The reason for my garden was to see how growing my own stuff would actually work, versus just tossing some seeds in a can and hoping it would suffice later. Overall, things have worked out very well and I’ve learned A LOT about what grows best and how to keep everything alive. I need to record the yields of everything vs the square footage required in order to get an idea of how much seed, soil, and area is needed per person to survive. I also wanted to see which crops were the most efficient in terms of nutrition vs space vs work required.  

My conclusions so far:

• Sunflowers are fab. They grow with minimal care, and yield plenty of seeds per plant. They grow in planters as well as outside, albeit 1/2 the height. You can get oil and seed, so they are a must-have IMO. Easy to plant, save some seeds and you are good to go next season. 
• Berries are also fab. These plants are very fast growing, and will (over time) extend as far as you want with little care. They provide fruit, vs trees which take years to produce. I’m pleased with the results, I have gotten quite a few berries just from the small starter canes. They propagate like weeds and can be scaled up as needed.
• Kale and Orach. Good yields, not picky about the weather. Can’t really say that about lettuce and spinach, the latter has been a waste of time.
• Onions, peppers, and carrots. Same, great yields and not too hard to grow.
• Wheat.  Sensitive to season, soil, water, and nitrogen. Working on a second summer crop that was planted with more space between plants and in potting soil. The spring crop was stunted and was accidentally mowed, so I didn’t get a yield although it would have been poor. This is a work in progress, I think it will end up being the most labor intensive thing I planted given the steps needed to go from seed to flour. 

I’m looking forward to next spring, I plan on planting corn, more wheat, potatoes, and some other settler-type stuff like turnips. I didn’t have time or space to do the starch crops this year.  I can now see how one could be self-sufficient, there’s all the vitamins and calories in what I listed. It will all store, I will try the root cellar and see how that goes.