Walker - Living Off the Grid With Organic Gardening: How to Create a Sustainable Lifestyle Without Power

Living off the Grid with Organic Gardening

PUBLISHED BY:

Just Kindle Books

Copyright 2013

Written By: Doris Walker

OTHER BOOKS FROM THIS AUTHOR

How To Get Rid Of Ants

Beginners Guide To Organic Gardening & Composting

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Introduction - Living off the Grid with Organic Gardening

If you find yourself worried about all of the junk that is tainting the American food supply, then you might want to consider starting your own garden. Yet, if you use tap water and fertilizers you buy from the store to tend to that garden, you just might be tainting the produce you are growing. One of the best ways to have a garden and avoid these problems is to garden off the grid. This book will explain what that means and how you can effectively do it, so you can enjoy the fruits of your labors without any worry about additional costs, environmental impact or contaminants for your family.

What Is Gardening Off the Grid?

Gardening off the grid is a fairly simple concept. In fact, it involves gardening techniques that were common before the advent of electricity and running water. Basically, when you garden this way, you garden with just what Nature provides: rainwater and sunlight. No electricity, no tap water and no unnatural additions to the soil. Simply good old natural provisions.

The Benefits of Living off the Grid

Living off the grid is not a new concept. For many years, people have been ditching commercially produced electricity in favor of living a more natural lifestyle. The advent of solar technology makes it even easier to remove yourself from the power grid, without sacrificing your quality of life. Today, estimates seem to indicate that as many as 180,000 homes are off the grid, supplying their own power, while another 27,000 are using off-grid power sources to complement their powered lifestyles.

This creates a concern for those who are interested in building a garden, however. Conventional gardening requires power to send tap water to the plants and artificial sunlight to seedlings. Is it possible to garden truly organically, without a reliance on the power grid?

Yes, it is absolutely possible. Now, this does take some technical know-how. It's not as simple as planting some seeds and letting them grow. If you don't water, as you know, your seeds will die, because rain doesn't always fall when you need it to. You will need to find ways to collect rain water to use during the dry spells. Insects can also be a problem. This book will teach you how to get rid of them naturally. If you are ready to have a garden that does not rely on "the grid," then keep reading!

Chapter 1 - Choosing Your Gardening Style

Yes, gardening does have style, but not in the sense of colorful scarves and skinny jeans. Gardening styles refer to the type or layout of the garden. You will need to choose a style that works with your gardening skills, your climate and your location. Here are some common styles of gardening:

Container Gardens

Container gardens are difficult to do off the grid, because they require containers. Containers aren't exactly "off the grid" material, but if you plant the garden and then do the rest off the grid, you could technically count these.

Container gardens do not plant the plants in the ground. Rather, they plant them in containers that sit on top of the ground, filled with nutritious soil. This can work well if your space is limited or you do not have the luxury of creating a garden space in your yard.

To keep this type of garden off the grid, you will need a source of natural soil. Store-bought soil is not going to be the best organic option. If you have a friend who is willing to let you dig up some soil from his yard, or you have a spot in your yard where you can dig that just wouldn't have been a good option for the garden itself, then you can make a container garden work.

Container gardens do have some limits. You cannot grow plants that have deep roots, because the size of your container limits the depth the roots can travel. Plants that work well in container gardens include:

• Potatoes
• Tomatoes
• Turnips
• Green beans
• Peppers
• Cucumbers
• Carrots
• Green onions
• Lettuce
• Squash

In-Ground Gardens

The most common type of garden is probably the in-ground garden. These are just what they sound like - gardens you create in the ground. If you can till up the soil and add some compost to it, you can have an in-ground garden just about anywhere that gets sufficient sun. With an in-ground garden, you can grow just about anything. Common options include:

• Cabbage
• Beets
• Pumpkins
• Watermelon
• Squash
• Corn
• Potatoes
• Tomatoes
• Strawberries
• Eggplant
• Peppers

Raised-Bed Gardens

If you have poor soil conditions, but don't want the limitations of container gardening, you can build raised beds. Simply create a box out of rot-resistant boards, add some newspaper to the bottom, and top it with high quality soil and compost. Then, add the plants you wish to grow. You can grow most plants this way, as long as they don't need really deep roots. Often, they will grow better in raised beds than in containers because the drainage is better. Consider these:

• Beans
• Brussel sprouts
• Spinach
• Asparagus
• Rhubarb
• Pumpkins

Window Box Garden

A window box garden is only meant for those who live in urban areas and cannot make a garden in their yard. Difficult to manage off-the-grid, these gardens can grow small vegetables like lettuces and other greens. With an innovative rainwater collection system and a sunny window, it may be possible to create a window garden that does not require tap water or electricity. While not the ultimate solution, every little bit helps.

Chapter 2 - Choosing a Location

Choosing the location for your garden is essential if you are going to garden off the grid. You need a location that gets sufficient sunlight and has access to rainfall, but that will not be subject to runoff if you have a significant rainfall. A flat, open area in your yard that is not overhung by trees is the ideal place for a garden. If you need to trim the trees to make this possible, then do so.

You will also need to determine how large you need the location to be. This will depend on how many and what type of plants you intend to plant. Research your chosen plants to determine how much growing space they will need. Then, use that information to calculate the amount of space you need, and choose a location that is large enough.

Chapter 3 - Choosing Your Plants

Once you have a location in mind and a type of garden, you will need to choose your plants. As you do, you will want to take note of several things, including:

• What your family is likely to consume
• What you could sell or give to others
• What plants grow well together
• What crops you can preserve for use during the non-growing season
• What plants do well in your geographic area
• What crops you can choose to have a variety of harvest times