Survival Gardening

Survival Gardening. Grow Your Own Emergency Food Supply from Seed to Root Cellar

BY SAM COFFMAN | STOREY PUBLISHING, 2025. 256PP. $24.99

Reviewed by Mary A. Nelen

Addressing a current climate of uncertainty and, in some cases, hoarding, this extremely comprehensive, no-nonsense, just-the-facts-ma’am Baedeker poses the following question:

"What would you do if you absolutely had to grow your own food to survive?" When Sam Coffman, author of Survival Gardening, poses the question in survival gardening workshops, the response is typically, ‘I have no idea.’ “This forces people to think outside the box and consider options like growing edible mushrooms and eating edible weeds and even garden pests,” Coffman says.

Survival Gardening is based on the facts, such as the amount and types of caloric nutrition humans need to survive. It is followed by a comprehensive plan for a home garden that can be implemented anywhere. 

Coffman begins by advising individuals to get their Survival Garden site ready “NOW” while there is a working infrastructure of the internet, phone, roads, and stores in place. This is not a bad idea. With four sections including a diagram of The Survival Garden, the guide offers an efficient, comprehensive focus on soil, tools, irrigation, and more. 

The Survival Garden Layout (a diagram is included in the book) includes 1. House, 2. Rain Barrel, 3. Irrigated Garden, 4. Rabbit Hutch (“Rabbits provide meat for us and fertilizer for the garden, keep it close to the house and close enough to gardens that you can easily move rabbit compost directly to any areas that need it.) 5. Chicken Coop, 6. Black Soldier Fly Soldier Larvae System. (Black soldier fly larvae rapidly break down organic matter, including meat scraps, to produce high-quality castings that contain nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. 7. Greenhouse, 8. Outhouse (Human waste turned into compost, called humanure, is a rich source of nutrients for the garden.) 9 Compost. 

Protecting the perimeter is a priority. Coffman recommends options depending on the place and environment. “Fencing must be of adequate strength and able to prevent feral hogs, deer, and gopher interaction, depending on the location of your garden.” What sets this advice apart is the emphasis on time. For example, it is critical to consider how important it could be to grow something edible immediately. Instruction starts with what can be grown and consumed in the shortest amount of time, offering a practically immediate delivery of sustenance. “Sprouts and microgreens are extremely easy to grow and require a small investment of space, labor, time, and money. Possibly the best thing about growing sprouts and microgreens is that you can start them indoors at any time of the year and reap both the experience and the reward of your own freshly grown food within days for sprouts and weeks for the microgreens.” Multiple techniques for growing sprouts and microgreens are shared. 

Next, the reader is advised on what to grow for harvest in the first five weeks. The top fast-growing crops are kale, arugula, mustard greens, oyster mushrooms, beets, green beans, Swiss Chard, radishes, spinach, lion’s mane mushrooms, and turnips. 

Crop rotation is described as learning what grows best in different conditions, what to watch for, and a method for avoiding depleting the soil of necessary nutrients and minimizing pressure from pests and pathogens. Establishing a watering system might include channel swales and erosion, or “if you live in a region that experiences drought during at least part of your growing season, having good drainage and/or a level area you can irrigate is critical.” Several examples of drip irrigation are included, with the option to collect rainwater.