media so

no soil is needed.

Instead, the nutrients are delivered in the water that runs through the media. Nutrient

solutions can be stored as dry powders with an indefinite shelf life, so you aren’t

depending on a fertilizer product that could go bad.

Aquaponics is the combination of aquaculture (fish farming) and hydroponics (farming

without soil). Using aquaponics, you can both grow healthier crops but raise fish, and

have a more sustainable system because of it.

Indoor gardening is also a solution. So you better start your own indoor crop before it’s

too late!

More Food for Thought

Many preppers who prepare for a traumatic event count on hunting as a source of

protein, but this may not be a viable option. In areas where wildlife is affected by

radiation or has been over-hunted, or if land with game animals is protected by other

parties, hunting opportunities may be limited or nonexistent.

If that happens, where will you get protein? Many crops provide an adequate source of

protein, but what if you could have the best of both worlds- healthy crops and animals?

What would you do?


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How to Grow Food under the

Radar

How to Build Your Survival Garden Indoors

First thought about growing your own food goes to your survival garden in the backyard

of your house. But you know that old saying that “God laughs when man plans”, so

prepare to have your indoor alternative for your outdoor garden.

And even though you may be planning to have your survival garden mature outdoors, it

will be necessary to start some plants indoors.


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This is especially important to consider if you are going to make use of plants that have

longer growing seasons, or ones that require special care. Depending on where you

live, some plants may need to be started indoors if you are going to get enough

nutrients to live on from your garden.

Indoor gardening comes with several benefits. First, you don’t have to worry about

where your next meal is coming from. Furthermore, it is more cost effective. Last but not

least, locally grown vegetables taste better and are better for the environment.

The best part is that there are plenty of fruits and vegetables which will grow inside just

as they would in a lush garden. All they need is a little space and access to the sun.

Before going into the various plants you could grow indoors, here are a few general tips

which apply to all cases.

Best Container Types

First of all, some consideration should go to the pots you use. Perhaps it can best be

said that seeds will sprout in just about any kind of container. On the other side of the

equation, advancing from seedling to second leaves can be a difficult process.

In order to thrive, indoor plants will require well-draining soil. This gives you two options.

You could use pots that have holes at the bottom, this will allow the water to drain

out. However, if you do this, you should also place a drainage container under the pot,

otherwise the water will end up on your floor.

The other option would be to pile up stones at the bottom of the pot. This is done before

adding the soil. In this case, the water will drain through the stones, but this is a good

option mostly for bigger pots.

For example, if you use seed starter mix in containers with poor drainage, the plants will

develop large, weak stems, and then die. In a similar way, containers that are too small

can lead to root-bound plans as well as ones with stunted growth.


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Today, most gardeners prefer 1.5 inch peat pots or pellets with one seed sown per pot

or pellet.

Soil and Environment

Once you have the pots sorted, you should

focus on the soil. You will want rich and

fertile soil for your plants to grow big. This

also gives you two options: either buy the

soil or make your own.

Either way, you should know that different

plants will require different kinds of soil.

There is a standard potting mix, though, which will provide good results with all plants.

Lastly, you will want to create the best environment for your plants. This would mean

warm and sunny. However, that is not always possible. Maybe you live in an area with

bad weather or maybe your windows do not have access to the sun.

In this situation, you can use grow lights. These can recreate the necessary light and

temperature and make sure your fruits and vegetables have optimal conditions to grow.

When to Plant

As with regular gardens, each plant type requires different temperatures. Depending on

where you live, most crops can be started in early spring.

That said, if you live in the south, some plants may need to be started as early as

February.

What to Plant

If you do decide to use homegrown food as a main source of sustenance, it is important

to diversify your plants for several reasons. For starters, you will not want to eat the

http://www.survivopedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/grow-lights-in-the-growroom.jpg


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same thing over and over again. It will get boring and can also deplete you of valuable

nutrients that the food is lacking.

More importantly, though, crops will live and reproduce at different times of the year. If

you have only one kind of plant, you are covered for one part of the year and left

completely exposed for the rest.

In this regard, crops are often grouped into three categories: annuals, biennials and

perennials. Annuals have the shortest lifespan. It only takes them one summer to grow

and reproduce. Biennials will use the entire summer to grow, last over the winter and

then use the next season to flower. Lastly, there are perennials which can last for many

years. They will flower and produce seeds once a year when they are in season.

Speaking of seeds, it is important to know that you should not consume all of the plants

you grow. In order to keep this process going, you will need to collect seeds from your

best plants and use them for the next growing season.

Here are 6 plants commonly used by survival gardeners and information on how and

when to start them for optimal success.

Bell Pepper

Water Needs: Moist with good drainage.

Lighting: Full sunlight.

Optimal Temperature: Bell peppers require at least 70 degree temperatures to

germinate. If they have flowers, the temperature should not go above 75 degrees or the

flowers will fall off without making fruit.

Best Soil: Neutral pH with good organic content.

When to Transplant Outdoors: It is best to transplant bell peppers when soil

temperatures will not go below 65 degrees. It is also important to harden peppers off

before transplanting, as the roots get disturbed easily.


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Special Notes: To help lower temperatures during the flowering stage, use removable

shade canopies, straw mulch, and chilled water. Placing two pepper plants close to

each other can also enable both plants to receive shade from each other.

Bush Beans

Water Needs: Moist soil, water near roots so that

leaves do not remain wet for extended periods of time.


Optimal Temperature: Bush beans prefer slightly

cooler temperatures, but can also do well in mid to late

summer. They should not be sown after soil

temperature rises above 60 degrees.

Best Soil: Limited organic content, but soil should not

be sandy. Excessive use of nitrogen in ground fertilizer

will lead to reduced bean development. Since bush

beans are legumes, they take in nitrogen through the

leaves as opposed to the roots.

When to Transplant Outdoors: It is usually best to plant bush beans directly outdoors

since their roots are easily disturbed. If you must start bush beans indoors, be sure to

use peat pellets or peat pots that prevent loss of nitrogen fixing bacteria attached to the

root systems.

Cabbage


Lighting: At least 6 hours of full sunlight.


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Optimal Temperature: Prefers cooler temperatures. You should start cabbage plants

either six weeks before the last frost in your area, or about 8 weeks before the first frost

in the fall.

Best Soil: Cabbage requires soil with high organic content and a slightly acidic pH

(below 7.0).

When to Transplant Outdoors: It is best to transplant cabbage outdoors within two

weeks of the appearance of second leaves. If it is still too cold out, you can use black

plastic or cold frames to protect the plants. Unfortunately, if cabbage plants become

stunted at this stage, they will never pick up the growth tempo later on.

Carrots


Lighting: Carrots require full sunlight, but can tolerate some shade.

Optimal Temperature: Tend to be cool weather crops. You can start planting carrots

about 2 weeks before the last frost and continue through spring.

Best Soil: Requires soft soil with a slightly acidic pH. It is best to avoid nitrogen-based

fertilizers.

When to Transplant Outdoors: You can transplant outdoors as soon as first true

leaves appear. If temperatures are still on the cold side, you can use cold frames or

black plastic to keep plants warm.

Fennel

Water Needs: Moisture but not water logged. Needs good drainage.

Lighting: Requires full sunlight.

Optimal Temperature: In most areas, fennel is a perennial that can withstand freezing

temperatures as well as summer highs.


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Best Soil: Slightly sandy with good organic content.

When to Transplant Outdoors: Fennel usually doesn’t do well indoors, nor does it

transplant well. That being said, if you start fennel indoors, you should transplant once

the second or third set of full leaves appear. You can use peat pots or pellets to

minimize transplant shock. It will also help to bring the plants outdoors for an increasing

number of hours each day.

Garlic

Water Needs: Moist, but may require more water during bulb production.


Optimal Temperature: Garlic can be started 2 – 4 weeks before the last frost in your

area. Since it is a perennial, you can also plant in the late fall and look for shoots in the

spring. Just be sure to cover garlic with straw or mulch in cold areas.

Best Soil: Loamy and well drained.

When to Transplant Outdoors: Since garlic is not usually started from seed, the bulbs

are best planted outdoors. That said, garlic lends itself well to vertical container planting

as long as the soil is loose and well-drained.

Onions

Water Needs: Moist, with well-drained soil.

Lighting: Requires 14+ hours of full sunlight each day

regardless of whether you are starting with seeds or sets.

Optimal Temperature: Start onion seeds at least 6

weeks before last frost date. Sets can be started 2 weeks

before last frost, or planted directly in cold frames at this

time.


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Best Soil: Onions require soil rich in nitrogen. It should also be loose and drain well.

When to Transplant Outdoors: Overall, onions do not transplant well from indoor to

outdoor settings. You can decrease transplant shock by exposing plants to outdoor

conditions for an increasing number of hours each day. Similar to garlic, onions do very

well in vertical containers and can be kept indoors for the full growth cycle.

Additional Notes: Since bulb growth is dependent upon the number of light hours,

select “long day” onions if you live in the north, and “short day” for southern gardens.

Radishes

Water Needs: Moist, well-drained soil.

Lighting: Requires full lighting. It is also important to keep radishes from being shaded

by other plants. If radishes are planted too close to other crops, they will produce more

leaves in order to compete instead of form roots.

Optimal Temperature: Radishes should be planted as soon as possible after the last

frost. You can start new seeds until 6 weeks after the last frost in order to extend the

harvest. Radishes can also be planted in the fall about 4 weeks before the first frost.

Best Soil: Prefers soft soil with good organic content.

When to Transplant Outdoors: It is usually best to start radishes outdoors, although

they can be grown in large pots. If you need to start radishes indoors, use peat pots or

pellets in order to reduce root shock.

Sweet Peas

Water Needs: Damp with good drainage.

Lighting: Full sun.

Optimal Temperature: Prefers cooler temperatures associated with early spring and

fall.


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Best Soil: Sweet peas prefer soil with low organic content. You can use straw and

other organic mulch to keep shallow root systems moist and cool.

When to Transplant Outdoors: As with other legumes, Sweet Peas do best when

planted directly into the garden. You can try using peat pots or pellets, and then harden

them off gradually if needed.

Tomatoes


Lighting: At least 8 hours of full sun each day.

Optimal Temperature: Start seeds about 4 weeks before last frost. They can be set

outside once three or four sets have grown.

Best Soil: Slightly acidic with high organic content. Starting compounds with slow

release fertilizers tend to work better for advancing from seedling to plant stages.

When to Transplant Outdoors: You can transplant tomatoes as soon as all danger of

frost is past. In order to spur growth, bury stem up to first set of leaves so roots can

develop on it.

Many people interested in survival gardening realize that indoor gardening may be

required to start crops that are usually planted outdoors. As long as you choose a

container and soil that allows for easy transplant, it should be possible to achieve this

goal, as well as keep plants indoors for the entire season if needed.

Needless to say, you can take advantage of both growth environments; it will maximize

survival potential in any situation.

Zucchini

Water Needs: Moist soil with increased water once flowers and fruit begins to develop.

Lighting: Full lighting.


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Optimal Temperature: Zucchini plants prefer temperatures in the 65 to 80 degree

range. You can keep soil cool with straw mulch and removable shading tents.

Best Soil: Well drained soil with good organic content. Zucchini also usually requires

additional fertilization later in the season for optimal production.

When to Transplant Outdoors: It is best to transplant zucchini outdoors when soil

temperatures do not go below 65 degrees.

When Your Survival Garden Is at Risk

There are few things worse than planting a survival garden and then have it looted by

animals or humans when the crops are ready. If you can’t afford complex alarm or

security systems, then you will be best served by camouflaging edible plants during the

growth process.

Also, if you aren’t going to use aquaponics / hydroponics or indoor gardening methods

to provide your food to survive crisis, then you will need to set aside a good bit of land

for growing crops. Unfortunately, large tracts of land organized into vegetable gardens

or larger crop fields are easily visible by land and air.

How to Design Garden Plots

Would it be best to use a couple of large gardening plots close together with defined

rows or would it be better to use many small gardening plots all over the countryside

that were camouflaged to look like something other than a gardening plot?

It is best to use many little garden plots instead of a couple of large ones. If a couple of

the small gardening plots were destroyed by either animals or unwanted intruders there

would be a smaller loss to the group than if one of the larger gardens is destroyed.

Each little plot would grow several types of vegetables that are high yield and grow very

well in your particular part of the country. The square foot gardening system works and


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helps to make many highly productive small garden plots. This gardening system was

originally designed for roof gardens, small back yards, or very small plots of land.

To use this system all one has to do is multiply the length of the area by the width,

which gives you the number of square feet in which to plant. When laying out the

gardens do not use straight boundary lines for the edges of the plots, use the lay of the

land.

For vine plants, plant in hanging pots that can be suspended in trees or other high

areas. Each of the hanging pot plants would be equal to one hill in the normal garden.

What you choose to grow in each pot will determine the number of seeds used.

I have personally used this hanging pot method with very good results. I have grown

squash, melons, cucumbers, and tomatoes using this method. The only difference

between growing these vegetables in suspended pots is that the stems are thicker and

stronger to support the hanging weight of the vegetables.

Typically, vegetables grown on the ground do

not need thicker or stronger stems because the

weight of these vegetables is sitting on the

ground instead of hanging in the air or just

touching the ground.

Suspended pot gardens will be safe from human

intruders because the average person walking

in the dense woods or other terrain does not

look up, but mainly down or to the sides.

If you do not want to use the hanging pot

method for growing vine plants, then scatter the seeds in fields, forest openings, or

meadows and hope for the best.

The pattern of these vines growing should be one of natural selection, not one that

appears planted by man.


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7 Ways to Hide Your Outdoor Garden

Also you can use these seven methods to disguise your crops and deter human and

animal scavengers as much as possible.

1. Mix Crops with Usable Flowers

When people are looking for food, they don’t often think of flowers as being edible.

Therefore, you can disguise vegetable gardens easily among wild flowers or ones that

have useful features.

This includes:

Climbing roses left to ramble on the ground for a thorn cover,

Marigolds because they tend to inhibit harmful insects,

Ragweed and goldenrod to deter people with allergies to their pollen.

2. Surround Crops with Natural Trespass Deterrents

Even though certain flowers may deter some people and animals, others need a bit

more encouragement to stay away from fruits and vegetables hidden on your property.

Burrs, large, spiny cactus, nettles, thorn apple, poison ivy, poison oak, and other

noxious plants can be planted in the same area as fruits and vegetables.

If you are going to use poison ivy or other plants that secrete noxious oils, make sure

that you can safely remove the oils from any edibles that may have become

contaminated.

Needless to say, you can also leave these areas around outer perimeters so that would-

be thieves wind up with a few extra problems and won’t look to other areas further in

that aren’t covered using noxious plants.


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3. Planting in Wooded Areas

If you are fortunate enough to live near a woods, or have wooded areas on your

property, these areas make the perfect place to hide a garden. You should choose

areas surrounded by heavy undergrowth for plants such as tomatoes and other tall

plants that can compete with the wild plants.

Trees that have little vegetation around them can serve as areas where you plant crops

in a circular pattern. Typically, you would place tall plants closest to the tree, then mid-

range plants and finally an outer layer of thorny bushes.

It is also important to take note of the drip line for each tree. Since water from daffodils

is noxious to deer and other wild animals, they will not go near an area where they see

daffodils growing under a tree.

In a similar way, you can ring trees with onions to prevent mice from gnawing on the

tree trunk. A final outer layer of peppermint and marigolds will also help deter rodents,

insects, and other animals that do not like their scent.

4. Reduce Traffic to Growing Areas

Unlike a regular garden, your survival garden will have

to remain secret. If people see you examining an area

closely, or a path develops from walking to it on a

regular basis, they may suspect you have edible plants

growing.

In order to reduce the chance of your crops being

detected you should:

Use as many perennial plants as possible

Avoid using plants that require weeding, mulching and

watering


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Harvest crops at night or when you are certain others won’t see you gathering food

5. Use Natural Growing Patterns Instead of Rows

Consider a situation where you normally

set 12 tomato plants in a row of your

garden. Instead of doing that, place each

one in a different part of your yard.

The easiest way to disguise your garden

is to do away with row based planting.

You can plant in just about any spot, even

if it is the middle of a patch of weeds.

6. Focus on Native Perennials

In a time of crisis, some people will be

comfortable with eating weeds while others will still ignore their nutritional value. If you

are aware of edible plants in your local area that most would not think about, you can

focus on those for using as native perennials for your garden. It may also help to include

well known ones such as dandelion on outer perimeters.

Depending on the situation, if the looter has enough dandelion to eat, they may not

probe further into the yard to find crops of greater value. You can also set up other

plants as “sacrifice” to protect others.

When planting fruit trees do not plant them in an organized orchards. This will point right

to the fact that someone in the area is planting and developing a food supply.

Instead, plant the fruit trees randomly throughout the forests or other places where

these trees can grow and thrive.

Avoid pruning as much as possible, as anyone that sees a newly pruned tree in a post

crisis world will realize someone is around that may have valuables to steal.


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7. Disguising Semi-Aquatic Plants

Aside from rice, there are other semi-aquatic plants that will be very important to keep

on hand. You can disguise these gardens using poison sumac, vines, and other plants

that will make it harder to get to them.

Depending on the area, you may also want to build mats with soil on top for growing

land based crops in the middle of a swamp, marsh, or even a running body of water.

Just make sure that it will be difficult for looters to get into the water and gain access to

the mats.

It is also very important to be aware that larger mats will be visible to satellites, drones,

and anything else flying overhead.

These seven methods can be used alone or in combination with other ideas to create a

secret garden that will provide a reliable source of food for decades with relatively small

amounts of effort.

Gardening on the Go: Growing Food when Bugging Out

When a major crisis strikes, there will be a

great need to grow food if your bug out group

is to survive and flourish. There will be many

problems that must be worked out because

the bug out plan is only a guide, and it may

need to change based on necessity.

Protecting new garden plots and harvest

storage areas literally means the difference

between life and death for the group.


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Best Areas to Grow Your Food in…

…Forests

Forests would be a good choice for the hidden gardens with their good land cover and

natural camouflage, especially if there is a meadow at the edge of the forest. The soil in

the forest is also good for gardening because the soil tends to be thick, rich and full of

earthworms.

Plant low growing vegetables in the area just inside the meadow. Do not plant in

organized rows. The average non-gardening individual would not know or realize that

they were standing in a garden plot.

…Mountainous Terrain

Depending on how steep, high, or rouged the mountains are will determine if this area is

suited to grow small garden plots. The lower the altitude the better the gardens will

grow.

There will be some natural cover to help hide the gardens. As the altitude gets higher

the thinner the ground cover and the greater the chance that the garden will be noticed.

As you get to the top of the mountainous terrain there is very little ground cover, water,

and very little soil in this area. This would make a poor area for gardening.

…Along Rivers and Streams

Along rivers and streams make good gardening plot areas as long as these garden

plots are above the flood plains. Here there is plenty of good water and after each of the

spring thaws there is a new supply of good top soil.

…Near Swamps

Swamps are a very poor choice for gardening plots. There is too much water and not

enough good dry land for the gardening. Health risks outweigh any consideration of


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living in or near swamps. If the poisonous snakes do not get you, deadly swamp

diseases will.

Of the four basic land types discussed above, I would recommend the forest with

meadows, planting in the lower altitudes of mountainous terrain, and planting along

rivers and streams.

These locations for the gardening plots should be well off the grid in the middle of

nowhere. In these locations there would be a very slim chance of unwanted visitors

stumbling over small, or well disguised garden plots.

Making it a point to include wild edible plants will also greatly increase your ability to

hide nutritious foods and keep them hidden in plain sight.

How to Protect the Garden Plots from Intruders

All garden plots and orchards will be located well off the beaten path. Man is a

creature of habit if he does not travel in this area regularly, the odds are he will

not go out of his way unless there is a food shortage. If this is the case all

gardens and fruit trees must be guarded.

Plant in very thick hedgerows that will keep the crops safe from animal or human

intruders.

Planting on unstable ground would make the average person or animal think

twice about raiding the garden plots. Just be sure you have a safe means to

gather produce once it is ready to harvest.

Clear out and make a small gardening plot inside of thick brush piles with thorns

or fallen tree wood piles. These would make a good natural barrier to keep out all

types of varmints or human intruders from the gardening area.

Use of tree branch collars on trees that have hanging pot gardens in them. This

will keep small animals away from the hanging gardens, and also make it harder

for humans to climb onto tree limbs. Make sure the collars look old and worn so

that others are not alerted to a new presence in the area.


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Use of snares, dead falls, or pit traps to protect the growing areas. This is a good

passive way to protect the gardens or fruit trees from animals or human

intruders.

Use roving unscheduled foot patrols that randomly check only a few garden plots

at a time, never all of them on one trip. This will keep any human intruders

guessing how long before the next security check comes through.

The use of well camouflaged perimeter guard posts. These guard posts will

control the high ground and will be able to observe and control a set number of

garden plots. The number of guard posts will be determined by the total number

of garden plots. The guard posts are there to protect the food supply from

unwanted animals or human intruders.

The use of bows and arrows, crossbows, or firearms will be used to quietly

dispatch any unwanted intruders.

How to Hide Your Harvest from Intruders

Now that you have had a bountiful harvest how do you store it to protect it from

spoilage, being eaten by wild animals, or stolen by human intruders?

Is canning, drying, or smoking the harvest a good way to protect the food from

spoilage? Would hiding the harvest in many containers and locations be a good idea?

Let’s see the answers.

Canning, Drying, and Smoking

The safest and most used way to preserve fresh

fruits, vegetables, fish, and meats is by canning,

drying, or smoking. If done right all of the bacteria

will be destroyed and the items will be safe to eat

at a later date. To keep track of the inventory,


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food shelf rotation, and the food usage, a food logbook is mandatory for the well-being

of the group.

For the group’s safety and well-being all of the food storage areas should be well off the

beat and path.

Good use of the terrain and the use of camouflage will make the food storage areas

hard to locate and break into. If you cannot see it, then you will pass it by, and never

know that it is there.

Camouflaged hidden root cellars located inside the groups compound and

located in secret locations outside of the compound.

Use camouflaged underground caves with a cool year round temperature or

underground ice houses.

Use of sealed bury tubes made of PVC piping that are buried below the frost

line. Tubes made from PVC will give you years of good service without leaking.

How to Physically Protect the Storage Sites

The use of booby traps, snares, dead falls, or pit traps as an unmanned

protection system.

The use of unscheduled roving foot patrols that randomly check the storage

areas, but never go near enough to give their location away.

The use of hidden and well camouflaged perimeter guard posts. These guard

posts will control the high ground and observe the countryside around the food

storage areas.

Foot patrols will be armed with a mixture of bows and arrows, crossbows, and

firearms to physically defend and protect the storage sites from either animal or

human intruders.

In the time after a major crisis, the replacement of food stores, the safe storage of

harvested foods, and the safekeeping of seeds is of the greatest importance to the


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group survival. Failure to do this could mean the end of your group by slow starvation or

disease.

The loss of the food could be caused by poorly designed storage areas that allowed

animals to break in and eat the food or the theft of the food by human intruders. Either

way, the food supply and seeds must be protected at all costs.

Using Aquaponics for Your Food Independence

An aquaponics system is a reliable

survival food source for your family in

times of chaos.

Stored food will never give you all the

proteins and vitamins you need to thrive in

a doomsday scenario… that’s why

aquaponics is a good addition to your survival plan.

Choosing Fish for Aquaponics

One of the key steps in running your aquaponics system correctly is to choose the right

fish. When you choose the fish for your aquaponics system keep in mind these three

aspects:

The water temperature of your system.

What kind of food your fish will need.

And your overall goal for growing the fish

1. By Water Temperature

First of all, you must understand the effect that climate has on aquaponics. So here are

some tips on what kind of fish work best for different water temperatures:

http://www.survivopedia.com/fish-aquaponics-system/


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Cold water fish

Arctic char is a cold-water fish native to the Arctic, sub-Arctic and alpine

lakes and coastal waters.

Silver Perch are native to the Brisbane area (Australia) and handle the cold very

well.

Yellow Perch are also cold water fish. They tolerate lower dissolved oxygen and

adjust well to pH changes. This type of fish eats common pellet fish foods and

veggies.

Trout grow in colder climates and can handle winter well.

Cod and Salmon need very fresh and cold water, so are not well suited to the

recirculation systems.

Observation: Keep in mind that the cold water makes the selection of plants more

limited. Be careful because these cold water fish live in a temperature range between

50 and 68 F.

Warm water fish

Tilapias are a tropical fish species. They tolerate pH shifts, temperature changes,

high ammonia, and low dissolved oxygen. They are omnivorous fish so they eat

pellet fish food, duckweed and veggies from the system.

Catfish thrive in warm water and prefer a temperature of 80 degrees F.

Bluegills prefer warm water with abundant vegetation. They can tolerate

temperatures up to 95 F.

Sunfish is a native tropical fish as well.

Other warm water fish species: Pumpkinseed, Black Crappie, White Crappie,

Ozark Bass, Sacramento Perch, Warmouth. .

Fish that is great in any climate

Koi fish are brightly colored, miniaturized Carp. Koi are tolerant to a variety of

water conditions.


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Goldfish are also miniaturized Carp and like their relatives – Koi fishes, they

thrive in any water conditions.

Hybrid Striped Bass are resilient to extreme temperatures and to low dissolved

oxygen.

2. By Feed Sources

The second aspect that you must consider is the type of food you’re able to provide for

your fish. Here’s a list of what type of food your fish can eat.

Koi/ Goldfish: You can feed them greens like peas, cucumbers or lettuce. Make

sure to chop it small enough so that they can fit in their mouths. You can also

give them bread crumbs.

Tilapia: They love plants, especially protein-rich duckweed.

Carps: Eat algae, other water plants, insects, earthworms, aquatic worms, snails,

mussels, crayfish, and rotifers. They also eat old dead plant parts from the

bottom

Catfish: They love to eat sinking carnivore pellets, prawns, algae wafers and

smelt.

Observation: Fish food is not universal. Different fish require different food.

3. By Purpose

And finally, the third aspect you must keep in mind is that your aquaponics fish have a

purpose. You can choose to keep your fish for circulating the system and have

ornamental fish, but you can also add fish to use later as a food source.

Ornamental fish:

Koi fish and goldfish are the best choice as ornamental fish

Angelfish

Guppies

Tetras


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Swordfish

Mollies

Fish for food:

Catfish

Tilapia

Carps

Trout

Yellow Perch

Silver Perch

Sunfish

Crappie

Bluegill

Sunfish

Cod and Salmon

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