Posted by Sarah Rainsong
(here)
So I'm not really sure this is "food security," but I figure it's close enough...
Historically, I have not been very good with growing vegetables, though I am trying a bit more this year. With Anca's suggestions, my (one!) tomato plant looks beautiful and is producing lovely red tomatoes! I have a cantaloupe vine that is looking very hopeful. Both of these are grown in pots on my porch, because I have limited sun where I live: a small (about 3/4 acre) lot in a subdivision.
But I do pretty good with growing herbs. I have a huge line-up of herbs that I grow and use! Many of these I cultivate, but some grow wild in my yard and are simply welcomed and appreciated: rosemary, yarrow, oregano, thyme, mints (peppermint, spearmint, strawberry mint), dill, catnip, lemon balm (melissa), parsley, horehound, sage, stinging nettle, tulsi/holy basil, sweet basil, motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca), black cohosh, violet, turmeric, ginger, horseradish, mullein, St. John's wort (hypericum), chamomile, hibiscus, blue vervain (Verbena hastata), passionflower, echinacea, vibernum (cramp bark), pokeweed (yep! that stuff grandma said was poison is actually a very strong medicine!), sweetgum, usnea, mahonia (a berberine), heavenly bamboo/nandina (also a berberine), Japanese honeysuckle... that's all I can think of, but I may have missed some.
I also recently started some (late!) seeds: valerian, marshmallow, anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum,), spilanthes, bee balm (monarda), sweet annie/sweet wormwood (Artemisia annua), mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris), lemongrass, calendula, comfrey, and boneset. So far, only the calendula and sweet annie have sprouted.
These are just a couple pics of my herb garden and labyrinth:
I also have an NFT aquaponics set up on my porch being fed by the goldfish pond. It's been a learning process. My pond looks lovely, but the aquaponic plants are not doing as well as I'd hoped. The broccoli raab/rapini has done well as have the green onions and dill. I'm hopeful that some michihili cabbage (smaller version of napa) will do well. Leeks and garlic are okay-ish... they started off great but seems to have stalled. The spinach is not happy at all. I don't know if it's too hot for them or what. My lettuce--which is supposed to be the prime aquaponic plant--I have yet to get to sprout. I put 9 bare-root strawberry plants in the system (another plant that's supposed to do well in aquaponics) and all but one died, and the one that lives is still very small.
I love the aquaponics (and my cute little pond is very soothing), but it's definitely got a learning curve.
I have well over fifty different dried herbs and at least that many of different extracts (tinctures, oils, syrups).