Many survival seed companies offer emergency heirloom seed kits that will make it possible to plant up to an acre of crops. Those seeds have to be high quality and stored in proper conditions. If you’re planning on starting your survival garden right away, double-check to make sure that the seeds are properly packaged to last for quite a while. Mylar is the best storage material for this purpose. Freezing the seed will keep it viable for ten years or longer.

Heirloom seed kits are designed for long-term gardening, and the seeds they contain aren’t as immediately productive as hybrids or GMO varieties. But there is a trade-off: Heirlooms, unlike hybrids and GMO seeds, can be saved and re-used.

Heirloom – or open-pollinated – seeds are the best choice to use as “survival seeds,” not only because of their reliability and consistently high quality, but also because seeds from hybrid plants are sterile. Think of it this way: Why can’t mules – the offspring of a male donkey and a female horse – have offspring? It’s because their hybrid nature has left them sterile. The same is true of hybrid seeds, which are left unable to reproduce owing to the way they were genetically engineered. Non-hybrid, non-GMO heirloom seeds are natural and unadulterated by pesticides or genetic manipulation, so they make a much better choice for a self-replenishing survival garden.

The biggest advantage, however, is that the produce that results will taste like food, rather than generic, pulpy product. The tomatoes will be robust and burst with flavor; the carrots will be sweet and irresistible; the beets, onions, parsnips, corn and other crops will offer a full, potent dose of flavor and nutrition.

Food storage and preservation are necessary compliments to survival gardening, so at least some of the harvest from your survival garden will need to be frozen, canned, or dehydrated. Another very good suggestion is to keep a large variety of tubers and squash – potatoes, winter squash, onions, beets, carrots, parsnips, and the like – in a root cellar, where they should last for several months.
Before either eating or storing the harvest, make sure to cull and store seed for next year’s planting. This will require a little preparation and study, and may take more than a single planting and harvest season to master.