If the space you have available is limited, you don’t have a garden, window ledge or anywhere else you would immediately recognise as somewhere you could repurpose to grow your own food, Hydroponics could be the answer for you.

Hydroponics is basically growing things in a tray, trough or tank with flowing water, that contains all the nutrients that the plants, fruits and vegetables in them need to grow.

It is an amazingly efficient way to grow food, because of the limited space, energy and input that is required – once you are set up. And the great thing is that you can set up a Hydroponics system anywhere – often with only a very minimal requirement for energy or light.

In some ways Hydroponics is the most practical and most efficient way to grow your own food. Its just that the food that is actually the easiest to produce will not look as appetising as we might like it to be.

The important thing is that you and the people you care for can eat and get nutrition for however long the system and food supply chain change and related shortages might be.

When it comes down to the absolute nuts and bolts of not going hungry for any period of time, having a Hydroponics system working away in your home, might by the best bet you can make on yourself right now, today.

Please do a web search on ‘Hydroponics’, ‘Buy Hydroponics’, ‘Foods you can grow with Hydroponics’. There is plenty to see, read, learn from and buy online.

Once again, the time to be setting yourself up with a Hydroponics system at home is right now. When food is short, it might be short because the system of distribution has stopped or broken down. As most of the equipment you will need will be online, it won’t be any good to you, if you cant get to it or it can’t get to you!

If you don’t have a garden that you can change to grow your vegetables and fruits, it might be worth thinking about renting an allotment, so that you can grow and manage your basic foods for the longer term.

An allotment is basically a piece of open ground, often part of a large field or area that has been divided up into equally sized spaces or ‘allotments’ by the owner – which more often than not will be a local parish or town council.

Allotments are already reasonably popular. So if you check with your local council, you may already find that there is a waiting list for those that might become available.

In the challenging times that lie ahead, it may be the case that ground which is already owned and managed on behalf of the community will be repurposed for allotment use, other ground is secured by the community for this purpose, or that farmers and landowners set aside and rent out land they manage as allotments for others to use.

If you don’t have a garden, you almost certainly have windows. These are great places to grow things you can eat – and they can behave a little like greenhouses do too.

Depending on the size of your window ledge, you may be able to place some trays or troughs along the ledge, or perhaps affix some brackets with a trough or trays just underneath – as long as there is nothing like a radiator or similar in the way.

Do a search on ‘window gardens’, ‘what to grow in a window garden’, ‘setting up a window garden’, to get some ideas of what will be involved.

If your window box is outdoors, you may need to make sure that it is secured against wind or bad weather.

If the only windows you have available look abut a public pathway or road, growing food outside may not be the best plan for you – as your produce could disappear overnight when others who might be desperate can see – and easily reach – what you have grown.

As you read this, you may be able to turn your head and look out of the window and see a beautifully manicured lawn, a play area dedicated to private use for your kids, or a yard space where you can just make out the evidence of a recent visit from your dog.

Either way and whatever you might use your garden for today, gardens have historically had a much more meaningful, practical and yes – essential use.

Lawned gardens outside houses today are a luxury. So, if your outdoor area is in sunlight and can clearly grow leafy or grassy things, there is a much better use for it than growing grass – right now.

The space that you have available and how much you use of it is up to you. But the more you can use, the more food you could grow and then have available, the more types you can grow and the list goes on.

Once again, research on ‘how to dig my garden’, ‘how to cultivate my garden’ or terms like these should give you some great pointers on how to get started.

In terms of tools, a good strong step-on fork and a possibly a spade too might be all that you will need to get started, and these are all available online, at DIY stores or any large retailer that has a section for outdoors.

Something to bear in mind: If food does get really short for everyone – which is a very real risk, people who for whatever reason do not have food of their own available are likely to grab anything that it’s easy for them to do so – especially when its quiet or nobody is around at night. If you can, do grow your food somewhere that’s out of everyone else’s sight. You can always share, exchange or give away food that you have harvested when you have more than you or those around you will need. But that won’t be possible if you should find yourself short for reasons that are out of your control.

The easiest way to improve growth of vegetable that grow above the surface of the soil, is to grow them under cover of plastic sheets or glass.

If you have these available now, that’s great. If not, do have a look online, or go and visit one of the big DIY chains to get some ideas, and then go back online and find the most cost-effective versions of whatever you have been looking at.

Bigger greenhouses can be heated, and if you can heat a greenhouse cost-effectively when energy to do so is available, it will mean that you can grow some produce that would normally be seasonal, year-round.

However, the best use for glass or plastic coverings is to secure and keep your food safe from animals, insects or other pests – when you are growing outside.

Again, please do a web search using terms like ‘what to grow under glass’, ‘how to grow under glass’, or ’10 best foods to grow in my greenhouse’.