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14 votes
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Calorically dense crops that can be grown in southern Ontario, Canada?

"Calorically dense"? Look at fruits. Apples, brambles (raspberry/blackberry), currants, strawberries, blueberries. Pie cherries (sweet will depend on your microclimate, pie are hardier), apricots, ...
Ecnerwal's user avatar
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12 votes

Calorically dense crops that can be grown in southern Ontario, Canada?

Are you familiar with John Jeavons? If not, I highly recommend checking him out. I think his "How to Grow More Vegetables" is still the best resource for this type of information. Unfortunately, I can'...
michelle's user avatar
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8 votes

Calorically dense crops that can be grown in southern Ontario, Canada?

From someone who grows a lot of their own food in a more northern climate, I would say that not only do you want calorie density, but you also need the ability to store long term. I would personally ...
Terry's user avatar
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7 votes

Are we going to be overwhelmed with tomatoes?

It's impossible to say if it is an accurate number. The number you actually get could be anything between 200 and zero, if you get hit by disease or whatever. Seed merchants usually quote the maximum ...
alephzero's user avatar
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6 votes

Calorically dense crops that can be grown in southern Ontario, Canada?

Very interesting question. There are a few dimensions that you might not have considered. First; anything grown from the earth is a carbohydrate. Should be at least 60% of our diet. Honest injun....
stormy's user avatar
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6 votes

Paving with asphalt where you grow food

Unlike a highway, the asphalt under the compost won't be collecting vehicle byproduct pollutants. But compost has been demonstrated to be an effective biofiltration method. So leave a layer at the ...
Ecnerwal's user avatar
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5 votes

Calorically dense crops that can be grown in southern Ontario, Canada?

As others have mentioned, potatoes are probably your best bet in terms of calories per acre. If you use the trick of stacking soil as the plants grow up, you'll do even better. For variety, you can ...
Roy Wood's user avatar
5 votes

Calorically dense crops that can be grown in southern Ontario, Canada?

If you want to be autonomous, you must plant various kind of crops. This will avoid you to starve if for some reason a disease or pest or bad weather destroy your yield of a given crop. So here is ...
J. Chomel's user avatar
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5 votes

Are there mulling spices that can be grown in zone 5 northern USA?

You could try these: fennel (if you like the smell of licorice) anise (star anise is actually on the Wikipedia article for mulling spices; if you like licorice) dill blackberry leaves (they're quite ...
Brōtsyorfuzthrāx's user avatar
5 votes
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What is my normal selection for a 4 season food cover crop?

Answering for your location (Minnesota, zone 4a), so as to keep this answer contained. In your climate, you'll get the most biomass from a summer season cover crop. Of course that will make it hard to ...
J. Musser's user avatar
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4 votes

Which crops or vegetables can withstand 40 degrees Celsius?

Many days this past summer were over 40 °C (103 °F) here in subtropical Queensland (Australia). Tomatoes, capsicums/peppers, eggplants and cucumber were all really productive under shade cloth, ...
M Pollack's user avatar
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4 votes

Are there mulling spices that can be grown in zone 5 northern USA?

This site indicates "The new world has contributed only three significant spices: allspice, capsicum peppers, and vanilla. Allspice was among one of the few spice treasures presented by Columbus to ...
kevinskio's user avatar
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4 votes

Cooked rice and peanut shells?

Please don’t put kitchen waste directly into your planters. You will end up with mold, probably bad smells and are not really “feeding” your plants. Instead transform the scraps into fertilizer, then ...
Stephie's user avatar
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3 votes
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What is the minimum a tree/bush root needs to be planted in the ground?

How much root ball has to be planted in the soil? Answer, all of it. You should replant trees to the same depth they were growing before they were moved. Deeper or shallower can both cause problems. ...
alephzero's user avatar
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3 votes

Is Vigoro Triple Mix safe for growing tomatoes?

I don't know how many Vigoro triple mixes exist, if more than one, but the Vigoro triple mix that I've read about online since seeing your question is advertised as being usable for vegetables. So, ...
Brōtsyorfuzthrāx's user avatar
3 votes

Calorically dense crops that can be grown in southern Ontario, Canada?

I would personally be more interested in how the food makes you feel nutritionally when you live on it than how many calories it has, but that's me. So, I would recommend a wide array of things that ...
Brōtsyorfuzthrāx's user avatar
3 votes

Are there mulling spices that can be grown in zone 5 northern USA?

Unless you have a greenhouse, a heated greenhouse with humidity control these are tropical/subtropical plants. Cinnamon is the closest to zone 5 being zone 8. Are you on the coast? PNW? You might ...
stormy's user avatar
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3 votes
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What types of sorghum works well for syrup and sugar cane?

The type of sorghum you'll want is known as sweet sorghum. The kind for food seed is known as grain sorghum. There's also broomcorn (sorghum for making brooms). Anyway, these are just classifications ...
Brōtsyorfuzthrāx's user avatar
3 votes

How to get rid of bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis) once and for all?

I have had significant results with this method: 1. Gather quart or gallon zip lock bags. I use old bags that are no longer good for food storage. 2. When bindweed vines are long enough, section off ...
Kathryn Souders's user avatar
3 votes

Which crops or vegetables can withstand 40 degrees Celsius?

I don't think it's the actual temperature in and of itself that you need to be worried about, as to whether or not plants can survive in it. For instance, in some areas, people go on about how nothing ...
Brōtsyorfuzthrāx's user avatar
3 votes

Leachfield and fruit trees - bad combination?

As far as the fruit, it is very probably safe from a health effect point of view. Fertilizer of all sorts, way worse than a septic tank, gets used on food crops all the time. There isn't really ...
Boba Fit's user avatar
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3 votes
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Eating rhubarb after it's bolted

I don't recall any significant detriment to the flavor of rhubarb from bolting - rhubarb is not lettuce. Most lettuce does turn more bitter when flowering. Last I sampled my bolting kale (from which I'...
Ecnerwal's user avatar
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2 votes

How many vertical containers to grow food for one person?

Your question is too broad to get anything other than a general answer. You've said you want the vegetables you grow to be as varied as possible, but haven't named any you want to grow. However, ...
Bamboo's user avatar
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2 votes
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Is Vigoro Triple Mix safe for growing tomatoes?

Since anyone can set up their own triple mix business without regulation and there are no controls over what can actually be in it there is no such thing as a strict database of scientific information ...
Colin Beckingham's user avatar
2 votes
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What type of Mint is this?

It is called English mint & Spearmint (Mentha spicata). This is a very good mint for cooking, fresh salads and used in various alcoholic drinks, like mojitos. Success with Mints Mints for ...
GardenGems's user avatar
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2 votes
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Pima Club Wheat Expectations

There are three questions here: What can I yield can I expect? Is it true that this is a great winter crop with almost no maintenance? What is required to get a reasonably good yield? Here's what I ...
David D's user avatar
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1 vote
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Would LEDs be beneficial for most plants?

It's the temperatures and light intensity as well as duration of light that need to be monitored. Remember seeds are looking for moisture and warmth some look for light they don't need fertiliser ...
seedelicious's user avatar
1 vote

Cooked rice and peanut shells?

It's a bad idea to add any salted shells of any nut to a compost bin as it's bad for plants. That may put salt in your compost which will then be put on your plants. Use unsalted shells only in your ...
Bulrush's user avatar
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1 vote

Cooked rice and peanut shells?

Worm composting is an ideal solution for you. The compost you end up with is many times better than regular composting as a soil amendment. It takes up way less space than a traditional compost pile....
greggles's user avatar
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