Reddit reviews Square Metre Gardening

This book was my main introduction to permaculture. I'm still learning, and slowly bringing our suburban yard back to life after years of soil erosion and neglect by a previous owner.

Another good suburban food growing system is the Square Foot Gardening (SFG) (also as Square Meter Gardening) by Mel Bartholomew. I put in three small beds this year and so far the plants are doing very well.

Here's a tour of Richard Heinberg's suburban permaculture home in California.

Videos from Huw's Nursery have been really helpful

I didn't know just how many edible plants there were honestly. Industrialized agriculture could get hammered, but a vibrant home garden with permaculture principles and diverse crops could be scaled up relatively quickly. I've started some survival crops as well (e.g., hopniss, sunchoke, tigernuts) that thrive without much human intervention. If you start growing things like comfrey (non-invasive "bocking 14" cultivar!) or some other plants in Toby Hemenway's book, you could probably sell cuttings and seedlings on the side. I've heard of several people getting started that way.

It's not too late in the season to start some containers with tomatoes if you aren't growing anything yet. You don't even have to tell people that it's a prep for collapse :) People just love good food. My wife has begrudgingly put up with my new hobby, and she knows I do it because I'm very worried about collapse events. My cousin put in some SFG beds after I explained that I was worried about instabilities in our just-in-time industrial food system. Gardening is already a popular hobby, so your family will probably be supportive. And they get some delicious healthy food out of it.

Personally, the time I spend gardening is like my collapse zen time. It's healthy on multiple levels. With that said, my wife and others would claim I've gone overboard with it, but hopefully it's viewed as a kooky hobby and not a pessimistic doom funk like I was in before I started gardening. If you have any questions I'll do my best to field them (I'm a beginner myself).

One last recommendation, this collapse-aware career book by Charles Hugh Smith is really good

Don't count yourself out. You have a lot to offer the world.

oh god haha, so many. A lot of permaculture is about growing food, but the same ideas could probably be applied to decorative plants if that's your thing.

This book is really cool! Pinterest is always good too. Google "balcony garden"!

So many ridiculously creative things!