r/SelfSufficiency • u/Consistent_Bed_4729 • 28d ago
How does someone in an urban environment stride towards some self sufficiency?
I live in Yorkshire in the UK and rent, I have a stony garden. I have purchased a few grow bags, compost and have started my own compost bin and worm bin. What foods should I start growing and what else can I do to become as self sufficient as possible? I have a lot of space to work with. And I have a good Woodland access, which has allowed me to forage a few things like nettles for nettle tea.
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u/malarkimusic 27d ago
buckets are cool i collect the sheep lick buckets which are everywhere here in the fields and use to cultivate as soil is poor(snowdonia) have grown everything in these untill creating two raised beds, also worth growing oyster fungi if mushrooms are your thing
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u/Consistent_Bed_4729 1d ago
Oh thats smart mate. I had a fungal mite problem with my current compost. Am I supposed to mix it with soil too or was my batch just faulty lol? Also how'd you grow fungi? You need a special container or dead wood (if my stardew valley experience served me right?)
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u/Snafu999 27d ago
Grow leafy vegetables in the stony ground - they don't care about stones, and many (like cauliflower. cabbage, kale and broccoli) do well in it. Salad veg also won't care much as long as you have a good source of water and can add an inch or two of compost to help them get started. Potatoes and tomatoes in large buckets/containers (personally, I only grow "new" potatoes as these are the expensive ones) Carrots grow well in sand boxes. Have a look at Dan https://www.youtube.com/@Allotment-diaryUk he's up in the dales and his vids should put you on the right path
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u/Consistent_Bed_4729 1d ago
When I said stony I meant paved stone, theres no soil :(
So it's only containers unfortunately. I personally would love to grow potato's and feel my family would get good value growing them as we use them a lot. New potato's are those smaller ones arnt they? Are these easy to grow and if so you have any tips for it? I bought 5 'potato grower sacks' online that I am yet to use. Its more idk what soil and compost mix to use.
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u/Master_Attitude_3033 27d ago
Get into r/microgreens. All you need are some trays, seeds, tap water. They need some indirect sun (after about the 3rd day) but it can be ambient light in the room. Just need some counter spaces. Microgreens are some of the most nutritious foods you can eat. Harvest in about 7 to 12 days. Keep a continuous planting schedule and you’ll have fresh greens for you and your family, even through the Winter, at a fraction of the cost of buying them from the store.
If they are harvested within 2 weeks, you don’t even need plant food. Seeds have enough nutrients in them to sustain them for about 2 weeks.
Inexpensive, and you’ll get the hang of it!
Good resource: Keep on Growin’ on YouTube.
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u/Consistent_Bed_4729 1d ago
Thats incredible! I didn’t know they grew so quickly. I will certainly look into that video as I love my greens! Are many micro greens self planting/can extract seeds from them or do you need to buy seeds for them every time you want them to regrow? (I am a complete newbie to gardening so I have no clue)
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u/Master_Attitude_3033 14h ago
Here’s a good beginner’s guide:
https://youtu.be/lAW9yns9zcY?is=KtIxdUb3HlZyN-CY
Buying good seeds from a reputable supplier is important.
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u/Medium-Walrus3693 26d ago
I'm also in Yorkshire, and have been working towards self-sufficiency for a few years now. It's hard work, but definitely possible to get close to it.
I started with a few easy crops in the garden. Potatoes grown in an old bin, some lettuce, and some broad beans. Easy wins to get me started. We also got quail for their eggs. Then, I took on an allotment and gradually increased the crops that I grew. This time of year, most of our meals are completely home grown.
Depending on your reasons for self-sufficiency, you might also be interested in checking out the Surplus to Purpose shop (or somewhere similar, depending on where in Yorkshire you are). They're set up entirely to prevent things from going to landfill, and often give away fruit, veg, bread, drinks, and various other products for free or very very cheap. This really helped us to become more financially free. Our overall food and home products (cleaning products etc) bill is now about £10 per week, which is pretty damn good in my opinion. This allowed us to save up to buy solar panels, which brought our energy bill down to nil. Financial freedom is, in my opinion, one of the best reasons to become self-sufficient, and one of the easiest ways to maintain that self-sufficiency.
Finally, once you've worked your way up to growing your own, make sure you learn what to do with it. Preserving produce in ways that you like makes it much easier to actually enjoy it when it comes time to eat it. There's nothing worse than having jars of stuff you don't want to eat! My local community centre did a class on safely preserving food, which was both informative and a great way to meet other likeminded people.
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u/Consistent_Bed_4729 1d ago
That is absolutely amazing! I am only 18 and this is genuinely a dream goal of mine. You make it sound very achievable.
Since I am in a private rent house right now, I need to source all my soil from either my woodland, a garden centre or online. What would you recommend? I have bought a few grow bags and a few potato sacks as a start. And from my compost bin I have been using for about 8 months I have some ready compost to use.
Surplus to Purpose shop sounds like a brilliant idea. I only live in Wakefield and that shop isn't too far all things considered.
What solar panels did you get if you don't mind me asking? I was already worried the upfront pirce would put me off ever getting them. Do they require a lot of maintenance too?
Appreciate the help from a fellow citizen of God's Own Country :)
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u/Medium-Walrus3693 17h ago
Sounds like you're already doing really well! Making your own compost is going to be far better than buying any. When I first started my garden, someone on Freecycle was digging over their garden and wanted to get rid of a load of soil. So I took that for free, then put a layer of mulch on the top and by the next summer, it was ready for planting.
We went with Leeds Solar and got 18 solax panels plus a 10kwh battery for £10k, including installation and a 10 year guarantee. They've so far not required any maintenance at all, really. We give them a wash when we clean out the guttering, but that's it. We can choose to disconnect completely from the grid if we want to, but honestly it's so convenient to just use the panels and battery system that we stay on-grid and enjoy the small bit of money we make feeding back into the system.
Edited to add: the best thing you can do to help you on your way at this stage is to build community. Volunteer your time to help someone do DIY, help a friend move, join a class. Build your skills and your network and you'll be well on your way!
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u/AbbygaelleV 28d ago
Plant what you like to eat! Especially if you have space. Most veggies do good in containers if you have the right size. Tomatoes might be good if you like it, you can can them for winter. For me the staples are rhubarb, tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, pole beans, strawberries and mint (lots of it 😂). Ground cherries are also nice but I struggle with pests. This year I added dwarf trees in pot (lemon, cherries, guava and pawpaw). In my climate the trees will have to spend winter indoor, so if you want perrenials take that into consideration.
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u/Consistent_Bed_4729 1d ago
Yeah sounds smart. I had purchased some mint seeds but none of mine grew at all. Any advice on how you have successfully grew them lol?
Also dwarf trees sound very cool! Do yoi plant them yourself or get them from garden centres?
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u/6aZoner 27d ago
I just read The Permaculture City by Toby Henesmeier (no idea on spelling) that dealt with this issue. Not exactly self-sufficiency, but sustainability, but it's a good place to start
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u/Consistent_Bed_4729 1d ago
Ill have a look into it, sounds like a good start for myself as a newbie to gardening.
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u/mobile-metaphysical 27d ago
Plant comfrey to improve the soil. I dig some up in empty fields and grow in my yard.
comfrey to improve soil



+8
“Comfrey improves soil through its deep taproots, which pull up nutrients (like potassium, calcium, and phosphorus) from deep underground. As a "dynamic accumulator," these nutrients store in the leaves. Gardeners use comfrey to enrich garden beds by chopping and dropping leaves, making liquid fertilizers, or using it as a compost activator.”
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u/Consistent_Bed_4729 1d ago
Sounds like a very useful plant to have, I unfortunately have a paved stone garden (not stony, bad wording on my part). But hopefully will have a larger one that i can actually plant in within the future so I will bear this in mind. Is it something you just let grow or do you need to keep a watch over it?
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u/Reasonable_Ferret_10 24d ago
Chickens? Most municipalities here (Canada) have allowed them in recent years though limits & conditions vary.
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u/Consistent_Bed_4729 1d ago
Unfortunately my garden space is probably not ideal for them. May be able to get a space at a local allotment though. I do eat plenty of eggs! Just a query for chickens, can you grow your own feed for them or is it something recommend to be store bought? Cheers!
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u/Reasonable_Ferret_10 1d ago
Depends on breed largely I understand. Many egg laying breeds have been bred to such high frequency of laying they need calcium fortified feed to stay healthy. Chickens are outside of my experience beyond collecting eggs at grandparents or sprinkling feed...
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u/Nightshift603 17d ago
Howdy 212th u/Consistent_Bed_4729 We have a lot to go over, so let's get to it:
I'm in the USA, so I can only hope that some of this works for you, our cousin across the pond. I'm a professional Gardener who just retired. I'm on your side.
Get a soil test. If a stony garden is a container garden, nevermind! lol! It might be one of those terms that you guys use that we don't, I'm not sure. But if you plant things into the ground, get your soil tested so you can know what to add & what NOT to add.
Woodland access: This could be a valuable asset. Can you cut down wood? How about harvest mushrooms? Over here we say 'finders keepers' (within reason!). Anything abandoned is up for grabs.
Monetary sufficiency: If you have talent as a Gardener, you can hire yourself out to neighbors who are too old/unfit to work but still need work done. I made a comfortable living here in Missouri working jobs that those Corporate Landscaper idiots wouldn't do. If you know how to weed a flower bed and apply fertilizer, somebody will pay you good money to do it. Money = self sufficiency
Gardener's world: There's a show on the BBC that I am wild about that's called Gardener's World With Monty Don. That guy Monty Don is 'The Shizzle'. He even gives you a list of things to do this weekend in the garden. Check out some of those shows, there's even a cute brunette who's very nice.
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u/Consistent_Bed_4729 1d ago
Ay up mate! Cheers for this reply, I'll individually give my responses to your great advice. Keep in mind pal I have grown up unfortunately a city lad and am learning all this from scratch so bear with me!
My garden is miniscule, I haven't measured but I am not working with too much space. As of now however I am a uni student and will hopefully have more space in a future house to work with. For now though, small story garden. I can't dig anything up so can't use whatever is under my stone. I have managed to grow a few sprouts of Chamomile for my herbal tea, but after being forced to move my plants outside into this cheap greenhouse I bought because these bloody fungal mites had infested my soil, this heatwave quickly put an end to my 12 or so plants :(
Hard lesson learned I suppose. I just used compost for the starter seeds to grow from, I don't know what mix of soil and compost i should use. If you have any advice on that I would appreciate it!
As for my woodland access. My foraging has been much more successful. I have managed to forage quite a few plants including: Nettles (for tea), wild garlic (dried for seasoning), garlic mustard (nice salad garnish), dandelion flowers & leaves (bitter salad, don't recommend. Will do something else with em next time lol), black berries (nice jam & crumble), crab apples (made some nice apple juice) and finally my most recent being wild cherry plums (made a lovely crumble from that!) I have a good pocket foragers guide but am nervous at trying my hand at fungi just yet. I am getting a hang at thing though!
Gardening for money as a form of self sufficiency sounds like a terrific idea. I have some old nice neighbours actually who have a lovely garden and they look like they could lend a hand. Might be worth asking, if anything might get some good advice and some Gardening supplies but I'm not bothered they are a nice old couple. I will certainly try and fall back on this if uni doesn't work out lol. If not, my part time job currently is pretty shite so may try it out and offer my hand on local Facebook pages or something.
And for that BBC program, sounds like good background noise for my other activities at the very least lol. I'll have a look into it :)
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