A lot of dreamers here who never actually tried to grow something. A lot of YouTube video knowledge but no practical experience.
That's how the world works.
Submitted 9 hours ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to science_memes@mander.xyz
https://mander.xyz/pictrs/image/a07685a4-f878-4cfe-9ad8-8e6d71ba9980.png
Comments
1984@lemmy.today 2 hours ago
Nikls94@lemmy.world 1 hour ago
Bro my cacti died. Both of them.
dejova281@lemmy.world 44 minutes ago
The best is community roles in a collective. If you try to do everything yourself you’ll fail but in specializing you’ll succeed. For produce, one neighbor specializes in tomatoes, the other cucumber, the other onions, etc etc… that’s how human society survived in tough times and that’s actually as a species how we’re supposed to operate. As a community. Another reason why everyone is so dang lonely and depressed. Anyways, I digress…
hydroxycotton@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 hours ago
As someone who has been trying to grow tomatoes in containers for about 10 years, I can confirm that it really is difficult. It took me about 5 years to achieve fairly consistent results and get the hang of properly amending the soil, planting correctly, watering, pruning etc. And I still have years where the production is really low, largely due to fungal diseases.
mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca 34 minutes ago
see what you should have done is just toss some rotten ones onto your driveway or behind the shed and ignored them and next year you’d have had the biggest baddest bitchingest tomato plants you’d ever seen
lepinkainen@lemmy.world 2 hours ago
We planted tomatoes on the backyard last year and we drowned in them, kilos and kilos of the stuff
It also would’ve been a lot cheaper to get the same amount from the grocery store 😅
1984@lemmy.today 2 hours ago
Yeah. I have the largest respect for people who manage to get that far. It really is not easy.
ParlimentOfDoom@piefed.zip 48 minutes ago
Piss in a bucket. There’s your ammonia.
trackball_fetish@lemmy.wtf 3 hours ago
Grow a garden where? On what fucking land lmao
jefferyjefferson@lemmy.org 1 hour ago
Not everyone lives like sardines in concrete jungles.
trackball_fetish@lemmy.wtf 1 hour ago
Yeah I get that, what I’m saying is most of us can’t afford land, let alone a house. Cool if you can but I’m not lucky.
GreenKnight23@lemmy.world 3 hours ago
whatever land you can take.
some cities have programs that allocate park or unused land for community gardens. some even give you a small budget to build infrastructure like beds or buying dirt.
grow staple foods that have long storage life: squash, pumpkins, carrots, rutabaga, potatoes. these can stay on your shelf for 3-8 months if stored properly. personally I have about 12 (3-5lbs each) spaghetti squash sitting since harvest in November that will be fine until about August.
secondary are things you can freeze or dry: squash, peppers, peas, green beans, Lima beans, kidney beans, cabbage, beets. I dry most of these and toss them into soups and ramen.
tertiary are foods you can process and preserved through canning, drying, or freezing: tomatoes (sauce or breaded), okra (breaded), etc…
your diet will change, but you’ll feel good about what you’re cooking because you grew it.
good luck!
HasturInYellow@lemmy.world 3 hours ago
Plant the 3 sisters (beans, corn, squash/pumpkin) together in a small area to maximize shelf stable production. You will need to do a small amount of research on planting times but the times are fast approaching.
Catoblepas@piefed.blahaj.zone 4 hours ago
You should always feel free to grow a garden, but you shouldn’t necessarily expect it to be cheaper than buying food. Especially the first year, if you don’t live in a place where you can just dig up some dirt and chunk seeds in it. Even if you do you should make sure the soil isn’t literally toxic first, especially since it’s common to have a buildup of things like lead or arsenic from now-outlawed fertilizers that can be absorbed by plants.
My grandparents planted maybe half an acre? Of crops for 10 people, and it was supplemental, not a complete replacement. It also takes a lot of work and can go to shit if the weather is bad. You can account for some of this by planting a variety of crops, trying to head off drainage and shade issues before they start, and with supplemental watering. But don’t expect everything to be super productive every year, especially in the age of climate change. My sister had some plants not put out at all last year (peppers).
stabby_cicada@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 hours ago
That’s the thing. Gardening is more expensive than buying food now. There’s a nonzero chance that’s going to change shortly for a ton of reasons including but not limited to little Donnie assassinating the supreme leader of Iran for shits and giggles.
Grow a garden even if it’s not economically efficient. Do it now, when you aren’t relying on it for food, and get the issues with soil and drainage and so on worked out now. That way you’ll have the skills to do it later, when you really need it.
cogitase@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 hours ago
Natural gas is used to produce hydrogen, which is then used in the Haber-Bosch process to produce ammonia from nitrogen in the atmosphere. Only about 6% of natural gas is used to produce hydrogen, so even if the price were to rise substantially, we could divert natural gas from other uses and have plenty for making ammonia. We also have other ways of producing hydrogen, it’s just that natural gas is more established.
PEM electrolyzers paired with cheap solar in countries with high insolation can now produce hydrogen for less than the cost of natural gas, but we’re only recently starting to see the construction of the large-scale green ammonia plants needed to accomplish this. Egypt is currently constructing a 100-MW green ammonia plant powered by solar energy. Even if you didn’t have enough PEM eletrolyzers you could still just pass current through some salt water and produce hydrogen, albeit much less efficiently.
It’s not going to be a catastrophic issue.
Rusty@lemmy.ca 5 hours ago
Fun fact: Fritz Haber, the German guy that invented the Haber-Bosch process is the same Fritz Haber that invented the use of chlorine gas in chemical warfare. He was personally overseeing it’s effect in the battle of Ypres.
als@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 hours ago
Clara Immerwahr, who was married to Fritz Haber and was a successful chemist in her own right, spoke out against his research as a “perversion of the ideals of science” and “a sign of barbarity, corrupting the very discipline which ought to bring new insights into life.” She ended her own life the day before he traveled to the eastern front to oversee the use of chlorine gas against Russian troops.
ChicoSuave@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
Dude knew his chemicals
far_university1990@reddthat.com 5 hours ago
Habe
rn wir einen an der Waffel? Ja
JasonDJ@lemmy.zip 5 hours ago
Thank you for explaining the process, because the pro-fuel-cell pact doesn’t understand that hydrogen isn’t free.
“Oh it comes from ammonia”. Alright, where does the ammonia come from???
Hypx@piefed.social 1 hour ago
You’ll make hydrogen from renewable energy. That is the point.
The_v@lemmy.world 6 hours ago
Farmers almost uniformly over-apply N fertilizer. Having it be more expensive and forcing them to look into more efficient ways of applying fertilizer and managing nutrients is not a bad thing.
KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 hours ago
Unless it just causes the crop to cost more without any change in behavior.
marcos@lemmy.world 6 hours ago
we could divert natural gas from other uses and have plenty for making ammonia. We also have other ways of producing hydrogen
We can’t do any of those in a scale large enough to replace the destruction and have it online for the next planting season on the North Hemisphere. Or the next one on the South Hemisphere either, btw. Or the following ones for each.
BodyBySisyphus@hexbear.net 6 hours ago
Also, while it’s still new, plasma nitrogen has the potential to rapidly scale if the economics stop making sense for Haber-Bosch nitrogen.
Deceptichum@quokk.au 40 minutes ago
Damn, imagine if we hadn’t depleted our soils of nutrients through unsustainable agricultural practices requiring us to pump unsustainable chemical fertilisers into the ground.
Combined with reducing the half a years supply of food per person that we waste per person each year. And using local native species instead of unsuitable foreign crops, we wouldn’t have to worry about any of that right now.
Oh well, now millions of the global south get to starve to death as we
stealpurchase their dwindling crops. Modern society is the best thing ever and we should make no effort to change it.BigBenis@lemmy.world 6 hours ago
You think food prices will come back down after it’s all over?
ultimate_worrier@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 hours ago
cue the padme meme!
elvith@feddit.org 5 hours ago
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
As if you’d need to ask that question…
StillAlive@piefed.world 9 hours ago
Yes.
Blame Americans.
Prunebutt@slrpnk.net 6 hours ago
Don’t forget Israel.
PhoenixDog@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
whynotboth.gif
fizzle@quokk.au 9 hours ago
Hey. I quite like Canadians.
Hadriscus@jlai.lu 8 hours ago
I’m partial to the mexicans myself
chakli@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
But they are silent thought.
Scubus@sh.itjust.works 7 hours ago
Deport your southern neighbors, it’s the American way.
ObtuseDoorFrame@lemmy.zip 8 hours ago
[deleted]plantfanatic@sh.itjust.works 8 hours ago
When someone says American, they mean a USA resident. I don’t know anyone who would assume they mean a Canadian or Mexican, since you use those terms for them.
IAmYouButYouDontKnowYet@reddthat.com 8 hours ago
American (read by the entire world as USA) culture is the problem.
Valmond@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 hours ago
Wasn’t the CNN just conducting a poll about the Iran invasion and around 100% of maga was for it, and like 35% of democrats too?
Like insane numbers (am home w bad cold might write errors).
Scubus@sh.itjust.works 7 hours ago
America, where there is an actively sitting known pedophile president protecting a group of elite pedophiles
Well, we’re not trying that hard. Seriously, it takes one person to put an end to all this misery and yet we don’t. Until there’s real progress in the US, it’s safe to say that each and every American supports our presidents actions if nothing else through refusal to stop him.
cattywampas@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
Don’t blame me, I voted for Kodos.
Soulg@ani.social 7 hours ago
Ah yes it’s all my fault you’re right whoops
PhoenixDog@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
Are you American? Then yes it’s your fault. This is because of the USA.
BastingChemina@slrpnk.net 5 hours ago
It’s not just fertilizer:
it takes about 7.3 units of (primarily) fossil energy to produce one unit of food energy Assessing the sustainability of the US food system: a life cycle perspective
With all the fertilizer, heavy equipment and agricultural practices the food production today is very inefficient from an energy perspective.
Without cheap, abundant energy available the whole food production system is not sustainable
cecinestpasunbot@lemmy.ml 2 hours ago
It would be a hell of a lot more sustainable if we ended animal agriculture.
kungen@feddit.nu 4 hours ago
Exactly. The Swedish government or something did some study recently to determine if we’d be able to be self-sufficient under a longer time if we needed to be, as we currently have a lot of food imports. The conclusion was “yes, but there won’t be as much food diversity”.
However, they completely ignored the fact that we only have a ~90 days strategic reserve of oil, and that basically all the machining used for farming runs on diesel. And there’s currently no goals to change that.
If we can’t import or refine diesel anymore, we will starve.
SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.de 4 hours ago
plug myself into the power socket for more efficient energy usage.
got it.
brb
Naz@sh.itjust.works 4 hours ago
I’m surprised to see this truth known on the Internet, I guess Lemmy actually is smarter than most other social media out there :o
smh@slrpnk.net 2 hours ago
My partner and I are in conflict about food storage. I buy beans, pasta, and jarred foods when I’m stressed. He doesn’t like sacrificing storage space and I think just sees it as clutter.
Anyways, I’m going to pick up more pasta, pasta sauce, and canned soup. Boxed macaroni and cheese. Stuff I know we’ll cycle through and doesn’t need much effort to cook because I know when things get bad I won’t want to brain much.
Oh! LPT: textured vegetable protein is shelf stable dried soy protein and you can rehydrate it to add a ground beefy texture to things, like macaroni and cheese or pasta sauce.
cecinestpasunbot@lemmy.ml 2 hours ago
Personally I think it’s worth a little space to have peace of mind. Also depending on where you live having a few week supply of food and drinking water in storage is generally recommended in case of a natural disaster.
That said, if you’re in a western countries that produces most of its own food you’ll probably be fine. Those countries produce such an incredibly surplus that much of it gets diverted towards animal agriculture. If you can afford meat and dairy now you’ll probably be able to afford rice and beans if prices rise.
Burghler@sh.itjust.works 1 hour ago
And Zack Galifianakis is doing an agrarian tv show promoting doing your own farming, wise comedian
perishthethought@piefed.social 8 hours ago
What are pulses?
perishthethought@piefed.social 8 hours ago
Ohhh..
Legumes are plants in the pea family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seeds of such plants. When used as a dry grain for human consumption, the seeds are also called pulses.
chunes@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
When agricultural processes are invented that allow the population to grow by billions, what’s the first thing people do? Rush to fill the extra capacity. Sure would be nice if we had the prudence to maintain a buffer.
gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 1 hour ago
Sure would be nice if we had the prudence to maintain a buffer.
we do. half the food is thrown away. that’s literally what a buffer is.
JerkyChew@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
What is a pulse?
Stegget@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
Beans
Evil_Incarnate@sopuli.xyz 3 hours ago
Lentils too
FundMECFS@piefed.zip 4 hours ago
One day we’ll learn to structure laws so that fertilised monoculture isn’t the only economically viable form of agriculture.
SnarkoPolo@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
At least the schools aren’t teaching WOKE. Priorities. /s
Emi@ani.social 9 hours ago
How worried should I be? And how much should I doom prep?
dandelion@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 hours ago
just a reminder that none of us can sufficiently “doom prep” and avoid the consequences of large catastrophes like being discussed
beyond typical disaster preparedness: www.ready.gov
probably the best thing would be to develop community ties - get to know your local weirdo farmers doing a CSA, make friends with EMTs, get to know your neighbors, get connected with a local community garden, etc.
We will survive or die together, individual prepping is not going to save you.
HumanOnEarth@lemmy.ca 8 hours ago
Individual prepping is only meant to bridge the gap between distaster and community or national assistance/cooperation.
So have some emergency food, water, but prepping properly is actually things like learning to garden well, save seeds, learn to preserve, learn how to forage, build community connections.
SomeAmateur@sh.itjust.works 9 hours ago
Prepping gets a bad rap from the crazy people building bunkers and zombie traps that people saw on reality tv.
I look at what my grandparents had. They had a garden and canned quite a bit of stuff. They had tools and enough stuff on hand to do basic maintenance and repairs on roofs, plumbing and cars. They sewed quilts and baked their own bread regularly. They had enough cash saved to make sudden purchases for anything else. They had a shotgun for emergencies.
That doesn’t sound crazy or paranoid, but resilient. I know most people can’t do all of that but it would be nice to get closer to the mindset that governments and companies are nice but may not always be able or willing to help you.
GreyEyedGhost@piefed.ca 5 hours ago
I understand the mindset, but civilization hinges on working together. Being resilient enough to survive on your own is rarely going to involve growing some significant portion of your own calories for an urban population. Being handy will certainly help in general, and having a method to repel bad actors are useful in a complete collapse, but relying on gasoline powered vehicles doesn’t make sense if you think society is going to fail.
fizzle@quokk.au 8 hours ago
The way I look at it is, the easiest 10% of the prep might get you most of the benefits.
A few weeks worth of water, a few days worth of tinned food, that kind of thing.
BurgerBaron@piefed.social 8 hours ago
Preppers will just get robbed.
Screamium@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
If you have land it wouldn’t hurt to have some survival crops. Something like sunchokes (a.k.a. jerusalem artichokes, bad name because they’re not an artichoke and more like a sunflower) can grow well in a sectioned off space where they can’t spread. In an emergency the tubers can be dug up and cooked, though they’ll probably give you a lot of gas from the high incline.
Personally I love raspberries and black raspberries, which are easy to grow just don’t plant them where they can spread and run wild. It’s nice to have fresh berries!
rayyy@piefed.social 2 hours ago
I would go with parsnips as an alternate survival crop to sunchokes. I grow both but only use parsnip. They are aggressive re-seeders and produce huge roots.
You can find tons of parsnips growing wild along road in my area. Which makes foraging a very attractive option.Emi@ani.social 8 hours ago
We do have small hut with few apple trees and some blackberries that we cook from when they grow(we get plenty of apples). Planning to plant something this year but didn’t decide yet, probably tomatoes. Not sure what could grow well in soil that has clay and with low maintenance.
HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 3 hours ago
A vegetable garden? LOL so you can get one tomato after 6 weeks? What are you going to eat in the meantime?
People are completely clueless and disconnected from reality.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPfmYNNo-4U
This is what one couple needs to actually grow stuff. And that’s just fruits and vegetables.
And what freaking inputs in the form of plastic, fertilizers, pesticides are they using?
Bwaz@lemmy.world 6 hours ago
In case anyone was wodering how much damage a single idiot in the White House can cause.
azertyfun@sh.itjust.works 7 hours ago
This will only affect poor countries. Rich, industrialized countries have more than enough capacity to make or buy their own fertilizer. Yes prices will go up again, but it’s an economics issue, not anything close to an existential threat. There is simply more than enough calorie production for everyone even with strong perturbations in global shipping. Fertilizer is only a marginal use for methane in terms of volume.
If you live in a poor country however, things are a lot more dire. The price of fertilizer is indexed on the price of gas, of which there is still enough for everyone; but your country will be competing with AI datacenters for the fucking stuff which means millions will have to die so Musk can continue to jerk it to AI child porn.
It’s not a gas pricing issue, it’s a wealth hoarding issue compounded by the aimless crusade of a demented manlet commanded by religious fanatics.
WorldsDumbestMan@lemmy.today 8 hours ago
If I could, I would make sure it happens. It will do a lot more than screw over food supplies.
IAmYouButYouDontKnowYet@reddthat.com 8 hours ago
America needs to knock off thay 200,000,000 citizens from their population… The last step of project 2025.
Jollyllama@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
Fertilizer “crisis” is a man made problem.
floquant@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 hours ago
But hey, at least both floods and droughts are becoming more common which is great for crops!
Cattail@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
I’m glad I started growing wolffia globosa. Gonna help supplement a lot of meals. Kinda sucks that I got sick and neglected it and got set back a few weeks, but I have enough to sees other colonies
ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net 7 hours ago
Dude, I’ve been filling my pantry with grains since the pandemic.
megopie@beehaw.org 6 hours ago
Probably not, ammonia production isn’t exactly a huge portion of natural gas usage, it’ll just have to compete on price with other demands, other things with lower value will get priced out of the market long before nitrogen fertilizer. The price for it will probably go up, already has on futures markets, but not by a huge amount, not even the biggest blip in the past decade. And nitrogen fertilizer is a fairly small portion of overall costs for most agriculture, so it won’t be a significant increase in price.
The places it might have an impact are on products with really narrow profit margins already, like commodity corn in the US (actually a lot of commodity corn breaks even or even is grown at a slight loss because reasons ) and a lot of that goes in to non-food uses like ethanol(for gas), chemical production, or even for use in construction materials.
OpenStars@piefed.social 4 hours ago
Authorities say:
NO!
(But actually its yes)
Coleslaw4145@lemmy.world 23 minutes ago
Good thing my country exports 90% of its agricultural produce, so if we start getting hungry then we’ll just export a bit less.
(We learned the hard way a long time ago when we ran out of potatoes.)