Food insecurity remains an issue in the United States, with an estimated 35 million Americans – including more than 5.3 million children – reported to have faced the problem in 2019.

According to the Department of Agriculture, food insecurity is the economic and social condition of limited or uncertain access to adequate food, making it a major problem for a significant chunk of the American population.

Thankfully though, there are ways with which you can address this, with the most important one being food independence. This can be achieved by taking steps such as growing your own food in gardens and homesteads.

Here are some ways in which you can get started, as well as their pros and cons:

Square foot gardening

This method was first developed in 1981 by backyard gardener and retired engineer Mel Bartholomew as a better way to grow a vegetable garden. Square foot gardening involves taking a standard garden bed and dividing it into a grid of 1-foot squares, with each grid planted with a different type of vegetable or fruit.

Basically a scaled-down version of a permaculture farm, square foot gardening is commonly employed in homes with available backyard space.

Pros:

• Square foot gardening results in high yields
• Square foot gardening poses a lesser risk of soil compaction
• Square foot gardening are easy to set up
• Square foot gardens require minimal regular maintenance
• Square foot gardens require less weeding

Cons:

• Square foot gardens have limited space for large crops
• Square foot gardens require frequent watering

Raised garden beds

In its most basic iteration, a raised garden bed is a container or box full of soil in which plants are grown. Just like square foot gardens, raised garden beds are more suited to homes that have backyards, as the structures often take up substantial space.

Also referred to as garden boxes or planter boxes, raised garden beds are very customizable, in the sense that they can be easily made out of stone, bricks, concrete, galvanized metal, logs, durable textiles or other materials.

Pros:

• A raised garden bed means gardeners can exert more control over soil quality
• Raised garden beds can be aesthetically pleasing
• Raised garden beds offer more space for larger crops
• Raised garden beds are more ergonomic
• Raised garden beds are easier to manage
• Raised garden beds are not as susceptible to weeds and pests

Cons:

• The construction of raised garden beds requires more money upfront
• The construction of raised garden beds necessitates basic knowledge on carpentry
• Raised garden beds can be difficult to move
• Raised garden beds are limited in terms of shapes

Vertical gardens

First developed in ancient times, vertical gardens use structures such as vertically suspended wood planks or PVC tubes to grow plants. These unique structures, according to gardening enthusiasts, can either be freestanding or attached to a wall.

These structures are often constructed as part of a hydroponic system.

Pros:

• Vertical gardens can help maximize a small space
• Vertical gardens can help increase biodiversity by creating spaces for birds and insects
• Vertical gardens are aesthetically pleasing
• Vertical gardens are not as susceptible to weeds and animal pests
• Vertical gardens can reduce the urban heat island effect.
• Vertical gardens can help improve air quality by removing volatile organic compounds (VOCs)

Cons:

• Vertical gardens require frequent maintenance
• Vertical gardens can harbor moisture and mold
• Vertical gardens can block the sun
• Vertical gardens can be very expensive to build and run

Container gardens

Much like in raised garden beds or planter boxes, container gardening or pot gardening is the practice of growing vegetables exclusively in containers instead of planting them directly in the ground. The main difference, however, is that container gardens are often portable, which means they can be effectively moved to other locations should the need to do so arise.

Container gardens, more often than not, are more suited to people who live in apartments or in homes that have little to no open space, as these do not take up much room.

Pros:

• Container gardens make gardening more accessible
• Container gardens allow gardeners to be more creative
• Plants in container gardens are more well-protected
• Container gardens are cheap to set up

Cons:

• Container gardens are more susceptible to drying out
• Container gardens require more frequent additions of compost
• Container gardens can limit the growth of plants
• Container gardens can get heavy

Aquaponics setup

Aquaponics is a gardening system that marries the concept of hydroponics — the act of growing plants without soil — with aquaculture, the science of growing fish and other aquatic animals.

One of the more advanced techniques you can use in a homestead, aquaponics basically takes advantage of the symbiotic relationship that fish and plants have with each other, thus creating a self-cleaning and self-supporting system that can sustainably produce organic fish and vegetables for a long time,

Pros:

• Aquaponics systems are environmentally-friendly
• Aquaponics systems are more economical and practical to run
• Aquaponics systems are easy to set up and maintain
• Aquaponics systems are very scalable
• Aquaponics systems lend themselves well to polyculture farming
• Aquaponics systems produce fish, vegetables and fruits that are cleaner and have higher nutritional value

Cons:

• Aquaponics systems require more money to build
• Aquaponics systems are not suitable for certain vegetables such as tuberous plants and root vegetables
• Aquaponics systems may require the construction of additional infrastructure
• Aquaponics systems may consume more electricity compared to other systems

Food insecurity remains a big problem in the United States. It’s a good thing that you can take proactive steps such as homesteading and gardening, in order to address it.

If you are planning to guard your household against food insecurity, be sure to make the necessary research in order to identify the systems that would work best for you and your family.

Sources:

ERS.USDA.gov

Homesteading.com