Being an urban survivalist can be tough, everything is expensive, there are people crawling all over each other, and the space we have to ourselves can be very limiting.  These factors make sustainable, food production very difficult.  However if you have a little open space and a little time you can build a garden that will give you much of what you need to eat.

My balcony is about 14×6, yet I grow tomatoes, onions, potatoes, avocados, asparagus, 6 types of peppers, lettuce, tomatillos, garlic, basil and house a rabbit, as well as bikes and patio furniture.  There are many ways to maximize small growing spaces for certain types of food, from training tomatoes to grow in an compact space to growing potatoes vertically to maximize yield. Below is a great how to link on growing potatoes in a self contained container with very high yields. If you are careful with your lay out you can grow a significant portion of your normal good stock for next to nothing in a very small space.

CLICK HERE TO LEARN HOW TO GROW 100 LBS OF POTATOES IN 4 SQ FEET or see the info from the seattle times below

According to this article from the Seattle Times, potatoes planted inside a box with this method can grow up to 100 pounds of potatoes in just 4 square feet. All that is required:

• Lumber
• Seed potatoes
• Soil
• Careful attention to watering

The Times’ guide for building a potato growing box yields up to a 100 lbs. of potatoes in a mere 4 square feet is shown below:

Plant as early as April or as late as August 1, with an approximated 3 month till harvest turnaround time.

Here are some pointers from the article:

• Cut apart larger seed potatoes, making sure there are at least two eyes in each piece you plant.
• Dust the cut pieces with fir dust, which seals the open ends from bacteria.
• Fertilize with 10-20-20 fertilizer at planting and a couple of times during the season.
• Water so that the plants are kept at an even level of moisture.
• Don’t plant in the same area in consecutive years or use the same soil to fill your potato box, as potatoes can attract various diseases.

“To save space, Lutovsky recommends building a box and planting inside it, adding sides to the box as the plant grows and filling the new space with mulch or soil.

When the plant blossoms, it starts setting potatoes in this added soil. Soon after that, you can start removing the bottom boards from your box and “robbing” the plant, reaching in carefully and pulling out new potatoes.”