The #1 Survival Crop You Need to Know How to Grow

I generally agree with David, but in recent years I've switched to sweet potatoes as they're even easier to grow, harvest, and store, often have higher yields (last year I harvested 72 lbs from a 4x4 bed of pure fallen leaves), and you can eat the leaves as well.

Your video was fun to watch.

Calories and protein are relatively easy to store in bulk. If you're just trying to weather a short disruption to food supply and you have time to prepare, you're more likely to run out of micronutrients and pleasant flavors than macronutrients. So lettuce and peppers could be a good choice if you expect the supply chains to recover before you run out of stockpiled macronutrients.

David the good what is your take on chaos gardening? David The Good should do a video on chaos gardening.

Sweet potatoes! And corn. 😆

Potatoes are cheap? I'm in Maine. They are $1 per potato.

Can someone shed some light one why my potatoes keep getting taken over by termites?! (At least that's what they look like) any advice?

Potatoes are cheap but so much better from the garden. I don’t have much space so I use grow bags. When supply chain fails for a few days , they will really be appreciated

They are white they're red they're blue, they even have purple ones too. POTATO POTATO POTATO , PO, TATO, PO, TATO PO,...TATO, PO, TA , TO PO TA TO POTA,TO, POTATO PO TATO, POTATO POTATO, PO
( To the tune of the Mexican Hat Dance) try it!

Thank you!! Fantastic advice..... I will grow potatoes!!! I almost let the ones that sprouted go to the compost pile😵‍💫🤯

What's taters, precious? 😂

I took this to heart. Planted 18lbs of seed potats in late March. In about 28 ft of row space. Yesterday pulled 43lbs. Zone 5b/6a. It’s working!

In central florida can I grow potatoes year round?

What are good easy to harvest/minimal processing crop for protein? I live in zone 8, but more of a savanna climate with very hot and dry summers. Soil is alkaline/calcareous. From what I've observed from local farmers markets, sweet potatoes grow seem to grow well in the area, so that should take care of carbs. Don't have enough land for animals, except maybe chickens, but I'm on a vegan diet for health reasons.

I also watched your potato video from two years ago. The reason potatoes taste so much better right out of your garden is because the store lets them sit around and the sugars begin to turn to starch. If you make them in to potato chips, you can see that they have two layers that brown differently in the fryer. The older they are, the wider the outer layer. But if you put them in the refrigerator, below 40F, the process is reversed and they make sugar again. Sometimes they get too sweet.

Sweet potatoes are even better. You can eat the vine And the potatoes so you get double the fun. I love growing both each year.

Here in the EU, potatoes are no longer cheap. They have doubled in price. I grow potatoes (compost and straw) and sweet potatoes, which do very well here. Last year I started with miserable soil, mainly clay and stones. It was terribly hard work, but worth it. I am in the process of building some raised beds.... I am old and it is hard to work on my knees.
I have learned a lot from you and many others. I really compost everything, including the rats my little dog catches. 😎 I'm still impressed with all the veggies I harvested and canned last year. It was my first year and it was a wonder to me to see all the plants thrive.

One problem with potatoes is they don't grow well in heavy clay soils. Unless you have tons of compost or store bought soil you can use the lazy bed method were yo plant them under an upside down square of sod.

Moles always eat into my potatoes :(

That LOTR quote was great 😂

Potatoes are a great survival crop not only for their ease in growing, calorie density, and tastiness; but also for their storage longevity. They will keep for months if stored properly. Ever tried keeping lettuce for months?

Buy potatoes from the store? No way ~ they are one of the most chemical ized foods on earth ! Commercial growers use anti sprouting agents , antifungal agents , pesticides to control worms , herbicides to control weeds , and preservatives applied when bagging to retain that fresh look in the grocery store for months amoung other things added to the soil so they don't have to rotate the crops ~ they're not healthy in fact probably detrimental to health ~ they are a huge cash crop in America where we consume more commercial potatoes than any other country BY FAR ~ add to that fried in rancid overused oils and plastered with white table salt (rather than Himalayan or at least sea salt ) Its a recipe for digestive nightmares and hi blood pressure ~ yes by all means grow your own if your health matters to you ~ do what the "good guy " says because he cares ✔

Have some going down here in Boynton. Will see what I get

In Central PA, Blue Potatoes have better insect resistance. I prefer to grow beets, sweet potatoes and turnips, but could grow potatoes if necessary.

I have been growing potatoes for a few years now, and have them in the garden now. But I also have already had an 80F day while continuing to have some risk of frost for the next few weeks. Potatoes are certainly doable, but the climate in the southern U.S. just isn't the best for them. Corn, supplemented with sweet potatoes seems so much simpler. I also find that sweet potatoes store quite a bit better in my warm indoor setting than white potatoes. Yes, wheat is more work, but I grow it, too. The work isn't nearly so bad as something like rice that has a firmly attached hull, and wheat grows through the winter so I still have time for a summer crop in the area where I grew it.

I recently harvested potatoes I had thrown in my compost. The tastes so good!! Amazing flavor.

Loved the LOTR reference…boil em mash en put them in a stew

So easy to store too! Just throw them in a root cellar and they stay fresh all winter and in to spring. Save your biggest and best to plant in the spring.

my grandmother was born around 1920. she would definitely have agreed.

Right on Brother

I hate lettuce

Funny you should put this video out because my main growing crop this year


POTATOES!!❤❤❤❤❤❤

It is incredibly hard to screw up a meal made of potatoes.

Storing potatoes is my problem

For people who live in northern climates Sunchokes are a good potato alternative that will grow without any extra water or nutrients and will come back every year. Crosnes and yamberries are good options too, but are slightly less cold hardy.

"Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew..."
What's taters, precious?

Every time I feel like I'm making good progress and staying on schedule with the garden, I see one of your videos where your garden is 2 months ahead of mine. Look at those beautiful potato plants!


But I guess that's a good thing because my season is a little behind yours and it motivates me to get going before I fall behind schedule. My taters are still sprouting in a box until the plowed field is ready.

Potatoes! Not if you have diabetes.

Thanks for this info!! 🥔

Question: How long will a potato crop sustain you?

Can anyone answer?

Aren’t potatoes planted typically during certain times of the year?

If they all produce at once, how long will potatoes store and keep? I find when I buy store-bought potatoes that they typically have to be eaten within a couple of weeks even when stored in a dark place.

They do not do well in my area of Arizona. Sweet potatoes do much better. Sunchokes are OK. Yucca is the best.

I'm not much of a Gardener but.....
Two things I can grow are Potatoes and Tobacco.

The storm surge from Hurricane Ian poisoned my ground here in S. Ft Myers. My sweet potatoes and turmeric were wiped out. I'm hoping the coming rainy season will flush out the bad stuff so I can feed myself again. Some of the few things that did grow after the flood are Ethiopian kale, mustard greens, Egyption spinach, and everglades tomatoes.

I'd like to survive too and I love potatoes... however the voles seem to love everything,and don't care if I survive. They seem to think "screamers" I put in the ground are a siren call...🤬
Suggestions?

Tried planting some red potatoes in Puerto Rico, down in the coastal plains. Got like 10 1" tubers. Probably will grow better up in the central mountainous region. Temps there are around 80 in summer and 50-70 in our winter. By the way, I have been asking my neighbors and friends about getting some "ñame de monte" or "ñame de agua" (Dioscorea alata). Many say it's hard to find. Got to go looking along the creeks up the mountains. Bendiciones.

Aside from the fantastic advice in this video.. the LoTR quote.. made me share it with everyone I know. Thank you David! We appreciate all the knowledge you share with us!

The most wise words of Samwise: “Boil them, mash them, put them in a stew.”😂

Oh i just wanted to add that most keep very well too if you dont wash them off , ive had mine since last fall late oct and they are just getting soft now and sprouting ready to be re planted . Big win for winter storage . Thanks again take care

Im in ! wow what a sales pitch !!! Actually i tried for the first time last year i pulled 60lbs from a ten by ten ft garden bed . Ya there cheap to buy until there arent any to buy lol. Thats kinda the way im lookin at it . Thanks David , I love all your books . I have 3 on audiobook now too , great job my friend thanks for all ya share too. Its appreciated , take care

So true David good ol simple potato will do the trick .Great survival wisdom.
Thanking you guys from Brisbane Australia
🖐️🍍🥑🥥🍓🥝🍉Xxx



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