Over the last 12 years we have been working on becoming more self-sufficient in terms of our food. We grow the majority of the fruits and vegetables that Ray & I use over the course of a year. I hope you enjoy reading about some of the tips I have accumulated over the years - I have learned from many people along the way as well as from trial and error. I also look forward to reading your own suggestions and incorporating them in my future practice. Here are some of my favorite tips for a sustainable approach to growing your own food.

Successive planting is very useful for quick-growing crops. I plant a few lettuces, arugula, spinach, and sugar peas every week. This way, my plants all come to maturity at different times and I have a fresh steady supply all summer. You can also fill any empty holes from any seedlings that didn't make it with these later sowings.

Successive planting allows us to have lettuce all summer long, whether it’s for salad or veggie tacos

It’s a good idea to plant a variety of food (polyculture). Every year, the weather and pests will be such that one crop doesn't work out and another one thrives. 

Polyculture is also very tasty

Pay attention to disproportionate food and packaging waste. For example, every time I needed a couple of tablespoons of fresh herbs, I'd buy one of those plastic clamshell packages at the grocery. Most of the surplus herbs went to waste and so did the plastic. The first things I started to grow were herbs. Growing herbs is an ​easy win - and often a seedling or packet of seeds costs about the same as a one-time purchase at the grocery.

Rosemary from the garden

In the winter, growing sprouts in a mason jar is an easy way to have fresh greens in your sandwiches, stir-fry, and salad. You can start with a bag of dried mung beans from the groceries. Mumm’s and others offer more variety.

Sprouting jar - not my picture

Learn about food preservation. Carrots and potatoes can be preserved very easily by storing them in a bucket or bin filled up with sand - I have carrots year-round using this method. Herbs and hot peppers can be dried on a string. Butternut squash keeps on my counter until we eat the last few in February. Canning opens up tons of possibilities to enjoy your produce year-round and cuts out disposable packaging, unsustainable agricultural practices, and food's transportation footprint (Steam canning is a new, more efficient method worth checking out!).

There are many perennials that provide food year after year without needing to replant. For example, you can gradually build an "edible landscape" by planting things such as asparagus, ostrich fern (fiddleheads), horseradish, Jerusalem artichoke, berries, fruit trees, and many herbs.

The two little apple trees I planted 12 years ago gives us a year-round supply of apples, hard cider, applesauce, vinegar, juice, apple pie and apple crumble

There are many surprising edible plants in our everyday landscape that you can forage. For example, day lily flowers are great snacks (NOT regular lilies though, they are poisonous), lilac makes great lemonade, balsam fir, and stinging nettles have many uses, and cedar tea soothes a sore throat (thank you Tammy for that latter tip). Always research possible side effects, safety, and cautions before foraging food and make sure to forage sustainably.

Keep good notes, especially if you preserve food. How many tomato seedlings did you plant? How many made it to maturity? How many of each product did you can (marinara sauce vs tomato juice vs whole tomatoes)? When did you run out of each product? This way you can adjust your garden plan each year to match your consumption. Don't plant or preserve foods you don't eat.

As of 2023, my garden notebook has 12 years of records

Gardening and cooking are symbiotic. Plant only what you are willing to cook, in the quantities you are willing to cook. Grocery stores have obscured natural cycles... re-learn to cook seasonally -  berries in the summer, squash in the fall and winter, carrots, onion, and potatoes in the winter. Recipes from my grandmother co-exist much more peacefully with my garden than any modern cookbook or magazine. "Cuisine paysanne" doesn't list exact quantities and is easily adaptable to what you have on hand, and it will reconnect you to the natural cycles of your garden.

Practice no-till gardening. Did you ever notice how healthy, black and rich the soil on the forest floor is, compared to agricultural soil? The forest floor is so healthy because of the constant composting of leaves and other organic matter that naturally accumulates as surface cover, and because the micro-organisms that inhabit it at various levels aren't made topsy-turvy every year. Follow the example of forests and don't disturb the soil - instead of tilling weeds, control them by adding mulch every year on top of your garden, such as grass clippings and leaves. The mulch will biodegrade over the course of a season, adding organic matter to the soil. Every year, your soil will become fluffier and healthier, as opposed to modern methods of agriculture which gradually deplete the soil. No-till presents other advantages: mulch will reduce drastically the need for watering, weeding, and fuel consumption.

I used grass clippings as mulch between my rows of corn. The brown tubes are drip irrigation tubes hooked up to my rain barrels. I am slowly converting all my fabric mulch to natural mulch.

Composting is a great way to reduce waste, nourish your soil, and avoid smelly garbage cans. I find Vermicomposting (worms) most convenient, especially in the winter, it saves me treks in the snow since it doesn’t require an outdoors bin. No need to buy a special vermicomposter… mine is simply 2 old rubbermaid bins nested one inside the other, with holes at the bottom of the inner bin so that liquid can drain out. I keep about 8 inches of shredded newspaper on top to eliminate fruit flies. The worms eat most of our kitchen waste as well as the occasional paper napkins, brown paper bag, and even cotton clothing. You can also do traditional composting outside, or “compost in place” by using carrot tops, corn husks weeds, etc as mulch. This returns a lot of the nitrogen directly to the garden’s soil with minimal effort. I leave all the old produce and plants in the garden in the fall and by the spring they have composted directly in the garden.

Beautiful worm castings from vermicomposting

Learn about seed saving - keep a few seeds from one of your best plants each year, and use them to start seedlings the next year. This will save the shipping and cost of buying new seed packets every year. Some plants such as parsley and carrots take two years to go to seed - so you can leave one plant in over the winter to get seeds the next year. Some plants that cross-pollinate are harder to get reliable seeds from - for example squash and pumpkin cross-pollinate so if you plant their seeds, you will get an unpredictable squash/pumpkin hybrid the next year. 

Scarlet runner beans saved to plant the next year. They are my favorite looking seed

Watering - as mentioned above, mulching is the best way to reduce watering needs, but rain barrels are a great tactic as well. You don’t need to buy a specially made rain barrel (expensive and yet one more plastic product). Food grade barrels are easily found second-hand and work great. Some municipalities may provide an incentive towards using rain barrels. Using drip irrigation under mulch is another way to reduce watering needs. Sprinklers are most wasteful and can cause issues with mildew on leaves.

My rain barrel / drip irrigation system. We collect all the runoff from our roof and the garden gets automatically watered when we are away.

“Grow an extra row” is a program operating in many Canadian communities. It encourages gardeners to plant an extra row in their garden to donate to the local food bank. My local food bank will even send a volunteer to pick up surplus produce whenever it’s available. Contact your local food bank for details. They may have certain items that they prefer to receive. You can also keep neighbors in mind, for example older neighbors who used to garden and miss the fresh produce they used to have. 

Off to deliver tomatoes to the neighbors

Further Reading
Le jardin vivrier (in French)- an amazing guide to self-sufficiency and no-till gardening in zone 3-4 (Recommended to me by Bernice)
Vermicomposting FAQs: Cathy's Crawly Composters - Home of the Red Wiggler - Worm suppliers
Rain barrel + drip irrigation combo that I use The Ultimate Rain Barrel Irrigation System

Safe canning practices:
Pick your own Farms in the U.S, Canada, Britain and other countries - Find a farm near you! - great beginner guides and recipe catalog for canning and freezing
Steam Canning
Recettes de conserves-maison (Vincent le canneux)
National Center for Home Food Preservation
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Facebook groups:
Autosuffisance alimentaire Québec - Cueillette et transformation
Ontario homesteaders, preppers, foragers and off the grid living
Canning and preserving with love
Homesteading Canada CA