Growing veggies and herbs aboard...

[UNCIVILIZED]

Originally Posted by GafferMate

Years ago there was a book called "SAILING THE FARM". The first edition was wonderfully political as well as offering good information about self-sustainability aboard...the second edition was slicker, less radical (to attract a broader spectrum of readers, most likely) but still interesting. Lists of miniature vegetables to grow in hanging baskets, such as Tom Thumb tomatoes. It might still be available somewhere...

Yep, I read the book too. Probably the later edition. But anyway, he talks about "Seasteading", which would likely be a good header to use for Googling on the topic/idea.

Also, I have no idea how things turned out, but years back, a guy (plus a last minute add on S.O., or wife) set out to spend 1,000 days at sea. Sans landfalls or resupplies. So I'd imagine that they had the gardening on the open ocean thing figured out.
It's worth a look.

Ditto on hitting the switch on the time machine, & studying what sailors did a few hundred, or a thousand years back. Especially some of the Polynesian voyagers. As they would travel hundreds, & thousands of miles, to new islands, while transporting plants & livestock to populate their new zip codes with.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by UNCIVILIZED

Also, I have no idea how things turned out, but years back, a guy (plus a last minute add on S.O., or wife) set out to spend 1,000 days at sea. Sans landfalls or resupplies. So I'd imagine that they had the gardening on the open ocean thing figured out.
It's worth a look.

Reid Stowe: Reid Stowe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Kiwikat]

Herbs: Basil, mint, parsley are my basics all year round.

Beans 300 or so picked
Tomatoes and lettuces
kept us going for the summer cruising season here
They lived out along the back at anchor and under the cockpit table when sailing.
We collect water from streams and creeks solely for the plants - lots of nutrients plus the occassional dose of Thrive.

I have done this for several years now - I have little experiments with something new each year - I will be trying silverbeet this year rather than the large tomato plant - stick to the dwarf tomatoes as large ones take too long to mature.

Cheers
Lisa

[jkindredpdx]

Originally Posted by StuM

Boat Alexandra?

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ml#post1205164

What Stu said... they have a tomato tree taking over their cockpit

I vaguely remember there being a gardening group in the forum.

[got cake]

Kiwicat: thank you. Finally I am seeing something encouraging about growing greens on a boat. Everything else I have seen has been very discouraging.
Despite the negatives, I have purchased propagation trays and Sure to Grow pads in hopes of growing micro greens on board. The StG pads will avoid the need for soil and any cross border dirt related issues. No experience with it yet but if you are managing that cornucopia I can surely manage a salad or two.

[atoll]

I left one of my boats closed up over the winter with no ventilation.........I found quite a few varieties of mushrooms and fungi growing inside in the spring..........

[Mike OReilly]

I stand corrected. I guess people are growing veggies on board. For those that are, how much are you moving? Or do you do this mostly when you're stable for a long while?

We grow all manner of herbs and sprouts, but I just can't see where we'd be able to produce enough veggies to make it worth the effort ... but maybe I'm wrong.

[sparrowhawk1]

There's a couple other threads on gardens on board. The naysayers are right. it takes a lot of water, space and the salt air-spray makes it almost impossible. but I do it anyway. notice my container has a reservoir in the bottom, it's almost impossible to grow big plants in a small pot without a water reservoir. The chives are about 10 years old. The green onions I just buy in grocery store cut off the greens and plant the bulbs. Tomatoes are all volunteers from a plant a planted last year. If you want to really produce, sprouts are the way to go. here in Florida the only way to sprout in the summer is with an EasyGreen sprouter. I have a 12 volt timer for it and its own small inverter so I don't have to leave my big inverter on.

[sparrowhawk1]

Here's last year's production