Let’s talk about preparing your lawn, trees, shrubs, and garden for winter, and how best to improve your soil during this time of year.

Much of this Country seems to be clay soil, so first let’s find out how to improve problem clay soils. These procedures also apply to other types of soil, but may not be so important if you have loamy or sandy soil.

I don’t often dwell on amending your soil, because it is not essential for growing a good garden if you feed and water properly. However, it can be a good idea, so long as you use clean, weed, seed, bug, and disease-free materials.

Weed-free grass clippings are good soil amendments when they’re available, as are pine needles. And this time of the year you can also use your leaves. Mulch pine needles and leaves as fine as possible with a chipper/shredder or mulching mower, and then turn 3 or 4 inches of them into your soil-beds. Just don’t use walnut leaves, as the sap is very hard on some of your vegetables, especially tomatoes. This procedure will improve your soil tilth, and doing it in the fall gives the organic material plenty of time to de-compose before spring planting.

What else should you be doing now to get your yard ready for winter and give growing things a head start for spring? The Mittleider Method – as taught in his gardening books available at www.foodforeveryone.org – teaches the importance of and best methods of weeding and feeding your garden. A final weeding is a very good idea for starters. Left alone, some weeds will over-winter and come back strong as soon as the snow leaves your ground and before you can get into the yard. That’s why farmers plant winter wheat, and gardeners plant things like garlic – so they have a head start in the spring. Don’t give your weeds that advantage!

The next thing to do is to clean up and remove all organic materials from the garden area! Clean, disease-free plant residue should be turned into the soil along with your leaves, and you should remove everything else, so as not to provide a place for bugs to winter-over.

A slow-release fertilizer is also a good thing to put down in the fall. This way, it is available to lawn, plants, and trees as they first stir in late winter and early spring. This is also an excellent time to apply calcium, which is “the foundation of a good feeding program,” and an essential nutrient almost as important as nitrogen. How is this best done? Calcium does not move very far in the soil, so it’s best to work it into the plants’ root zone in the soil. However, what about the majority of your yard, that doesn’t get turned over every fall?

With lawn, trees, shrubs, vines, and perennials such as raspberries and asparagus, it is usually impractical to dig things up every year like a vegetable garden. Therefore, sometimes the question is asked “Would it be advantageous to aerate first, or use a root feeder or something similar to get Pre-Plant minerals more into the root zone?”

Many people feel this is important, and there may be some advantage to aerating your lawn or around your shrubs and trees before applying your fall slow-release fertilizer and calcium. However Dr. Mittleider says it is not necessary and doesn’t do it, and we have never aerated our yard and get along just fine. Therefore, I recommend you spread the materials evenly on the soil surface, scratch them in with a rake or hoe, and either water them in thoroughly or, if you have already turned off your outside water for the winter, let the melting snow take them down into the root zone of your plants.

Do these things now and your garden can be a thing of beauty even in the winter! © James B. Kennard, 2006

Jim Kennard, President of Food For Everyone Foundation, has a wealth of teaching and gardening training and experience upon which to draw in helping the Foundation “Teach the world to grow food one family at a time.” Jim has been a Mittleider gardener for the past twenty-nine years; he is a Master Mittleider Gardening Instructor, and has taught classes and worked one-on-one with Dr. Jacob Mittleider on several humanitarian gardening training projects in the USA and abroad. He has conducted projects in Armenia, America, Madagascar, and Turkey by himself. He assists gardeners all over the world from the https://www.foodforeveryone.org website FAQ pages and free Gardening Group, and grows a large demonstration garden at Utah’s Hogle Zoo in his spare time.

Gardening Books, CDs and Software are available at https://www.foodforeveryone.org

Q. I would like to know if there is any way to keep the deer from getting in my garden without hurting them?

A. Tall fences – above 6′ – work well.

Some folks believe mountain lion or tiger feces will also repel them. I’m not sure about this because my garden is only 100 yeards from the Big Cat House at utah’s Hogle Zoo, and I’ve had 7 and 8 deer in my garden at one time.

A Border Collie, or other trainable dog can also probably discourage them, if the dog will be willing to stand guard all night.

Many people arrive at the end of the gardening season and wish they had planned their garden better. Often there is wasted space, and sometimes we have grown things that were not used, and perhaps couldn’t even be given away.

Now is a good time to begin planning for next year’s garden – to make sure you realize the greatest benefit from your valuable time and available space, and that you make the most of those precious 6 months of growing which nature provides us.

First you should decide what your garden is used for. Is it for casual use, with just a few things grown for fun, or do you depend on it as a major source of your family’s food? Next, decide what kinds of things are best to grow – juicy tomatoes, or that new triple-sweet corn. And then plan for how much of each thing you will grow.

How your garden is used depends on 1) whether or not you’re able or willing to devote serious effort to your garden, 2) whether you expect to feed your family just during the growing season or for the entire year, 3) what things your family likes to eat, 4) will there be supplementation from other sources, or will you be depending on your garden completely, and 5) do you want or expect to earn money from the sale of your produce.

An excellent and inexpensive database of commonly grown vegetables, with when, where, and how they can be grown, as well as how much they will produce, is contained on the Garden Wizard and Garden Master CD’s. These are wonderful resources for the serious family gardener, and can be found at www.foodforeveryone.org under Software.

I recommend growing high-value and ever-bearing crops, such as tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, pole beans, zucchini, etc., to maximize your yield in the minimum space, for the least cost and effort.

Let’s assume you have a large family you want to feed from your garden, and that you have 1/8th of an acre that can be used for this purpose. I’ll give examples of what can be grown in 30′-long soil-beds.

On 1/8th of an acre you should be able to grow thirty two 30’-long soil-beds that are 18” wide, with 3 ½’ interior aisles and 5’ end aisles.

Using vertical growing with the Mittleider Method (which includes organic gardening, container gardening, hydroponic gardening, and soil gardening), your garden should produce the following amounts of fresh, healthy vegetables:

Five beds of indeterminate tomatoes – 2,000-4,000# of tomatoes from July through October. Two beds of sweet peppers – 500-1,000 peppers. Two beds of eggplant – 500-1,000 eggplant. Two beds of cucumber – 750-1,500 cucumbers. Three beds of pole beans – 400-800# of beans. Two beds of zucchini – 500-1,000# of zucchini.

So far we’ve only used 1/2 of the garden, and you have more than enough vegetables to feed the family during the growing season, with excess to sell or give away. Doubling the space of these 6 crops could provide income to buy other food staples, and/or provide sufficient to dry or bottle food for the winter months.

Growing easily-stored food in the other half of your garden, such as potatoes, cabbage, beets, onions, turnips and carrots can provide the family fresh food during the winter. You should be able to produce the following amounts, and if you will provide proper cold storage these can be usable for up to 6 months.

Two beds of carrots – 200-400# of carrots. Two beds of cabbage – 200-400# of cabbage. One bed of beets – 100-200# of beets. Two beds of onions – 200-400# of onions. Five beds of potatoes – 500-1,000# of potatoes.

The carrots, cabbage and beet crops can often be doubled by growing an early and late crop in the same space, which make these varieties more valuable for the serious grower.

In this scenario you have four beds left to plant. Crops like corn, large squash, and watermelon should only be grown if you have ample EXTRA space, because they take much space for the yield they produce. For example one bed of corn should produce about 90-100 ears of corn – all within about 2 weeks, whereas a bed of tomatoes should produce 400-800 POUNDS of tomatoes, spaced over 4 months.

Take the time now for this important planning exercise. Have your family decide what they want to eat, calculate the amounts of each vegetable needed, and then plan your space so you can grow at least that much in your garden.

Good Growing!

——————————————————————————–

Jim Kennard, President of Food For Everyone Foundation, has a wealth of teaching and gardening training and experience upon which to draw in helping the Foundation’s mission of “Teaching the world to grow food one family at a time.” Jim has been a Mittleider gardener for the past twenty-nine years; he is a Master Mittleider Gardening Instructor, and has taught classes and worked one-on-one with Dr. Jacob Mittleider on several humanitarian gardening training projects in the USA and abroad. He has conducted projects in Armenia, America, Madagascar, and Turkey by himself. He assists gardeners all over the world from the https://www.foodforeveryone.org website FAQ pages and free Gardening Group, and grows a large demonstration garden at Utah’s Hogle Zoo in his spare time.

Gardening Books, CDs and Software are available at https://www.foodforeveryone.org

Q. 1) In Dr Mittleider books I have found different sizes for the grow boxes, please tell me what is the best size and

2) what are the quantities of fertilizers that should be used (pre-plant and weekly feed).

3) Do you think it is good to feed sweet potatoes (or any vegetable) weekly?

4) Do you think it is wise to plant vegetables (sweet potatoes, yam, dachine) in the soil or should I always use grow boxes?

5) What is the best distance between sweet potato plants?

6) Do you think that all fruit trees should receive the same fertilizers or different fruit trees require different types of fertilizers? What about the amount of fertilizers. I have citrus trees (oranges, mandarines, tangerines, limons) mangoes, avocadoes, bread fruit , banana trees, etc.

Some trees look very good, but others not too good. The trees are not very old (about 10 years old)

7) What do you think should be the best fertilizer for sugar cane?

A. 1) For commercial production 4′-wide boxes are probably the best and most productive. You can plant 2 rows of the climbing or tall plants in them and 4 rows of other large plants. You can even plant more than four rows of small things like radishes, carrots, leaf lettuce, etc.

With most plants – climbing or large vegetables – you should plant at the edges and 12″ in, leaving a 2′ open area in the center of the bed. This is essential for adequate light to get to all plants as they grow and mature.

2) Fertilizer should be applied at the rate of 1 ounce per running foot of row for Pre-PLant Mix, and 1/2 ounce per running foot of row for Weekly Feed. Both are applied before planting, and mixed with the soil.

3) This should be done for EVERY vegetable and fruit you grow.

Application of Weekly Feed should be once every week, until 3 weeks before harvest, for single-crop varieties. It should be placed 4″ from the plant stems, down the length of the row, and the watering will – over the week – take it into the soil at the root zone of the plants.

4) Everything can be grown successfully in either soil or Grow-Boxes. If your soil is particularly bad you may choose to grow in boxes. This will often minimize problems with bugs and diseases, although those can migrate into the soil-less mixture over time, requiring that it be replaced after a few years, unless you cover your ground with something like roofing material first.

5) Planting can be closer than traditional methods. It also depends on the size and variety. We have planted sweet potatoes closer than 12″ and as far apart as 14″, and a 4″-wide bed will accommodate 4 rows. An 18″ bed will allow 2 rows of all plants except climbing plants, which should have only one row.

6 & 7) I recommend you use the Pre-Plant and Weekly Feed, without any changes, on every plant you grow. This includes trees, bushes, flowers, and even grass ( and sugar cane). The amounts and frequency will vary greatly, depending on the size and growing habits.
Fertilizing trees should be done twice each year – once at budding time, and again when the fruit are forming. Amounts to use depend on the size of the tree. Look in the FAQ section of the website under Trees to find an article about feeding trees.

It’s true that some plants and trees use a little more of one element than another. The Mittleider natural mineral nutrients are complete, balanced formulas that have enough of every required element that you will seldom see a deficiency.

Make sure you have the Mittleider Garden Doctor set on hand. Then, if you do see a deficiency developing you can quickly identify it and apply the correct dosage of the needed mineral. This is far better than trying to develop a separate fertilizer for each type of crop.

When you get to the point where you are growing many acres of a single crop, then you can get more sophisticated and custom mix your fertilizers for that crop.

There are three reasons for crop rotation:
1. Some crops utilize more of a specific nutrient than others, and by rotating crops soil fertility can be better equalized.

2. Some crops attract specific insects. By rotating the crops the cycle of insect build-up is minimized.

3. If a crop becomes diseased, rotating to a crop that is not susceptible to that disease can break the cycle of the disease pathogen.

All of these conditions are of only minor importance, however. When plant nutrition is really understood, fertility can be maintained easily. And by keeping a weed-free, clean garden and uniform, healthy, fast-maturing crops, insect and disease build-up are seldom experienced.

When you get ready to think of maximizing your production by growing your own seedlings, using a cold frame/hot house or building your own greenhouse, or growing plants vertically (as I do to achieve over 10,000 pounds of tomatoes on 1/22nd of an acre), consider the Mittleider Gardening Course, which includes what you see on the internet and about a dozen “advanced” topics, and is the student manual for any classes taught by the Food For Everyone Foundation.

Q. In the photo albums (MittleiderMethodGardening@yahoogroups.com), I see pictures of Jim Kennard’s Hogle Zoo gardens. It appears that he plants his crops in the rows instead of on top of the mounded part of the row. Is this due to the automated watering process or is there a secret I’m not aware of? My grannie traught me to mound the row, plant on the top of it and water in the ditch between the rows. Have I got it all wrong?

A. Planting on the ridges has its origins in farmers’ attempts to keep plants from drowning. In high-rainfall areas – especially in clay soil, because it is very slow to drain – unless you raise the level of the soil where the plant sits, the roots will suffocate for lack of oxygen after hard or long rains. This continues to be the preferred method of planting “field” crops to this day, and is probably the most practical way to do it with mechanized equipment.

Problems associated with planting on the ridges include: 1) the difficulty of getting and keeping fertilizers near the plant roots, 2) fertilizing the entire garden, instead of just the vegetable plants, 3) losing much of the fertilizers due to the runoff and leaching of excess water 4) watering the plant adequately if there is no rain, 5) weeding every inch of the garden, because the weeds get watered and fertilized right along with the vegetables, and 6) avoiding losing the ridges (and the crop) to heavy rains when the plants are small.

If your plants are on the top of ridges, watering requires much more water even than if everything were flat, because you have to provide sufficient water, deep enough, to thoroughly soak the entire ridge. Flood irrigating in this way is not at all conserving of a precious water resource.

The benefits from planting in level ridged beds, and putting the plants at the base of the ridges instead of at the top include:
1) Using less than 1/2 the water, since you only water 18″ not 5′.
2) Using less than 1/2 the fertilizer, by not fertilizing the aisles.
3) Less weeding, since aisles are neither watered nor fed, and so are dry and inhospitable to weeds’ growth. Also, close-planted plants shade weeds out in the beds.
4) Planting 2 rows of most crops close together allows bush beans, peas, etc., to support themselves by leaning on their neighbors.
5) Allows for easy automation of watering, to greatly reduce labor and increase watering efficiency.
6) Ease of caring for and harvesting your crops, with wide, dry aisles.

In high-rainfall areas you do need to remember to open the ends of your beds during heavy rains, so the water drains out. Othwise your plants may drown.

Q. I am in the process of putting in the automated watering system. I have some questions. When the pipe is installed down the center of the rows are they permanently installed? Next year in preparing the garden how do you roto-till the garden with the pipes there. The garden book states to use threaded T’s and elbows. I can’t figure out why, unless you also buy threaded PVC pipe. I’m confused, please reply as soon as you can.

A. First, you buy unthreaded lengths of pipe (10′ or 20′). then you glue the lengths together to fit the length of your soil-bed, using slip-slip fittings. Next, you drill 3 holes with a #57 drill bit at 45-degree angles every 4″ the entire length of the pipe (it goes fast, don’t feel intimidated). The three holes make a 90-degree angle in the pipe, and they face down onto the bed.

Then you put threaded male adapters on both ends of the pipe. On the far end, you will screw a female threaded cap. On the end with your water valve, you screw the male end into the female end of the threaded ball valve.

That ball valve is threaded into a 1 1/2″ bib, which is threaded into a threaded elbow, which is glued to a 1′ piece of 3/4″ pipe that has another male threaded fitting on the opposite end. That end is threaded into a threaded T that is glued into your main water-source line. You can sketch all that out and you’ll see the whole system.

OR – do you have the book The Mittleider Gardening Course? If not I highly recommend it. OR – go to the Store section of the website and look at that book. We have made that very chapter available for you to read, study, and download – free of charge.

You place the pipe on short pieces of 2″ X 4″ boards 5 or 6″ long – 4 or 5 to a 30′ bed.

At the end of the season, you just remove the PVC pipe and turn the short PVC piece with the ball valve toward one of the stakes, and the bed is ready to till. I like to till in the fall, so there is less opportunity for weeds to winter over and get ahead of you in the spring.

Q. I was reading the instructions for automated watering and it says to mark a line and then mark another 30 degrees from that one. Is it 30 degrees between each line or 45 degrees between each line? (there are 3 rows of holes in each pipe, right?)

Next, is there any particular reason that the end cap needs to be threaded? Do you need to take it off for some reason?

How deep are the trenches? I am guessing that those pipes that go down vertically into the trenches are 1 foot long. Can they be left in the trenches over winter, without freezing? And, does there need to be a threaded end cap to allow the water remaining in the pipes down in the trenches, for them to drain–so they won’t freeze over the winter?

PS I have already purchased all the parts for the system, and I do not have ANYthing with threads on it.

A. I apologize that we have two different angles listed for the holes in the PVC pipes. The 30 degree angle is necessary for narrow beds, such as a 12″ Box. However, the 45 degree angle is generally more satisfactory, although it shouldn’t make a lot of difference in soil-beds, since the entire planting area is flooded anyway. In Grow-Boxes, the narrower angle could mean the water isn’t getting very close to the plant roots when the plant is small, and could cause some stress from lack of water, if you don’t make sure of your coverage.

Go back to the store and trade for male threaded ends, female end caps, and threaded ball valves. Do not make the mistake of building your watering system without having both ends screw off, and the riser from the main line also screwing in (this one is ESPECIALLY important). And you need to be sure your valve also screws in on both ends.

The end cap needs to come off, so that accumulations of stuff in the pipe can be flushed out. Otherwise, you will begin to have the pipe fill with sediment, or last winter’s critters-seeking-shelter, and watering will suffer greatly. Also, if it doesn’t screw, the valve up on top can’t be moved out of the way of the tiller or shovel when someone is re-working the bed.

If the riser from the main line is glued and someone breaks it, you could easily be faced with an expensive and time-consuming repair job.

The valve that controls your water gets a lot of use and abuse, and sometimes there isa break – either in the valved itself or the pipes on either side. Being able to unscrew it is essential to avoid costly and time consuming repairs.

In designing and building your watering system you need to have a stop and waste valve at the low end of the system, so excess water can drain off. So long as this is done, and your pipes empty themselves before a hard frost, you will have no problem leaving your individual bed risers in the ground over the winter.

The trenches for your main line should be more than 8″, since that is the depth of the tillers you will use, and you surely don’t want to be cutting into your main water line.

Automating your watering system takes much of the drudgery out of the gardening experience. It also assures more efficient use of precious water and does a better job of watering every plant evenly. I highly recommend it!

This process is covered, with illustrations in the Mittleider Gardening Course, chapter 15, which is available at www.growfood.com. That chapter is also available free in the Store section, and it’s included in the Files section of the MittleiderMethodGardening Group on YahooGroups. Following is a recap of the procedures.

The first thing to do is to measure, mark, and stake the garden, followed by trenching and installing the PVC feeder lines.

First, determine what size pipe you can use. If the source is only a hose bib, then 3/4″ pipe is all you need. Watering will be much faster if you have access to a 1″ or larger water source. Measure the distance from the main water source to the head of the farthest bed, as you will want a header-pipe that long.

Buy PVC pipe as large as the pipe from the water source, or 3/4″, whichever is larger.

Your trench for the header pipe should be 9″ deep and very close to the beds, so the risers come up only a couple of inches or so from the end stakes at the center of the bed.

Buy slip/slip/thread T’s for risers to each bed, with the threaded T being 3/4″, and the slip sides matching the header pipe. Cut your header pipe so the T’s are at the center of each bed, then glue them with the T straight up.

To make risers you’ll need one of the following for each bed:
1) 12″-long 3/4 Schedule-200 pipe,
2) 3/4″ slip/threaded female/male connector (to go into the T from the header-pipe),
3) 3/4″ slip/threaded elbow,
4) 2″ threaded bib,
5) plastic threaded ball-valve,
6) Schedule 200 PVC pipe, cut to the length of your bed or box,
7) 3/4″slip/threaded female/male connector (for far end of pipe),
8) 3/4″ threaded end cap.

To drill holes in your pipes for watering, you need some #57 drill bits and a drill. To make a jig for marking the pipe, you need a 6″-long piece of 2″ X 4″ board, a pencil, and a drill bit the same size as the pencil.

Cut a square piece out of the long side of the board at the middle, so the opening fits the pipe snugly, then drill a hole from the top down to the middle of that square opening. Inserting the pencil into the hole, pull the board along the stationary pipe to mark a straight line. Then turn the pipe 45 degrees and repeat the line, and another 45 degrees and repeat again.

Stretch a tape measure along the length of the 20′ length of PVC pipe. Mark a line every 4″ that intersects the 3 lines already on the pipe. Drill a hole where the lines intersect – 3 holes every 4″ for the length of each pipe. That’s a lot of holes, but don’t let it scare you. They go very fast once you get started, and you only do it once – for a garden that’ll last 20 or 30 years.

Q. I have a question concerning the height of the pipes in grow boxes. The book says to lay 2″ X 4″ X 6″ blocks down across the bed width, but shows two pictures – one with the block laying flat, which would put the pipe 1.5 inches off the ground. The other picture shows the block on its side, which would put the pipe 3.5 inches off the ground. What is the recommended height or what works best?

A. The PVC pipes must provide water to the roots of your plants. In order to do this, the height of the pipes from the ground may need to be different, depending on circumstances. In an 18″-wide Grow-Box, we recommend the pipes be at least 3 1/2″ from the soil surface. The reason is that the water will not travel very far horizontally, but goes mostly DOWN when it hits the soil. Therefore, it is important to get the water spray close to, but not hitting the plant stems. Otherwise, you will waste water, and your plants may not get enough. On the other hand, if the water hits the plant stems – particularly when they are tiny, it may wash them right out of the soil and kill the plant.

If plant stems are 2″ from the sides of an 18″ box, pipe sitting 3 1/2″ from the soil surface on a 2″ X 4″ block will be 6″ MOL from the plant stems. With holes drilled at 45-degree angles, the water will hit the soil 2 to 2 1/2″ from the stems. Once the plant is established, or if you’re using transplants, the root systems will go deep enough that the water will reach them. But with plants from seed, the water may not be close enough during the first 2-3 weeks. If this is the case, you may need to raise your pipes another inch or so.

In Soil-Beds, unless you are growing in very sandy soil, the water will generally fill the entire bed from side to side and end to end, and so the height of the pipes from the dirt is not as important, so long as you do not wash your plants out of the ground by having the water hit the plant stems. It is still most efficient to place the water close to the plant stems, and so a 2″ X 4″ block works well.

Some pictures you see from the Mittleider books may be of 12″-wide Grow-Boxes, in which case the pipes would not need to be as high off the soil surface in order to have the water reach the plants’ root systems.

Q. I have a question concerning watering. How many beds can you tie together from one watering source and still water evenly? I plan on using one hose from the house to water the garden. I hope to build ten beds four feet wide and fifteen feet long. Will the Automated system work well with twenty pipes tied together?

A. Yes, but how well depends on several factors, which I’ll explain in detail below For your specific situation, unless you’re prepared to do some work, I recommend you buy the largest hose you can, so that it doesn’t reduce your flow too much. You can tie the twenty beds all to a single header pipe, but then put valves at the beginning of each row, so you can water only one or two at a time, if necessary. You will learn by trial and error how many will water properly with the volume and pressure you have.

The question of how many beds you can water with the automated system is very common and very important. How much you can water at one time is entirely dependent on the volume of water and the pressure with which it is delivered to your pipes. I’ll give you some examples of extremes on both ends, and then try to give suggestions for your garden situation.

I have a 5 1/2 HP Honda gas-powered pump bring water to my 1/2-acre garden in a 2″ pipe, and I can water 20 to 25 30′-long beds at one time. The big pipe and strong pressure provide a large volume of water, thus allowing for fast watering of my 125 beds.

At what you would think is the other extreme are Jan & Gretchen Graf in Santa Clara, Utah (where the big flood happened this week – and their family farm is now a 30′ hole in the ground). Their garden is still intact – the pictures are in the Photo section – and it is watered by gravity. They collect water from a natural spring into 4-250 gallon tanks. Those are connected in tandem with 1″ pipes, and a 1″ pipe then goes to their garden. The top of the garden is only about 3′ below the bottom of the tanks, but with the large pipe plus the pressure of the water in the tanks, they are able to water 4 30′ rows at a time. And you will see from the pictures that their garden is on blow-sand!

Meanwhile, others who are on municipal water, supposedly with ample pressure, sometimes have a hard time watering two short beds without having the far ends of the rows suffer from lack of water. Four things usually contribute to this problem as follows: 1) they are using a garden hose (3/8″ typically), 2) from a 1/2″ hose faucet at the side of their house, 3) sometimes they use 1/2″ PVC pipes in the garden, and 4) some even use Schedule 40 pipe, which reduces the inside diameter even more.

Here’s what I recommend you do to have the most volume and pressure for watering your garden:
1. Tap into your main water line, before it enters your house. This will be at least a 3/4″ line, and often is 1″, and the pressure will be unreduced by all the things going on in the house.
2. Use the same size PVC pipe between the main connection and your garden as the source pipe. This will assure the same volume and pressure are available at the garden.
3. Continue with the same size pipe for plumbing between the beds, and do not go smaller than 3/4″ pipe, even in the individual beds.
4. Use Schedule 200 pipe in the beds, rather than Schedule 40. It will carry more water, it is much easier to drill the holes, and won’t break your drill bit nearly as often, and if properly cared for will last 20-30 years.
5. Drill 3 holes every 4″ at 45 degree angles using a #57 or #58 drill bit (see chapter 15 of the Gardening Course or look in the Files section of the Group site for details and graphic illustrations).
6. Do not make your beds much longer than 30′, and certainly do not allow the far end of the bed to be higher than the water source end. Water still hasn’t learned to run uphill.

Q. We don’t understand whether we are to place these 2″ x 3″ (6″ lengths) directly on the soil or are we to nail them to the top sides of the 2″ x 12″s. If they are to rest directly on the soil surface, how far apart should they be spaced? We are using two PVC watering lines per box.

A. We recommend 6″-long pieces of 2″ X 4″‘s. They are placed on the soil surface (usually pressed into the soil slightly), and having two small nails in the top to hold the PVC in place. They should be spaced no more than 8’ apart.

Jim Kennard

Q. I’m planning to install the automated watering system for my 18 raised Grow-Boxes. I thought it was supposed to be inexpensive, but I’m nearing $300 for the PVC and fittings so far. Maybe I’m buying the wrong things. Can you give me a detailed list of what I need and an estimate of what my 18-bed watering system should cost?

A. In Salt Lake City, Utah I would pay approximately the following for 18 beds, including risers from a main line. I have not included the cost of your main line to the garden, since I don’t have any facts.

18 – 3/4″ T with Riser side threaded – – – – – – – – $ 13
54 – Male threaded adapters – glue to pipe ends – – – 25
18 – Sch 200 pipe for risers 1′ each – – – – – – – – – 2
18 – Slip/thread elbows – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – 6
18 – 1 1/2″ nipples – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – 6
18 – Plastic threaded ball valve – – – – – – – – – – 72
54 – 10′-long 3/4″ Sch 200 PVC pipe – – – – – – – – 60
36 – slip/slip connectors to make 30′ lengths – – – – – 9
18 – threaded end caps – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – 9

Total – approximately $202.

This represents a 20-year investment of $10 per year, which is less than 6 cents per day of a 6-month growing season. It will save you money every day for 20 years on water, plus the time required for watering, and it will make the water distribution more accurate and effective. We consider it a very inexpensive investment, with a high rate of return.

Q. Which book of the Mittleider gardening books gives the best-detailed instructions on using irrigation water with grow beds? I have seen some pdf files on basic set up for grow beds, the last thing I want to be doing is unplugging clogged holes several hours a week. Can irrigation water be used in all circumstances, do you need a certain amount of psi?

A. Probably what follows is more detailed than in the books.

Irrigation water can be used in the automated PVC watering system, but care must be taken to filter the water before it goes into the pipes. The stronger your pressure, the fewer problems you’ll have and the faster you can water your garden, but we sometimes water with only gravity pressure.

In addition to sand, etc. plugging the pipes there is the risk of small weed seeds getting into the garden. For this reason, it is a good idea to filter irrigation water if possible, even when using it directly on your beds or boxes.

In the Foundation’s Zoo garden in SLC, Utah we filter the water from the creek right as it enters the 2″ flexible hose from which our Honda 5.5 hp pump sends it into the garden. We use three levels of filtering, very coarse to stop rocks, etc., medium to stop pebbles, and nylon hose for the finer particles.

Regardless of our best efforts some things still get through. In the beginning, I kept a couple of awls handy and (too often) would resort to reaming out the holes. With over 100 beds you can imagine this could be a BIG job!

We soon discovered that you can open the end of the pipe for a few seconds, close the end, then tap on the pipe with a hoe or rake handle while the water is on. This almost always clears the obstructions. And it is a good idea to open the end a second time AFTER tapping on the pipe, thus letting the debris you’ve dislodged wash out also.

Q. How about getting beet greens. Can you trim off a leaf or two from each beet plant, like you do swiss chard? This would leave the root to continue growing.

A. Many people like beet greens more than the beet itself, and harvest the plants when the root is small and the leaves are tender.

However, if you want to continue growing the root you can take off one or two leaves at a time.

Q.  The fertilizing amounts that they have on the garden planting details …should that be consecutive weeks or spread out across the growing season for example on the beets it says 6 to 8 so would I do weekly feed 8 weeks consecutively or should that be spread out… so I’m assuming that you feed for 6-8 weeks and then stop …have I got that right?

A.  Yes, you feed weekly.  Except when the weather is cold you do not feed as often, because the plants cannot uptake and use the nutrients when the weather is much colder than 60 degrees (some varieties do better in cold weather).

However, if you learn to use the secondary edible parts of the plants and you begin – about the 4th or 5th week – to remove a couple of beet leaves every week and eat them, and continue this throughout the season, you can (as we do) harvest and continue to use those same beet plants for 8-10 months!  And if you do this, instead of treating them like a single-crop plant, you will continue to feed them.  I will harvest, use, and therefore continue to feed my beets for several months.  We slow down in cold weather, only feeding every 2-3 weeks, and we stop about 8 weeks before the final harvest is expected.

Q. I have read that each “b-b” sized husk beet “seed” contains approximately 6 “real” seeds – so should I crush these husks to release the “real seed” prior to planting? Also, how much prior to the last average last frost date should I plant my beet seedlings for transplant? Lastly, since they are such tiny seedlings, how large should they be allowed to get before transplanting into the garden and how far apart should they be spaced in the row – I would imagine a couple of inches at least for growing to mature beets would be minimum.

A. He’s only joking about crushing the beet seeds. Don’t do it, just plant them as they come. His other questions may have been made tongue-in-cheek also, but I’ll answer them anyway.

Beets are considered semi-hardy, and will not be killed by light frost. They are usually planted directly into the garden as much as a month before the average last frost date for that reason, and because their value usually doesn’t justify transplanting from pots or flats.

They CAN be transplanted, however, and the notion that because they are a root crop they will be stunted is not correct. The bulb will form just fine.

We sometimes use beets when teaching seedling production, because they can be planted easily as well as early, and they provide an inexpensive lesson in volume transplanting. You might want to try it yourself, to improve your transplanting skills.

The seedling is usually 3 to 4 weeks old when it’s transplanted into the garden.

Spacing – either for transplants or for seeding directly – should consider the size of the mature fruit and leave space to avoid crowding. If you enjoy eating young beet greens, which are even better than cooked spinach, you may want to plant closer together and thin them to the final 2-3″ spacing you desire.

Q. Do you ship US postal or ground UPS?

A. We use the US Postal Service for Snail Mail, and much of our material is also available as instant digital downloads at growfood.com/shop for about 40% less than buying the paper copies.

I have said nothing about this book for a long time, for just one reason. Our inventory of books had brittle binding glue and the pages would fall out at the least provocation.

We’ve finally solved the problem! We purchased a machine and re-bound this great gardening book ourselves, using a Plastic Comb Binder.

Now that we don’t have to worry about them falling apart on you, let me tell you why those growing in containers need to consider getting your copy NOW, while they are available (Grow-Box Gardens, Let’s Grow Tomatoes, and Grow-Bed Gardening are all out of print).

Gardening by the Foot is filled with almost 250 pictures illustrating 140 pages of Jacob’s great how-to instructions on every aspect of growing in containers.

Vegetable plants need 13 mineral nutrients, and in GBTF you’ll learn how to give them exactly what they need, unlike Square Foot Gardening that promotes compost as sufficient to grow healthy plants.

Following are the chapter headings:

1. Introduction
2. Why use Mini Grow-Boxes?
3. What are mini Grow-Boxes?
4. Choosing a Location
5. preparing the area for Mini-Frames
6. Tools and Materials
7. How to Make Mini Grow-Boxes
8. Filling Grow-Boxes with Soil
9. Pre-plant Fertilizers
10. Starting Plants from Seed
11. Planting Seed in Mini-Boxes
12. Transplanting into Mini-Boxes
13. Making markers and Marking Mini-Boxes
14. Fertilizing Crops in Mini-Boxes
15. Common Garden Problems
16. Increasing Yields in Ever-bearing Crops
17. Transplanting Gallon-Size Plants into Mini-Boxes
18. Installing an Automated Watering System
19. Harvesting
20. “A” Frames and Greenhouses
21. Installing Strings to Hold Tall Plants
22. What To Do With Trouble
23. Soil Maggots
24. Nutrient Deficiencies and Corrections
25. Units of Measure

Are you serious about growing your own food? Get Gardening by the foot and SEE how the best gardener in the world did it – in his own backyard garden and in 27 countries around the world.

For books in print or digital formats, go to https://growfood.com/gardening_by_the_foot/.

Consider getting both formats. You can mark up the paper copy and take it to the garden, and have the downloadable PDF on your phone, tablet, or laptop — always available when you’re on the go.

As Dr. Mittleider’s experience and knowledge grew the formulas changed. The latest formulas are on the internet site and in The Mittleider Gardening Course, so use those. However, rather than searching all over for materials, you can get the micro-nutrients pre-mixed from us here, if you choose, and then mix them with something like 16-16-16 plus Epsom Salt (I give you the amounts and instructions with the Micro’s) for a close second choice.

For Grow-Box gardening, the book with that title, as well as Gardening By The Foot, and Let’s Grow Tomatoes are all three very good. Grow Box Gardening was the first, and is loved by many thousands of people. It is illustrated graphically. The other two teach using hundreds of actual pictures from Mittleider gardens, with accompanying descriptions and instructions.

Grow-Bed Gardening is excellent for learning The Mittleider Method of gardening in the soil using ridged soil-beds. It is very comprehensive, again using pictures throughout, and even teaches greenhouse construction and seedling production.

The Mittleider Gardening Course covers all the above topics very well. It is graphical in its presentation, and is the student workbook in classes that we teach at Food For Everyone Foundation. For more information about on-site training, go to the Foundation page of the website.

The Garden Doctor is a one-of-a-kind 3 volume set for showing and teaching nutrient deficiency symptoms and corrective treatments to the serious grower. It is filled with several hundred excellent color photos, and should be in every serious vegetable gardener’s library.

6 Steps To Successful Gardening is a great book for those just getting started. It is an easy and enjoyable introduction to The Mittleider Method of raised-bed gardening in a graphical instruction format, and includes several good recipes for using the vegetables you grow.

We are SO excited to announce the availability of 6 of the very important Mittleider gardening books, as well as his 9 Manuals, for digital download – right here on the FFEF website!

You can now have instant access to The Mittleider Gardening Course, Food For Everyone, Grow-Bed Gardening, Let’s Grow Tomatoes, Gardening by the Foot, and 6 Steps to Successful Gardening.

Two books, Let’s Grow Tomatoes and Grow-Bed Gardening are out of print, so this makes them now available once again. All books and manuals even cost 20% less than the discounted prices for which the paper copies sell on the website. Scroll down the pages on the website and you will find the digital books listed. Enjoy, and tell your friends!

Dear Friends: I’ve waited YEARS for this day, and I’m THRILLED to announce the availability of the Mittleider Training Videos!!  https://growfood.com/shop/mittleider-gardening-training-videos-5-volume-DVD-set/

There is nothing like this anywhere! They have been improved somewhat in the presentation from Jacob’s originals, but this is the SAME material he used to teach his three-month gardening training course in 27 countries around the world.

They HAVE changed the economies of countries as big as Russia and as small as Trinidad, and they will change your family’s economy as well!

If you are serious about gardening – ESPECIALLY if you want or need to grow your own food – I urge you to order the Gardening Training Videos immediately, and study them. You will be ready for a GREAT gardening season, and beyond that, you will really become a Master Gardener – the Mittleider kind.

Remember, these videos represent the culmination of 40 years of work by Dr. Mittleider, and the cost to the Foundation since Jacob charged us with the responsibility of taking them to the world is somewhere in the range of $75,000-80,000. We want you to have them as easily, quickly, and inexpensively as possible, so the DVD format was chosen to do that.

All 80+ training lectures are on 5 DVDs and cost only $49.95 – an absolutely fabulous price!

Here they are:

01 – Soil-Bed Introduction

02 – Soil-Beds Part I

03 – Soil-Beds Part II

04 – Soil-Beds Part III

05 – Soil-Beds Part IV

06 – Choosing an Area

07 – Preparing the Area

08 – Soils

09 – Nutrient Deficiencies Part I

10 – Nutrient Deficiencies Part II

11 – Crops in Many Lands

12 – Crops in America

13 – Halchita Part I – (Not Included)

14 – Halchita Part II – (Not Included)

15 – Seeds – Soil-Beds

16 – Transplanting

17 – Watering and Weeding

18 – Harvesting

19 – Papua, New Guinea

20 – Solusi, Zimbabwe-First Garden Project (Not Included)

21 – Solusi Zimbabwe-Second Garden

22 – Common Insects

23 – Nitrogen Deficiency

24 – Phosphorus Deficiency

25 – Potassium Deficiency

26 – Calcium Deficiency

27 – Magnesium Deficiency

28 – Boron Deficiency

29 – Iron Deficiency

30 – Sulfur Deficiency

31 – Zinc Deficiency

32 – Copper Deficiency

33 – Molybdenum Deficiency

34 – Manganese and Chlorine Deficiency

35 – Salinity

36 – Multiple Deficiencies

37 – Miscellaneous Symptoms

38 – Grow-Box Introduction

39 – Grow-Boxes Part II

40 – Grow-Boxes Part III

41 – Grow-Boxes Part IV

42 – Grow-Box Essentials

43 – Grow-Box Crop Care

44 – Student Activities I

45 – Student Activities II

46 – Student Activities III

47 – Student Activities IV

48 – Seedling Production I

49 – Seedling Production II

50 – Seedling Production III

51 – Seedling Production IV

52 – Hollister-Vining Crops

53 – Trinidad-Tobago Part I

54 – Zaokski Greenhouse

55 – Fertilizers

56 – Zaokski, Russia, 1993

57 – Seprekov, Russia

58 – Tula, Russia

59 – Zaokski, Russia 1989

60 – New Market, Verginia

61 – Gentry, Arkansas

62 – Hope, Canada

63 – Hope, Canada II

64 – Tesapaca, Mexico (Not Included)

65 – Loma Linda Univ. (Not Included)

66 – Monument Valley, Utah I

67 – Sandy Stake, Utah (Not Included)

68 – Monument Valley, Utah II

69 – Naha, Okinawa

70 – Itoman, Okinawa

71 – Blanding, Utah UNDC Project

72 – Milo, Oregon Garden Project

73 – Hollister, California

74 – Kabiufa College, New Guinea

75 – Morogoro, Tanzania Africa

76 – Deuba, Fiji

77 – Nago, Okinawa

78 – Trinidad, West Indies

79 – Mitt’s Garden, Salt Lake City (Not Included)

80 – Mitt’s Garden Part II (Not Included)

81 – Seedhouse Construction

82 – Duccor, California Tomato Project

83 – Pina Blanca, Honduras

84 – Sterilizing Methods

85 – (Cancelled – Not Included)

86a – Helping Plants Grow

86b – Helping Plants Grow-Vertical Greenhouse Crops

86c – Helping Plants Grow-Transplanting Large Plants

Again – here’s where to get them:  https://growfood.com/shop/mittleider-gardening-training-videos-5-volume-DVD-set/

Let’s all be Master Mittleider Gardeners this year!

Jim Kennard

Q. I have cabbage moths.   do you have a solution for these?

A.  Cabbage moths are voracious eaters. 

1. Get a butterfly net and catch the parents if possible.
2. Inspect the under-side of leaves regularly.  When eggs are found rub them out. 
3. If they hatch out you really need to rub the worms out quickly, and as often as needed. 
4. If all else has failed (or you have failed to do the “all else”)  purchase and USE an insecticide that is for chewing insects.  Apply according to label directions.

Q. Is it okay to trim off, prune, some of the lower leaves of a cabbage
plant?

A. Yes. Old leaves that are not healthy, and those lying on the ground can be pruned. Always remember when pruning that the leaves are the factory that produces growth in the plant, and act in the best interest of a healthy plant and maximum fruit.

Jim Kennard

Q. I live in Houston Texas and planted a winter vegetable – red cabbage. Now it’s almost May and it still has not matured enough to eat. How long does red cabbage take to mature to eating stage?

A. Red cabbage that’s fed and watered will mature in 60-90 days unless the weather stays cold through most of that time. In Houston the weather is warm in the spring, so something else is going on.

Have you watered your plants regularly – never allowing the soil surface to dry out?

What – and how often – do you feed them? They don’t need much, but they MUST have nourishment on a regular basis. It only takes a tablespoon of calcium and an ounce of ALL the other mineral nutrients combined, to produce a 3-4# cabbage. But lacking that ounce and a half of nutrition your plants will languish long in the garden and never amount to anything.

Look up the feeding regimen in the Fertilizer articles in this FAQ section, or read the Fertilizer pages in the Learn section of the website. You’ll be glad you did.

Q. My carrots taste bitter, what’s wrong? I am watering for 20 to 30 minutes using a drip system 3 times per week. I use the Mittleider organic method of growing and grow in containers or Grow-Boxes.

A. Your problem is a lack of water. You need to water daily until you see water coming out the bottom of the container or box (usually just a mminute or two with the Mittleider watering system). I’ve never seen a soaker hose that would adequately water a sawdust/sand grow-box in 1/2 hour. And it will dry out too much if you only water every other day.

If you were growing in the soil, water still would most likely be the culprit, although if you are not feeding accurately and doing so every week for 6 times, you also might have a nutrient deficiency. Be sure you are using the Mittleider natural mineral nutrients as fertilizers. You can mix your own from formulas in the Mittleider gardening books, or get them pre-mixed. Look at www.growfood.com in the Shop under Natural Mineral Fertiliers – Micro-Nutrient Mix.

I recommend you automate your watering using the PVC pipe system taught and demonstrated in the Mittleider gardening books. This system is inexpensive to build, it waters very quickly and accurately, and will last practically forever if you take care of it.

The books are available at www.growfood.com, and you can even download the chapter of the Mittleider Gardening Course book on Automated Watering free, by going to the Shop section and clicking on that book.

Q. 

A.  All the time.  
Count the seeds (1 oz = 19,000 seeds – 660/gram)  Figure 1 plant per inch max (30’bed, 2 rows = 720 seeds – 1.1 grams).   Mix thoroughly 1 part seeds with 100 parts sand – 4.5 oz sand – .  Make very shallow furrow, and sprinkle seed/sand mix evenly along the length of the beds.  Cover with 1/8″ of sand.  Cover with burlap or perforated plastic shelf liner to prevent moving germinating seeds. Water to maintain moist soil.Check daily for emerging seedlings.  Immediately water then remove burlap/shelf liner.  Apply Weekly Feed 4″ from plant stems and water into the soil.

Q. Can a family be totally self-sustaining by using between 1 and 2 acres to grow, eat, and sell food?

A. Yes! As a matter of fact, families in many countries are doing it, and they often have gardens much smaller than 1 acre. However, you should consider carefully what you are getting into. I’ll paint a picture of the problems first, then show you how blessed you are to be using the best possible growing methods for a family garden, and finally I’ll give you some ideas as to what and how to grow your market garden.

I. Considerations Before Beginning
Your income depends on what you choose to grow, and how well you follow through in the growing process. It also depends on how well you learn the financial and marketing aspects of the job. Growing corn is easy, but doesn’t produce much for the amount of space used, or pay well, unless you like to eat corn stalks. And someone has to sell the produce and pay the bills, which take substantial time and effort by themselves!

“Self-sustaining” requires very different amounts of food and money, depending on the family size, the standard of living expected, and the debt load you expect the garden to carry. Debt of $3,000-5,000 per month requires a much greater effort to cover than a debt-free situation.

Location is also a factor. People in warm climates can often grow into or even right through the winter, while colder climates have a shorter season. Both locations can improve your production by using the Foundation’s methods. Warm climates may require lots of water and even a little shade at the hottest times, while cold climates often require more greenhouse seedling production and covering garden crops in spring and fall to extend the season.

Before getting seriously into gardening you need to understand the commitment involved, and be willing to do it right. Our grandparents grew gardens, and also often owned animals. They understood the necessity of working every day to feed, water, and care for their animals and plants. Regrettably, we’ve forgotten this requirement, as 99% of us have chosen other ways to make a living, and become dependent on the 1% who are highly competent farmers to feed us all.

You must understand and accept that there is very little respite for vacations, etc. during the growing season. A good garden requires your attention on a daily basis!

On the other hand you, and especially your children, will benefit greatly by having a fixed and important responsibility that requires daily commitment and real effort to accomplish. Think of it as a paper route without the 2:30 A.M hours, the driving, the danger, barking dogs, etc.

And one last consideration: A hundred years ago, everyone used manure and compost, and it was a fairly level playing field between the family gardener and the market farmer. Not so today! Your competition includes hydroponic growers who have invested over a million dollars per acre in buildings and equipment, as well as dozens of employees doing the work. And by feeding and watering their plants accurately many times each day, they’re growing 330
TONS of tomatoes per acre each year!

II. You have a big advantage over other small market gardens. Is all of this daunting? Have you decided to just give up and forget about growing your own food? I certainly hope NOT, because it’s important for you and your family to grow a garden for many very valid reasons, which we can’t address in this article.

Understand this. You can produce much more in less space, using the Foundation’s methods, than other small market growers are doing, so just GO FOR IT!

The website at www.growfood.com, the books, CD’s and videos will teach you the gardening principles and procedures by which you will grow your successful market garden. In studying these things, remember that this unique gardening method has been proven highly effective in thousands of situations, in dozens of countries all around the world. It’s a recipe! It WILL work to give you a great garden – in any soil and in virtually any climate. But you MUST follow the recipe.

III. Creating Your Own Successful Market Garden
How do you prepare?
1. START SMALL! Don’t plant more than you can care for properly, and sell or use.
2. Determine the market or markets you will sell to: a) Wholesalers, b) small grocery stores, c) restaurants, d) farmers’ markets, e) roadside stand, or f) home delivery.
3. Learn what vegetables you should grow by determining those that: a) sell well, b) at a good price, c) that you can grow readily.
4. Build proper facilities including a) a seedling greenhouse with tables, b) T-Frames and c) a good watering system. These are essential for success at this level.
5. Set up a formal accounting system, including account names and numbers for every category of asset, liability, equity, income, and expense. Get help from your CPA.
6. Stock up on tools, seeds, and fertilizers, and be sure to include all those costs, as well as your labor, in figuring your market prices.

You’ll have to meet or beat your competition’s prices to sell your produce at
the beginning. However, by growing more, bigger, fresher, tastier, and healthier produce than others, you will develop a loyal customer base, and then you can adjust your prices as needed.

In choosing what to grow, consider a) the ease of growing, b) cost and risk of loss, and c) the value of the crop. Cabbage is quite easy to grow; it can be started in early spring when many other crops would die; it only requires about 60 days to mature, so you may get 2 or even 3 crops in a year. However, it doesn’t bring a very high price in the market, so you must decide if it’s worth it
or not. And sometimes the need to rotate your crops will be a factor.

Let’s look at some scenarios of what could be grown and sold from one acre of ground, with good care and decent weather, and without losses from bugs and diseases (by strictly following the Mittleider Method you will minimize your crops’ susceptibility to those things):

Soil-Bed Garden – 250 30′-long Beds
Beans-pole – 120 plants per bed, 1.5# per plant, $.50/# $22,500
Corn – 92 plants per bed, 1 ear per plant, $.10/ear 2,300
Cucumbers – 45 plants per bed, 8# per plant, $.25/# 22,500
Potatoes – 92 plants per bed, 2.5# per plant, $.10/# 5,750
Tomatoes – 40 plants per bed, 10# per plant, $.50/# 50,000

The above examples are estimates only, and the actual results could be – and have been – much higher or lower, depending on many factors, including experience, weather, direct retail marketing vs. wholesale sales, etc.

If you are growing for the retail market using a roadside stand or farmers’ market booth, you will probably want a fairly wide variety of produce, to bring customers in. While corn has low value in terms of yield for a given amount of space, it is VERY popular with customers when it’s fresh, so you may well treat it as a “Loss Leader” and have it available. But don’t try to plant too many
vegetable varieties. Ten or twelve key vegetable types are far easier to handle than twenty to thirty. And three varieties of tomatoes are usually enough. I would plant Big Beef, Italia Mia or other Roma, and Grape tomatoes. One planting of Blue Lake or other pole beans will allow you to sell beans all season.

If your customers are restaurants, you will need to grow the specific things they use, such as specialty lettuces, tomatoes, Ichiban eggplant, small red potatoes, etc. And you may need to plant a few beds of the single-crop things every week, to have them maturing throughout the season.

If your primary market is the large grocery store or wholesale suppliers, they will usually want a large steady supply of a few things, so you may be able to plant everything to the “money” crops of beans, cucumbers, eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes, or multiple plantings of lettuces and other quick-growing crops.

I encourage everyone to find joy working in nature by the sweat of your brow, and sharing in God’s wonderful process of creation.

Q. I am creating a farm in Bertoua, Cameroun. Right now I have 30 ha of Banana trees (plantains) planted and 3.5 ha of hot peppers. I have to say that my farm does not look anything like the one in your book and does not produce any where near what your method says.

I want to create an industrial farm based on the Mittleider method. I have set aside 4 ha of farm for that purpose. I am planning to grow tomatoes and hot peppers using the Mittleider grow box method. I will appreciate if you can share your knowledge with me on how I can utilize the Mittleider method to make this endeavor a success. Patrice

A. There are many reasons The Mittleider system of growing produces great yields, and for you to be successful you MUST prepare through proper study and training, and then you must adhere strictly to the RECIPE, which is the Mittleider Gardening Course book, supplemented by the Food For Everyone book.

Bring the men and women you expect to have create and run the garden to the Mittleider Gardening Certification Training Boot Camp in Kidder, Missouri, and in 6 weeks I can have you trained and capable of creating and running the best commercial operation on the continent.

As to specifics, following are a few statements regarding main areas of importance:
1. Start by growing in the dirt, rather than trying to go directly to the sawdust and and boxes. The boxes represent a substantial investment, even for one acre, let alone 10 (4 hectares), as you envision.

2. To be successful you must have ample water available at all times. In most places this requires that you have water towers (large tanks), wells, and pumps, and a piped system of getting the water to the growing beds. Understand that a 30′-long bed or box requires between 10 and 20 gallons of water daily, and there are more than 250 beds per acre (625 X 15 = 9,000+ gallons per DAY per hectare)

3. The fertilizers must be sourced, purchased, delivered, mixed, stored, and used accurately and consistently. This is not inconsequential, and it is essential to your success. You need to be checking with neighboring countries to determine where you can get your fertilizers. When I conducted a project in Madagascar we had to bring some of the fertilizers from South Africa.

The most recent commercial project I have worked on is in the Philippines. All fertilizers are available except for Molybdenum, which we imported.

This project started by teaching 25 people, clearing the jungle, building greenhouses, obtaining a good water source, and creating a large garden right in the heavy clay soil.

The first garden became 15 acres, with approximately 3,750 beds, and was feeding 10,000 students their daily noon meal when this short video was created. https://mediazilla.com/zpoz853X6 There are now gardens on 3 islands, they are feeding 25,000 students, and their goal is 100,000 meals each day.

Q. The commercial produce growers in my area use black plastic with drip lines. They mix fertilizer in their irrigation water and pump it to the plants. What makes the Mittleider method more productive and efficient?

A. Large commercial growers of things like lettuce, cabbage, etc., who water and feed accurately, especially those who feed regularly right in the water supply, and who eliminate weeds completely, are at least as good and productive as the Mittleider Method. They also have very large investments in materials and equipment.

The Mittleider Method is sometimes called “the poor man’s hydroponic method” because it borrows principles and procedures from the large hydroponic, greenhouse, and field growers, and adapts and sizes them to the small family farmer and family-size garden. And we produce great yields without the large capital investment large growers must face.

Most family gardeners don’t understand the importance of a constant water supply, just to the root zone of the plants. They don’t appreciate the value of regular feeding with a complete, balanced nutrient, and they don’t realize how much weeds rob their garden of nutrients that are essential to the well-being of their vegetable plants.

Beyond those three principles, the Mittleider Method teaches vertical growing, with the attendant pollinating, pruning, and protection issues the hydroponic growers handle so well.

These are the primary elements that set the Mittleider Method apart from typical or traditional FAMILY GARDENING and make it SIMILAR to (not better than) hydroponic and large commercial growers.

Q. I have some compost manure and peat moss ready. It looks like I may have to grow everything in containers and grow bags. I already bought 500 5 gallon grow bags. Does anyone have a better idea that is not expensive? I have a $400 monthly budget that can be applied to growing veggies.

A. Be very careful about using manure – that you don’t introduce disease, weed seeds, or bugs into your garden area. We don’t recommend the use of manure for those reasons, unless it has been composted with high heat, such as I did with the Zoo Garden (see Zoo-Doo Man article in FAQ section). In container gardening we recommend the use of Grow-Boxes, using sawdust – which you should be able to obtain quite inexpensively from a sawmill – and sand as the primary ingredients, with peat moss, perlite, and other inert ingredients as back-ups. Sand is 30-35% of the mix by volume.

When you get ready to fill your Grow-Boxes, or bags (read the Learn section of the website on building inexpensive Grow-Boxes), let us coach you on putting in Pre-Plant and Weekly Feed natural mineral nutrients. The Mittleider Method is called the Poor Man’s Hydroponic Method for good reason, and you can grow terrific yields of healthy, delicious vegetables for very low cost.

I have a few other questions:
1. What about a balanced harvest? Rather than all of one item becoming available at one time – consistently having a certain amount of vegetables etc. available will be important. How would one go about accomplishing this?
2. How many rows could be placed in a hectare?
3. What about growing Herbs like basil and cilantro etc?
4. Besides the Gardening materials are there any training courses I could take? (Chad Foulkes – Vietnam)

Chad & Group:

1. There are two ways to achieve a “balanced” harvest. One way is to grow single-crop varieties, such as cabbage, lettuce, etc., planting part of the garden every two weeks, so that you have crops maturing all the time.

The second way is to grow ever-bearing varieties, such as tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, beans, etc., that produce over many months. This way you only plant one time and can harvest throughout the growing season, once the first fruit matures.

2. Depending on the configuration of your ground you should be able to grow as many as 600-620 soil-beds that are .45 meter wide and 10 meters long (18″ X 30′).

If you build 1.2 meter-wide (4′) Grow-Boxes or containers and grow in sawdust (or rice hulls, coconut husks, baggas, pine needles, etc.) and sand you can increase the crops still more.

I recommend you DO NOT START with a hectare, but start SMALL and learn how to do it WELL. Also, you need to build up a base of clients, to whom you can sell your produce, and learn how to pack, preserve, and ship it to market.

3. You can certainly grow herbs in your market garden. Remember to harvest them often to avoid having them get old and tough, and going to seed.

4. In addition to the Mittleider gardening books, Dr. Mittleider created – and we have digitized – a 2-CD training course including 70 video lessons. These include thousands of hand-picked color pictures with scrolling words and audio instruction to teach the entire growing process.

The videos are used in a 3-month college-level intensive training course which prepares serious students to be serious commercial growers.

The last time I conducted the course – in Popayan, Colombia – several of my best student graduates were immediately hired to continue the program at the Agriculture College and in all of the local high schools.

The Training Videos (more like a PowerPoint Presentation with scrolling words and audio) are available directly from me for $97. Write to me at jim@growfood.com.

Jim Kennard

Q. I have contacted you before about a farm in Vietnam to provide food and some income for a small hamlet in coastal Vietnam.

I feel the Mittleider method will far outproduce other methods. And it seems to be by far the most feasible.

There is a certain stubbornness involved with gardening throughout the world and it is no better and maybe worse in agricultural-dependent societies.

After asking about thoroughly no one here can agree on what can grow in this environment, Given it is very warm, sunny and has adequate rainfall.

Along with using the Mittleider method and if necessary constructing some shade cloth above beds or rows, I am of the opinion ANYTHING can grow here. My questions involve Dr. M’s initial work in New Guinea and his introduction of 16 vegetables and fruits when previously they grew around 4.

Can you give me more details on what those varieties were? There is a handful of staples of course but I would be interested in knowing what they grew in New Guinea.

I am also curious as to how this method can be applied to an orchard. I will be starting one of those as well with a pretty simple variety of trees.

I also need to know about getting large orders of Fertilizers to Vietnam (there are a few fertilizer companies here and they would be the first choice).

I would like some input on what best ratios to purchase and
maybe dress with pre-plant or some other material as well as how to use manure.

Some Vietnamese I am sure, regardless of what we are doing, will want to do the method with manure. And possibly large “cover crops” can be grown with manure for grazing and feeding livestock?

I have decided to go ahead and do this as well as keep animals to
provide income and Food. (Chad Fowlkes)

A. I believe everything will grow there also. And production will be MUCH higher using balanced natural mineral nutrients than with manure.

The following vegetables would be grown by Jacob almost everywhere he went, in addition to local varieties already being grown:

beans, beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, chard, corn, cucumbers, lettuce, melons, onions, peas, peppers, potatoes, radishes, spinach, squash, tomatoes, and turnips.

That’s more than 18, and doesn’t include sweet potatoes that were
being grown in Papua New Guinea, so we’ll both have to guess which ones they didn’t grow there.

The method works well with trees also, insofar as improving growth and yields, but they aren’t grown in raised beds or anything like that. The main thing to do is fertilize – once per year with Pre-Plant and three times per year with Weekly Feed – and eliminate weeds, which compete for plant nutrients.

I recommend you find large successful farmers and/or greenhouse
growers, and pick their brains regarding their fertilizer sources.

You do everything you can to find the main ingredients including:

calcium (lime),
nitrogen (ammonium nitrate or urea),
phosphorus (DAP – di-ammonium phosphate if possible),
potassium (potassium chloride – or some other combination), magnesium (Epsom Salt – magnesium sulfate – or other).

And look also for the micro-nutrients including:
boron (borax, solubor, or other)
copper (copper sulfate is most common)
iron (iron sulfate or a chelated compound)
manganese (manganese sulfate usually)
molybdenum (sodium molybdate usually)
zinc (zinc sulfate usually)

If any of the micros are not available in the country we may be able to help you find a way to ship them in.

You don’t need the 100% water-soluble materials that the greenhouse growers usually use. Those are quite a bit more expensive and may actually not be as good for growing in the dirt as the slower-release less expensive materials.

As soon as you are able to determine what’s available in the major ingredients tell me what the choices are, along with the percentages of each nutrient and the costs, and I will help you determine which ones to use and how much to buy of each.

Let’s get the mineral fertilizers figured out first, and later we can discuss the use of manures if necessary.

Jim Kennard

Q. There is a real possibility that what could be produced in the twenty-four 30′ grow boxes we are planning on building and populating with vegetables is more than our family can consume or preserve. Since Mittleider’s books state that this is also a very real possibility, I was wondering what some of you may have done to market your produce. How do you market the produce to grocery stores? How about wholesalers? Is a roadside stand a viable option?

A. Don’t try to sell your vegetables until you are experienced enough to know that you can produce good stuff! There’s nothing worse for your future business prospects than trying to peddle inferior quality goods.

Even then, the big grocery stores, and even most of the smaller ones, buy their produce exclusively from their trusted wholesaler, and probably won’t be interested.

And unless you can promise them a steady supply, you probably won’t have a lot of success cracking the wholesale market either.

A roadside stand is a full-time job for someone, and unless you can keep your produce at least cool it won’t last long. If you are serious, though, and keep good, fresh, and inexpensive produce available, you can develop a reputation and even a business that will sustain you. Thousands have done it before you. You may want to invest in some used refrigeration of some kind, and certainly a large umbrella, decent bins, trays, tables, etc.

If you’re growing single-crop varieties in the summer months (so you can’t do the winter storage thing), plan ahead and visit with neighbors, who might be interested in buying or trading something of value.

Go to specialty stores and restaurants (plus the smaller grocery stores I mentioned at first). Explain that you grow without pesticides or herbicides, and tell them your produce is “better than organic” because your plants receive natural mineral nutrients in the exact amounts they need for optimum healthy growth. If you can show them great looking crops, and promise some degree of stability in delivery, you may make some converts. And once they try your produce they will be solid, so long as you can produce the quality that’s expected in America on a consistent basis.

Q. 1) In Dr Mittleider books I have found different sizes for the grow boxes, please tell me what is the best size and

2) what are the quantities of fertilizers that should be used (pre-plant and weekly feed).

3) Do you think it is good to feed sweet potatoes (or any vegetable) weekly?

4) Do you think it is wise to plant vegetables (sweet potatoes, yam, dachine) in the soil or should I always use grow boxes?

5) What is the best distance between sweet potato plants?

6) Do you think that all fruit trees should receive the same fertilizers or different fruit trees require different types of fertilizers? What about the amount of fertilizers. I have citrus trees (oranges, mandarines, tangerines, limons) mangoes, avocadoes, bread fruit, banana trees, etc).
Some trees look very good, but others not too good. The trees are not very old (about 10 years).

7) What do you think should be the best fertilizer for sugar cane?

A. 1) For commercial production 4′-wide boxes are probably the best and most productive. You can plant 2 rows of the climbing or tall plants in them and 4 rows of other large plants. You can even plant more than four rows of small things like radishes, carrots, leaf lettuce, etc.

With most plants – climbing or large vegetables – you should plant at the edges and 12″ in, leaving a 2′ open area in the center of the bed. This is essential for adequate light to get to all plants as they grow and mature.

2) Fertilizer should be applied at the rate of 1 ounce per running foot of row for Pre-PLant Mix, and 1/2 ounce per running foot of row for Weekly Feed. Both are applied before planting, and mixed with the soil.

3) This should be done for EVERY vegetable and fruit you grow.

Application of Weekly Feed should be once every week, until 3 weeks before harvest, for single-crop varieties. It should be applied until 8 weeks before the end of harvest for ever-bearing crops. It should be placed 4″ from the plant stems, down the length of the row, and the watering will – over the week – take it into the soil at the root zone of the plants.

4) Everything can be grown successfully in either soil or Grow-Boxes. If your soil is particularly bad you may choose to grow in boxes. This will often minimize problems with bugs and diseases, although those can migrate into the soil-less mixture over time, requiring that it be replaced after a few years, unless you cover your ground with something like roofing material first.

5) Planting can be closer than traditional methods. It also depends on the size and variety. We have planted sweet potatoes closer than 12″ and as far apart as 14″, and a 4″-wide bed will accommodate 4 rows. An 18″ bed will allow 2 rows of all plants except climbing plants, which should have only one row.

6 & 7) I recommend you use the Pre-Plant and Weekly Feed, without any changes, on every plant you grow. This includes trees, bushes, flowers, and even grass (and sugar cane). The amounts and frequency will vary greatly, depending on the size and growing habits.

Fertilizing trees should be done twice each year – once at budding time, and again when the fruit is forming. Amounts to use depend on the size of the tree. Look in the FAQ section of the website under Trees to find an article about feeding trees.

It’s true that some plants and trees use a little more of one element than another. The Mittleider natural mineral nutrients are complete, balanced formulas that have enough of every required element that you will seldom see a deficiency.

Make sure you have the Mittleider Garden Doctor set on hand. Then, if you do see a deficiency developing you can quickly identify it and apply the correct dosage of the needed mineral. This is far better than trying to develop a separate fertilizer for each type of crop, for smaller growers.

When you get to the point where you are growing many acres of a single crop, then you can get more sophisticated and custom mix your fertilizers for that crop.

Q. I plan to grow Soy Beans this season. I will grow two (2) hectors in the field, and crops will be watered by rainfall. I live in the tropics with lots of rainfall and sunshine.

What is the appropriate fertilizer combination for growing Soy Beans and the best Cultural practices, including seed rates per hole and per hector in a tropical setting.

A. The ideal fertilizer combination for soy beans is the same as for other vegetables – The Pre-Plant mix before you plant, and The Weekly Feed mix during the growing season. Amounts are as follows: Pre-Plant – 2 tons per hectare, one time before planting, along with 300 kg of Weekly Feed. Weekly Feed should then be applied at the rate of 300 kg per hectare twice more during the growth cycle – first after your plants emerge and the first weeding has been done, and second – 4 weeks later. Be sure you measure and apply accurately. Figure how many rows per hectare, and divide your fertilizers into kg’s per row, then apply, so that all plants are fed evenly.

A plant population of approximately 400,000 plants per hectare is desirable. One kg of medium sized soybean will contain about 6,000 seeds (quantities of seed per kg range from 4800 to 7500). At that rate, two and a half bushels of soybeans will produce about 375,000 plants per hectare assuming 90 percent germination. This would give plants about 4 cm apart within the row at a 75 cm row spacing. Seeding rates should be increased 5 to 7% to compensate for unavoidable plant thinning during weed control, and seeds can be planted as close as 2 cm apart if desired. Finish your seedbed preparation just prior to planting the crop to kill germinating weeds and give your plants an even chance.

After good cultural practices such as thorough seedbed preparation and proper fertilizing, control of early weeds is the next most important element of a profitable soybean growing operation. Early weed control – during the first 2 to 4 weeks of the growing season – is essential to maximize yield. Cultivate after emergence and before weeds are 1 cm tall, with a tractor and cultivator if they are available. Otherwise do weeding with hand tools (the two-way hoe is best). Follow-up with manual weeding of everything missed by the cultivator. And cultivate a second time as soon as weeds appear again.

Because harvesting with a combine is difficult in high rainfall areas, and may not be available, following are instructions for manual harvesting. When leaves start turning yellow, your beans are trying to ripen. With a Japanese Spade cut the roots about 2 cm under the ground, leaving the plants standing. Leave until the stems are dry and the leaves easily shatter off. The pods will be dry also. Bring a trailer with sides into the field close to a row of plants. Take a handful of plants, bang against the inside of the trailer box, and the beans will come off into the trailer. Throw the plant material back onto the ground and till in as a soil amendment.

Take soy beans to a covered area with good circulation, spread 2-3 cm deep, and rake occasionally until thoroughly dry.

Where others were producing 45-58 bushels per hectare in the USA, Dr. Mittleider has grown soy beans with yields as high as 135 bushels per hectare using these methods.

While you endure the cold winter months why not plan for a really great garden next spring. Maybe even one that could provide some income in addition to the food you eat yourselves! Does anyone have children who need responsibility – and spending money?

To illustrate the potential, I’ll describe the yields achievable by growing one crop in a quarter-acre garden. I realize that most of you may only want or be able to grow a garden of 10 or 20% this size, with multiple crops, however, let’s tickle your imaginations! I’m aware of many Mittleider gardeners who are growing commercially – some with multi-acre gardens.

Consider this: Just a quarter-acre of tomatoes grown properly using Dr. Mittleider’s instructions, and selling for only $.50 per pound, would yield $25,000 per year! Have I got your attention? Let’s see how it’s done.

A quarter-acre, or 10,390 square feet, will accommodate 78 30-foot rows of plants, grown in 4′ X 30′ Grow-Boxes, with 3 1/2′ side aisles, and 5′ end aisles. Planting 9″ apart gives you 41 plants per bed or 3,198 total.

By growing a tomato that averages 8 ounces (some varieties are even bigger), and growing vertically, each plant should produce 16# of fruit from July through October. How? Good varieties produce a cluster of 3-7 tomatoes every 5-7″ up a 7′ stem in 4 months of production. Using 4 per cluster and 12 clusters gives 48 tomatoes, and at 8 ounces each, your yield would be 24# per plant. Let’s reduce that by one third, to be conservative.

This amounts to 51,168 pounds of tomatoes (16# X 41 X 78) – or $25,584 at $.50 per pound. Who said you couldn’t live out of your garden! And similar results can be achieved growing right in the soil.

Now there certainly are costs, including labor, as there are in any serious endeavor. Start-up costs include 1) making and filling the boxes, 2) making T-Frames, 3) wires or pipes, and baling-twine strings, and 4) automating the watering. However these are one-time capital expenditures and will be more than recovered in the first year.

Next, suppose you’d like to increase your yield even more. After all, commercial hydroponic growers can produce 660,000 pounds of “plastic,” tasteless tomatoes per year on one acre. Of course, they have multi-million dollar investments in year-round greenhouses, automated systems, etc. By simply putting an arched PVC roof over each of your Grow-Boxes or soil-beds, as illustrated in the MittleiderMethodGardening group Photos section at Yahoo Groups, covering them with 6-mil greenhouse plastic, and then adding just a little heat on cold nights, you can lengthen your growing season by another two months, or 50%!

Now you’re looking at 75,000# of tomatoes per quarter-acre, or almost half the yield of the expensive hydroponic growers! But you’re growing “in the dirt”, because your boxes are open at the bottom, so your plants get all the natural nutrients available from the soil (producing better flavor). And you only use the plastic covering on cold nights during two or three months, so your plants benefit from direct sunlight as well, further improving their flavor.

Do you think these numbers are hard to believe? Just visit a greenhouse tomato operation and see tomato plants that are 20′ and 30′ long – still producing after more than a year!

Now let’s see what your family can do. And let me help guide you through the process – read the website FAQ’s at www.foodforeveryone.org or email me at jim@growfood.com. © 2006 – James B. Kennard

Jim Kennard, President of Food For Everyone Foundation, has a wealth of teaching and gardening training and experience upon which to draw in helping the Foundation “Teach the world to grow food one family at a time.” Jim has been a Mittleider gardener for the past twenty-nine years; he is a Master Mittleider Gardening Instructor, and has taught classes and worked one-on-one with Dr. Jacob Mittleider on several humanitarian gardening training projects in the USA and abroad. He has conducted projects in Armenia, America, Madagascar, and Turkey by himself. He assists gardeners all over the world from the https://www.foodforeveryone.org website FAQ pages and free Gardening Group, and grows a large demonstration garden at Utah’s Hogle Zoo in his spare time.

Gardening Books, CDs and Software are available at https://www.foodforeveryone.org

Because microorganisms use nitrogen to decompose organic material, such as sawdust, the process of decay can temporarily lower the amount of available nitrogen in the soil. Remember that the loss is temporary, and that proper application of a balanced natural mineral nutrient mix, like the Mittleider Weekly Feed, will almost always eliminate any deficiency.

The other potential problem is that sawdust typically has a low pH, and so the addition of calcium is important. We recomment the use of the Mittleider Pre-Plant mix to supply ample calcium. Both Weekly Feed and Pre-Plant formulas are available in the Fertilizer pages of the Learn section on this website.

There can be some benefits to adding organic matter to your soil. The nutritional value us over-rated, however, and you never know how much of anything you’re getting, so we do not recommend you count on compost for feeding your plants.

Benefits include the fact that it can:
– Increase the soil’s ability to hold water.
– Create pores in the soil to improve soil oxygen.
– Loosen clay soil, making root growth easier.
– Help moderate soil temperatures.

Q. I’m considering 3 methods of disposing of my cornstalks. 1-trip to the dump, 2-tie them up and sell them, 3-borrow a chipper-shredder and then till them right back into the rows. I would like to chip/shred them and till them back into the rows along with some nitrogen. Any downside to this? I have looked through the stalks and haven’t found much smut (which I could cut off). What do you think?

A. Whenever the Zoo animals don’t want my corn stalks I grind them up and put them in my beds. The same can be done for other healthy, clean plant residues. I will dig the soil out from the 18″-wide bed – about 10-12″ deep, grind up the stalks and spread them evenly along the bottom, then replace the soil and firm it on top of the plant residue. If the plants are green, with moisture still in them, you don’t need any nitrogen – they have it still. However, if you are tilling in dry plant residue, there will be very little nitrogen, and it wouldn’t hurt to add a little (8 ounces for a 30′ row). Remember that nitrogen is volatile, and as plant parts age and dry out the nitrogen leaves and goes back into the atmosphere. Over the winter, the soil will subside as the plants decompose, and when you till the bed in the spring, you will hardly notice anything. But the benefit will be there.

Regarding the corn smut you have – unless you want to perpetuate that fungus in your garden, I would dispose of any plants that have the smut on them away from the garden. However, if you are from Central America you may well want to ENCOURAGE the smut in your corn! Those folks prize “wheat-la-coche” (sp), as they call it, and eat it like others eat mushrooms. It’s not bad at all, but eat it before it becomes the dry, black powder!

Always remember, that you only want clean, disease and bug-free plant residues in your garden. And don’t leave them on the surface of the soil! The nitrogen will quickly leave, and the bugs and diseases will just as quickly find them. The best place for them is well-tilled into the soil, where they can compost naturally, and give you a little added nutrition and much-improved soil tilth.

Completely decomposed organic matter can have a beneficial effect in the soil, if it has no diseases or weed seeds in it. If available it should be incorporated in the garden. However, crops of the same quality and performance can be grown on land containing no humus, no compost, or any red worms.

Q. Even if it’s a poorer source of nitrogen than oil-based products (urea, ammonium nitrate, and ammonium sulfate), won’t compost (particularly composted manure) get the job done? That’s a completely free and renewable resource. My garden beds this year are heavily composted with manure and the plants are all absolutely gorgeous.

Next year I want to use the Mittleider Method, as it looks very efficient. Will I be shooting myself in the foot if I use “farm-raised nitrogen”?

A. If you believe the day is coming when we won’t be able to get mineral nutrients, you should definitely learn how to prepare and use the organic materials that you WILL have available to you. You may not want to count on manure though, because if everyone relies on cows and horses to provide their fertilizer, 90% will be disappointed. There just isn’t enough to go around.

For those of you who feel strongly about continuing to use manure and compost, make certain that you learn how to compost properly, by maintaining temperatures of at least 140 degrees Fahrenheit throughout the process, and always do it that way. This provides sufficient heat to kill all pathogens.

I recommend you read my article on The Zoo-Doo Man in these FAQs. That will help you understand what’s required, as well as my perspective on the issues involved.

Once you solve the issue of proper composting you will want to understand, and know how to deal with, the issues of deficiencies and salinity.

Because there is no practical way of knowing how much of the 13 nutrients your compost has in it, you will very likely be faced with deficiencies of some of them. These will show up in your plants, and if you recognize and treat them quickly you can save the crop. Sometimes a garden crop is lost when an ounce or two of zinc, iron, boron, or manganese, etc. would completely solve the problem.

I highly recommend you get the Mittleider Garden Doctor books, available at www.growfood.com, and begin to use them. They will save their cost many times over!

Another issue that needs to be addressed when using manure and compost is that of too much at the beginning and not enough later on. Most people apply 2″-4″ of compost and work it into their garden before planting. Doing that to the entire garden is wasteful of compost, and most of the nutrients go to feed the weeds in the aisles. So to start with, apply compost and manure only to your bed area.

And how much should you apply? Three inches of manure applied to the 45 square feet of a 30′-long soil-bed would weigh 200-300#, and would contain 2-3# of each of the major nutrients, plus lesser amounts of the secondary and micro-nutrients. We only apply about 2 OUNCES of each of the major elements to a soil-bed before planting, so the 3″ application of compost puts 15 to 20 times more mineral salts into the soil than is needed right then.

This much salt in your soil may stop or even reverse the process of osmosis that takes moisture and nutrients into your plants, which will harm or kill your small seedlings. Inexperienced and careless organic gardeners are frequently discouraged, and sometimes give up, when they experience the immutable effects of this often-misunderstood natural law.

Therefore, apply only about 1/2″ of compost to your planting area before planting, and after your plants are up add another 1/2″ to the surface of the planting area and work it into the soil. Continue this process every two weeks – until 3 weeks before harvesting for single crop varieties, and until 6-8 weeks before the first frost for everbearing crops like tomatoes, cucumbers, and squash.

I know how to prepare and use manure and compost, and have done it very successfully. I choose to use natural mineral nutrients because 1) it is so much easier and cost-effective, 2) we eliminate problems such as pests, weed seeds, and diseases, and 3) we eliminate 13 unknowns by accurately providing our plants with everything that they need.

An article in the New England Journal of Medicine by Dr. Dennis G. Maki, titled Don’t Eat the Spinach — Controlling Foodborne Infectious Disease is an important read for any of you using manure on your gardens. It is in the Files section of the MittleiderMethodGardening@YahooGroups.com for your consideration.

The article identifies manure as the prime suspect in the big heavily publicized outbreak from tainted spinach in 2006, and implicates it in a great many other situations as well.

E-Coli, Mad Cow Disease, Salmonella, and other diseases that are introduced to our food supply by animal manures are one of several reasons we don’t get excited about using manure and compost in our gardens.

In addition, unless the materials have been thoroughly sterilized, they often introduce plant diseases, weed seeds, and bugs into the garden.

And probably the most important reasons for not relying on manure and compost are that you don’t know what nutrients they have, and application is usually done only once, rather than throughout the growth cycle of the plants.

The Mittleider Method is considered by many to be “The Best of Organic” because we use natural mineral nutrients that are all approved by the USDA for use in organic gardening, but they haven’t been corrupted nor had much of the nutrients taken out by going through the cow.

We feed our plants small amounts of a balanced mix of all 13 nutrients plants need, and do so several times, so plants always have what they need for optimum fast healthy growth.

We encourage everyone to grow and eat disease-free spinach and other produce by using the Mittleider Method, and encourage you to tell those you know to grow their gardens this way as well. You may even save someone’s life!

Fall is the best time to put materials into your garden, because they have 4-6 months to compost before you plant again. However, you can do it in February-March also, but be sure it is clean and free of bugs, weed seeds, and disease!

If you can find clean, finely ground-up leaves to use, they will improve your soil tilth. Dry leaves provide very little nutrition, but they also do not introduce disease, bugs, or weed seeds into the garden, so they are good to use.

Other compost and manure may have somewhat more nutritional value, but the risk is much higher that you will introduce one or more of the negative elements into your garden. Therefore, use extreme caution when putting these materials into the garden.

Please understand that we are not opposed to the use of organic materials – on the contrary we use them ourselves. We are, however, very careful about what we use, and where it comes from.

We do promise folks that you will have “a great garden in any soil,” even without amending your soil, when you follow the principles and procedures taught on the website and in Dr. M’s books. This requires that you feed your plants very small amounts of natural mineral nutrients during the plants’ peak growing times. This eliminates guesswork, and assures that your plants are really healthy.

Your poor soil will grow great plants if you will just make level, ridged beds as the website and books teach, and water, weed, and feed as instructed. We can grow a great garden even in a gravel pit, or in blow sand. As a matter of fact good friends in Santa Clara, Utah did just that, and their neighbors were amazed. The pictorial evidence is in the Yahoo Groups Mittleider Method Gardening Group at https://ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/MittleiderMethodGardening/photos/browse/970e

Q. So, what is the deal about rock dust?

A. There is something of a buzz going around about rock dust for growing vegetables – as if it’s a new discovery.

The statement is made (https://news.independent.co.uk/uk/environment/story.jsp?story=622128) that “By spreading the dust we are doing in minutes what the earth takes thousands of years to do, i.e. putting essential minerals in the rocks back into the earth.”

This is not new science. Jacob Mittleider has been teaching for over 40 years that “the only difference between dirt and rocks is the size of the particles.” And that leeching, flooding, erosion, and crop removal, which have been going on for thousands of years, make it necessary to replace the minerals lost by adding them back using ground-up rocks. Furthermore, commercial fertilizer companies have been grinding up rocks into dust, bagging it, and you and I have been spreading it on our lawns and gardens for over a hundred years.

The big difference, as I see it, is that we have learned which rocks to grind up, and in what ratios to apply them to our soil in order to give the plants exactly what they need, and the rock dust proponents say nothing about that.

Suppose the quarry from which you obtain your rock dust happens to be a limestone quarry. You will be blessed with an abundance of calcium and magnesium. Since all gardens need these minerals, and most do not get them, you will experience an improvement in your crop yield. But what about the other 11 elements the plants need to receive from the soil? And what if the quarry is granite instead of limestone? Or what if the rock dust chosen contains heavy metals, or other harmful materials?

Compost is cited as the only other thing needed – except for the statement “using little more than,” at one point in the article. That “little” could make all the difference. What “little” else are they using?

Rock dust, compost, and “little more”, are all three unknown quantities insofar as the nutrition they provide to your plants as well as the other, possibly harmful, elements they are introducing into your garden.

The Food For Everyone Foundation teaches people to take the guesswork out of gardening; that healthy plants must have 16 elements; that 3 are provided in the air; that the other 13 must come from the soil; that they are needed in certain ratios, and that they are needed throughout the plants’ growing cycle – not just once at the beginning.

I encourage all who read this to continue using rock dust that has been certified to contain only the minerals your plants need, in the ratios needed, and thereby be assured of “a great garden in any soil.

Q. What if it is granite dust? I don’t understand that example.

A. I wasn’t slamming granite dust, but only suggesting that it is different from limestone – and by inference that every kind of dust is going to be somewhat different.

That is not to say that whatever rock dust you use won’t have beneficial minerals in it. They probably do, but WHICH ONES, and HOW MUCH OF EACH, that is the question.

It’s the guessing, that can help you or hurt you, and you never know which or how much, that we are trying to eliminate.

Also, everyone is not going to be able to find rock dust to put on their garden. Our belief is that EVERYONE should be able to grow a garden of healthy vegetables and fruit sufficient to feed themselves and their family. This is why we tell people exactly what to do, and we give alternatives in the event they can’t obtain certain fertilizers – or even any fertilizer at all.

Following is a general statement of beliefs and “Mission” having to do with fertilizers, which shows one way in which we differ from most charitable organizations:

We subscribe to the idea that “Of him to whom much is given, much is required,” and that we in the more developed countries must take it upon ourselves to assist our brothers and sisters who are not so blessed with material things.

To us this means we must even go beyond sending food or clothing, and actually help the people help themselves! While the best among other groups we’ve seen work to teach and help people with gardening, etc. they all are content to leave them in the 19th century, with only compost and manure as their source of nutrients.

Our experience has confirmed our belief that when people are taught properly, and then given all the materials necessary for success (including mineral fertilizers), either as a regular loan or a “pay it forward” loan, they do far better and are much more likely to have a sustainable gardening experience, than if they only have manure.

This is why the training projects we conduct do not count on locally available manure, compost, or even rock dust, but we search for and make available all of the mineral nutrients to our students. In every country we’ve visited the nutrients can be found, but most often the small family farmer has been limited by cost to manure and compost, with an occasional purchase of nitrogen fertilizer, and that’s the main reason they remain in poverty! Even in America, without mineral fertilizers, a farmer was only able to feed a few people.

The foregoing is intended to help you understand part of the reason we don’t encourage organic gardening, and to help you recognize the value of your many contributions to the Foundation, for which we are extremely grateful! Thanks for your continuing interest and support of good gardening.

Q. I have access to lots of chicken manure. Shouldn’t I use it, since it’s almost free?

A. If you’ve got it, use it. However, the vast majority of people who want to grow gardens do not have ready access to it, and that is one of several reasons we don’t teach and advocate its use.

Chicken and turkey manures are “hot,” with almost twice the amount of nitrogen that cow and horse manure have. This is because the urine and feces are together. And they can easily burn your seeds or seedlings, unless you put them into the ground several months, or at least weeks, before planting.

Another problem with using any manure or compost, or combination, is that you have no concrete idea what they have in them, so far as nutrition is concerned. They are the digested (or composted) remains of organic material that itself may have been deficient in some or all of the essential nutrients. And the processes of digestion and composting take some of those nutrients away, so they are likely to be less than ideal.

And finally, manure and compost may harbor weed seeds, bugs, and diseases, which we certainly don’t want to introduce into our garden.

We want to leave as little to chance as possible, and grow healthy plants fast. Therefore we feed them small amounts of natural mineral nutrients, that have just what the plants need to maximize their health and growth.

Q. I want to try some manure to improve my soil tilth, and zoo animals have healthy, weed-free diets. Is that a good choice? And if I went to my local zoo, which animals’ manure should I ask for?

A. First of all, only use the Herbivores’ manure. Carnivore–doo is much more likely to have diseases that could be transmitted to humans. As a matter of fact, I believe Zoos in the USA incinerate their carnivores’ manure for that reason – at least Utah’s does.

How much manure do you want, and how well equipped are you to compost it? Elephant and hippo-doo are sloppy, smelly, wet, and need serious composting before they are of use to the gardener. However, there is substantial volume, and you can get a lot quickly.

On the other hand, giraffe, llama, camel, deer, sheep, goats, etc are small, dry, easily handled, more concentrated, and not at all bad to work with, but there usually isn’t much volume at any one time.

If you are able to obtain any of these, and have several weeks before you’re planning on putting plants in your beds, you can put the manure right in the soil, till it in, and let it compost in the ground. That’s my favorite way of doing it anyway – you have no smells, no bugs, etc., and you only handle it once.

Q. Do you have any information that would discourage using cement blocks to build the grow boxes?

A. Nothing serious. They take up aisle space, cost more than wood, and are more work to install because you need to secure each block – either by mortaring them together or with a Rebar stake.

On the positive side, they look good and will last indefinitely without being subject to deterioration that is common to wooden boxes.

Jim Kennard

Q. In looking at the mixes for the grow boxes… say the 25% sand and 75% peat moss – is that by volume or by weight?

A. Your container mixes should be measured by volume. We recommend sand be between 25% & 50% – ideally in the 30-35% range.

Q. I’m into setting up my fifth section of beds. Each one = 17 soil beds (18″ x 30ft). I’m challenged by land sloping both ways (main slope E-W & minor slope N-S = bed length). Anyway (going bit off issue) – I plan to plant mealies (corn) in this section. Got to thinking it may be good idea to set up 4ft wide beds (for the corn). I also, intend to convert in the future to Grow Boxes, so thought I getting the basic leveling (terracing) sorted now, could be wise in the long run. My question is – is there any fundamental “downside” to 4ft wide SOIL Beds?
Am I missing something basic & obvious?

A. Unless you can water the entire 4′ width you will need to build 2 – 18″ beds in the 4′. It will leave a very narrow “aisle” in the middle that is almost too narrow to even walk down. Weeding, etc. are more difficult that way. But if you don’t, then you have to apply water to the entire 4′, and that requires quite a bit more water. I’ve done it, and it worked alright, but it was more work. Also, the two sets of two rows are closer together than they would be in 4′ boxes, because the ridges take 3-4″ on each side. If growing vertically it’s best to plant the two rows about 8″ in from the outside edges, rather than 12″ in – again so that there is sufficient “aisle” space in the middle.

Q. I’m into setting up my fifth section of beds. Each one = 17 soil beds (18″ x 30ft). I’m challenged by land sloping both ways (main slope E-W & minor slope N-S = bed length). Anyway (going bit off issue) – I plan to plant mealies (corn) in this section. Got to thinking it may be a good idea to set up 4ft wide beds (for the corn). I also, intend to convert in the future to Grow Boxes, so thought I getting the basic leveling (terracing) sorted now, could be wise in the long run. My question is – is there any fundamental “downside” to 4ft wide SOIL Beds?
Am I missing something basic & obvious?

A. Unless you can water the entire 4′ width you will need to build 2 – 18″ beds in the 4′. It will leave a very narrow “aisle” in the middle that is almost too narrow to even walk down. Weeding, etc. are more difficult that way. But if you don’t, then you have to apply water to the entire 4′, and that requires quite a bit more water. I’ve done it, and it worked alright, but it was more work. Also, the two sets of two rows are closer together than they would be in 4′ boxes because the ridges take 3-4″ on each side. If growing vertically it’s best to plant the two rows about 7″ in from the outside edges, rather than 12″ in – again so that there is sufficient “aisle” space in the middle.

The Gardening Course book is the RECIPE to follow.  https://growfood.com/shop/the-mittleider-gardening-course/

Q. If I grow in 4 ‘ X 4′ raised beds, each micro elements pouch – mixed in recommended ratio to make the Weekly Feed formula – will be enough for how many feedings of a 4′ x 4’ square raised bed?

A. Each Micro-Nutrient package contains two packets of 8+ ounces, which when mixed with NPK and Epsom Salt will make 23 1/2# of Weekly Feed fertilizer. Therefore the $13.95 package ends up being 47# of Weekly Feed.

The Weekly Feed is used as follows: One half (1/2) ounce per running foot of soil-bed or container between 2 rows of plants (or one row if you’re growing vertically).

Each feeding of a 4′ X 4′ box therefore requires 4 ounces (8 tablespoons), so you should have over 90 feedings of one 4′ X 4′ box.

In a 4′-wide container (we call them Grow-Boxes) you should plant small and medium-size plants in 4 rows – two near the outside edges of the box and two 12″ inside of that. This leaves almost 2′ in the middle of the box as an “aisle”.

Unless you are planting small plants like lettuce, carrots, onions, etc., you should leave the center 2′ empty, as larger plants need that space to grow and receive adequate light.

For large plants that you should grow vertically, such as indeterminate tomatoes, cucumbers, pole beans, eggplant, melons, etc. you should grow only 2 rows of plants – near the outside edges of the box.

When planting only 2 rows of plants you still feed WF at 1/2 ounce per running foot.

Since leaf lettuce only needs 3 or 4 feedings per crop, and you can probably grow at least 3 crops per growing season, you can see that one bag of fertilizer will last a long time, if you only use it for one box.

Tomatoes would need to be fed more, as ever-bearing plants should be fed until 8 weeks before the first expected frost. You also cut off the growing tips at that time, so they mature the fruit they already have, rather than wasting energy on creating new fruit that won’t mature.

Many people only have small containers in which they are trying to grow vegetables, and they only need small amounts of Pre-Plant and Weekly Feed Mixes.

Here’s how to mix Weekly Feed using one-tenth of a 10-ounce Micro-Nutrient packet:

Mix 2.5 pounds of 16-16-16 or similar NPK mix with
6 ounces of Epsom Salt, and
1 ounce of Mittleider Magic Micro-Mix

For similar amounts of the simple Pre-Plant Mix:

Mix 2.5 pounds of lime (gypsum for less than 20″ of annual rainfall)
2 ounces of Epsom Salt, and
1/2 ounce of 20 Mule Team Borax

Apply Pre-Plant 1 ounce per running foot and mix with the soil before planting.

Apply Weekly Feed 1/2 ounce per running foot and mix with the soil before planting. Thereafter, after plants are up, feed 1/2 ounce weekly until 3 weeks before maturity.

Q. I have built 2- 4’X4′ grow boxes that are 10″ deep. I purchased
on the Food for Everyone website 2 8 oz.packages of the micronutrients. For 1 package I plan to mix my weekly feed ( w/ 3 lbs epsom salts and 1- 20lb. bag of 16-16-16.

My plan was to use the other micronutrient package for the preplant mix (mixing with gypsom, epsom and Borax)

Question #1- For the preplant mix, how much gypsom, epsom salts and Borax should I mix in to place in each each box? I am not
mathematically inclined, so any help on figuring out the measurements is VERY appreciated.

Question #2- Am I okay to use the micronutrients package for the
preplant mix, or is that just for weekly feed?

Question #3 I plan on using 1/2 Blowsand and 1/2 Peatmoss as my filler- how much should I buy to fill both boxes?

A. Ten inch-deep boxes are fine. However, they use more materials than necessary and don’t grow any better crops than 8″ boxes. We recommend boxes that are 8″ deep (actually 7 1/2″ is the standard size you will get at the lumber store).

Do NOT use the micro-nutrients in your Pre-Plant mix. It is unnecessary, wasteful, and might even be bad for the plants. The Micro’s are only to be used to create the Weekly Feed Mix.

Remember in mixing the Pre-Plant to use 80 parts lime or gypsum, 4 parts magnesium sulfate, and 1 part 20 Mule Team Borax.

The amount of Pre-Plant you need to use in a 4′-long X 4′ wide box is 2 ounces per running foot (1 ounce per running foot in an 18″-wide box).

1. On the soil underneath the box spread 8 ounces (that’s 2 ounces per running foot).

2. Mix another 8 ounces of Pre-Plant with the soil mix at the same time as or immediately after you fill the box and before you plant. And at the same time mix 4 ounces of Weekly Feed into the soil mix.

You will need 13.33 cubic feet of material in total. You will have a better mix if you use less sand, and add some Perlite. I recommend you use 50% peat moss (or sawdust – preferred) 15% Perlite, and 35% sand.

Q. I was thinking of using brown cardboard from fridge and stove boxes as a mulching in the bottoms of the raised beds to prevent weeds coming up into the beds, so I don’t have to dig, rake and work that soil so much prior to installing the soils the beds. Is there any reason not to do this?

I’m digging a foundation for another building and have that dirt to move, I thought it would be good in the raised beds with some additives, like peat moss, sand and manure and straw in the lower layers. etc..

How about some used linoleum, or carpeting on the bottom side of the beds? I’m making the beds 16 inches deep (so I don’t have to bend down so much as I get older.)

A. One important factor to consider in choosing whether or NOT to put ANYTHING under your Grow-Boxes is the drainage implications. If the material stops or even slows the natural drainage you may substantially hurt your crop and even kill it with a build-up of water and/or salts.

Another factor to consider before putting anything under your Grow-Boxes is that plant roots will – if the soil is available to them – travel down into the natural soil and pick up additional plant nutrients and minerals that may be valuable for humans and animals that may not be essential for healthy plant growth.

Container height only needs to be 8″. Anything more than that 1) increases the cost of building the container, 2) increases the cost of filling the container, 3) increases the cost of watering, and 4) may reduce the effectiveness of the fertilizer somewhat.

We recommend placing the boxes directly on clean soil that has been leveled. Then apply the Pre-Plant Mix, and then fill with clean inert “soil mix” materials, as well as the Weekly Feed and Pre-Plant Mixes.

The soil mix materials should NOT include dirt or manure – for several reasons:

1) Dirt is HEAVY and can push out the sides of the box.

2) Dirt often does not drain vell,

3) Dirt becomes hard and difficult to work with,

4) Dirt and manure very often contain millions of weed seeds,

5) Dirt and manure often include unwelcome bugs and/or diseases.

Jim Kennard

Q. In many of the books the Grow-Box width is very different. What is the latest recommendation on the ideal size of Grow-Box width? 1 foot? 18 inches? 4 feet?

A. The need for the question illustrates the fact that Dr. Jacob Mittleider experimented with the different aspects of his growing procedures throughout the many years of his worldwide humanitarian work. He tested and measured the results of everything he did, to determine the very best way to do things.

In 1975, when his second book More Food From Your Garden (later re-printed as Grow-Box Gardens) came out, Jacob was advocating Grow-Boxes of 5′ width, usually with plants growing in rows across the width of the box. He taught and demonstrated growing in that size box for a number of years – always with great success. And even today there are thousands of growers – even commercial growers – who swear by their 5’boxes.

He also sometimes grew in boxes that were only 1′ wide during those years. And some of the boxes shown in the book Let’s Grow Tomatoes are 1′ wide.

Over the years, however, after much experimenting with different sizes, Jacob settled on a height of 8″ and widths of 18″ and 4′ as being ideal for growing vegetables, and those are the sizes we teach, demonstrate, and advocate today.

Eighteen inch-wide boxes or beds are excellent for growing one row, for large and climbing plants, or two rows for other vegetable crops, and usually work best in the family garden situation.

Four foot-wide boxes or beds allow for even more concentrated growing of crops for serious growers. However, when using 4′-wide boxes or beds more careful plant spacing and pruning are necessary to assure plants have adequate light throughout the growing season.

Large crops should only be planted in two rows down the length of the box or bed and on the outside edges. And smaller crops are also planted lengthwise – in four rows one foot apart, starting at the outside edges. This gives only a 2′-wide “aisle” in the center, rather than the 3 1/2′-wide aisle we normally recommend.

It’s that narrow center aisle that saves a foot and a half of space, but it’s also what makes proper plant spacing and more diligent and careful pruning so important.

I recommend you use narrow boxes or beds when starting out, and then perhaps work with some of 4′ width as you gain experience in caring for a high-yield intensive garden.

I have downloaded some pictures of the Model garden we created and grew in Popayan, Colombia in the Pictures section of the free group MittleiderMethodGardening@yahoogroups.com, to show you some 4′-wide “double beds” in action.

Q. I’m planning on doing a little bit of container gardening in my greenhouse this summer. I plan on using your soil-less mix as per your book “More Food From Your Garden” (out of print – I recommend The Mittleider Gardening Course)

I also bought your Micro-nutrients (www.growfood.com – Materials) to mix in with my fertilizer. I have searched high and low for 16-8-16, 20-10-20, 16-16-16, 15-15-15, 13-13-13, 17-17-17. I did find 20-20-20 but it is very expensive.

I also tried to find the 21-0-0 + 0-45-0 + 0-0-50 – with no luck either.

I did find a bag of 18-18-18 and was wondering if that will work. And if so, how much fertilizer mix would I need for each container that is 12″ round x 9″ deep?

My plan is to grow just cucumbers and tomatoes in the greenhouse. The rest will be grown outside in my raised (soil) beds. Each bed is 24″ wide x 10′ long. Thank you very much for your help.

A. Any combination from 13-13-13 up to 20-20-20 will work fine. And you can make your own by buying the three nutrients separately. There are several possibilities, just look at a Farm Supply store, if the big box and nursery stores don’t have them.

The 18-18-18 is good! Just mix it with the package of Micro-Nutrients according to instructions.

For applications in small containers see my article in the FAQ section of the Foundation website under Containers or Grow-Boxes at https://foodforeveryone.org/faq/index.php?page=index_v2&id=309&c=1

Your 24″-wide beds in the garden are 6″ wider than they should be for optimum planting, feeding, watering, etc. If you can’t make them 18″ wide I recommend you plant 4-6″ in from the outside edges, so you don’t waste fertilizers at least.

Q. I’ve read about using manure, compost and peat for planting medium in a square foot garden. What is the ratio one to the other for a veggie garden. I would like to use organic fertilizers also. Do I need to buy top-soil to mix with the other stuff too? I’m thinking of using 2″x12″ for the frame.

A. I highly recommend you consider carefully before using manure and compost in your raised-bed garden. It is believed that more than 90% of the composted materials available to the family gardener have NOT been sterilized in the composting process.

To be sure you have clean materials you would have to know that they had been composted at 140 degrees for 3 weeks. That’s what it takes to produce compost using aerobic processes, and that’s the only sure way I know of to remove diseases, weed seeds, and bugs.

I suggest you use a mix of three ingredients, including sand (30%) and any of these: sawdust, perlite, peat moss, or vermiculite – in that order of preference. Do not use top soil in the mix, as that is heavy, difficult to work with, and also often contains the 3 “badies”.

In addition to the great potential for problems with the above, using manure and compost leave you guessing as to what you are giving your plants by way of nutrition.

And the third reason you need to be careful is that using manure and compost can often lead to a salinity problem with your tiny plants. Plants need small amounts of 13 mineral nutrients over the entire course of their growing cycle, rather than one large application of fertilizer salts (which manure and compost have) at one time.

We teach and demonstrate the best growing principles and procedures, which allow us to promise the world “a great garden in any soil, in any climate” with no record of a successful challenge in the past 40+ years.

We use small measured amounts of natural mineral nutrients to give plants exactly what they need for sustained healthy growth, and we teach you exactly how to do the same.

And you only need frames 8″ high, rather than 12″‘s. You’ll save on materials, fertilizers, water, and work, and your plants will bless you.

I invite you to visit the Foundation’s website at www.foodforeveryone.org, specifically the FAQ section, where you’ll find many worthwhile short articles on growing organically. And the Learn section will teach you everything you need to know to have a highly successful garden – without buying anything from us.

Best wishes,

Jim Kennard, President
Food For Everyone Foundation
“Teaching the world to grow food one family at a time.”
www.growfood.com – jim@growfood.com

Much has been written, and much hand-wringing has been done trying to avoid, understand, and control the disease commonly known as Phitopthora, which often affects potatoes.

A question was asked in the Mittleider Method Gardening Group about the subject, so I asked The Garden Doctor to share his experience and, if possible, give us a solution to the problem.

His answer was so simple it was shocking, until I remembered an amazing book I am reading about human health and nutrition called The pH Miracle, by Robert O. Young, Ph.D and Shelley Redford Young. I recommend it highly, and will try to explain why below.

Dr. Mittleider said the prevention and cure for Phitopthora is simply lime and boron, in the ratio of 5 pounds lime to 1 ounce boron, and applied 2# to a 30′ bed of crops. He assured me that he has avoided and cured crops of this disease in many lands, over many years, by this simple procedure.

So, why does lime and boron solve this big problem that vexes so many growers around the world? The primary ingredient in lime is calcium, and dolomite lime also has substantial amounts of magnesium – both very important essential plant nutrients. Boron is also an essential plant nutrient, and deficiency of this nutrient has been found to cause “black heart disease” in root crops.

The answer I would have expected from Dr. Mittleider would be primarily that the nutrition from these elements was lacking and needed to be supplemented.

But there is something more, which Dr. M understands at the plant level, and Dr. Young understands at the human level, and that is that diseases thrive in an acidic environment, and cannot live in an alkaline environment. And guess what! Both lime and magnesium are base elements, meaning they raise the pH (power of hydrogen), and change the environment from acidic to alkaline.

Apparently the lack of boron creates the condition for black heart disease, and an acidic environment allows it to proliferate and destroy the crop. The nutritional aspects of calcium (and magnesium) may also contribute to the equation, but the pH factor really caught my attention from reading The pH Miracle.

Dr. Young’s and other scientists’ research gives strong evidence that human diseases cannot live in an alkaline environment, and the book teaches us how to feed ourselves so as to always have that alkaline environment, and thus live long with strong and healthy bodies.

I know the principle works in the plant world, with phitopthora and many other “diseases” that are avoided or cured by proper nutrition and adjusting the pH of the soil. And I am beginning to see in my own body the same effects, as I am changing my eating habits to assure I have healthy food and an alkaline environment that is hostile to our common human ailments.

I suggest you consider checking it out for yourselves – in your garden and your kitchen.

Jim Kennard

Q. Can you give me the Pesticide Protocol from day one to harvest for leafy veggies, tomatoes, and corn. We went to Johannesburg for a week. When we returned – the leaves looked like knitted doilies! Someone told me that Diamondback Moths flew in while we were gone. Our tomato leaves are curling up in spite of using micro-nutrients. My lowest tomatoes had holes pecked in them (birds?). What’s these little black things I see crawling around my corn stocks when I part the big leaves?

You didn’t tell me about all these secret combinations and the Gadianton Gophers! Growing seems to be the easy part (preparing, chemicals, planting, watering, and weeding) it’s keeping them alive and looking good that’s got me stumped – right now!

A. Early damage to vegetables often comes from cut worms aka soil maggots, which live just under the soil surface. Mix Diazanon crystals with sawdust at the rate of 1/4 teaspoon per 16 ounces. Place the mix around the stems of your plants. When the cutworms surface to feed at night they will have to get past the diazanon, will ingest it and die.

To eliminate pests on your vegi’s when you get a build-up, such as the black aphid you describe (they come in several colors), mix whichever of the folling you can get, Diazanon, Sevin, or Malathion, at the rate of 1 ounce per 3 gallons of water, and spray your crop. Because the effectiveness of these materials wears off quickly (3 or 4 days), you may have to do it several times, and you don’t want to do it in the last few days before harvest.

If the holes you mention are square, it’s probably mites. You need to spray them also.

You mention moths. They don’t eat your vegi’s but their larva do, and would need to be sprayed as well.

To protect corn from the corn borer and the corn ear borer, drop just 3 or 4 crystals or a small amount of diazanon, Sevin, or Malathion powder into the whirl (the growing tip of the plant), and on the silk as it first appears and is just 2-3″ long.

Tomato hornworms are big enough that the most effective control is to pick them off the plant and kill them. Evidence of their presence is stripped leaves on the plant. Look carefully, as they are so similar in color they are almost invisible.

Up-turned curling tomato leaves most often are the result of nitrogen, potassium, or magnesium deficiency. Look in the Garden Doctor and correct for those, and you’ll probably cure the symptoms.

Some people advocate the use of mineral oil to stop some pests. However, mineral often stops pollination, and we don’t recommend it.

I hope this helps.

Early blight is an air and water dispursed fungus! It’s got the beautiful name of Alternaria, and under the microscope it is a truly beautiful-looking fungus. Yet these small little fungi can cause so much destruction on plant cells. Late blight also develops on potatoes during long wet weather spells; this fungus was responsible for the Irish potato famine of 1845.

Warm conditions with high moisture promotes early blight. The spores are
dispersed by wind and by splashing water . With little wind you can see how the disease spreads from one plant to the next where infected leaves of separate plants touch each other.

Late blight is caused by Phytophthora. This fungus can destroy an entire
tomato or potato crop within a week. Controlling late blight is difficult once the disease is established. Remove and destroy diseased plant parts as they appear. Apply a fungicide such as chlorothalonil (Daconil 2787) or mancozeb as a preventative at the first sign of disease or when conditions are favorable for disease development.

To prevent late blight in tomatoes keep strictly to these cultural
practices:

1. Don’t water overhead.
2. Don’t water in the evening.
3. Give your plants plenty of space.
4. Don’t work around your plants when they are wet.
5. Don’t plant tomatoes in the same place where tomatoes, potatoes, peppers or eggplants were grown last year if they were diseased.
6. Clean up all debris.
7. Prune out diseased branches promptly and destroy.
8. Keep weeds at a minimum.
9. Plant resistant varieties when available.

Sadly we have had some very unstable weather in our area the past few weeks with lots of thunder showers almost every afternoon with high humidity and temperatures during the day. What initiated the disease on my otherwise very healthy tomatoes was two seperate unexpected hail storms shortly after each other. This caused bruising on the tomato leaves and by the next morning the first lesions started appearing (this whilst spraying preventatively – trying to be prepared for the worst (last year I lost my whole tomato crop within 3-5 days after a similar hail storm!). Now going through a repeat of last year my tomatoes are standing up a lot better by I have to go and remove new lesions on leaves every day to try and save as much as I can.

A personal observation is that the tomatoes receiving full sun all day show more resistance to the disease than the ones closer to my wall where they only get sun slightly later.

Hein Van Kralingen, Plant Pathologist, Durban, South Africa

Q. I’m distraught over what is happening to my garden and watching it occur in my neighbor’s, as well. For some reason, individual plants are dieing. One day they look fine, the next day (or even later in the same day) the leaves look wilted, like they’re not getting water, and by day 2, the plant is completely dead. They are getting plenty of water and nutrients(watering twice a day and fertilizing each week). It seems indiscriminate. First it was a single squash (out of 4), then my only zucchini. Next it worked it’s way over to my neighbor’s garden, where ALL of their pumpkin plants are affected. Then back to mine where one pepper plant just died (leaves literally fell off). This morning I went out to water and everything seemed fine, but this afternoon one of my honeydew plants is exhibiting the exact same signs. With the pepper plant, I pulled it up and it appears that the roots were ok, but they might have been a touch too short for how long they have been planted (I didn’t think to check the squash or the zucchini, unfortunately). I have noticed small holes in the ground every so often, about 1/2″ to 1″ in diameter, with what looks like a small mound next to it. I had a gopher/mole which I took care of already this year, but this one seems different – smaller holes tell me something else, but I have no idea what. HELP! I don’t want to lose my whole garden in the next couple of weeks to whatever it is that is doing this!

A. You have the classic symptoms of moles or gophers eating your plants’ roots. Go buy gopher pellets from Lowes or Home Depot, etc. Take a rake or hoe, walk your garden, pounding the HANDLE on the ground near to where plants have been killed. When you hit a gopher run, immediately pour about 1 tablespoon of pellets into the hole, then cover the hole, so the gopher won’t know it has been opened. Do this everywhere you can find their runs. And good luck.

Q. Our garden has slugs! About the time the tomatoes started getting blossoms the slugs started feasting!

I tried many methods to get rid of them – cornmeal in a jar, eggshells, sand around the plants, soapy water spray, picking them off, drowning them in beer..just to name a few.

Right now the slugs are eating the cauliflower and broccoli
(the only things left growing in the garden under the hoop house in winter).

How can I get rid of these critters once and for all?

A. The growing procedures and cultural practices as taught in the Mittleider Method are the best solutions to your problem as follows:

1. Maintaining a weed-free garden.
2. Keeping the soil bare, with no mulch or other coverings.
3. Using level, raised, ridged soil beds.
4. Using wide aisles that are kept bare and dry.
5. Watering only the root zones of the plants.
6. Pruning and removing all leaves that touch the ground.
7. Growing tomatoes & other vining crops vertically.

There seem to be many questions about plant diseases; sometimes ones without marks on the leaves or other lesions. Have any of you had bacterial diseases yet? Here is one way for testing for a bacterial disease in your dying plant.

Remove a diseased plant and slice through the stem with a sharp knife. Then place the stem into a clear glass filled with clear water. leave it for a minute or two. Then hold the plant against the light. If it is a bacterial disease, bacteria will ooze out of the wound. You will quite clearly see a transparent or milky stringy substance coming out from where you made the cut.

There are also many other soil-borne diseases. Many of them are fungal diseases where the mycelium of the fungi grow inside the cells. Most fungi thrives in moist warm conditions. Therefore drainage is quite important in your garden. Soil borne fungi like pythium and phytophthora will infect plants through their roots or around the crown of the plant when free water is around. Typical symptoms include general wilting and yellowing of the whole plant. Raised beds can help with drainage.

Don’t overhead water your plants unless you have no other choice, and if you do, water early enough in the day to allow the water to evaporate again before night comes. Ensure good air circulation (one good reason for having 3 1/2′ aisles!) between plants. For example, prune tomatoes and stick to correct plant spacings as shown in the Mittleider resources.

An integral part of disease management is to REMOVE diseased plant materials from your garden site! If you are serious about getting rid of the disease, burn the diseased plant materials. Fungi are designed for survival; during adverse conditions they produce survival or overwintering structures that can survive for a very long time until conditions improve again. These can survive on old and dying plant materials and other WEEDS in the garden. Therefore the big emphasis on removing weeds promptly (besides serving as a scrumptious food source for cutworms and other insects).

When you have handled diseased plants with scissors, a knife or other implement, you should sterilize it by spraying it with some ethanol, or other alcohol source like denatured alcohol, before using that tool on healthy plants again. This way you stop the spread of disease between plants.

Diseases and pests are here to stay, and they can take over our lives (gardens) unless we subdue them! Promptly remove leaves that show signs of disease. Example: Older tomato leaves (closest to the ground) usually start showing leaf lesions as the season progresses and disease pressure builds up in the area. Remove these promptly to stop the spread to other leaves and plants.

Insects are sometimes the carriers of viral diseases. By keeping insect pests under control you may thus control plant diseases! However, some insects are good, like lady bugs, which have a healthy appetite for plant aphids, and so too do their larvae. Bees are our most famous pollinating insect. If you spray for pests in the garden, do so early or late in the afternoon when bees are not forraging for nectar and pollen.

We work very hard to grow a delicious variety of veggies in our gardens. I have thanked Dr Mittleider and Jim many times over in my mind when I have relied so much upon my home-grown veggies in times of need. I have never had a failed crop when following these “recipes” to the letter. By ensuring cleanliness in our garden and following a few other important steps we can even subdue the pests and diseases.

I read with interest Hein’s e mail regarding early and late blight. I have been involved in a large community garden in Long Beach, California for 22 years and pretty much take care of all of our Trials and also vegetable diseases for our Garden Association.

In the early 90’s when Late Blight reared its ugly head in earnest again, our tomato crop went down big time. I sought the help of a plant pathologist from UC Riverside. The first thing that he said was “stop growing potatoes”. We did and fared well.

A couple of years ago, despite my warnings, our board of directors decided that they wanted to grow potatoes again and guess what, we lost all of our tomato crop again to late blight and the tomato russet mite. In a community garden, you cannot grow potatoes and tomatoes. One or the other. I again sought the help of a plant pathologist from UC Riverside and also the help of an entomologist from UC Riverside. Their advice was to get rid of all of the host plants for blight and mite for a period of two months prior to the tomato planting season. It was a very big job and there are a lot of host plants for these two conditions. Amazingly enough, the host plants for both of these conditions are one and the same. Their thinking is that if you can rid yourself of all the host plants that the blight spores over winter on and also that the russet mite over winters on, you will be home free.

We did just that. We made sure that every host plant was removed and kept out of our 300 garden plots (8 1/2) acres and also did not allow anyone to plant tomatoes until late March. We monitored all of the tomato plants to watch for blight. Out of thousands of tomato plants, we only found three with late blight and those were removed and destroyed. They had been brought to the gardens and planted with the disease already on them.

All of what Hein says in his post is true. You must trim off all leaves that do not look perfect and keep the tomato plants trimmed of every leaf that does not look perfect. In May, we start using a wettable sulfur spray which takes care of the russet mite and which also takes care of any mildew spores. Those of us, and especially trial garden which I oversee, had beautiful disease free plants. The secret is keeping the host plants out of your garden area so that late blight spores cannot over winter. And, for goodness sakes, do not plant potatoes. The late blight spores blow onto your tomato plants and in 10 hours you can have blight.

Late blight does not seem to affect the other members of the night shade family–egg plant, peppers, tobacco, however, these plants should also be removed for a period of 2 to 3 months before the tomato season as they too are considered host plants as are many flowers and weeds. If anyone is interested in a list of host plants, you can e mail me at PathaJ@aol.com and I will be happy to forward the list to you. From the list you can go to Google and type in the name and get info on each host plant and also a picture.

I know this is a long post however, we have been through the blight problems and they have been very bad. This past growing season has been such a revelation as to what good, clean growing conditions can do to promote a perfect tomato patch.

Sincerely,
Joanne Rice – First VP, Long Beach Community Garden Assn.

You have my permission to use this information in any way that you see fit.

Below is the write up that I made for our Board of Directors. I have included a lot of questions and answers that Dr. Michael Coffey, plant pathologist and Dr. Thomas Perring, entomologist exchanged with me. The list of host plants is at the end. Dr. Coffey states that all solanaceous plants are host plants and should be eliminated for a period of two months each year. Also, do not ever grow volunteer tomatoes. As soon as they emerge from the ground, pull them up and discard them.

It is interesting to note, that the mite and blight have the same hosts, that is why I am lumping them together. We had to do a very difficult clean up and it is important that gardeners pay attention to keeping their gardens weed free, host plants out and keep all leaves that do not look perfect on a tomato plant, cut off. If left, of course, the spores blow on to other leaves and then you are off and running with a big problem. Never compost any of the night shade plants–potatoes, tomatoes, egg plant, peppers, tobacco. Composting may not kill the spore. In fact, I never compost anything that has any insects or disease, just in case.

One other thing I would like to pass along. One spraying with sulfur does not do it. Ortho has a wettable sulfur sold in most nurseries and two tablespoons per gallon of water sprayed on tomato plants every two weeks preventably will handle mildew, mite and possibly blight. Best way to handle blight is the clean up, clean gardens, no potatoes of any kind, including sweet potatoes and a very watchful eye. Once we started using the wettable sulfur, our tomato plants were simply awesome. I had some plants start to go down early on and thought I would lose them and the minute that I used the wettable sulfur, they came back and were simply beautiful.

It is good to note that most of the commercial tomato growers in California dust with sulfur beginning in early M ay. Theydoitforthemite.BR Dusting is not an option for us because if you inhale sulfur, it becomes sulfuric acid in your lungs and burns your lungs.

Yes, Daconil can be used for blight. Best to be used early to prevent. Treating after infection is more difficult. Soap Shield from Garden’s Alive is also an option.

After so many years of struggling with blight and mite, I am so heartened that these two specialists from UC Riverside have shown us the right path to healthy tomatoes. We are now in our first month of no host plants and have one month to go and then will allow tomatoes, egg plants and peppers to be planted again. We demand that all gardens and pathways be weed free.

I hope that this will help some garden people to have a better handle on tomato diseases. Until last year, we were struggling. Now we are not.

Here is the website for our gardens.
https://lbcg.org/

Most sincerely,
Joanne Rice

See below:

THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION HAS BEEN SENT TO ME BY DR. MICHAEL COFFEY, PLANT PATHOLOGIST AT UC RIVERSIDE WHO IS GOING TO HELP US MANAGE OUR TOMATO BLIGHT PROBLEM AND BY DR. THOMAS PERRING OF UC RIVERSIDE WHO IS A TOMATO RUSSET MITE (TMR) SPECIALIST. THEY HAVE REALLY BEEN VERY SUPPORTIVE AND WHEN E MAILED, REPLY WITHIN MINUTES.

WHEN ASKED WHAT WE SHOULD DO ABOUT THE BLIGHT AT THIS TIME OF YEAR, DR. COFFEY SAID THIS.

“REMOVE AND DISCARD EVERY VOLUNTEER TOMATO PLANT. LATE BLIGHT IS NOT A SOIL BORNE DISEASE SO TREATING THE SOIL WOULD BE OF NO CONSEQUENCE. REMOVE ALL SOLNACEOUS PLANTS AND WEEDS, ESPECIALLY HAIRY NIGHTSHADE. YOU WILL HAVE TO HAVE THE COOPERATION OF THE ENTIRE MEMBERSHIP AS THE TOMATO SEASON APPROACHES, I WILL INSTRUCT YOU FURTHER.”

DR. COFFEY SAID TO CONVEY TO THIS BOARD THAT “YOU HAVE A PLANT PATHOLOGIST NAMED MICHAEL COFFEY WHO IS WILLING TO HELP YOU.”

DR. COFFEY LATER WROTE THIS: ” REGARDING LATE BLIGHT OF TOMATOES, I AM IN THE PROCESS OF WRITING A REVIEW ARTICLE FOR PLANT DISEASES ON THIS TOPIC. I WILL SHARE MY THOUGHTS, FINDINGS AND EXPERIENCE WITH YOUR GARDEN COMMUNITY PRIOR TO THE NEXT TOMATO GROWING SEASON. I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO DONATE ABOUT 200 TOMATO PLANTS OF DIFFERENT VARIETIES AT THIS STAGE.

LATE BLIGHT DOES NOT SURVIVE IN THE SOIL. IT DOES HOWEVER, OVERWINTER ON VOLUNTEER PLANTS, POTATO AND TOMATO AND ON CERTAIN SOLANACEOUS WEEDS, NOTABLE HAIRY NIGHTSHADE. THE DESTRUCTION OF VOLUNTEERS AND HAIRY NIGHTSHADE IS HIGHLY DESIRABLE.

LATE BLIGHT CAN ALSO BE INTRODUCED ON YOUNG TOMATO SEEDLINGS/TRANSPLANTS BOUGHT AT THE NURSERY SUPPLIER. THIS IS A QUITE COMMON METHOD OF INTRODUCTION AND SPREAD. YOUNG PLANTS NEED TO BE INSPECTED CAREFULLY ONCE THEY ARE PLANTED AND ANY SHOWING SYMPTOMS, DESTROYED AND SURROUNDING PLANTS TREATED IMMEDIATELY.”

DR. COFFEY DID NOT MENTION EGG PLANT OR PEPPERS IN REGARD TO LATE BLIGHT BUT I READ THAT PEPPERS AND EGGPLANT ARE IMMUNE TO THE DISEASE BUT CAN HARBOR THE SPORES OVER THE WINTER.

WHEN I ASKED MANY QUESTIONS REGARDING THE TOMATO RUSSET MITE, DR. THOMAS PERRING HAD THIS TO SAY.

QUESTION: AFTER THE RUSSET MITE FINISHES DEVASTATING THE LEAVES OF A TOMATO PLANT, WHERE DOES IT GO?

ANSWER: MOST OF THEM DIE. THE ONES THAT MAKE IT TO ANOTHER SOLANACEOUS HOST WILL CONTINUE LIVING, PRODUCE EGGS, ETC. THE POPULATION GROWTH SLOWS CONSIDERABLY IN THE WINTER BUT IS STILL PRESENT.

QUESTION: LITERATURE SAYS THE MITE OVER WINTERS ON CERTAIN PLANTS. I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW THE LIFE CYCLE OF THE MITE.

ANSWER: IF YOU SEND ME YOUR ADDRESS, I WILL FORWARD SOME LITERATURE ABOUT THIS MITE. (HE DID AND I AM INCLUDING THE IMPORTANT PARTS IN THIS DOCUMENT).

QUESTION: I UNDERSTAND THAT MAY AND JUNE ARE THE BEST MONTHS TO DUST/SPRAY THE TOMATO PLANTS FOR THIS MITE.
WHY?

ANSWER: THIS IS THE TIME BEFORE THE POPULATION LEVEL REACHES SUCH HIGH NUMBERS, SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO KILL SO MANY INDIVIDUALS. ALSO, IT IS THE TIME OF YEAR THAT THE TEMPERATURE IS STARTING TO GET WARM, A CONDITION THAT DRIVES MITE DEVELOPMENT.

QUESTION: ANY COMMENTS ON SULFUR DUST VERSUS WETTABLE SULFUR?

ANSWER: DUSTING SULFUR WOULD BE PREFERRED BECAUSE YOU GET BETTER COVERAGE WHERE THE MITES LIVE, BUT WETTABLE SHOULD ALSO DO THE TRICK.

QUESTION: ARE WE ON THE RIGHT TRACK FOR CONTROL OF THIS MITE?

ANSWER: YES, TRY TO REDUCE THE OVERWINTERING SOLANCEOUS PLANTS AND DUSTING WITH SULFUR IN MAY AND JUNE SHOULD DO IT.

QUESTION: 10/08/03 I AM WONDERING IF THERE IS ANYTHING THAT WE SHOULD BE DOING AT THE PRESENT TIME THAT WOULD HELP CUT DOWN ON THE RUSSET MITE POPULATION? I NEED A PLAN OF ATTACK.

ANSWER: “AN AGGRESSIVE WEED CLEAN UP WILL GO A LONG WAY TO REDUCE MITE HOST PLANTS. IF YOU SIMPLY HAD A STRATEGY FOR GARDENERS TO REMOVE PLANT MATERIAL IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING THEIR LAST HARVEST, THIS WOULD HELP A LOT. TYPICAL GARDENERS WILL HARVEST UNTIL THE VERY LAST FRUIT IS TAKEN FROM THE PLANT, EVEN IF THE PRODUCTION IS PRETTY MUCH OVER. THE MITE IS ALSO ON TO THE NEXT CROP, AND ABANDON THE OLD PLANTS. THIS ALLOWS THE OLD PLANT TO BECOME A BUG FACTORY. IF YOU HAD A RULE FOR REMOVING USED-UP PLANTS, IT WOULD REDUCE SOME OF THESE PROBLEMS.

IF YOU HAVE A ‘HOST FREE PERIOD’ BEFORE TOMATO PLANTING, TOMATO RUSSET MITE WILL BE ELIMINATED FROM THE GARDENS. THE SOURCE OF INFESTATION THUS WOULD COME FROM OUTSIDE AND BE SIGNIFICANTLY LESS THAN FROM INSIDE THE GARDEN.”

WE NEED TO IMPLEMENT THE THINGS THAT DR. COFFEY AND DR. PERRING HAVE SUGGESTED THAT WE DO TO GET OUR GARDEN ENVIRONMENT BACK TO NORMAL.

KEVIN HOLMAN IS PRICING THE COST OF SPRAYING OF ALL TOMATO PLANTS IN MAY AND JUNE AND IT MUST BE MANDATORY OTHERWISE ALL OF THE ABOVE IS FOLLY.

IF WE DO NOT TAKE CARE OF THIS PROBLEM, WE WILL NOT BE GROWING TOMATOES AS IT WILL BECOME AN EVEN BIGGER PROBLEM WITH EACH ENSUING YEAR, IF THAT IS POSSIBLE.

CLEAN UP SHOULD BEGIN IMMEDIATELY AND ALL TOMATO VOLUNTEERS, POTATO VOLUNTEERS, TOMATO PLANTS, PEPPER PLANTS, EGG PLANT, POTATO PLANTS, PETUNIAS, NICOTINIA AND OTHER THINGS LISTED BY DRS. COFFEY AND PERRING PULLED OUT BY NOVEMBER 30, 2003. ALL GARDENS SHOULD BE WEED FREE, ESPECIALLY THE MORNING GLORY (FIELD BIND WEED). A BIG JOB BUT HAS TO BE DONE AS PART OF THE CLEAN UP. THIS SHOULD BE COMPLETED BY NOVEMBER 30 2003. WE SHOULD ASK FOR EIGHT VOLUNTEERS TO MONITOR THE CLEAN UP.

HERE IS THE LIST OF HOST PLANTS THAT HARBOR THE MITE and BLIGHT.

TOMATO (LYCOPERSICON ESCULENTUM)
HAIRY NIGHTSHADE (SOLANUM VILLOSUM)
MORNING GLORY (CONVOLVULUS SP.)
POTATO (SOLANUM TUBEROSUM)
BLACK NIGHTSHADE(SOLANUM NIGRUM) Being grown by our Oriental
Members.
JIMSON WEED (DATURA STRAMONIUM)
CHINESE THORN APPLE (DATURA FEROX)
CAPE GOOSEBERRY (PHYSALIS PERUCIANA)
WILD BLACK CURRANT
PETUNIA (PETUNIA HYBRIDA)
TOMATILLO (PHYSALIS IXOCARPA)
POPOLO (SOLANUM NODIFOLIUM
NIGHTSHADE (SOLANUM DOUGLASII)
SMALL FLOWERED NIGHT SHADE (SOLANUM NODIFLORUM)
WILD GOOSEBERRY (PHYSALIS MINIMA)
TOBACCO (TOBACCO NICOTIANA SP)
AMETHYST (BROWALLIA AMERICANA)
BELL PEPPER (CAPSICUM ANNUM)
CHERRY PEPPER (CAPSICUM ANNUM)
TOLGUACHA (DATURA METELOIDES)
LYCOPERSICON CHEESMANII
LYCOPERSICON CHILENSE
LYCOPERSICON GLANDULOSUM
LYCOPERSICON HIRSUTUM
LYCOPERSICON PERUVIANUM
LYCOPERSICON PIMPINELLIFOLIUM
WHITE HORSE NETTLE (SOLANUM ELEAGNIFOLIUM)
SOLANUM LACINIATUM
EGGPLANT (SOLANUM MELONGENA)
JERUSALEM CHERRY (SOLANUM PSEUDO-CAPSICUM)
FIELD BINDWEED (CONVULVULUS ARVENSIS) (OUR MORNING GLORY)
BRINJAL

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED
JOANNE RICE
FIRST VICE PRESIDENT
LBCGA
10/14/03

Q. What do I plant around the garden to keep animals out

A. Fast-growing tall hedges – about 10 years ago!

Seriously, I don’t know of anything – short of a tall fence – that will discourage animals. Even an electric fence won’t keep deer out, unless it has several strands – as we’ve discovered in the Utah Hogle Zoo garden in SLC, Utah.

And smaller animals aren’t deterred even by an electric fence. The best solution is a fence with small enough squares to keep even the rabbits and squirrels out. Anything less is just a palliative measure, and a waste of time.

Q. As you have probably read, California received over 35 inches of rain this winter and as a result, our Community Gardens flooded and were under a foot of water for quite some time. The soil has taken a very long time to dry out and still is quite moist.

My question is this. Since we had runoff from surrounding areas, like a storage yard and a nature center, I am wondering what we should do to be sure our soil is not contaminated with bad bacteria. Someone suggested that we use lime at a rate of 3 pounds per garden plot (600 square feet). I know that lime will change the PH of our soil.

What would you suggest in regard to dealing with contaminated soil? And, what should we use if PH is changed? We have sent a sample of our soils to a lab for analysis regarding toxins. They are planting radishes and wheatgrass to see what those plants take up from our soil. But, it is time to plant things here and I was wondering what options we had to take care of any bad bacteria in our soil.

A. As it happens, radishes are an excellent thing to plant in your situation. They are hardy, will grow quickly, and show symptoms of deficiency, disease, etc. very well.

Do you have The Garden Doctor series? Watch your plants and see what they tell you.

Meanwhile, apply the Pre-Plant fertilizer mix in the recommended dosages of 2# in each 18″ X 30′ soil bed or Grow-Box (more than 10 times the rate someone suggested). And add Weekly Feed to each bed at the rate of 1# in each 18″ X 30′ bed or box. By the way, it takes 1000# of lime per acre to raise the pH one point. That’s 1# for every 4.365 square feet, so 2# in 600 square feet won’t do anything for or against your pH.

Ordinarily, you do not receive more than 20 inches of rain each year, do you? One flooding shouldn’t change the pH and make your soil acidic, so as to require lime. If you normally receive under 20″ of rain per year, the Pre-Plant mix should have gypsum, instead of lime, so since gypsum is pH neutral, it won’t raise your pH, but it does everything else lime will do for you.
I believe the chances are slight that you will suffer harm from disease, etc coming from your neighbors as a result of the rain.

Will the lab tell you your pH? Let me know what they say.

If it was my garden, I’d prepare the beds as recommended above, build the ridges, and plant. Planting won’t HURT you, and most likely will be a benefit.

Q. I want to grow some of the different colored corn. The seed package says to isolate. How far from the other corn does this have to be to avoid cross pollination?

A. When isolating corn there are four things you can do, separately or in combination, to minimize cross-pollination. Farmers often first consider distance, then time. Other considerations include barrier rows and wind direction.

For the home gardener it’s more important to isolate by TIME than by physical distance, barriers, or avoiding wind.

TIME ISOLATION – It’s very difficult for the home gardener to find sufficient space to avoid cross-pollination of corn. But it’s fairly easy to determine the days to maturity and then plant two to three weeks before or after, so the pollen from another variety is not in the air during the time your isolated variety is receptive.

Once pollen is released from the anther, which is in the tassel, it is viable for about 24 hours, so avoiding that time period is critical. And the plants from one planting can continue producing pollen for up to two weeks, so a minimum of 14 days should separate the tasseling time of the different types.

DISTANCE – According to a study by the University of California plants that are 12 feet apart will likely have 50% cross-pollination, and while pollen concentration is only 1% at a distance of 200 feet one study showed that cross-pollination of 1% required separation of 660 feet.

Other studies indicated 1% pollination occurred at distances of only 40 to 50 feet, but even that distance is difficult to maintain in the typical family garden.

BARRIER ROWS – A large percentage of contaminating pollen can be diluted by planting several rows of a different vegetable between different varieties of corn. For this to be really effective the barrier rows must be tall, such as pole beans, vertically-grown tomatoes, etc.

WIND DIRECTION – By not planting different varieties of corn down-wind from each other isolation can be improved, but not fully achieved.

If you can’t wait the requisite two weeks between plantings, the other three factors can be used to limit cross-pollination as much as possible.

Q. My corn seems to sprout alright, but for some reason I only end up with 1/3rd or 1/4th of the plants I expect. What’s happening?

A. Humans aren’t the only ones who enjoy sprouts. larger birds, such as crows, will eat your corn just as it’s sprouting if given a chance.

It may also have been that you had cold ground, though. Corn likes warm soil, and will rot in the ground if it’s cold.

In early spring, I recommend you plant your corn seed in the black plastic trays with 36 2″ pots, and grow it in the warm greenhouse. Your seedlings must have full sunlight all day long, however – or grow lights 16-18 hours each day.

You can grow it 3-4″ tall before transplanting. try not to disturb the root ball, and water well after transplanting. As with all transplants, apply 8 oz of 34-0-0 per 30′ soil-bed containing 2 rows of plants (which you probably can’t get anymore) or 12 oz of 21-0-0 before watering, and water in well – then 3 days later begin the Weekly Feed regimen. Remember that you must give corn full sun, even in the greenhouse, or they will be pathetic and never recover fully.

Q. Can I plant corn in a pot to start it and then replant it in the garden when it warms up, since it is still cold, or should I just wait and do it all outside?

A. Corn is a tender plant and will be killed by any frost. Also, it will not grow when the ground is cold. So, it should not be planted in the garden until the danger of frost is past and the ground has warmed up somewhat.

We have grown corn in the greenhouse successfully on several occasions, so it can definitely be done. You can plant in pots (2″ – 6-paks are preferred), but don’t do it more than 3-4 weeks before planting into the garden because they will outgrow the pots, require transplanting, and take up even more space

However, whether or not to plant under lights or in a greenhouse, and then transplant into the garden, should be decided based on other factors.

Any planting – and especially greenhouse production – should consider the value of the crop vs the cost and amount of work involved. Planting 50 corn plants will yield 50+ ears of corn MOL, worth about $5. Is it worth the time, cost, effort, and space in your growing facility, or are those scarce resources better used to grow something with more value to you? The other end of the value curve may be tomatoes, let’s compare. Fifty indeterminate tomato plants, grown vertically, will occupy only a little more space in your garden, but will yield 1,000-2,000 tomatoes worth $250-500.

Unless there is substantial value to you in having the first fresh-from-the-garden home-grown corn in the community, you may decide to grow something else.

After tomatoes, sweet corn may be the most popular crop grown in many family gardens.

However, as popular as it is, growing corn presents some difficult choices, mostly having to do with what other crops you will have to leave out.

In the limited space of a family garden corn is a poor choice if you are trying to maximize your garden yield, because one corn stalk only produces one or two ears, while a vertically-grown tomato plant taking up the same space can produce 10 to 20 POUNDS of tomatoes. Even a cabbage plant can produce 2 or 3 pounds in 2/3rds the time most corn requires to mature.

You can maximize your production of corn by planting close together in two rows per bed, and planting several short parallel rows, rather than one long one, because corn is pollinated by the wind carrying pollen from the tassels to the silks, and most comes from neighboring plants.

Build your garden using 18”-wide level, slightly raised beds with 4”-high ridges, and plant seeds or transplant seedlings 8” apart in the row, with rows 12” apart in the bed. Plant at the base of the ridges, rather than on the ridges. And aisles should be 3’ wide.

Because corn is considered a TENDER crop planting should not be done until AFTER the average last Spring frost date. Using early varieties can improve that somewhat, but even earlier and better results can be achieved by growing seedlings in a protected environment and transplanting strong, healthy seedlings into the garden on the date you would otherwise plant your seeds.

Transplanting seedlings also assures that you have 100% crop coverage, further maximizing your yield. This can be a big factor to consider, as cold weather, too-wet soil, bugs, diseases, birds, and other pests can substantially reduce the percentage of seeds that survive to become healthy seedlings.

Do NOT try to use the seeds from hybrid corn you’ve grown, since hybrid seed will be different than the parent seed, and usually produces inferior plants and ears.

Hybrid varieties have been developed in recent years that give us our choice of white, bi-color, or yellow corn, and are very high in sugar content. And the double and triple-sweet varieties will retain their sugar for several days after picking, if they’re refrigerated.

Hybridization has also produced corn with different maturity times, as well as frost and heat tolerance. This means that some varieties can be planted fairly early in the spring to give a June/July crop, and others planted later will mature between August and October. Later varieties are usually sweeter.
To maintain the sweet quality of the corn you are planting, isolation is recommended to prevent cross-pollination with other types.

When isolating corn there are four things you can do, separately or in combination, to minimize cross-pollination. Farmers often first consider distance, then time. Other considerations include barrier rows and wind direction.

For the home gardener it’s more important to isolate by TIME rather than by physical distance, barriers, or avoiding wind.

TIME ISOLATION – The home gardener rarely has sufficient space to avoid cross-pollination of corn. It’s much easier to determine the days to maturity and then plant two to three weeks before or after, so the pollen from one variety is not in the air during the time silk from another variety is receptive.

Once pollen is released from the tassel it is viable for about 24 hours, so avoiding that time period is critical. And the tassels from one planting can continue producing pollen for up to two weeks, so a minimum of 14 days should separate the tasseling time of the different types.

DISTANCE – Plants that are 12 feet apart may have as much as 50% cross-pollination, and cross-pollination of 1% requires separation of anywhere from 50 to 660 feet, depending on whose studies you believe.

BARRIER ROWS – Much of the contaminating pollen can be diluted by planting several rows of a different vegetable between varieties of corn. For this to be really effective the rows must be tall and constitute a real barrier, such as pole beans, vertically-grown tomatoes, etc.

WIND DIRECTION – By not planting different varieties of corn down-wind from each other isolation can also be improved.

If you can’t wait the requisite two weeks between plantings, the other three factors can be used to limit cross-pollination as much as possible.

Corn should be picked while the liquid inside the kernels is milky. Waiting too long will result in the sugar turning to starch and a considerable loss in the sweet flavor. Refrigerate as soon as possible to slow the sugar’s conversion to starch.

Good Eating!

Corn smut – a fungus disease called Ustilago maydis – is extremely common. It cannot be controlled with fungicides, nor with treating the seed. The spores can be carried into your garden by the wind, even from long distances. Plant infection often occurs through wounds. Therefore, avoid injury to roots, stalks and leaves while weeding. Insect damage can also leave the plant vulnerable, so eliminating corn worms, beetles, and earwigs may help.

No, you don’t need to tear everything out. Very rarely is a corn crop rendered unusable by smut. To minimize the damage, remove the immature galls before they break open – and eat, bury (away from the garden), or burn them.

Yes, it can safely be eaten! In Mexico, the immature smut galls are consumed as an edible delicacy known as cuitlacoche (wheat-lah-KOH-chay). Think mushrooms. Even in the USA, restaurants catering to Hispanic customers sometimes feature this item on their menus. Try them cooked with scrambled eggs.

Meanwhile, to reduce the problem of having them grow in your corn, remove the galls early, and if the infection is bad, do not plant corn in that area for 3-4 years. The white Sugary Enhancers are reported to have some resistance to common smut.

Q. Do you have any tips on how to keep corn from lodging? I generally hill up the dirt about 4-5 inches when the plants are about 18 inches tall. It helps but the problem still persists if we get a big wind, especially if I have just watered.

A. There are actually two problems included in his question.

First, lodging is when corn stalks or other cereal grain stalks break easily. This condition is caused by a deficiency in Potassium! Feed your crop properly, using the Pre-Plant and Weekly Feed mixes, and you won’t have problems with lodging.

Second, if a crop suffers from weak stalks because of potassium deficiency, it will fall over and break when a strong wind blows. However, corn, and to a lesser degree all the cereal grains, are susceptible to being hurt by strong winds – even if their stocks are strong. This is because a tall stand of corn is almost solid, and catches the wind like a sail.

So, if a very strong wind blows across your rows of corn, it may very well bend them over, especially if it is shortly after you have watered, because watering softens the soil and allows the roots to be pulled out more easily (think of harvesting carrots immediately after watering).

When your corn has been knocked over by the wind, if it’s not too far – only 45 degrees or less – it may stand up again by itself in a few days.

In back-yard gardens you can help it to stand up by watering, then lifting it up, placing baling twine against it about 3′ from the ground, and wrapping the baling twine around tall stakes you’ve driven into the ground at the peak of the ridges at intervals of every 3 or 4 feet.

Even if you don’t get it straight up, giving it this much help will usually be enough for it to straighten up the rest of the way. And be careful that you don’t pull the roots out of the soil in the process!

It’s important to get it standing again if you can, because when it bends over, the distribution of the pollen from the tassels to the silk is often substantially reduced, and your corn yield will be seriously affected.

Sweet corn is one of the easiest things to grow, but it is very inefficient of space in the garden, plus being tall it must be planted on the north or east side of the garden, so as not to shade the lower-growing plants. We plant in two rows in an 18″-wide soil bed or grow-box, and we plant our seeds or seedlings 8″ apart. Because corn is susceptible to frost damage it needs to be planted to emerge from the soil after the last hard frost. We often increase our growing season by growing seedlings in a protected environment (greenhouse or under grow-lights), and transplant them into the garden when they are about 6″ tall. We will – when we have a large garden with plenty of extra space – plant successive crops 2 weeks apart, making sure that the last crop goes in 75-80 days before the first expected fall frost date.

Q. I am using the Garden Master software this year for planting and fertilizing. How do I adjust for crop rotation and how often do I need to do it?

A. You will fertilize everything the same – once per week until 3 weeks before harvest – without any changes for crop rotation.

Planting location – or rotation of crops is another matter. You will still want to follow the Garden Master’s recommendations with regard to height-placements, and then adjust for those crops you feel you need to rotate.

There are 3 major reasons for rotating crops. The first is to take advantage of the fact that different plants use slightly different amounts of the various nutrients, and some (legumes) can actually put nitrogen into the soil. Because we feed the plants a balanced diet, nutrition is not a problem in a Mittleider garden. The second reason for rotating is to break the cycle of disease that may have gotten into a certain crop. And the third is to break the cycle of insect pests that favor a certain crop.

In reality, most small home gardens are not big enough to be very effective at stopping the spread or pests or diseases, so crop rotation is often not a great solution – although still worth doing.

Other “cultural practices” of the Mittleider Method will likely assist you more than crop rotation in minimizing your losses from pests and diseases. To assure a great yield year after year, we teach you such things as:

maintaining a completely weed-free garden – even including wide 5-10’ borders, watering only the actual growing area – leaving wide aisles dry (like a desert to bugs), growing seedlings in a protected environment and transplanting stocky, robust seedlings into the garden, growing your plants fast by feeding and watering them properly, and harvesting the crop as soon as it matures, before the bugs and/or diseases can become entrenched.

Q. My husband said you should change the location of your vegetable garden every year. Is this correct?

A. This idea is impractical and unnecessary. Most family garden areas are too small to even rotate crops adequately, much less having the space to move the entire garden to a new location.

If you maintain a clean, weed-free garden, grow your crops fast, harvest at peak maturity, and don’t introduce diseases into your garden, you should be able to grow indefinitely in the same garden spot.

If one or more crops are over-run with pests or disease, you may need to avoid planting that crop for a year or more, unless you have a large enough area that you can move that crop some distance away, where the disease or bugs that have wintered over won’t get to them.

Q. I have just started my first veggie and fruit garden this year and unfortunately I guess I underestimated the spacing needed for the plants. What can I do, if anything, about my cantaloupes growing onto my cucumber hill? (I planted way too many cantaloupes) Should I pull some up so that the cucumbers have room to grow, or can they just intertwine?? I am just really worried about the cantaloupes smothering out the cucumbers. Help??

A. If you can, put 8′-tall stakes near all your plants, then tie your plants to the stakes and have them grow UP, instead of OUT. Do this for both cucumbers and cantaloupe. You can have many more plants in the same space this way. You’ll need to place nails in the stakes every 6″ or so, to hold the plants up.

You will also need to prune some of your stems, so you don’t have so many. Don’t worry this is a positive thing for the plants, and for your harvest. Too much greenery reduces your harvest.

Once you have done the initial pruning and staking I recommend you prune off the sucker stems that continue to try and grow. Let the sucker stem grow to the first female blossom and leaf. Remove the stem beyond that point. This will assure you receive the maximum fruit in the least space.

Q. We are being inundated with vines on our Cucumber vertical growing attempt. I put up some more strings for climbing, however, I don’t think that is the solution.

If it was tomatoes, I would just snip them off, as I have successfully done that this year, with no apparent harm to the plant. However, I do not have much information on the cucumbers.

A. Cucumber vines should be pruned when growing vertically. They produce a sucker stem at each leaf node, similar to tomatoes. However, you DO NOT take out the sucker stem right at the main stem, but instead, you let it grow to the first leaf. There will be a leaf and a tiny cucumber forming, and then a continuation of the stem. Take the stem off after the leaf and new cucumber.

For plants that have not been pruned I can’t advise accurately without seeing them, but I would personally prune them back to something manageable using the procedures I discuss in the previous paragraph.

Jim Kennard

Q. I’m doing a research project in biology about plant nutrient deficiencies and how the growth will be affected. Do you have any sources that I should consult? Which plant should I use in the experiment? Which deficiency should I test for?

A. Dr. Mittleider learned hard work, meticulous record keeping, and accuracy in his early years as a baker. At about age 25 he started his own nursery business in Loma Linda, California. He studied everything he could get his hands on, then he consulted with soil-testing labs – even putting the Matkin Soil Labs of Southern California on a monthly retainer for several years. Then he conducted thousands of field experiments over the course of many years in dozens of locations all over the world.

The result of 45 years of study, documentation, and work is The Garden Doctor – a three-volume set, with about 800 color photos, devoted to documenting deficiency symptoms and the proper corrective treatments in vegetables and fruits.

As I have searched the world, I cannot find anything that even approaches this material for what it teaches on nutrient deficiencies in vegetable crops. The Garden Doctor, in my opinion, is the definitive work on the subject, and should be in every library and Agriculture School in the world. Jacob has been too busy helping people around the world to even spend time marketing his books, and that’s why they sometimes are not known or appreciated as they should be.

How extensive are you willing to make your experiments? To do something that’s reasonably simple, you could make the fertilizer formula given on the website at www.foodforeveryone.org in the Gardening Techniques section, and the Fertilizers page. You would leave out the element for which you want to test the deficiency symptom, then grow the plant(s) until it shows a deficiency.

Do your experiments with the major or secondary elements, rather than trying the micro’s, because the deficiency will show up faster. And it’s always possible that the commercial fertilizer you use might have small amounts of some of the micro’s in it without stating it on the bag. Don’t choose sulfur, because many fertilizers have sulfur, although not stated, and you won’t see a deficiency.

Grow something that is easy to grow and grows fast. For example, if you were looking to prove a phosphorus deficiency, you could grow corn. It is easy, grows fast, and the purple leaves are a distinctive symptom of phosphorus deficiency. The Garden Doctor books could give you dozens of other examples.

Q. This is my second year with pole bean leaves turning yellow this time though they turned yellow much earlier. Last year I grew blue lake and kentucky wonder this year I tried Rattlesnake. The plants grew about three inches tall and all plants were yellowing. So I pulled the whole crop and tilled the bed over.
Does anyone use Inoculants? Would that help?

I m having great results with the rest of the garden but the beans are driving me nuts!

A. Inoculating been seeds with ryzobia (sp) bacteria can help improve the nitrogen for that crop, and to a lesser extent for a later crop in the same bed as well.

Soaking the seed will generally speed up the germination, but be careful you don’t use water that is hotter than 120 degrees Fahrenheit. I use luke-warm water myself.

It’s too bad you pulled the crop before figuring out what was wrong. Was it grown in the same place as beans were grown last year? What were the symptoms, exactly? There are 6 elements the deficiencies of which can be exhibited as yellowing of some or all of the plant. Bright yellow, tending to orange means one thing; yellow interveinal tissue with green veins means one of two other nutrients; yellowing of older leaves only means another one; mottled spotty yellowing in parts of older leaves means something else, and yellowing of the entire plant can mean one or more other nutrients.

I highly recommend EVERYONE who is serious about growing food get The Garden Doctor, by Dr. Jacob R. Mittleider. I believe it’s easily the best publication anywhere to describe and illustrate nutrient deficiency symptoms and their corrective treatments for vegetables and fruits.

(Eggplants & tomatoes belong to the same family and these answers apply to both.)

1) Were both beds of plants healthy? Were they the same variety, and do they look and grow the same? The bed that failed to produce fruit – were the plants continuing to be healthy, or did they stop growing and show signs of disease, etc.? Only if they were sick is there a problem with the soil, in which case you may need to treat or sterilize the soil.

To sterilize the soil, the best thing is methyl bromide, which takes 24 hours and kills everything, so use extreme caution! However, to use it in a greenhouse you must have a full body suit with outside supplied air. It can be fatal in even small doses in enclosed areas. Otherwise you could use steam, if you can get enough to hold the temperature at 200 degrees F for 2 hours. Either way, you must cover the bed tightly with plastic.

If the two beds of eggplant looked the same you do not need to sterilize the soil. Methyl Bromide is a chemical that is very effective at killing everything – but it is getting harder to find, and very expensive. And in the USA it requires a Pesticide Applicator’s license to even buy or use it. Steam equipment is also expensive, and unless you have a steam-heat source that you could tap into, it probably isn’t practical either. With the extremely cold winters you have (-30 C), many bugs and disease pathogens are killed, so I will be surprised if your problem is a disease in the soil.

2) If the plants were healthy, but just did not produce fruit, then the problem is most likely in the pollination somewhere. Eggplants are self-pollinating, so you do not need to help them, and you could have actually caused the problem – if the brush was too wet, or if it was diseased or something. If it was too wet – either the brush or the environment – that could inhibit the transfer of pollen also. Were you using the same brush to pollinate both rows? And were you pollinating both rows the same day? If so, then it isn’t the brush, but some environmental difference. Try just shaking or vibrating the plants to make the pollen transfer if there is no air movement in your greenhouse.

3) What about the light factor? Did both beds get the same amount of sunlight? Fruiting plants must have uniform, sustained light all day – otherwise they produce greenery, but no fruit.

4) Eggplants like warm temperatures also, in addition to lots of light. Was one bed subject to more cold air than the other – such as being planted closer to the greenhouse wall? If the temperature goes below 60 degrees, sometimes frost-sensitive and frost-intolerant plants won’t produce fruit. Was there any difference in temperature at critical times between the two beds?

5) Also, some insects will eat the pollen, such as ants. Is that a possibility? However, it would be unusual to have insects attack one bed and not the adjacent one.

6) Were the two beds planted at the same time, so that the plants were the same size? If not, conditions might have been different when the second one was flowering (although the flowering continues for months – so that isn’t likely), or the taller row was shading the shorter row.

7) What time of day did you pollinate? If it is done before the male flower is fully open, the pollen is green and won’t fertilize. Also, after the female flower starts to collapse it is too old, and won’t accept pollination.

8) Is there a possibility your one box had nematodes in the roots? If the plants are carrying nematodes, they may look healthy, but they can’t support the nematodes and bear fruit at the same time, and since they can’t get rid of the nematodes, they abort the fruit and just keep on trying, without success.

9) If you pollinate using a male from the same plant, you have more risk of not getting good fruit – it’s better to use a male from a different plant and cross-pollinate.

You really have to become a detective to discover what happened, don’t you! Let me know the answers to the above, and maybe we can narrow it down and find the most likely cause of the problem.

I will give instructions for building a jig and then making PVC arches for 18″-wide boxes or beds.
Materials needed:
11 – 5′ lengths of 1/2″ Schedule 40 PVC pipe – to place arches 3′ apart – for each bed or box you are wanting to cover.

6-mil greenhouse plastic – 5′ wide and 33′ long – one for each bed or box to be covered.

For Grow-Boxes only – 3 10′ lengths of 3/4″ Schedule 200 PVC pipe, cut into 24 15″ pieces for each box to be covered. Plus 22 – 2 1/2″ nails and small 2″ X 4″ block.

One 30″ X 30″ (or bigger) sheet of plywood, plus 6 – 2 1/2″ nails.

One heat gun (to heat and bend pipe).

The jig for bending the PVC pipe:
With a pen, make 3 marks at the top of the plywood sheet – one in the center, and one each, 9″ to the left and right of the center. Go down 9″ on the plywood and make 3 marks exactly corresponding to the first 3.

Draw lines from the outside lower marks to the top center mark. Place marks on both lines 10″ up from the bottom. Go down 18″ on the plywood and make 3 marks corresponding to the others. Draw lines between the marks.

Make marks 2″ up from the bottom of both 18″ lines. Drive nails into the 4 upper marks, leaving 2″ exposed. Drive nails into the marks 2″ up from the bottom of the 18″ lines, then drive nails 1″ to the left and right of these nails.

Cutting and Bending PVC Pipe
Cut 5′ lengths of 1/2″ schedule 40 PVC pipe. Mark them at 18″ and 28″ from each end. Place one end of PVC pipe between nails on one side, with the end at the 18″ mark (2″ below the first 2 nails). With heat gun, heat PVC pipe at each spot where PVC pipe encounters a nail, and carefully bend the pipe to fit the jig. allow to cool before removing pipe from jig.

For Grow-Boxes, place 15″ pieces of 3/4″ PVC adjacent to the Grow- Box at each end and at 3′ intervals on both sides. With a hammer, and using the small 2″ X 4″ block of wood, hammer the PVC into the ground until the top is level with the Grow-Box. Pre-drill a hole through the PVC pipe 2″ up from the dirt, and hammer the 2 1/2″ nail through both pipe and Grow- Box. Bend the nail over on the inside of the Grow-Box to avoid getting scratched later. Slip the 1/2″ PVC arches into the 3/4″ PVC holding pipes until they encounter the nails – about 6″ deep.

For Soil-Beds, just push the 1/2″ PVC arches into the ground at the peak of the ridge on each side of the Soil-Bed – again about 6″ deep.

Lay the 6-mil plastic over the entire box or bed, centered, with 18″ overhang on each end. Place dirt on all sides of the plastic to hold it in place, as well as at the ends.

Whenever the weather is conducive, open the ends, and when it is above 60 degrees, take the plastic off from one side.

Remember, you must watch carefully that it doesn’t get too hot in your mini-greenhouses. A thermometer in at least one bed is a good idea, to measure the temperature, and make adjustments in the exposure.

Remember also, that brassicas can grow in cooler weather than the warm- weather plants. Tomatoes, corn, peppers, etc. must be near 70 degrees or above to do well.

All who are interested in extending your growing season – particularly with vertical plants – may want to save the following description of covered T-Frames. You can plant 4-6 weeks earlier in the Spring, and harvest 4-6 weeks later in the fall if you do it properly. For pictures, visit the Photos page on the Group website at https://groups.yahoo.com/group/MittleiderMethodGardening/

In a garden with 18″ X 30′ beds and 3 1/2′ aisles, place 8 T-Frames at 10′ intervals in two adjacent beds parallel with the inside stakes, so that the 4″ X 4″ posts are 3 1/2′ apart. The top of the “T” should be 32″ long, and thus the width of both together is 6′ 6″.

For stability, nail each set of two T-Frames together – bridging the gap between them – with 6 1/2′ long 2″ X 4″s. Next, tie all T-Frames together lengthwise using 6 – 10′ 2 X 4’s. Now you have a 6 1/2′ X 30′ greenhouse frame covering two Grow-Beds or Grow-Boxes.

Buy 32 – 3/4″ 45 degree PVC elbows and 1″ pipe straps. Nail or screw the straps and elbows at 2-foot intervals along both sides of the 2 X 4 frame, with the elbows facing up and to the center of the greenhouse.

Buy 16 – 10′-long pieces of 3/4″ PVC Schedule 200 pipe, 16 – 3/4″ pipe straps, and 4 – 8′ pieces of 1″ X 2″ lumber. Cut the PVC pipe and the 1″ X 2″ lumber to to 7 1/2′ lengths. Nail the 1 X 2’s together, using the 6″ pieces, making a single piece 30′ long. Nail or screw the 3/4″ pipe straps to the 1 X 2″ wood at 2-foot intervals, on the same side of the wood as the 6″ pieces which hold the wood together. Insert the 3/4″ PVC pipes through the straps. With the wood on top, insert the PVC pieces into the 45 degree PVC elbows – creating the arched roof.

Buy a roll of 6-mil 24′-wide greenhouse plastic at least 37′ long (do NOT use construction plastic. It will become brittle and tear within 3-4 months). Cover the greenhouse, with 3 1/2′ overlapping on each end.

Buy 8 – 1″-long eye bolts and 130′ of 1/4″ nylon rope. Attach eye bolts on the side of each T-Frame T – 1″ in from the edge and 1″ down from the top. Cut rope into 8 – 16′ lengths. Tie one end of rope to each eye bolt. Hammer a 3 1/2″ nail into the top of the 2″ X 4″ on the upper outside edge near the eye bolt. Tie short loops into ropes at 10′, 12′ and 14′ to give 3 levels of opening the sides of your greenhouse plastic.

Buy 16 – 8′-long pieces of 1″ X 2″ lumber. Cut all to 7 1/2′ lengths. Cut 2 into 4 – 3 3/4′ lengths. Place wood on both side edges of greenhouse plastic along both sides of greenhouse and screw together, sandwiching the plastic between the two pieces of wood. Alternate lengths of 1″ X 2″ between 3 3/4′ and 7 1/2′, to make the entire 30′ length strong. Roll plastic sides up in warm weather, and lower in cold weather.

Fold and attach plastic on ends to secure an air-tight covering in cold weather, and open when weather is warm.

After a few of you handy builders have done this, you can help me improve the instructions, and perhaps provide all of us with some graphic illustrations.

Today I want to assist many of you who are wondering how to extend your growing season for a few more weeks. For some it may be too late, as in high elevations like Randolph, Utah, where it was below freezing more than one night in August, but most of the lower elevations in Utah and around the country are still frost-free as I’m writing this article.

How can you deal with the special challenges of living in colder climates? Several difficult weather conditions make successful vegetable gardening an “iffy” proposition, unless you learn how to protect your plants against them. The Mittleider gardening books, available at www.foodforeveryone.org, are excellent sources of information on this topic. Let’s discuss briefly what these challenges are, and how you can successfully mitigate their negative effects.

First off, many places have late spring frosts, which keep us from getting started in our gardens – often until mid or late May. Second, many of us have strong winds throughout the growing season that buffet our plants and dry everything out. Third, others of us face the scarcity and cost of water. And finally, we often have early crop-killing frosts, usually followed by several weeks of mild weather that could support continued growth and harvesting.

So how do you handle the shorter growing season with unseasonable frosts, the constant drying winds, and the lack of water? Let’s deal with the wind first, since the solution to that also helps reduce the other problems. To protect your garden’s tender plants, build solid fences or plant trees and shrubs between your garden and the prevailing winds – but put them far enough away that you do not shade your garden! Always remember that growing vegetables need direct sunshine all day long. This means that you also want to place your shade trees so as to leave the garden in full sun.

Some of you do container gardening, or raised boxes. When these are subjected to hot winds they are difficult to keep cool and moist. Consider either larger Grow-Boxes – we recommend 18” or 4′ wide and up to 30′ in length – or growing in the regular soil. Remember that Dr. Jacob Mittleider promises “a great garden in any soil, in almost any climate.”

Next is watering. You will save ½ or more on your water usage by following these procedures. And it’s amazing how much heat and wind plants can handle if they are properly fed and watered. First, make certain your Grow-Boxes or raised Soil-Beds are accurately leveled, and that Soil-Beds have a 4” ridge around them. Then apply 1” of water right at the soil surface (not by sprinkling!) before your soil becomes the least bit dry – even every day in the heat of summer if needed. This will place the precious water right at the plant roots, and waste none. Finally, automating your watering using ¾” PVC pipes, with 3 tiny #57 holes every 4”, will make watering fast, easy, and efficient.

Extending your growing season is accomplished in two ways. Next February and March we’ll discuss the first, which is how to grow healthy seedlings in a protected environment and transplant them into the garden after the danger of frost is past. The second thing you can do, even right now if frost hasn’t already killed your garden, is to make “Mini-Greenhouses” for covering your plants. By themselves they are good, but with a small heat source, they can extend your growing season in both Spring and Fall even more, often by 4-6 weeks.

Use PVC pipe, bent in a capital “A” shape, but with a 6” flat top, to fit your bed or box, and covered with 4 or 6 mil greenhouse plastic. This provides some protection against frost at night, and will warm the plants on cold days. Cover the edges with dirt all around when frost threatens, and open up when it gets warm. More details are at www.foodforeveryone.org in the Gardening Techniques and FAQ sections. © 2006 – James B. Kennard

Jim Kennard, President of Food For Everyone Foundation, has a wealth of teaching and gardening training and experience upon which to draw in helping the Foundation “Teach the world to grow food one family at a time.” Jim has been a Mittleider gardener for the past twenty-nine years; he is a Master Mittleider Gardening Instructor, and has taught classes and worked one-on-one with Dr. Jacob Mittleider on several humanitarian gardening training projects in the USA and abroad. He has conducted projects in Armenia, America, Madagascar, and Turkey by himself. He assists gardeners all over the world from the https://www.foodforeveryone.org website FAQ pages and free Gardening Group, and grows a large demonstration garden at Utah’s Hogle Zoo in his spare time.

Gardening Books, CDs and Software are available at https://www.foodforeveryone.org

Q. I’ve heard about so many ways to grow tomato and other tender plants early – from using Wall-O-Water’s to taking the bottom out of wastebaskets, and they all seem to be a lot of work, with no guarantee of success. What do you suggest for someone who’s serious about growing the high-value crops like tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants?

A. If you are only growing a few plants the methods you use may not be all that important. However, if you are wanting to grow a sizeable garden or maximize your production, you should pay careful attention to the following procedures as taught by the Garden Doctor, Jacob Mittleider. Complete instructions and excellent illustrations are in Dr. Mittleider’s books at https://foodforeveryone.org/garden_books/. And if these instructions seem difficult or too much work, just remember that you are learning “The Poor Man’s Hydroponic System” that will give you yields of tasty and healthy vegetables between 3 and 10 times what your neighbors get. Here is a summary of the procedures:

1. Plant your tomato, pepper, or eggplant seeds 8 to 12 weeks before the average last spring frost date – 8 weeks for 8-10″ plants in 4″ pots, and 12 weeks for 12-14″ plants in gallon pots. Peppers and eggplant will take a little longer than tomatoes.

2. Prepare growing mix by combining 25-35% sand and 65-75% sawdust (or other clean material such as peat moss or perlite, etc.), and adding the Mittleider Pre-Plant Mix at the rate of 1 1/2 ounces per 18″ X 18″ X 2 3/4″ seedling flat. You can make your own natural mineral nutrient mixes by following instructions in the books, or look in the Fertilizer pages of the Learn section on the website at https://foodforeveryone.org/soil_bed_fertilizing/49/how-do-i-mix-the-pre-plant-formula.

3. Using plain water, thoroughly wet the mixed materials, let sit overnight, then plant about 100 seeds in each of 6 or 7 very shallow rows in the flat and sprinkle sand over the top, just sufficient to cover the seeds.

4. Place burlap over the flat, water gently so as not to move the seeds, and keep the soil moist, but not soaking wet in temperatures between 75 and 85 degrees fahrenheit. No light is needed, but cold temperatures will kill germinating seeds, so pay particular attention to maintaining temperatures in this range if possible.

5. As soon as sprouts emerge, water through the burlap, then remove the burlap and place the flat in full light all day long. Waiting even a few hours will cause your plants to “stretch” looking for sunlight, and will create long, skinny, weak stems, from which your plants will never fully recover. Temperatures can now be cooler than for germination, but remember that your plants will go dormant if temperatures go much below 60 degrees for any length of time.

6. Begin watering daily or as needed to maintain soil moisture, with the Constant Feed solution of 1 ounce Weekly Feed mix in 3 gallons of water (16 ounces in a 55 gallon barrel). Continue with the Constant Feed watering until plants are placed in the garden.

7. When your plants have at least one set of true leaves (not the seed leaves), but before they crowd each other and begin to stretch, transplant at least 2″ apart in flats or 2″ pots.

8. When plant leaves begin overlapping, prune 2 or 3 leaves from each plant. This will shock the plant briefly, and it will make a thicker stem, then after a few days it will again extend the growing tip and produce new leaves. This procedure can be done twice without harming the plant.

9. When the leaves begin to overlap the third time, transplant into 4″ or gallon pots, depending on your time schedule for planting in the garden and the amount of space in your greenhouse or growing area. When leaves overlap again, separate the pots to provide unrestricted light to all plants. These procedures will give you plants with short, stocky and sturdy stems, very capable of handling the rigors of growing outdoors.

10. If your plants begin producing sucker stems, prune them all off, leaving only one main stem on each plant. And when the plants approach 12″ in height push a small stick or dowel into the soil near the stem and tie the stem loosely, protecting it from falling over.

11. When the danger of frost is past, transplant your seedlings into the garden. Harden off outside for 2 days first, and then immediately after transplanting, apply 8 ounces of ammonium nitrate to a 30′ row of seedlings – at a distance of 4″ from the plant stems, and water it in thoroughly. Three days later, begin applying the Weekly Feed mix in the same manner.

If you have limited space and cannot accommodate 4″ or gallon pots, or you just want to put your plants into the ground sooner than the ideal time, you may have success using the Mittleider “Mini-Greenhouses.” Cut 4′ lengths of 3/4″ Schedule 200 PVC pipe, then bend them into a capital A shape, with a 4″ flat top, 9″ sides and 13″ legs. Put both legs into the ground at the top of the ridges to a depth of 5-6″. Place a 4′-wide X 33′-long piece of 6 mil clear greenhouse plastic over the bed and bury the edges with dirt on all sides. Pictures are in the Photos section of the free gardening group at MittleiderMethodGardening@yahoogroups.com. as well as in several of Dr. M’s books.

Open the ends during the day for air circulation, and on warm days, remove the dirt from one side and lay the plastic in the aisle. Failure to do this may cause your plants to cook, as the mini greenhouses will heat up quickly with sunlight. On nights when frost is expected, put an extension cord with a couple of 100 watt bulbs near the ends of your beds, and for a hard frost use a small heater (be careful you don’t melt your plastic cover).

Q. In your answer on ‘extending your growing season’ you mention using a small heat source for the ‘mini greenhouses’. What heat source would you recommend and how is the best way to use it?

A. Depending on the size of your Mini-Greenhouse and the severity of your frosts, you may be able to keep your plants from freezing by the use of a couple of lightbulbs placed a little distance from the ends. Or it may require a 1500 watt electric heater, generally turned to low heat. You will need to be careful that you don’t cook your plants or melt the plastic. And always turn it off/unplug it when the outside temperature rises.

Q. I have a farm in Afghanistan, which is about 30,000 square metres, in which mainly grapes are grown. In the cold winter the grape vines are buried under the ground because of the very cold weather and then in the spring the vines are exposed to air and light, then the vines become green. Mostly this works, but in some years, after the plants grow their leaves and grapes, the weather becomes cold again for only one night. All the grapes freeze and become black in color, and there is no time for the plants to grow new fruits because of the arrival of the winter.

Is there any solution for this problem other than a greenhouse, because it will be too expensive to cover all of the farm. Is there a way to warm the plants for one night only? This year the whole yield of grapes was frozen. Please help, PLease help!

A. 1) Watering everything, including the ground as well as the entire plant, immediately before it freezes, can sometimes save a crop if the frost is not too hard.

2) Another solution may be to have many small fires burning throughout your vineyard during the time temperatures go below freezing. In America this is done with propane and kerosene heaters, but that would be too expensive for you. We also use fans to blow the warm air throughout the orchard, garden, or vineyard.

The book Food For Everyone, available at www.growfood.com, is a college-level text with hundreds of pictures, and should be in the library of every serious vegetable grower.

Winter’s the time to get ready to grow your own seedlings! It’s not really difficult, and can extend your growing season by many weeks. For example, by planting brassica’s (cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower) in February in your basement under grow-lights, you can put large, sturdy transplants into your garden by the end of March or early April, and be eating them when others are just seeing them come up! Great growing instructions can be found in the book Let’s Grow Tomatoes, a part of the Mittleider Gardening Library CD, and available at www.growfood.com.

Remember that photosynthesis, using light, heat and moisture causes plant growth. Therefore you must follow a few key natural principles very carefully, or you will be disappointed.

First, seeds must have moisture to germinate and grow. And the soil mix must be moist, but not soggy, or you’ll drown the new plant, since it must also have oxygen!

Second, while heat is essential, temperatures must be maintained in a narrow range for ideal germination to occur. Most vegetable seeds germinate quickly between 75 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit. After plants are up, many of them will grow in cooler temperatures, but most all will become dormant (stop growing) at temperatures below 50 degrees.

Third, light is not necessary for seed germination, but as soon as your seedlings begin to emerge from the soil, maximum light is required immediately for proper development. Therefore, to grow in your house, make sure your plants have a strong (but not hot!) light source directly on the plants, for up to 16 hours per day. Note the pictures of two grow-light shelves. The metal one is 6-shelf Commercial Chrome Shelving, from Sam’s Club costing only $70, and will hold 20 flats of plants. Suspend shop lights with 2 cool and 2 warm 40-watt tubes 4 to 6″ above the plants.

The fourth principle relates to feeding. A balanced nutrient mix of 13 minerals is essential to plants immediately after germination. Those nutrients are mineral salts and must be very dilute in the soil moisture, otherwise, osmosis will cause the salt to draw the life-giving moisture out of the plants, and they will die. To ensure you never burn your plants, water seedlings daily using the “Constant Feed Solution” of one ounce (2 level tablespoons) of Weekly Feed dissolved in 3 gallons of water. For the Weekly Feed formula, go to the Learn section at www.foodforeveryone.org, and look on the Fertilizer page.

Next, it is important to separate your small plants before their leaves begin to overlap with others’, or the tiny stems will become very weak and spindly as the plants all stretch – looking for more light. By the time the plants have their first or second true leaf this step should be completed. Failure to act for even a few hours can result in spindly, weak plants, which never recover. Transplanting seedlings into 2″ 6-paks or pots will provide adequate space for them to grow an additional 2-3 weeks, depending on the variety. If it’s still too early to put them out into the garden by the time plant leaves are again beginning to overlap, prune the leaves, transplant again into larger pots, or separate pots, so the plant leaves always have maximum light.

Before transplanting into the garden, “harden off” your plants outside, off the ground for 2 to3 days, to acclimate them to direct sunlight, temperature, wind, etc. This is important so the plant doesn’t have the shock of a new environment added to the shock to its root system caused by transplanting. If the weather turns cold at night, bring the plants back in the house. The temperature adjustment needs to be gradual.

For many of your plants, the pruning process does double duty. In addition to assuring maximum light, it shocks the plant mildly, causing it to pause in its growth and produce a thicker, sturdier stem. This process makes the plant much better able to endure the vicissitudes of the outside environment, such as cutworms, ants, etc. that often quickly decimate plants with weak, spindly stems.

For tall-growing plants, like tomatoes, be sure to provide small stakes tied to the plant stem, to prevent them from falling over. And with tomatoes, begin immediately to remove all sucker stems as soon as possible, to assure a single, strong stem and maximum production from your plant.

Today I want to assist many of you who are wondering how to extend your growing season for a few more weeks. For some it may be too late, as in Eagle Mountain, where it was 27 degrees one night this month, but most of the lower elevations are still frost-free as I’m writing this column.

How can you deal with the special challenges of living in these mountain valleys? Several difficult weather conditions make successful vegetable gardening an “iffy” proposition, unless you learn how to protect your plants against them. Let’s discuss what they are, and how you can successfully mitigate their negative effects.

First off, we have late spring frosts, which keep us from getting started in our gardens – often until mid or late May. Second, many of us have strong winds throughout the growing season that buffet our plants and dry everything out. Third, living in a desert we always face the scarcity and cost of water. And finally, we often have early crop-killing frosts, followed by several weeks of mild weather that could support continued growth and harvesting.

So how do you handle the shorter growing season with unseasonable frosts, the constant drying winds, and the lack of water? Let’s deal with the wind first, since the solution to that also helps reduce the other problems. To protect your garden’s tender plants, build solid fences or plant trees and shrubs between your garden and the prevailing winds – but put them far enough away that you do not shade your garden! Always remember that growing vegetables need direct sunshine all day long. This means that you also want to place your shade trees so as to leave the garden in full sun.

Some of you grow in small containers, or raised boxes. When these are subjected to hot winds they are difficult to keep cool and moist. Consider either larger Grow-Boxes – we recommend 4′ wide and up to 30′ in length – or growing in the regular soil. Many will remember that Thanksgiving Point’s fabulous vegetable gardens were grown in some of the worst clay soil we’ve seen anywhere, and Dr. Mittleider promises “a great garden in any soil, in almost any climate.”

Next is watering. You will save ½ or more on your water usage by following these procedures. And it’s amazing how much heat and wind plants can handle if they are properly fed and watered. First, make certain your Grow-Boxes or raised Soil-Beds are accurately leveled, and that Soil-Beds have a 4″ ridge around them. Then apply 1″ of water right at the soil surface (not by sprinkling!) before your soil becomes the least bit dry – even every day in the heat of summer if needed. This will place the precious water right at the plant roots, and waste none. Finally, automating your watering using ¾” PVC pipes, with 3 tiny #57 holes every 4″, will make watering fast, easy, and efficient.

Extending your growing season is accomplished in two ways. Next February and March I’ll show you the first, which is how to grow healthy seedlings in a protected environment and transplant them into the garden after the danger of frost is past. The second thing you can do, even right now if frost hasn’t already killed your garden, is to make “Mini-Greenhouses” for covering your plants. By themselves they are good, but with a small heat source they can extend your growing season in both Spring and Fall by 4-6 weeks. PVC pipe, bent as shown in the picture to fit your bed or box, and covered with 4 or 6 mil greenhouse plastic, provides some protection against frost at night, and will warm the plants on cold days. Cover the edges with dirt all around when frost threatens, and open up when it gets warm. More details are at www.foodforeveryone.org in the Gardening Techniques and FAQ sections.

The following exchange regarding growing during the winter vs extending your growing season with the Mittleider Method and storing your bounty for use during the winter is instructive.

A gentleman wrote: “we need year round food growing in northern Utah and southern Idaho, not to mention northern Nevada. Who do I contact to get involved with promoting that?”

My first reply was: “Are you interested in doing it yourself? There are difficulties to overcome, including lack of sunlight days in winter, and extreme cold during 4 months of the year. In order to make year-round growing feasible you first need an inexpensive heat source.

Some folks have tried burying their greenhouse. If you put it into a hillside on the North and insulate very well it can help. Also, some folks fill black plastic barrels with water, and the radiant heat as the water cools each night helps keep the greenhouse air from freezing. And if you have access to a thermal water or heat source you could probably do it if you have the sunlight.

Of course you might be able to grow enough for family survival by sprouting, and such. And growing the cool-weather crops gives some success if you can maintain 50+ degrees in the daytime and avoid hard frosts at night.

We fully agree that people need to be growing their own food in a serious way”.

He then told me he lives near some hot springs, and tries to get people interested in helping him finance a greenhouse operation, with little success so far. He enclosed an Idaho Department of Water Resources paper from 1988 about greenhouse growing,

My final response was: “Let me make some observations about year-round growing, and about alternatives.

In my view, unless things can be done by and for a substantial portion of the people it is probably not worth taking heroic measures to do the thing.

If there is a very small community and a large geothermal heat source it might be possible to grow enough for the community, but the cost is high even then.

Our experience in 30+ countries has been that if food is grown using the Mittleider Method, so much is produced that there is ample to store and use throughout the winter months.

And cool storage is MUCH less costly than building and heating a greenhouse through the winter. All you have to do is build underground and insulate.

Fall crops of potatoes, cabbage, carrots, turnips, beets, winter squashes, and even tomatoes can be stored and used fresh for many months if done properly. I’ve eaten tomatoes from my garden in January. And cabbage and carrots look and taste as if fresh picked as late as April of the next year.

I recommend you study the articles I’ve written on 1) extending the growing season both Spring and Fall, and 2) winter food storage. Using the inexpensive materials and procedures I describe can add as much as 3 months to your growing season, and proper winter storage can give you fresh vegetables for up to 6 months. Those articles can be found in the Archives of the MittleiderMethodGardening@groups.yahoo.com, and in the FAQ section at www.growfood.com.

Add to that the increased yields obtained with the Mittleider Method – amounting to 3 to 10 times traditional yields – and there is usually little real need to grow during the coldest winter months in my opinion.”

Q. We just moved into this house in late December. The previous owner has a vegtable garden full of tomatoes, cucumber, cabbage, potatoes, pumpkin, red and green peppers, jalepenos, and I think grapes. Unfortunately, the garden has not been tended to in months and I have no idea what I am doing, but i would love to give it a try this spring. Is it too late to “winterize” my garden? If not what do I do?

A. The first thing to do with any garden, after the harvest, is to remove all the old vegetation and clean the ground completely. This is doubly important in your situation, where the plants have stayed in the garden for several months after the harvest.

Diseases and bugs have likely taken up residence in those places, and you need to remove all plant materials from the garden entirely. If you can’t haul them off you should burn everything.

Before doing that, make a detailed map of which plants were growing in every part of the garden. This is a classic case of the need to do crop rotation. Do not plant nightshade plants (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant) in the same places where any of them were grown last year. The same thing goes for squashes, and most other plants in the garden.

You want to make it as difficult as possible for diseases and bugs to get re-established this year. Bugs and diseases that love one variety may not do as well if a different variety of plant is grown in that spot for a couple of years.

If you can get a big propane torch and and burn the surface of your soil you might be able to kill some bugs and diseases. Wait until the soil is thawed out, though, as you will want the heat to penetrate as deeply as possible into the soil.

Do not dig or till your soil until you have cleaned as much as possible according to the above instructions. Putting these old materials into the soil only gives protection to the bugs and diseases that may be harbored there.

In the future, always harvest your crops at peak maturity, then immediately dispose of the plant residue. If it is clean and disease free it is best tilled back into the soil. Otherwise, remove it entirely from the garden area.

Many have asked when to plant crops for fall harvest, and what can be planted. Obviously, it depends somewhat on where you live, but you may be surprised at how similar most growing situations are.

Find your average first frost date, and then count backward, comparing maturity times for the crops you like to eat. With less than 7 weeks until our average first frost date, I planted 11 different vegetables on July 24, 2004 – let’s see how they do!

I invite everyone to check in on the Photo’s section at the MittleiderMethodGardening group at YahooGroups.com, to watch the progress of radishes, peas, carrots, spinach, chard, onions, lettuce, cabbage, beans, corn, and beets. You can join the free group on any page of the Foundation website.

I chose July 24 as the start date because of some local history that may be of interest. In 1847, the Mormon pioneers first entered the Salt Lake valley, and immediately began plowing and planting, in hopes of harvesting enough to avoid starving during that first winter. They managed to avoid starvation, but not by much.

Let’s see what proper watering, weeding, and feeding will produce!

P.S. It’s now September, just 5 weeks after planting, and radishes are being harvested – for over a week – peas are flowering, pole beans are 6 feet tall, and the one bed of cabbage plants have been transplanted into 8 beds and are doing well.

P.P.S. Everything except the corn produced a viable crop in the garden planted July 24. Carrots, onions, beets, and cabbage were small, but marginally worth the effort. Probably most surprising was how well the pole beans did. Because this is a warm-weather crop I did not hope for anything edible, but we were able to pick for about 1 week before frost killed the vines.

I recommend anyone who is serious about producing a good fall crop start with transplants wherever possible, and get the planting of most things done early in July, unless your first frost date is later than Salt Lake City (October 10-15).

Sadly, too many of us are tired of our gardens by fall, often because weeds have taken over, or because we planted the wrong things and we can’t even get rid of them.

I suggest we take another look at it, because gardening in the fall can be very productive, and will give you fresh vegetables well into the winter, if they are grown and stored properly.

Much of a good fall garden should be carried over from the summer garden. Squashes, while requiring warm weather to grow, can be stored for months, as can potatoes. Eggplant, okra, peppers, and tomatoes will produce right up until frost kills them if you will continue feeding them. And tomatoes can be brought into the garage or basement while still green, to extend the harvest another month (unless you cover them with a portable greenhouse as I show in the Photos section of the MittleiderMethod Yahoo Groups site).

Vegetables that can survive a light frost, if provided some protection, do best for growing in the cooler fall weather, and include the cabbage family, leafy greens, and root crops. And some of these actually have their flavor improved by a touch or two of light frost! The greens can also tolerate less direct sun, so the shorter days are less of a problem than for fruit producing crops.

Choose from the following, which can be seeded as late as September in some locations: Beets, carrots, chard, endive, kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, peas, radishes, spinach, and turnips.

The larger crops including broccoli (Waltham), Brussels sprouts (Jade Cross), cabbage (Danish Ball head), and cauliflower (Snow Crown) should be transplanted in August for fall harvesting in the temperate climates.

Many of the fall crops can be stored through the winter with little loss of taste or nutritional value, if you store them in moist sawdust at temperatures around 40 degrees f.

Here’s a good chart showing fall planting times for vegetables, depending on when your average first fall frost date is – by the Yankee Gardener website:

http://www.yankeegardener.com/resource/fall-veg.html

Seeding crops when the ground and the weather are still warm, as in August and early September, is often easier than spring planting, because the plants germinate and grow quickly in the warm conditions. In addition, most of the cool-weather crops are more flavorful when harvested in the cooler weather of late September, October, and November.

Many of us could learn from our friends in the Southern United States about the benefits of eating more greens. Nutritionally you probably can’t beat them. They are high in vitamin A, K, folic acid, dietary fiver, antioxidants, carotenoid, riboflavin, and iron.

Spinach is common everywhere, and some of us enjoy red beets and their tops, but how many eat Swiss chard, which can be harvested all year? Or turnip tops – which are also tasty and nutritious! And I recommend the Southern greens, such as collards, kale, and mustards, which are different still, and will add variety to your diet.

Don’t give up your gardening yet, folks! Now’s a great time to put the finishing touches on a great gardening year, and provide your family with fresh vegetables through the winter.

Have you been disappointed with your garden this year? Or perhaps it was great and you can’t wait to do it again. Whichever scenario fits your garden, you may be thinking of how next year’s garden is going to be SO MUCH BETTER!

One way to help improve next year’s garden is to plant some of it this fall. Such crops as asparagus, garlic, leeks, onions, and strawberries are naturals for fall planting, because they take a long time to grow, and the extra months, even with only a few growing days, help them develop a good root system.

Garlic is especially good for fall planting because as a cool-season crop it thrives in the early spring, thus getting a substantial head-start on the growing season, and experiments have shown that your garlic yield may even be doubled by planting in the fall.

All but onions can be planted two to four weeks before the first frost for harvest the following summer. Water them immediately after planting.

Onions should be planted after the first frost. Planting earlier is not advised because any top growth they may send up will be damaged by winter cold. Watering is not advised for the same reason.

Other vegetable seeds that could be planted in the late fall include parsnips, lettuce, radishes, and spinach. Care must be taken to plant into dry ground and late enough that the seeds do not sprout, however, or the hard winter frosts will kill them. Obviously, no watering should be done in the fall on these crops.

Be sure to mark the beds well. Otherwise you may forget and till them up in the spring, wasting everything you’ve done. Your planted beds should be protected from the wind and have a good snow cover if possible, to prevent the seeds from blowing away, and to insulate the soil against sub-freezing temperatures.

Do not plant warm-season vegetables, such as beans, corn and tomatoes in the fall. Any growth during a warm spell in the spring will only set them up to be killed by later frosts.

Remember to put Pre-Plant and Weekly Feed fertilizer mixes into your soil-beds before planting. Use 32 ounces Pre-Plant and 16 ounces Weekly Feed for each 30’-long soil-bed, or 1 ounce and ½ ounce per running foot.

Before doing the work to prepare your beds and plant in the fall, please keep in mind that fall seeding is not 100% successful. When they are dry, seeds are quite tolerant of freezing temperatures; however, at very low temperatures or when even slightly moist, your seeds may be killed. And even if your seeds do survive the winter, germinate, and emerge in spring, later frosts may damage or kill the tender seedlings.

Even with the problems stated, many gardeners still plant in the fall. They often mature earlier crops, and sometimes even get larger yields. If you are adventurous and anxious to get a head start on the spring growing season you might want to try planting some things this fall.

Please remember, however, our general recommendation for most crops is to get the early start in the spring by planting and growing seedlings in a seedling greenhouse, or a cold frame or hotbed. You may also want to look into growing in the early spring using the “mini-greenhouses” described in other articles, on the Foundation’s website, and in Dr. Jacob Mittleider’s gardening books.

At the very least, asparagus, garlic, leaks, onions, and strawberries are always a good bet for fall planting, so if you enjoy eating any of them, now is a good time to put them into your garden.

Good fall gardening.

Q. Is it best for garden rows to run North & South or East & West. Taller crops on which side?

A. The direction of your rows is not important. What IS important is where you put tall plants!

Taller plants should be placed to the North – or East – of shorter plants. Otherwise, the shade created by the taller plants will block the sunlight from reaching the shorter plants and correspondingly reduce their ability to grow and mature a crop.

Q. How much Pre-Plant and how much Weekly Feed should I add to each 5-gallon pail of custom soil?

We have various sizes containers (all over 8 inches deep) so I figure I can just fill the containers one at a time with the 5-gallon pails’ mixture.

A. We apply 2# of Pre-Plant to a soil-bed or Grow-Box that’s 18″ wide and 30′ long. That figures out to about 2 ounces per cubic foot of soil.

A 5-gallon bucket contains 2/3rds of a cubic foot, therefore you would mix 1 1/3rd ounce (8 teaspoons) of Pre-Plant Mix – and half that amount of Weekly Feed, or 2/3rds of an ounce (4 teaspoons).

It would be easier to mix 15 gallons at a time, which is 2 cubic feet and would require 4 ounces (1/2 cup) of Pre-Plant and 2 ounces (1/4 cup) of Weekly Feed.

Q. Does anyone else have a hard time finding the ingredients in the M method?

A. We struggled with this issue for many years until Dr. M and I:
(1) simplified the Pre-Plant formula and
(2) decided to buy, mix, package, and sell the Micro-Nutrients ourselves on the Foundation website.

Now for the Weekly Feed Mix all you have to do is:
(1) go to www.foodforeveryone.org, put your cursor on MATERIALS, click on Fertilizer, then order the Micro-Nutrients. One package costs $10.95 at the moment.
(2) Mix with 50# of NPK* and 8# of Epsom Salt (magnesium sulfate) to give you
60# of Weekly Feed Mix.

*You can use any combination of N, P & K from 13-13-13 to 17-17-17 successfully.

For the Pre-Plant Mix just mix calcium, magnesium, and boron in the ratio of 80-4-1, with calcium being lime if you receive more than 20″ of annual rainfall and gypsum of you receive less than that.

The easiest source of magnesium is Epsom Salt, which is available at your pharmacy, and boron is available in most stores’ Detergent sections as 20 Mule Team Borax.

It is worth doing! The balanced natural mineral nutrients are SO much better than traditional methods you will be amazed at the difference in your plants’ growth, appearance, and taste.

Recently at the University Del Cauca a professor had his class conduct an experiment comparing the Mittleider fertilizers with other methods and the results were dramatic in favor of Mittleider Magic.

Pictures are in the Photos section of the free gardening group called the MittleiderMethodGardening@yahoogroups.com

I have said nothing about this book for a long time, for just one reason. Our inventory of books had brittle binding glue and the pages would fall out at the least provocation.

We’ve finally solved the problem! We purchased a machine and re-bound this great gardening book ourselves, using a Plastic Comb Binder.

Now that we don’t have to worry about them falling apart on you, let me tell you why those growing in containers need to consider getting your copy NOW, while they are available (Grow-Box Gardens, Let’s Grow Tomatoes, and Grow-Bed Gardening are all out of print).

Gardening by the Foot is filled with almost 250 pictures illustrating 140 pages of Jacob’s great how-to instructions on every aspect of growing in containers.

Vegetable plants need 13 mineral nutrients, and in GBTF you’ll learn how to give them exactly what they need, unlike Square Foot Gardening that promotes compost as sufficient to grow healthy plants.

Following are the chapter headings:

1. Introduction
2. Why use Mini Grow-Boxes?
3. What are mini Grow-Boxes?
4. Choosing a Location
5. preparing the area for Mini-Frames
6. Tools and Materials
7. How to Make Mini Grow-Boxes
8. Filling Grow-Boxes with Soil
9. Pre-plant Fertilizers
10. Starting Plants from Seed
11. Planting Seed in Mini-Boxes
12. Transplanting into Mini-Boxes
13. Making markers and Marking Mini-Boxes
14. Fertilizing Crops in Mini-Boxes
15. Common Garden Problems
16. Increasing Yields in Ever-bearing Crops
17. Transplanting Gallon-Size Plants into Mini-Boxes
18. Installing an Automated Watering System
19. Harvesting
20. “A” Frames and Greenhouses
21. Installing Strings to Hold Tall Plants
22. What To Do With Trouble
23. Soil Maggots
24. Nutrient Deficiencies and Corrections
25. Units of Measure

Are you serious about growing your own food? Get Gardening by the foot and SEE how the best gardener in the world did it – in his own backyard garden and in 27 countries around the world.

For books in print or digital formats, go to https://growfood.com/gardening_by_the_foot/.

Consider getting both formats. You can mark up the paper copy and take it to the garden, and have the downloadable PDF on your phone, tablet, or laptop — always available when you’re on the go.

Q. I’m into setting up my fifth section of beds. Each one = 17 soil beds (18″ x 30ft). I’m challenged by land sloping both ways (main slope E-W & minor slope N-S = bed length). Anyway (going bit off issue) – I plan to plant mealies (corn) in this section. Got to thinking it may be a good idea to set up 4ft wide beds (for the corn). I also, intend to convert in the future to Grow Boxes, so thought I getting the basic leveling (terracing) sorted now, could be wise in the long run. My question is – is there any fundamental “downside” to 4ft wide SOIL Beds?
Am I missing something basic & obvious?

A. Unless you can water the entire 4′ width you will need to build 2 – 18″ beds in the 4′. It will leave a very narrow “aisle” in the middle that is almost too narrow to even walk down. Weeding, etc. are more difficult that way. But if you don’t, then you have to apply water to the entire 4′, and that requires quite a bit more water. I’ve done it, and it worked alright, but it was more work. Also, the two sets of two rows are closer together than they would be in 4′ boxes, because the ridges take 3-4″ on each side. If growing vertically it’s best to plant the two rows about 8″ in from the outside edges, rather than 12″ in – again so that there is sufficient “aisle” space in the middle.

A gardener asked the following question about building small greenhouses and growing in cold weather using information from the Mittleider Grow-Box Gardens book: “Since I am in zone 3 it would be very helpful if I could have the rest of the information the article referred to on “cold weather gardening” in chapter 12 if you think I need it. Is that the information that will tell me how to double-layer the greenhouse to have a 3-to-4 inch dead air space?”

Here’s my answer, which will be helpful to anyone who is building a greenhouse to grow in cold weather.

Chapter 12 of Grow-Box Gardens does indeed show and tell you how to double cover the greenhouse. I am sorry that Grow-Box Gardens is currently out of print and unavailable. Hopefully, we can figure out how to get it re-printed inexpensively enough to have it available again by next growing season. In the meantime, let me tell you a few things the book says about winter gardening in cold climates.

Seedlings should be started in warmer weather and transplanted into the greenhouse by early fall if possible, so that much of the vegetative growth takes place before it gets cold.

During the cold months, plants can be maintained and harvested at lower temperatures. It is important, however, to maintain soil temperatures above 50 degrees as long as possible, otherwise, the plants will go dormant.

A greenhouse is important, and it should be double-covered, with a dead-air space of 2-4″. Building the greenhouse east to west, with the north-side wall built into a hillside or against an insulated wall, can reduce heating costs significantly, and even provide some heat from the mass of the north wall.

If you’re really serious about growing in cold weather, hot water pipes buried 4-6″ deep inside the greenhouse near the outside edges will provide some heat and ward off cold from the frozen ground outside.

If it is too cold to keep the entire greenhouse from freezing, consider a greenhouse within the greenhouse to protect valuable crops.

Arched PVC frames covered with 6 mil greenhouse plastic, with a small space heater inside, can keep a row or two of plants warm enough to save them even on very cold nights, if it is inside a greenhouse already.

If daytime outside temperatures rise above 65 degrees some ventilation should be provided in the greenhouse.

Would you like to remove the guesswork from growing healthy plants, and know you’re feeding them just what they need? The Mittleider Magic fertilizer formulas provide all 13 natural mineral nutrients that vegetable plants need, and if you can’t find them pre-mixed locally, you can mix them yourself.

The Food For Everyone Foundation website Learn section at www.foodforeveryone.org/learn has Dr. Mittleider’s fertilizer formulas, which have been tested and proven in 34 countries all around the world. Look under Grow-Boxes at the lower left of the main screen, and then go to Fertilizers.

If you have a large garden or farm you’ll probably want to mix your fertilizers from “scratch”, using the formulas. However, if you have a typical family-sized garden, or even just some containers to grow in, you’ll most likely find it much easier, and probably less expensive, to get a couple of 10 ounce packets of Micro-Nutrients from the Foundation’s website at www.foodforeveryone.org/store and then only have to buy 4 of the main ingredients, N, P, K, and Epsom Salt (magnesium), which are almost always available locally, and fairly inexpensive as well.

It’s easy and hassle-free to mix a packet of micro-nutrients with 25#’s of 16-16-16 and 4# of Epsom Salt to obtain a good Weekly Feed. It’s also very inexpensive, when compared to anything else that’s even close to comparable, such as Miracle-Gro.

For those of you who can’t find pre-mixed 16-16-16, 15-15-15, 13-13-13-, or 17-17-17, all of which are usable with the pre-packaged micro-nutrients, then check a farm-supply store for bags of each separately.

For example, you may be able to find 21-0-0 (ammonium sulfate), and 0-45-0 (triple super phosphate), and 0-0-50 (potassium sulfate). If so, mix 15# 21-0-0 with 4# 0-45-0, and 6# 0-0-50. That gives you 25# of a 110-60-110 mix, which is approximately the ratio in which your plants use the three Macro-Nutrients, and is even better than 16-16-16, etc.

Then add 4# of Epsom Salt from your pharmacy – mix it all together and you have the Weekly Feed mix. There are numerous other mixes of the “Big Three” nutrients – sometimes with two of them combined, such as 18-46-0 and 15-0-53. If you find that, just find some nitrogen and mix enough to get the 110-60-110 ratio, and you’re there.

Q. I’m planning on doing a little bit of container gardening in my greenhouse this summer. I plan on using your soil-less mix as per your book “More Food From Your Garden” (out of print – I recommend The Mittleider Gardening Course)

I also bought your Micro-nutrients (www.growfood.com – Materials) to mix in with my fertilizer. I have searched high and low for 16-8-16, 20-10-20, 16-16-16, 15-15-15, 13-13-13, 17-17-17. I did find 20-20-20 but it is very expensive.

I also tried to find the 21-0-0 + 0-45-0 + 0-0-50 – with no luck either.

I did find a bag of 18-18-18 and was wondering if that will work. And if so, how much fertilizer mix would I need for each container that is 12″ round x 9″ deep?

My plan is to grow just cucumbers and tomatoes in the greenhouse. The rest will be grown outside in my raised (soil) beds.. Each bed is 24″ wide x 10′ long. Thank you very much for your help.

A. Any combination from 13-13-13 up to 20-20-20 will work fine. And you can make your own by buying the three nutrients separately. There are several possibilities, just look at a Farm Supply store, if the big box and nursery stores don’t have them.

The 18-18-18 is good! Just mix it with the package of Micro-Nutrients according to instructions.

For applications in small containers see my article in the FAQ section of the Foundation website under Containers or Grow-Boxes at https://foodforeveryone.org/faq/index.php?page=index_v2&id=309&c=1

Your 24″-wide beds in the garden are 6″ wider than they should be for optimum planting, feeding, watering, etc. If you can’t make them 18″ wide I recommend you plant 4-6″ in from the outside edges, so you don’t waste fertilizers at least.

For a vegetable gardening guy to be talking about animals may seem inconsistent to some, but since both provide food they are closely related, so I will discuss the general topic a bit here.

From age 12 until I left home for college I had the full responsibility for a cow, to which were added chickens, rabbits, pigs, and even a goat at various times. These all contributed significantly to and were important to our family’s food supply.

However, I didn’t understand at that time that it requires between 10 and 30 times as much land to produce a pound of protein from an animal source as from a plant source, and looking back I realize that our vegetable garden produced much more with less inputs than did the animals.

Dr. Jacob Mittleider, who taught me almost everything I know about gardening, had a special perspective on this issue, because as a Seventh Day Adventist he was a strict vegetarian. While I am not a vegetarian I also believe that we are healthier when we limit meat in our diets, and our personal family diet is usually less than 10% meat.

And both Dr. Mittleider’s and my own experience around the world confirm that most people have very limited space in which to produce their own food, thus making vegetable gardening the best choice for the greatest return on investment.

I submit that a Mittleider-Method garden, when cared for properly and consistently, is the best use of your time, efforts, space and money, and that excess food grown in your garden can usually be sold or traded for milk, eggs, and meat more efficiently than raising your own animals.

Nevertheless, there are other issues to be considered. Vegetables can’t begin to compete for the special feeling you may get from caring for animals, and those of you who DO have space may still want some animals.

If animals are in your plans, I encourage you to keep their living spaces clean, separate them from your garden so they don’t destroy it, and whenever possible feed them your excess plant residue as soon as the crop is harvested.

Chicken tractors (Google it), can be used for both chickens and rabbits, but must have a wire floor on them if you raise rabbits, because they will dig their way out quickly. If used efficiently chicken tractors can help you keep your yard clean and organized. Each time the tractor is moved remember to till the chicken or rabbit droppings (both of which are excellent fertilizers), etc. into the soil for natural composting without making a mess. And the same goes for all other animal manure. Get it into the soil and let it compost naturally, rather than having it smell bad and attract pests.

For those who have more space – and are willing to accept the responsibility for at least twice daily care (milking, feeding, etc.) – larger animals may also be an option.

Goats are one possible choice, as they are fairly small, don’t take a lot of space to house or graze, and will eat a wide variety of plants, but they don’t give a lot of milk, are not easy to milk, and many people don’t care for the taste of their milk.

My personal preference for a milk-producing animal is one or two Miniature Jersey cows. They are about 1/3 the size of full-size cows; they are very friendly and docile – even the bulls; they produce from 2 to 4 gallons of milk daily when fresh; and they only require a fraction of an acre for grazing.

Many websites have details about the miniature Jerseys. They are a rare breed so far, and will be expensive to buy, but after the initial investment, if you use the best breeding stock, you may be able to recover your initial capital outlays by selling excess calves.

Meanwhile, I will continue to focus on VEGETABLE GARDENING, but encourage those of you who have the interest, the commitment, and the required space for animals to consider the most efficient ways to benefit from them.

Q. My tomato bush is 4 feet high, why are the leaves turning yellow at the bottom and center of the bush?

A. It could be any one or a combination of several things.

1. What are you feeding your plants. lack of any of 4 different nutrients could cause some yellowing symptoms, including nitrogen, zinc, manganese, and iron. Those symptoms are somewhat different, so you need to learn the specifics of how each one affects the plant.

A great set of books to make you an expert on deficiency symptoms is The Garden Doctor 3-volume set, by Dr. J. R. Mittleider. They can be purchased on the website in paper, or for only $20 more you can have the entire Mittleider Gardening Library on CD ROM as a Searchable Database.

Reading back messages you said there might be a close product called ProPax 14-7-14 with Iron from Martin Resources. this was in ’03 and I’m wondering if it’s in NV now. Anyway, this is a close one right and then you add Triple 16, right????

(I can’t answer as to whether or not it’s available in a particular location, but Fall is the time of year that I have personally seen it. Yes, this is a fairly close match to the 13-8-13 ratio we use in the pre-packaged fertilizers and NO you don’t add triple 16 to it. It’s either/or, and you mix it with magnesium and the Micro-Mix – JK)

How do you apply the weekly feedings? We have a drip irrigation. My husband drilled holes every foot. Do I put it where the water hits??

Sounds like a lot of work to put on each plant. I hope I’m seeing the picture. You don’t want to get this on the leaves right??

(Three #57 holes should be drilled every 4”, at 45-degree angles, so that 3 holes make 90 degrees in the circumference of the pipe. – JK)

I ordered the manuals and pretty much know all that, but wanted to find out the fertilizer and how you do the T-Frames.

(Look in Chapter 15 of the Mittleider Gardening Course book for building T-Frames. And Chapter 16 is automating your watering – JK)

Our tomatoes always get so unruly.

(You really need to begin removing sucker stems by the time your plants are 12” tall, and not stop until the end of the harvest – JK)

Do you do the weekly feed just for 2 or 3 weeks?

(Weekly Feed is applied weekly. For single-crop plants you apply it until 3 weeks before harvest. For some plants you can tell when this is by the following: Corn, when the silk appears, potatoes and bush beans, when blossoms are on. For ever-bearing plants you apply it until 8 weeks before the END of harvest. If you expect frost on October 10 you don’t need to feed beyond about the 15th of August – JK)

I ordered the starter from the site, but wondering how you put it out there.

(Don’t use the micro-nutrients by themselves. Mix them with NPK and magnesium per the instructions. Then apply weekly at the rate of ½ ounce per foot or 50 grams per meter – JK)

Q. We have 3 Grow-Boxes that are 18″ x 30′ and 3 boxes 4′ x 30′.

A local company mixed the fertilizer to 16-16-16 and we used this to make up the Weekly Feed, using that and Mittleider Magic Micro Mix we ordered from your website.

We used this, plus the Pre-Plant formula for the grow boxes. In the process, we noticed that the Weekly Feed was absorbing moisture. The next day the remaining mixture was extremely wet and congealing into a soupy mix. It will be very difficult to spread it evenly. We put it in our dehydrator overnight but it is not drying out, it’s still very sticky.

Would it be possible to dissolve the mixture and apply it as a liquid? Or do you have any other suggestions as to how to deal with it?

A. Epsom Salt has 7 parts water to 1 part MgSO4, which makes it very susceptible to turning wet. The materials used in making the 16-16-16 may have also had water in the compounds. Many compounds have hydrogen, and all have oxygen.

Mixing gently and keeping cool and dry help avoid getting your Weekly Feed wet. Also, in the future, add 2% (by volume) of Perlite to your Weekly Feed Mix. Perlite absorbs something like 20 times its own weight in water, so it usually solves the problem.

As to how to best use your materials now that they are wet – my first choice is to continue using them in the same way – a 16 ounce can distributed evenly over a 30′-long row (2 in a 4′-wide bed).

You CAN dissolve the fertilizer in water and then apply it to the beds, but if you dissolve a week’s supply of fertilizer and then apply it all at once you are very likely to create a salinity problem and hurt your garden. And later waterings will likely leach it out, so it doesn’t last the week.

If you feel you must dissolve the materials I recommend you first dissolve 5 ounces WF in 5 gallons of water, apply that evenly the length of the bed, and then water normally, until water comes out the bottom of the beds. Repeat that process in two other waterings throughout the week.

And by the way, you need to dissolve the Weekly Feed fertilizer ahead of time, as it is not instantly water-soluble. The previous day is best. What a hassle, huh!. That’s why I prefer to apply the materials directly to the soil and then water them in, even when they’re wet and sticky.

Also, getting wet doesn’t affect the usefulness of the fertilizer – only the ease of use.

Q. We are planning our fertilizer needs for next year. The cost of fertilizer has gone up over 60% this last year and they are telling me that it will go up another 50% by the spring so we are trying to get a head start on our garden.

I need to know what the list is for making up the Mittleider Magic fertilizer and where to get the micro-nutrients.

A. Some fertilizer compounds increased in price about 400% this year. And it is likely to continue. Buy all the fertilizers you can get NOW!

Following is a formula for making the Mittleider Magic Weekly Feed Mix:
Nitrogen Phosphorus Potassium

• (33.5-0-0)100 pounds 33 0 0
• (0-45-0) 40 pounds 0 18 0
• (0-0-60) 55 pounds 0 0 33
TOTALS 33 18 33

• Epsom Salt 35.0000#

* Zinc sulfate 2.625 #
* 20 Mule Team Borax 2.1875#
* Manganese sulfate 1.3125#
* Iron sulfate .3281#
* Copper sulfate .3281#
* Sodium molybdate .1640#

The above formula is about enough to supply a garden of 25 30′-long beds for a year, assuming a temperate climate.

This only requires a space 65′ X 70′- 4,550 square feet, or just over 1/10th of an acre. And by choosing the right vegetables and growing them using the Mittleider Method a family can LIVE out of that garden for many months.

Note that the NPK ratio is 110-60-110, and that we recommend ammonium nitrate.

You probably will not be able to get NH4 NO3 (34-0-0), and will therefore have to use urea (46-0-0) instead.

Even though the % nitrogen is higher with urea I recommend using the same amount of urea as you would have used if you were using NH4 NO3.

The reason is that urea is not readily available to your plants, but has to go through some chemical changes before it can be used. And in that process some of the nitrogen is volatilized into the air and lost.

Whenever you use urea be SURE to dig it into the soil surface. Do not leave it on top of the soil, for the reason just stated.

If your garden is small we recommend you buy your Micro-Nutrients already mixed from the FFE Foundation at www.foodforeveryone.org, since you will have a difficult time buying them individually in small quantities.

Opinions on whether or not the Mittleider Method is organic run the gamut,from some who poo-poo it as not being “pure” because something other than manure and compost are used, to many who consider it “the best of organic” BECAUSE it does NOT put animal excrement and ground-up body parts into the garden, but instead uses natural mineral nutrients – all of which are approved by the USDA for use in organic gardening – and applies just what the plants need throughout the growing cycle, instead of piling on the manure all at once at the beginning.

You choose. There are numerous posts in the archives of this group, and also several articles in the FAQ section of the Foundation website that discuss these issues in more detail.

Consider carefully, because I believe the day is fast approaching when you will NEED to live on what you can produce from your garden.

And I for one am getting NEXT YEAR’s fertilizer NOW.

Jim Kennard

Q. How much Pre-Plant and how much Weekly Feed should I add to each 5-gallon pail of custom soil?

We have various sizes containers (all over 8 inches deep) so I figure I can just fill the containers one at a time with the 5-gallon pails’ mixture.

A. We apply 2# of Pre-Plant to a soil-bed or Grow-Box that’s 18″ wide and 30′ long. That figures out to about 2 ounces per cubic foot of soil.

A 5-gallon bucket contains 2/3rds of a cubic foot, therefore you would mix 1 1/3rd ounce (8 teaspoons) of Pre-Plant Mix – and half that amount of Weekly Feed, or 2/3rds of an ounce (4 teaspoons).

It would be easier to mix 15 gallons at a time, which is 2 cubic feet and would require 4 ounces (1/2 cup) of Pre-Plant and 2 ounces (1/4 cup) of Weekly Feed.

Q. Does anyone else have a hard time finding the ingredients in the M method?

A. We struggled with this issue for many years until Dr. M and I:
(1) simplified the Pre-Plant formula and
(2) decided to buy, mix, package, and sell the Micro-Nutrients ourselves on the Foundation website.

Now for the Weekly Feed Mix all you have to do is:
(1) go to www.foodforeveryone.org, put your cursor on MATERIALS, click on Fertilizer, then order the Micro-Nutrients. One package costs $10.95 at the moment.
(2) Mix with 50# of NPK* and 8# of Epsom Salt (magnesium sulfate) to give you
60# of Weekly Feed Mix.

*You can use any combination of N, P & K from 13-13-13 to 17-17-17 successfully.

For the Pre-Plant Mix just mix calcium, magnesium, and boron in the ratio of 80-4-1, with calcium being lime if you receive more than 20″ of annual rainfall and gypsum of you receive less than that.

The easiest source of magnesium is Epsom Salt, which is available at your pharmacy, and boron is available in most stores’ Detergent sections as 20 Mule Team Borax.

It is worth doing! The balanced natural mineral nutrients are SO much better than traditional methods you will be amazed at the difference in your plants’ growth, appearance, and taste.

Recently at the University Del Cauca a professor had his class conduct an experiment comparing the Mittleider fertilizers with other methods and the results were dramatic in favor of Mittleider Magic.

Pictures are in the Photos section of the free gardening group called the MittleiderMethodGardening@yahoogroups.com.

Hi,

I’m not finding the nutrients we need as easily as I’d hoped. Does Mittleider sell these or can someone suggest the best way for me to find the components. The Boron (Borax) and Magnesium Sulfate (Epsom Salts) were easy, but not the others. Home Depot is trying to help us, but say that they will never be able to sell the Ammonium Nitrate because they don’t have a license.

Thanks, Linda

Linda & Group:

Yes, you can get part of the nutrients from the Foundation. Micro-Nutrients are sold at www.growfood.com in the Store section.

For the Macro-Nutrients you can use any nutrients that you can find, so long as you are able to see the percentages on the bags.

What you want to end up with is 13-8-13, after you’ve added everything. You could start with Ammonium Sulfate, which is 21-0-0, add some 18-46-0, and then some 0-0-60, and you could have just what you need. I’ll give you an example of those three, plus Magnesium Sulfate, etc.

To Buy Nitrogen Phosphorus Potassium

21-0-0 13# 2.8# 0 0

18-46-0 4.5# .8# 2.1# 0

0-0-60 6# 0 0 3.6

TOTALS 23.5# 3.6# 2.1# 3.6#

Magnesium Sulfate 3#

Micro-Nutrients .5#

TOTAL WEIGHT 27# 13% 8% 13%

Any of you can do this for yourselves. It’s not that tough, and I have more examples in a longer article in the FAQ section of the website at www.foodforeveryone.org.

Jim Kennard

Would you like to remove the guesswork from growing healthy plants, and know you’re feeding them just what they need? The Mittleider Magic fertilizer formulas provide all 13 natural mineral nutrients that vegetable plants need, and if you can’t find them pre-mixed locally, you can mix them yourself.

The Food For Everyone Foundation website Learn section at www.foodforeveryone.org/learn has Dr. Mittleider’s fertilizer formulas, which have been tested and proven in 34 countries all around the world. Look under Grow-Boxes at the lower left of the main screen, and then go to Fertilizers.

If you have a large garden or farm you’ll probably want to mix your fertilizers from “scratch”, using the formulas. However, if you have a typical family-sized garden, or even just some containers to grow in, you’ll most likely find it much easier, and probably less expensive, to get a couple of 10 ounce packets of Micro-Nutrients from the Foundation’s website at www.foodforeveryone.org/store and then only have to buy 4 of the main ingredients, N, P, K, and Epsom Salt (magnesium), which are almost always available locally, and fairly inexpensive as well.

It’s easy and hassle-free to mix a packet of micro-nutrients with 25#’s of 16-16-16 and 4# of Epsom Salt to obtain a good Weekly Feed. It’s also very inexpensive, when compared to anything else that’s even close to comparable, such as Miracle-Gro.

For those of you who can’t find pre-mixed 16-16-16, 15-15-15, 13-13-13-, or 17-17-17, all of which are usable with the pre-packaged micro-nutrients, then check a farm-supply store for bags of each separately.

For example, you may be able to find 21-0-0 (ammonium sulfate), and 0-45-0 (triple super phosphate), and 0-0-50 (potassium sulfate). If so, mix 15# 21-0-0 with 4# 0-45-0, and 6# 0-0-50. That gives you 25# of a 110-60-110 mix, which is approximately the ratio in which your plants use the three Macro-Nutrients, and is even better than 16-16-16, etc.

Then add 4# of Epsom Salt from your pharmacy – mix it all together and you have the Weekly Feed mix. There are numerous other mixes of the “Big Three” nutrients – sometimes with two of them combined, such as 18-46-0 and 15-0-53. If you find that, just find some nitrogen and mix enough to get the 110-60-110 ratio, and you’re there.

Q. I need some help on NPK ratios used with the Micro Mix. The Micro Mix sheet suggested using a 16-16-16 ratio (I can get 17-17-17, will it work?), but the “how to mix your own fertilizer” file and spreadsheet talks about a target 110-60-110
ratio. Which one is best? What is the necessary degree of
exactness/accuracy needed to “feed” successfully (how far can I
diverge from the “ideal’ and still have success?).

A. 17-17-17 will work fine for mixing with the Micro-Nutrient mix you purchased from the Foundation, as will 15-15-15.

Ideally your garden only needs the 110-60-110 ratio of N, P, & K, but the extra phosphate will not hurt your plants. And the pre-mixed Weekly Feed sold throughout Utah and Southern Idaho is 13-8-13, so even 13-13-13 works fine.

We don’t get excited about 10-10-10, because it’s a bit low in N & K, but people use it successfully. It just might require an extra feeding or two during the season.

The 20-20-20 that’s sold in some places is usually quite expensive. This is because the fertilizer is 100% water-soluble, so it can be used in hydroponic operations. That mix can also be used, if you can’t find anything less costly.

I can’t recommend other changes. Certainly the micro-nutrients have proven to be very valuable in growing greatly increased quantities of healthy vegetables.

Look in the Photos section at MittleiderMethodGardening@yahoogroups.com for pictures of an experiment conducted at the University Del Cauca that shows dramatic differences in crops grown with and without micro-nutrients.

Q. Several years ago I was able to buy fertilizer components from an agricultural fertilizer plant. The man who ran the plant was very knowledgable and understood what I was trying to achieve with the Mittleider Grow Boxes. He sold me all the components and I still have some of them. One of the things I have is 50 lbs. of potassium chloride. I neglected to write on it the NPK numbers. My source died and the plant seems to have closed down since we lived in NM the last time.

So my first question is what is the ice melt (potassium cloride) NPK number?

Mr. Kennard told me that if I could get these items I’d have a great compound:
34-0-0 use 10#
0-45-0 use 4#
0-0-60 use 6#
add 3# epsom salt
micro-nutrients

should I use 6# of the potassium cloride to finish this if I ever find a supplier again?

so here is what I was able to get
ammonium sulfate 21-0-0
triple super phosphate 18-46-0
potassium cloride
magnisium sulfate
boron

The man from the local fertilizer plant said to use:
sulphur pellets instead of gypsum (in the Pre-Plant mix)
ammonium sulfate use 10#
magnesium sulfate use 6#
triple super phosphate use 1.25#
potassimum chloride use 6#
boron use 10 grams

What do you think of his recipe?

Someone from the Scotts company told me something that doesn’t make sense. I don’t think they understand what y’all are trying to do here. This is part of her note.

“Ms. Friend, a 45-45-45 mix would become a 15-15-15 due to percentage of weight (45-45-45 is divided by 3) The analysis could be too much fertilizer for your vegetables in the boxes. Are the nutrients you want to combine a slow-release or agricultural grade? You may want to contact the manufacturer of the products you have to make sure they are safe for vegetable plantings.”

Thanks for your help. I’m confident you can help me understand how to get this stuff mixed up. We had over 1000 tomatoes from 5 plants the last time we did this with plenty of sunshine. We look forward to landscaping our new yard with vegetable beds, fruit trees, and berry bushes.

Virginia

A. First, your potassium chloride is 0-0-60, so it is good for what you are trying to do. And yes, if you were using the other ingredients 6# of this would be right.

The fellow from the local fertilizer plant does not know fertilizing plants as well as Dr. Jacob Mittleider, but that’s to be expected, because NO-ONE does. He is out on several points, but he got two out of five right. By the way diammonium phosphate is the name of 18-46-0. It’s known all around the world as DAP.

What you are after is a mix with a ratio of 110-60-110. So, using the materials you say you can get here’s what you should use:

(I invite you serious gardeners to do the calculations to prove this. You will forever after be able to mix the correct fertilizer mix, no matter what your source material is)

21-0-0 13.5#

18-46-0 4.5#

0-0-60 6.0#

Mag Sulfate 3.3#

To this you should add one 8 ½ ounce package of the Mittleider Micro-Mix.

Do not use sulfur pellets INSTEAD of gypsum. Gypsum is the source for essential calcium in high pH soils. If you have extremely high pH you might need some sulfur, but never instead of your calcium. Also, gypsum has sulfur in it, so you usually don’t need added sulfur.

The Scotts woman was trying to tell you that if you combine (as a hypothetical example) 100# of Urea, which is actually 46-0-0, 100# of triple super phosphate, which is 0-45-0, and 100# of potassium sulfate, which in some places might be as low as 0-0-45, you would have the following:

Fertilizer Analysis Weight purchased # of N # of P # of K # of Inert Matls

45-0-0 100# 45 0 0 55

0-45-0 100# 0 45 0 55

0-0-45 100# 0 0 45 55

300# 45 45 45 165

You would still only have 45# of each of the three mineral nutrients, but you would have 300# of total fertilizer. 45 as a percentage of 300 is only 15% – the rest being inert materials. You see then that you end up with a mix of 15-15-15.

The 15-15-15 is most assuredly safe for use on your vegetable garden. And it is typically agricultural grade, rather than slow release. We therefore use a very small amount and apply it each week – until 3 weeks before the havest for single crop plants, and until 8 weeks before the END of the harvest for ever-bearing crops.

Q. I understand that urea is not Ammonium nitrate as required in the pre-plant fertilizer and the weekly feed. I would like to know what is Ammonium Nitrate? Can you tell by the formulation? Here in Trinidad, West Indies an agronomist at an agricultural supplies store has been selling me urea for Ammonium Nitrate.

Well I have been ‘happily’ using same and recently thought that my patchoi
(bokchoy) and lettuce needed more nitrogen, since they did not look green enough. So, Mr. Agronomist recommended 30:10:10, which worked fine, though I was bothered. I knew it was not the Mittleider way.

Also what is the difference between Ammonium Nitrate and Ammonium Sulphate? I thought previously it was just the % nitrogen in each (i.e. 46% and 21%).

Another agronomist at the farmer’s market has advised me to use the Sulphate of Potash instead of the Muriate of Potash, as it was less acidic. Again what is the difference between the above two and Potassium Chloride? Well you may have guessed, Mr. Agronomist at the agricultural supplies store sold me Red Potash for Potassium Chloride.

This I know, that no one needs to guess that the labelling on fertilizers and
lack of respect by some for the Mittleider Method of Grow Box Production is causing failures untold by Grow Box Farmers here in Trinidad.

Your kind assistance is sought please.

A. These questions are IMPORTANT to understand, so please pay close attention to my answers, and I’ll try to remove the mysteries.

Ammonium Nitrate is NH4 NO3. It has an ammonia (with hydrogen) form of nitrogen and an “ate” or oxide form of nitrogen. the nitrate is immediately available to plants, while the NH4 requires a step before it’s available. That step happens quickly in warm weather, but in cold weather, your plants will suffer if all they have is the NH4 type.

Ammonium Sulfate is NH4 SO4. So it has ONLY the ammonia form of nitrogen, with the minor problems as discussed above. It also has sulfur in the “ate” or oxide form. The sulfur is readily available, and is an essential plant nutrient, so that’s good. However, sulfur also LOWERS soil pH. So, if you receive more than 20 inches of rainfall per year your pH is already BELOW 7 (neutral). Therefore it’s acid, and you probably don’t want any extra sulfur.

Urea is CH4N2O, or CO(NH2)2. The nitrogen is bound up with both carbon and hydrogen, and it takes several chemical changes for the nitrogen to become available for plant use. While those chemical changes take place the nitrogen is constantly tempted to volatilize and go back into the air, where it came from.

Very often when urea is used the plants end up getting much LESS than the 46% nitrogen the fertilizer started with. A not-too-funny sidenote: Urea is the only form of the above three that is considered “organic”. Urine is high in urea.

Find out what the chemical formula is for the 30-10-10. And then get more phosphate and potash, so you end up with something close to 13-8-13.

The answer to your next question – about your potassium source – is also important for everyone to understand. Muriate of Potash is potassium chloride.

Both potassium and chloride are essential plant nutrients. According to one encyclopedia, 95% of all potash fertilizer used in the world is muriate of potash.

Potassium sulfate also contains two essential plant nutrients. However, the
sulfur lowers soil pH, so UNLESS YOU RECEIVE LESS THAN 20″ of rainfall per year, you probably should be using potassium chloride. You CERTAINLY get more than 20″ of rain per year in Trinidad, so you already have acidic soil, and the potassium sulfate makes it MORE acidic. Go tell the guy he’s got it backward. Isn’t it interesting that anyone can call themselves an agronomist!

As to whether you should use the red potash instead of white potash, let’s consider the differences. Red potash contains a small percentage of iron (an essential plant nutrient) so might be considered better. However, it also contains about 4% sodium chloride, or table salt, whereas white potash only contains about 1% table salt. In my experience, I’ve found white potash to be a little higher grade, and therefore a better product.

Good luck with your red potash. If you see any evidence of salinity (growth stops, unnatural wilting), flood your beds with clean water three times to wash out the salts.

Spread the word to those who are not yet converted to the Mittleider Method in Trinidad! You all might as well be exporting to those countries in South America that are so close to you.

Have you ever considered growing your own food?

”Are you kidding?? Why would I even think about growing a garden? I’m much too busy earning a living!”

Let me give you a few reasons you SHOULD consider starting a garden, especially this year:

• Covid-19 has gripped the world, and everything is in lock-down.  Will it ever be the same again?
• Stores are running out of food, and it is getting worse by the day because supply chains are broken.
• People are losing their jobs and money is getting extremely tight, with no end in sight.
• The currency is being trashed by government profligacy, and we are headed for hyperinflation and/or depression.

Now that I have your attention I’ll introduce you to a gardening method that REALLY makes sense – even for the busy working man or woman.

We’ve searched the world for the ONE method that guarantees success beyond anything you’ve ever seen. And it’s so simple a child can do it! Our FREE ebook shows you how.

You’ll learn how to grow a GREAT garden in ANY soil, without soil amendments! The digital Mittleider Soil-Bed Gardening book is FREE at www.growfood.com/learn/.

You’ll also find a FREE Gardening Group, FREE greenhouse plans and automatic watering system plans, and a FREE FAQ section that contains more than 400 short articles answering your important gardening questions.

With the Mittleider Method you will:
• Grow healthy, delicious vegetables & fruit like NEVER before.
• Increase your yields as much as 5 to 10 times traditional methods.
• Use about ½ the water of other gardening methods.
• Enjoy a weed-free garden without problems with bugs and diseases.
• Grow a highly successful garden in any soil, and in virtually any climate.
• And do it all without using harmful pesticides & herbicides.

“How – and why – would you do this”, you’re asking.

• The gardening system has been perfected and proven throughout the USA and in countries around the world for many years.
• We’re a non-profit Foundation with all-volunteer staff.
• Our mission is to teach the best gardening methods to people everywhere.
• Some people end up buying the great gardening books, software, & CD’s.
• Generous people care enough to assist us by donating to the Foundation.

Help us spread this gardening knowledge – Donate at www.growfood.com

Q. Some people think they waste valuable land by using such wide aisles. Do you always plant in 18″ beds with 3 1/2′ aisles – and are there no other viable options in The Mittleider Method?

A. In the MittleiderGardeningGroup on YahooGroups.com we have posted pictures of much closer planting, with both wider beds and narrower aisles. I recommend you join the free gardening group (see invitation posted on each page of the website) and learn from these examples.

One of the Moldova pictures and one of the Madagascar pictures illustrate how closely things can be planted, while still conforming to “The Mittleider Method.” As you will see, those plants are close, and there is very little aisle space.

So, why are the Mittleider books so insistent on having aisles that are 3 1/2′ or one meter wide? Let me explain.

In a large growing operation, where a single crop is bring planted over and over again – and especially in a large “field” operation using tractors, etc. we will plant similarly to what you see in those pictures, in order to make the maximum use of the growing space. It is obvious that lettuce, carrots, onions, cabbage, radishes, etc., etc., don’t need wide aisles to assure they have adequate light. So, if someone is growing a large crop of just the type of plants I describe above, they probably should be planting closer than what the books recommend.

And even in family-size plots we will sometimes grow those crops in 4′ (1 1/4-meter) wide beds with several rows of plants in the bed, and 3 1/2′ (1-meter) – or even narrower – aisles only between the larger beds. More can be grown in a given space, but there are challenges with planting, watering, weeding, feeding, and harvesting, and there is only so much people can learn and properly absorb while reading a book. Therefore, we teach one method, and handle exceptions as they occur.

Our experience has taught us that for the typical family grower, who is growing many different crops in a relatively small area, the 18″ (1/2-meter) wide beds and 3 1/2′ (1 meter) wide aisles are generally the best – for several reasons, including:

1) They accommodate all crops, with enough aisle space to provide light for tall, large, and vining crops, as well as the smaller varieties.

2) The grower can set up the garden, make the beds one time, and then never change them – even when he moves the plants around from year to year.

3) After the first time, the grower only has to till or spade 20% of his garden area.

4) Planting, watering, weeding, feeding, and harvesting are easier and more accurate.

5) Less water is used.

However, Dr. Mittleider’s own back-yard garden has aisles of only 2 1/2′ (75cm)! Shame on him!! Some pictures in the books, and some of the video/CD lectures, now available by special request, show Dr. M’s garden, and by paying close attention, we can learn much from his example. 1) He has very little space, and so he has to maximize every inch, or centimeter. 2) He plants varieties that are small enough to fit in the space he has available. 3) He places plants properly, to avoid shading and provide maximum light to all plants. 4) He prunes excess growth vigorously and accurately to maximize the available sunlight to each plant. And 5) he harvests and removes crops immediately when they are ripe.

Therefore, please don’t feel that growing with narrower aisles, or in wider beds with several rows of plants in the bed, are bad. Just remember the reasons for our recommendations, and understand that we respect the desire you have to maximize your yield in a given space. Then become competent in the basics, preferably using the sizes and format shown in the books – and then take the next step to more intensive growing of the small market crops.

And if you want to plant with narrower aisles and/or more rows of plants in wider beds, let us work with you to achieve the maximum production that suits your particular needs.

Q. My version says Mittleider Pro, and has the 9 manuals, but I haven’t found the 2 books or videos. Do I have a WalMart version? Are there older versions of the CD that don’t have what the new one does? The books are definitely a valuable addition!
A. Unlike the version sold nationally in WalMart stores, the Mittleider Pro version of the Garden Master CD does, indeed, have two Mittleider vegetable gardening books, as well as 9 of his manuals.

Here’s how to access them: As you open the program you have choices. On the first screen you Launch the Garden master.

On the second screen you have 4 choices – Designer, Training, Store, and Help.

Choose Training, which opens up a new screen with User manual, Garden Curriculum, Mittleider Books, Garden Aids, and Graph Paper.

Choose Garden Curriculum – click on the + – and see Intro to Grow-Beds and Boxes. This includes the Garden master lessons and the Overview Video. This also includes the 9 Mittleider Gardening Manuals.

Clicking on the + to the left of Mittleider Books will open two more lines, including 6 Steps to Successful Gardening and The Mittleider Gardening Course.

Q. Can you help automate the gardening process?

A. If you would like to create or expand your garden and need help with decisions and automating the planning process, the Garden Wizard, available at www.growfood.com on the Software page, is a great tool! Dr. Ron Guymon has devoted thousands of man-hours over two and one-half years to producing this multi-faceted tool for those who want help determining what, when, where, and how to plant, water, feed, etc. It includes growing season helps for over 3,000 locations in the USA, as well as planting and feeding requirements for all common vegetable crops.

Another way to automate your gardening is to build a simple and effective watering system that will allow you to water quickly and efficiently while saving water. The plans for this system are in Chapter 15 of the Mittleider Gardening Course – available at www.growfood.com on the Books page. They can be seen free in the Store section as well.

Q. How do I create a garden plan for a future calendar year? When I tried to create a garden plan for 2005, I specified Custom Freeze Dates, changed the freeze dates to 2005, and the program came back and told me the fall freeze date had to be later than the spring freeze date, even though I had 2005 on both dates. The only way I could go forward was to put both dates back to 2004. Does the program have a bug? Or was I doing something wrong?

A. You must first change the first fall freeze date to 2005, exit by clicking OK and then return to change the last spring freeze date to 2005, and then click OK again. It must be done in this order, making two separate changes – sorry for the inconvenience.

Q. How can I print the Garden Plan Detail the way it shows on the screen in Step 6 of the Garden Master? When I try and print, it does it in a different format, using several pages, and it isn’t nearly as easy to work with.

A. In Step 6, after you have filled up your garden using the Place Plants window, open the Expand View button in the lower-left of the window. With all your planting information in the spread-sheet format on the screen, instead of using the Print button, do the following: Press the Alt and Print Screen keys simultaneously (this captures the screen image). Next open your Word Processing program (Word, etc.). Left-click on Edit, then Paste. The material will be available to print. To make the document larger, place the cursor in the corners and drag. The process will have to be done twice, in order to capture the entire spread-sheet of information, since the right four columns of information do not show in the initial screen-dump.

Q. Can I use last year’s garden plan to create a plan for this year, or must I do an entirely new plan? And if I can, how do I do it?

A. Yes, you can. If you are updating your 2003 garden plan, you will have to go through the two-stage freeze date change described above if you want the same old garden but in a new year. You can then customize it as you desire.

Q. I don’t like the registration process, why must I do it, and why is it so difficult? Also, how do I read the manuals and other things? And finally, my current garden is only 2 feet by 15 feet. I can’t seem to get the program to allow me to plant plants. Can I get my money back?

A. Thanks for your comments. And please forgive us for our failure to please you in your first exposure to The Garden Master CD. Hopefully your comments will help us learn to do things better.Dr. Ron Guymon, the creator of the Garden Designer, has forwarded your note to me, and I would like to try and help you figure things out, if possible.Dr. Guymon is working on making the registration process easier. Our idea in including the 9 manuals on the CD was to give everyone a very nice “bonus” for registering as a customer, and the 3 that are available for you to access before registering are intended to help you see the value, so that you will want to register and receive the other 6. Perhaps we didn’t explain that adequately. Are you able to read the 3 manuals? If not, you will just need to install the Free Acrobat Reader that is on the CD. That makes it possible to read PDF files, including the books and lessons, as well as the manuals. With regard to your garden of 2′ X 15′, all you have to do is make all your aisle spaces “0”, and you will have a row in which to plant. Certainly the benefits of organizing and planning a garden are greatly minimized with one so small. I hope you or your family or neighbors have the opportunity of growing a bigger garden, so that you can benefit from the unique and valuable features of the Designer. The Designer portion of the CD took a brilliant PhD educator, who has trained many Fortune 500 staff people, 3 years and something like $100,000 to create. And while it isn’t perfect, I really believe it can be a terrific tool to help you and your family and friends avoid the mistakes that so frequently cause failure in the garden. The books and manuals sell in the paper version for about $70, and are the result of Dr. Mittleider’s 57 years’ experience all around the world, and the assistance of other PhD educators in their presentation. By using these materials you can be confident of having a garden that is the envy of your friends and neighbors. I am attaching a brief recap of just a few of the many success stories from around the world, of people whose lives have been changed by using these materials. You may not be aware of the standard practice in the industry regarding software returns. Because of the ability of anyone to copy the entire contents of a CD ROM disk, refunds are not given, however, if a product is defective it can be returned for replacement. Please give the books, lessons, video snippets, and the Designer another chance, and don’t judge this material too harshly on the basis of your first look – particularly using the benefits to creating a 2′ X15′ garden as a criteria.

Q. I’m a programmer and I also am a gardener. I have a couple ideas for computer programs that are garden related.

However, to write the programs I’m thinking about, I need more
gardening information than I have in my hands. (I already own
GardenMaster and the growing manual and the other books that came with
it.)

What I am really needing the most to get started is dates for planting, maturity/harvest, etc., etc. All the information really
needs to be for every region is the program I’m thinking about could
be used for everyone (not just ppl in my region.)

I’d also be interested to know what regions can get 2 spring/summer
plantings (and what plants actually can have 2 sessions) and how to
determine when the first then the second should be planted.

I guess, is there one central source such as a gardening encyclopedia
or gardening bible?

A. I believe you already have the program you’re thinking of writing. It’s called the Garden Master CD, and it’s available here https://foodforeveryone.org/garden_master/). Meanwhile I’ll answer your questions below.

There are two major elements to the decision making process as to when to plant, and if or when a second crop can be planted.

The first factor is the last spring frost date and the first fall frost date in the area you’re considering. The growing season lies mostly within that time period. The Garden Master CD has a database of about 3,000 areas in the USA with their Average First & Last Frost Dates.

The second factor is the plants themselves. There are four “types” of plants with regard to their levels of frost tolerance:

1. Hardy, or frost tolerant – can be planted 3-4 weeks before the average last frost date (ALFD) of the spring.

2. Semi-hardy – can be planted 2 weeks before the ALFD

3. Frost sensitive – can be planted safely ON the ALFD.

4. Frost intolerant – can be planted safely 2 weeks AFTER the ALFD.

We also have a schedule of plants and their level of frost tolerance on the Garden Master CD, and this is used to give the GM CD software the ability to tell people anywhere in the country the exact day to plant their crops, no matter which one they are considering.

Seed packets and seed catalogs also give the days to maturity of each variety. And there can be significant differences in maturity times, even between different varieties of the same species. For example, there are tomatoes that mature in 55 days and some that take 85 days. So you need to have that information for the specific variety as well, in order to determine whether or not two crops are possible.

To determine if a second crop of something is possible, just check the days to maturity and the days to the first expected fall frost. Of course most people plant a second crop of cabbage (as an example) after the corn is finished, or whatever. It’s usually not the same crop back-to-back in the same beds.

Many of you own the Mittleider Garden Master CD. It’s an excellent resource for any vegetable gardener, and the Garden Designer software, created by Dr. Ron Guymon, is unique and better than anything else I’VE seen.

The short videos of Dr. Mittleider himself creating and working in
the garden are ighly instructive, such as watching him prune tomatoes, and the training lessons by Dr. Guymon are well done.

Without taking anything away from the software and training portions of the Garden Master CD, the two books and 9 manuals, which represent just half the cost of the CD, I believe are worth the price of the CD all by themselves, and that’s what I want to mention briefly today.

The 6 Steps to Successful Gardening book has been used virtually by itself to teach more than 10,000 illiterate African villagers to become self-sustaining b successfully growing their own gardens. And this was done by one couple – an American Dentist and his devoted wife, who spent two years in Zimbabwe and adjoining countries doing humanitarian work. Dr. Howard Morgan didn’t even know that much about gardening himself before going over there, but that one little book was all they needed to have 10,000 people feeding themselves! Kudos to the intrepid Morgans!!

Even more could be said about the Mittleider Gardening Course, which is the product of many years’ experience and the collaberation of several outstanding PhD educators from Brigham Young University working with Dr. Jacob Mittleider himself. That book is the lab manual for the intensive Agriculture Training Course that’s been taught in countries around the world, and which has created thousands of Master Mittleider Gardeners, and not a few millionaires.

So please don’t be put off when you first try to use the GM CD. Have the patience to get well acquainted with the treasure you have acquired.

Sometimes folks are frustrated when trying to access the manuals for the first time, because 6 of the 9 are “locked” and require a password to open.

If you ever have this situation, here’s the very simple solution:

In the Training section under Garden Curriculum, you have two
choices, one of which is Mittleider Manuals.

Click on the + sign at the left, and the 9 manual titles will be
displayed.

Click on a manual, and if a small window saying Registration Bonus comes up, just click Close in the lower right corner.

Then click on View. On 6 of the 9 manuals, you’ll get another screen asking for a password to unlock the manual.

Type master1, and then click on OK. You can then view the manual.

I believe you only have to do this once, and all manuals will
thereafter be available to you when you use the Garden Master CD on that computer.

When you use the GM CD on another computer you’ll have to repeat the simple process.

PLEASE don’t anyone kill the messenger! This was the “brain child” (or brain-freeze) of Dr. Ron Guymon, the creator of the Garden Designer portion of the CD. He felt it was important to encourage registering the CD’s with his company, and we acquiesced to his desire.

The Garden Master has sold nationally in Wal-Mart stores, without
the books and manuals, for almost $15, so I trust those who have the Mittleider Pro version feel good about the value they receive from this collaborative effort between the Foundation and Dr. Guymon.

I recommend anyone interested in vegetable gardening, especially if you don’t already have a lot of successful experience, to consider adding the Garden Master CD to your library.

And if you have someone in the family who’s young and computer literate (who isn’t nowadays?!) they will be able to use it immediately if they’re able to read!

Q. I have a garden area of 90,000 square feet (over 2 acres) and when I try to fill it up with plants the Garden Master program won’t take all the plants. It says “unable to insert a line,” and if I persist it comes back with “is not a valid integer value.” What can I do to plan a very large garden?

A. Dr. Ron Guymon and his programmers, who created the Garden Master, have researched this problem and found the following: “The garden size issue is due to memory allocation protocol used in Windows 9x (including 95, 98, and ME). Unfortunately, there is no way to fix this problem without a major overhaul and even that’s not certain — it’s the same problem you get when trying to run any large C++ program under these earlier versions of Windows. It is for this reason that many companies including Sun are dropping Windows 9x support. Since your custom version of the CD allows multiple gardens, larger gardens may need to be broken up if users are running Windows 95, 98, or ME.” According to Dr. Guymons instructions above, if you are running on Windows 95, 98, or ME, I recommend you just make something like 4 – ½ acre garden plots out of your two-acre garden area. This may well work to your advantage anyway, as you will then have a more manageable sized-126 beds in each of 4 gardens. Success to you.

Your gooseberry bush, along with many other plants, is very sensitive during the pollination process, and heavy rain, strong wind, high temperature, and/or humidity can greatly impede the pollination process. Also, while gooseberries are self-fertile, planting a second variety close by will improve your yield.

Birds won’t eat them until they are fully developed, so that’s not a likely cause of your problem.

Does the bush get direct sunlight all day long – or is it shaded a good part of the day? This is a common problem that people often don’t recognize. Fruiting plants need lots of direct sunlight to produce fruit. If this is the problem, wait until October and transplant your bush in full sun.

What are you feeding your plant? Without proper nutrition, it will not set fruit. This is another very common mistake people make in trying to grow fruiting plants. Trees grow so slowly that they can wait for the natural chemical processes constantly going on in the soil to provide water-soluble minerals, and thus don’t need much supplemental feeding. However, vegetables and small shrubs can’t wait! They grow fast and require supplements of water-soluble minerals for optimum health and fruit production. Go to the Gardening Techniques section under Fertilizers, and either mix your own natural mineral nutrients or order some pre-mixed from The Store section.

Q. What is the problem when sweet bell peppers end up with thin walls and not with thick walls as shown on the seed packet and in the catalogs?

A. You are seeing a nutrient deficiency. What did you feed your plants? Sometimes when people try to give their plants only organic fertilizers like compost and manure, the plants run out of food about the time they are trying to mature a crop. This results in a single crop, instead of production continuing until late fall frosts, and often the fruit is less desirable as well.

If you will start by applying the Mittleider Pre-Plant natural mineral nutrient formula before planting – which contains calcium and other nutrients – and then after your plants are up, apply Mittleider Weekly Feed formula, you will have healthy plants and beautiful, thick-walled and juicy fruit.

The formulas for both fertilizer mixes are free on the website at www.foodforeveryone.org, in the Learn section, or you can buy them at www.growfood.com in the Store section. If shipping is a problem buy just the Micro-Nutrients and mix your own with the macro-nutrients you can buy locally.

You mentioned a cleared spot in a wooded area – are your peppers getting 8-12 hours of full sun every day? That is essential for starters – not just for peppers, but for any fruit-bearing plant.

You also mentioned that the plants look good but aren’t producing fruit. That is likely a lack of one or more nutrients, or an imbalance of nutrients, rather than too much nutrients. What most often happens is that too much nitrogen is used without the proper amounts of other needed nutrients. This can cause a lush green, often soft, plant with little or no fruit.

Plants need 16 nutrients, 3 of which are supplied in the air. The other 13 must come from the soil or from man. Most soils are depleted, the result of thousands of years of leaching from rain, snow, crop removal, etc., so we need to put back water-soluble mineral nutrients in the right amounts to assure good vegetable crops.

What we consider to be the world’s best fertilizer formula for vegetables, as well as other plants, is included in the Online Education section of this website, as well as in The Mittleider Gardening Course. It will guarantee you good results, if used properly.

Q. Does anyone have plans for mini-greenhouses that you can build and start seed in to about 3-4 feet tall?

A. We have plans for greenhouses available free on the Foundation website.

The plans for the recommended Mittleider-style greenhouse, with a “continuous ventilator” running along the peak of the roof, are available for the asking, just by sending me an email at jim@growfood.com. The pictorial description of building the greenhouse is included in the free downloadable chapter in the Books section of the website at https://foodforeveryone.org/grow_bed_gardening/, next to the Grow-Bed Gardening book.

And plans and explanation for a smaller, quonset hut-shaped structure are included in the free down-loadable chapter from the book Grow-Box Gardens.

All seven books have an important chapter included for your inspection and study, and we invite you to avail yourselves of the opportunity to learn all you can in this way.

The question is asked if a person can grow his plants to 3 or 4 feet tall in one of these greenhouses (and then presumably take them out to the garden), and I would counsel against it. By the time your plants are about 12″ tall their roots are crowding a one-gallon pot, and the stems are susceptible to falling over, plus they take quite a bit of space for proper light. If you are going to have them in the garden you should time the planting of the seeds to be no more than 12 weeks before that final transplant time. the plants will be about 12″ tall, with strong stocky stems, if you have pruned and cared for them properly.

On the other hand, if you want to grow tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, etc. throughout the growing season in the greenhouse, they should be transplanted into the final bed location by the time they are 8-12″ tall. And they should be at or near ground level, rather than on tables at that point, in order to give them plenty of height to grow more than 7′ tall.

A gardener asked the following question about building small greenhouses and growing in cold weather using information from the Mittleider Grow-Box Gardens book: “Since I am in zone 3 it would be very helpful if I could have the rest of the information the article referred to on “cold weather gardening” in chapter 12 if you think I need it. Is that the information that will tell me how to double-layer the greenhouse to have a 3-to-4 inch dead air space?”

Here’s my answer, which will be helpful to anyone who is building a greenhouse to grow in cold weather.

Chapter 12 of Grow-Box Gardens does indeed show and tell you how to double cover the greenhouse. I am sorry that Grow-Box Gardens is currently out of print and available only as a digital download at www.growfood.com/shop. Let me tell you a few things the book says about winter gardening in cold climates.

Seedlings should be started in warmer weather and transplanted into the greenhouse by early fall if possible, so that much of the vegetative growth takes place before it gets cold.

During the cold months, plants can be maintained and harvested at lower temperatures. It is important, however, to maintain soil temperatures above 50 degrees as long as possible, otherwise, the plants will go dormant.

A greenhouse is important, and it should be double-covered, with a dead-air space of 2-4″. Building the greenhouse east to west, with the north-side wall built into a hillside or against an insulated wall, can reduce heating costs significantly, and even provide some heat from the mass of the north wall.

If you’re really serious about growing in cold weather, hot water pipes buried 4-6″ deep inside the greenhouse near the outside edges will provide some heat and ward off cold from the frozen ground outside.

If it is too cold to keep the entire greenhouse from freezing, consider a greenhouse within the greenhouse to protect valuable crops.

Arched PVC frames covered with 6 mil greenhouse plastic, with a small space heater inside, can keep a row or two of plants warm enough to save them even on very cold nights if it is inside a greenhouse already.

If daytime outside temperatures rise above 65 degrees some ventilation should be provided in the greenhouse.

It’s not too early to begin preparing for early spring planting! By covering your Grow-Boxes or Soil-Beds with “Mini-Greenhouses” using PVC arches and greenhouse plastic, you can be in the garden with cool-weather plants by the end of February or the first of March. They will warm the soil and protect your plants from light frosts. This is often enough to extend your growing season by several weeks in both spring and fall.

Pictures can be seen in The MittleiderMethodGardening@yahoogroups.com in the Photos section. The pictures show arches over Grow-Boxes. I will give instructions for building a jig and then making PVC arches for 18″-wide boxes or beds.

Materials needed:

11 – 5′ lengths of 1/2″ Schedule 40 PVC pipe – placed 3′ apart – in each bed or box to be covered.

6-mil greenhouse plastic – 5′ wide and 33′ long – one for each bed or box to be covered.

For Grow-Boxes only – 3 10′ lengths of 3/4″ Schedule 200 PVC pipe, cut into 24 15″ pieces for each box to be covered. Plus 22 2 1/2″ nails and small 2″ X 4″ block.

One 30″ X 30″ (or bigger) sheet of plywood, plus 6 – 2 1/2″ nails.

One heat gun (to heat and bend pipe).

With a pen, make 3 marks at the top of the plywood sheet – one in the center, and one each, 9″ to the left and right of the center. Go down 9″ on the plywood and make 3 marks exactly corresponding to the first 3. Draw lines from the outside lower marks to the top center mark. Place marks on both lines 10″ up from the bottom. Go down 27″ from the top of the plywood and make 3 marks corresponding to the others. Draw lines between the 9″ and 27″ marks. Make marks 2″ up from the bottom of both 18″ lines. Drive nails into the 4 upper marks, leaving 2″ of nail exposed. Drive nails into the marks 2″ up from the bottom of the 18″ lines, then drive nails 1″ to the outside of these nails. This is the jig for bending the PVC pipe.

Cut 5′ lengths of 1/2″ schedule 40 PVC pipe. Mark them at 18″ and 28″ from each end. Place one end of PVC pipe between nails on one side, with the end at the 18″ mark (2″ below the first 2 nails). With heat gun, heat PVC pipe at each spot where PVC pipe encounters a nail, and carefully bend the pipe to fit the jig. Allow to cool before removing pipe from jig.

For Grow-Boxes, place 15″ pieces of 3/4″ PVC adjacent to the Grow-Box at each end and at 3′ intervals on both sides. With a hammer, and using the small 2″ X 4″ block of wood, hammer the PVC into the ground until the top is level with the Grow-Box. Pre-drill a hole through the PVC pipe 2″ up from the dirt, and hammer the 2 1/2″ nail through both pipe and Grow-Box. Bend the nail over on the inside of the Grow-Box to avoid getting scratched later. Slip the 1/2″ PVC arches into the 3/4″ PVC holding pipes until they encounter the nails – about 6″ deep.

For Soil-Beds, just push the 1/2″ PVC arches into the ground at the peak of the ridge on each side of the Soil-Bed – again about 6″ deep.

Lay the 6-mil plastic over the entire box or bed, centered, with 18″ overhang on each end. Fold excess plastic to avoid a messy appearance. Place dirt on both sides of the plastic to hold it in place, as well as at the ends.

Whenever the weather is above 50 degrees, open the ends, and when it is above 60 degrees, lift the plastic from one side and lay it in the aisle.

You must watch carefully to ensure that it doesn’t get too hot in your mini-greenhouses. A thermometer in at least one bed is a good idea, in order to measure the temperature and make necessary adjustments. Note also that brassica’s (cabbage, cauliflower, etc.) can grow in cooler weather than the warm-weather plants. Tomatoes, corn, peppers, etc. must be near 70 degrees or above to do well.

It’s not too early to begin preparing for early spring planting! By covering your containers, which we call Grow-Boxes, or Soil-Beds with “Mini-Greenhouses” using PVC arches and greenhouse plastic, you can be in the garden with cool-weather plants by the end of February or the first of March. They will warm the soil and protect your plants from light frosts. This is often enough to extend your growing season by several weeks in both spring and fall.

Pictures can be seen in the Photos section of the free MittleiderMethodGardening Group. Invitations to join are on every page of the Food For Everyone Foundation website at www.foodforeveryone.org. The pictures show arches over Grow-Boxes, or containers. Following are instructions for building a jig and then making PVC arches for 18″-wide boxes or soil-beds.

Materials needed:

11 – 5′ lengths of 1/2″ Schedule 40 PVC pipe – to be placed 3′ apart in each bed or box to be covered.

6-mil greenhouse plastic – 5′ wide and 33′ long – one for each bed or box to be covered.

For Grow-Boxes only – 3 10′ lengths of 3/4″ Schedule 200 PVC pipe, cut into 24 15″ pieces for each box to be covered. Plus 22 2 1/2″ nails and small 2″ X 4″ block.

One 30″ X 30″ (or bigger) sheet of plywood, plus 6 – 2 1/2″ nails.

One heat gun (to heat and bend pipe).

With a pen, make 3 marks at the top of the plywood sheet – one in the center, and one each, 9″ to the left and right of the center. Go down 9″ on the plywood and make 3 marks exactly corresponding to the first 3. Draw lines from the outside lower marks to the top center mark. Place marks on both lines 10″ up from the bottom. Go down 27″ from the top of the plywood and make 3 marks corresponding to the others. Draw lines between the 9” and 27” marks. Make marks 2″ up from the bottom of both 18″ lines. Drive nails into the 4 upper marks, leaving 2″ of nail exposed. Drive nails into the marks 2″ up from the bottom of the 18″ lines, then drive nails 1″ to the outside of these nails. This is the jig for bending the PVC pipe.

Cut 5′ lengths of 1/2″ schedule 40 PVC pipe. Mark them at 18″ and 28″ from each end. Place one end of PVC pipe between nails on one side, with the end at the 18″ mark (2″ below the first 2 nails). With heat gun, heat PVC pipe at each spot where PVC pipe encounters a nail, and carefully bend the pipe to fit the jig. Allow to cool before removing pipe from jig.

For Grow-Boxes, place 15″ pieces of 3/4″ PVC adjacent to the Grow-Box at each end and at 3′ intervals on both sides. With a hammer, and using the small 2″ X 4″ block of wood, hammer the PVC into the ground until the top is level with the Grow-Box. Pre-drill a hole through the PVC pipe 2″ up from the dirt, and hammer the 2 1/2″ nail through both pipe and Grow-Box. Bend the nail over on the inside of the Grow-Box to avoid getting scratched later. Slip the 1/2″ PVC arches into the 3/4″ PVC holding pipes until they encounter the nails – about 6″ deep.

For Soil-Beds, just push the 1/2″ PVC arches into the ground at the peak of the ridge on each side of the Soil-Bed – again about 6″ deep.

Lay the 6-mil plastic over the entire box or bed, centered, with 18″ overhang on each end. Fold excess plastic to avoid a messy appearance. Place dirt on both sides of the plastic to hold it in place, as well as at the ends.

Whenever the weather is above 50 degrees, open the ends, and when it is above 60 degrees, lift the plastic from one side and lay it in the aisle.

You must watch carefully to ensure that it doesn’t get too hot in your mini-greenhouses. A thermometer in at least one bed is a good idea, in order to measure the temperature and make necessary adjustments. Note also that brassica’s (cabbage, cauliflower, etc.) can grow in cooler weather than the warm-weather plants. Tomatoes, corn, peppers, etc. must be near 70 degrees or above to do well. © 2006 – James B. Kennard

Jim Kennard, President of Food For Everyone Foundation, has a wealth of teaching and gardening training and experience upon which to draw in helping the Foundation “Teach the world to grow food one family at a time.” Jim has been a Mittleider gardener for the past twenty nine years; he is a Master Mittleider Gardening Instructor, and has taught classes and worked one-on-one with Dr. Jacob Mittleider on several humanitarian gardening training projects in the USA and abroad. He has conducted projects in Armenia, America, Madagascar, and Turkey by himself. He assists gardeners all over the world from the https://www.foodforeveryone.org website FAQ pages and free Gardening Group, and grows a large demonstration garden at Utah’s Hogle Zoo in his spare time.

Gardening Books, CDs and Software are available at https://www.foodforeveryone.org

The question has been asked whether or not the height of greenhouses should be greater in warm climates – to allow for better/more air circulation. The short answer is no.

To get free plans for building several styles of greenhouses visit and join the FREE MittleiderMethodGardening@yahoogroups.com, and go to the Photos and Files sections.

The height of the structure does not reduce air circulation. The continuous ventilator along the entire roofline of the permanent seedling greenhouse lets hot air escape quickly. Also, in warm climates the plastic on both sides is designed to roll up , to give excellent side ventilation.

The height of the structure was chosen to accommodate standard lumber lengths plus the reach of most gardeners. Seven feet is about as high as most of us can reach comfortably.

It’s also about the same height that tomato plants will grow before we cut the tops off 8 weeks before the first expected frost in cooler climates- where tomatoes and other warm-weather crops are most likely to be grown in greenhouses – so they can mature all the fruit they have set.

For longer growing seasons such as in Central & much of South America, Africa, the Pacific Islands, and the Caribbean, let the plant turn over and come back down, rather than cutting it off. This will require pruning leaves off the lower branches when fruit has been picked.

The in-the-garden greenhouse would be built the same in hot humid climates as in temperate zones, the way it shows in the YahooGroups pictures, except that you don’t keep the plastic all the way down except during a bad storm.

Rather than protecting plants from cold weather and frost, in warm climates, the in-the-garden structure is mostly used to keep heavy pounding rains and hot direct sunshine from hurting tender plants.

In warm climates – and during mid-summer in temperate zones – I recommend you roll the plastic up to the top on all sides and tie it in place.

For additional shading, if needed during the hottest part of the day, consider either throwing a 30-40% shade cloth over the top or if the shade is needed for a long period of time consider splashing white-wash on the underside of the top plastic. Use material that will wash off when water is applied.

For more information on building and growing in greenhouses visit the archives of the Gardening Group.

Q. In “Grow Bed Gardening,” Dr. Mittleider says, “In the nothern hemisphere, face the length of the building east and west. This gives the broadside a southern exposure and all plants get the maximum light when the days are short and the sun is farthest south.”

In “The Mittleider Gardening Course,” he writes, “If you have a choice, orient your Grow-Boxes north to south so the shadow changes as the sun moves from east to west.”

These two statements appear to be contradicting each other, in that the greenhouse is supposed to be facing one direction, while the actual garden is built with rows going the other direction. Is this right, and if so, why is the garden different than the greenhouse, and how important is this anyway?

A. Strictly speaking, both statements are correct. We believe that somewhat more light gets to the plants in a greenhouse with the long side facing the sun. And in the garden, we prefer rows running north and south. However, over the years Dr. M. has determined that the direction – of greenhouses and rows in the garden – are not so very important. What is important is that there be no shade, either from fences, trees, shrubs, or buildings or from other taller plants.

Just take care of those things and then orient your greenhouse and your rows whichever way works best for you.

More often than not it’s the layout of the land and the watering situation that dictates the best direction for both greenhouse and garden soil-beds or Grow-Boxes. The greenhouse needs to be level, and if changing the direction makes that primary goal much easier or less costly, then you should do it.

If there is a prevailing slope to the garden, you will want to orient your soil-beds or Grow-Boxes in such a way that the water source is at the high end, and the rows will have a fall of no more than 1″ in 30′.

This often requires putting your beds or boxes rows across the slope, rather than following the slope. The extreme example of this would be a hillside, with level rows terraced into the hillside.

Q. Are greenhouses really worthwhile? And what kind should we build – quanset/tunnel, PVC, steel rebar, or wood, and what about heating and cooling?

A. Greenhouses are an excellent way to give you between 4 and 8 weeks longer harvest period in your garden, as well as minimizing problems with pests and diseases, by allowing you to have strong, healthy and robust plants ready to place in your garden by the time others are just planting seeds.

Please consider three greenhouse issues Dr. Mittleider has dealt with – and the way he recommends they be handled. While every family’s situation may be unique, there are several common elements, and we will discuss how to avoid three common problems.

In Dr. M’s book called Grow-Box Gardens (AKA More Food From Your Garden), chapter 10 is devoted to building small greenhouses, and the plans are quite thorough. Go to the Store on the website, click on Grow-Box Gardens, and you can download and read the chapter on building a small Mittleider-recommended family garden-size greenhouse. It has a strong wooden frame, supplemented with PVC, and that is the first issue I’d like to address.

We recommend you build your greenhouse to last, rather than have the first heavy snow load break it down, and so would recommend a wood or steel frame – at least for your main structure.

The second issue is heating/cooling and airflow, which is almost as important as the first. Unless your quanset or tunnel-type greenhouse can have the sides easily rolled up, you will likely have problems with cooling in the summer months, because electric fans are expensive, and not always even available in gardens.

The “Continuous Ventilator” running the length of the roofline on the current Mittleider-recommended greenhouse plan (Chapter 10 in Grow-Bed Gardening – free download in Store section) is the best solution, in our experience, since heat rises, and venting out the top eliminates the hottest air while drawing in cooler outside air from the sides and ends. On large structures and in hot climates we also have at least one side able to roll up from table height to the roofline, thus increasing the venting to the maximum. If flying insects are a problem we recommend screen be placed on all vent areas.

Thirdly, we recommend you make your greenhouse tall enough so that you can have all your plants off the ground on tables. Some tunnel/quanset plans are very low, and plants are on or in the ground. Using tables will help avoid problems with pests and diseases, which will spread like wild-fire in a greenhouse if they get started.

To summarize, I recommend the “continuous ventilator” wood structure design as my first choice, and as a second choice, I would recommend the plan in chapter 10 of Grow-Box Gardens – making sure you allow for rolling up the sides for continuous ventilation.

Q. I worry about always having to rely on mixing fertilizer(s) from store purchased materials. What could I do in a survival situation, if I could not go to a store to purchase mineral nutrients?

A. What would you do about your store-purchased food? Many wise people buy more than they need of food items that store well, and create a “year’s supply” of the essentials in their basement or other cool, dry place. This is the biblical answer. As many of you may remember, Joseph in Egypt saved grain for 7 years and then fed the whole Egyptian nation, as well as his own family and others, during the next 7 years of famine.

I submit that the same approach will work even better for gardening – with both seeds and fertilizers. For about $25 you can buy the Garden In A Can, which has enough seeds to grow a 1/2-acre garden (more than enough for most families for a year), from Mountain Valley Seeds (www.mvseeds.com), in Salt Lake City, Utah. These seeds, which are triple-sealed in a can, if stored in a cool, dry place, will remain viable for a very long time. I highly recommend you get a can. They are all open-pollinated, or non-hybrid, so you can even save this year’s seeds for future years’ crops.

What about fertilizers, so you can continue to have great yields of healthy vegetables? Fertilizers will store indefinitely and maintain their potency if it’s done properly. Therefore, if you can buy pre-mixed Mittleider Magic fertilizer, I strongly recommend you buy and store enough extra to grow at least one year’s garden.

If you can’t get pre-mixed Mittleider Magic readily, I recommend the following as a good alternative. Order enough Mittleider Magic Micro-Mix from the Foundation’s website store (https://foodforeveryone.org/fertilizers/) for at least one year’s supply. Then buy bags of 16-8-16, 13-13-13, 16-16-16, 20-20-20, or 10-10-10 (listed in order of preference) and Epsom Salt as explained in the directions on the Micro-Mix package. Do not mix them together until they are needed, but rather just store the materials in a dry place.

Another alternative you might try, although I can’t guarantee it, is Scott’s Peters’ Professional Pete Lite. This mix, while more readily water-soluble and thus more subject to leaching losses, is similar to Mittleider Magic in NPK ratio, and has most of the micro-nutrients as well.

For Pre-Plant mix, you should buy lime (rainfall more than 20″ per year) or gypsum (less than 20″), Epsom Salt, and 20 Mule Team Borax, in the ratios of 80, 4, and 1 as recommended on the website and in the books.

Now, what do you do if the emergency goes beyond a year, and you’ve used up all your fertilizer? First off, don’t expect the same quantity of production as you obtained with the balanced mineral nutrients, but you can grow a healthy garden using manure tea. Here’s how.

Get a large burlap bag and a 55-gallon barrel. Find cow or horse manure (chicken or turkey is twice as hot, so less will be needed), and fill the bag 2/3’s full. Place the bag in the barrel and fill it with water. Let the manure “tea” soak or “steep” for 24 hours, then use the tea to water your vegetable plants. Replace the bag of manure in the barrel and let steep for 48 hours. Use the tea, then dump the spent manure out and dig into an unused portion of the garden – it has almost no nutrient value but can improve soil tilth. Remember to plant your plants a little further apart when using this method, because they will be competing for less available nutrition. And every watering needs to be with the manure tea, for your plants to be healthy and thrive. You should expect to grow a smaller garden, and spend some time finding manure.

If manure just isn’t available, consider saving kitchen scraps and human waste. Many countries do it all the time, so it’s not the end of the world. And all clean, healthy plant residue should be saved and properly composted for re-use in the garden – again preferably as manure tea.

A rule of thumb for how much fertilizer you would need to store, in order to have your year’s supply, is 12# per 30′ soil-bed. Even though you will only feed lettuce or cabbage 4 or 5 times, remember that if you are really living out of your garden, you will be growing two or three crops, and doing it from March or April, right up until frost in October or November. Therefore, see the following list for suggestions on how much to store, depending on the size of your garden.

GARDEN SIZE PRE-PLANT MIX WEEKLY FEED

20′ X 30′ (4 soil-beds) 25# 50#

40′ X 65′ (16 soil-beds) 100# 200#

50′ X 100′ (30 soil-beds) 200# 400#

By the way, just 16 soil-beds, properly worked and cared for, especially if combined with good seedling production, could produce a very large amount of food. As an example, if only one crop was grown, you could produce 8-10,000# of tomatoes, or even cabbage – if you grew 3 crops. Even in poor countries that could amount to $2,000, and many people in those countries live on $200 or $300 cash per year!

I am delighted for the opportunity of presenting free ½-day vegetable gardening seminars again this winter and spring to a limited number of groups who request them. My availability is necessarily limited, and timing is critical, so get your church, community, or gardening club involved now!

Seminars include 2 ½ hours of fast-paced pictorial instruction in the classroom and 2 ½ hours of demonstration and practice in the garden. Your group will learn the unique world-renowned Mittleider Method of vegetable gardening that’s been called “better than organic,” and “the poor man’s hydroponic system,” and that promises you a great garden in any soil and in virtually any climate.

Whatever size garden you have to work with – whether 100 square feet or one acre; whether on a patio, in containers, or in the dirt; and whether it’s organic, or even hydroponic, you will learn to solve your unique problems and improve your gardening success. And you’ll enjoy gardening for a change!

You’ll learn tips and techniques for maximizing your limited space – eliminating weeds – using less water more efficiently – increasing yields – improving quality – extending your growing season – and minimizing problems with bugs and diseases.

Next summer you can eat fresh garden-grown tomatoes almost as soon as others are getting theirs established and growing in the garden! And you can still be enjoying them in December, long after your neighbors are paying top prices for “plastic” store-bought varieties. And you don’t need expensive greenhouses or hydroponic equipment to do it!

Dr. Jacob Mittleider developed these methods specifically for family gardeners all over the world. And we keep the procedures simple and the costs down, so that families, whatever their financial situation, can grow their own food and achieve health, self-sufficiency, and independence while enjoying the experience.

You’ll want a large group (50-100 minimum) and a tilled garden space near the classroom (2-3 minute drive maximum), to assure the maximum benefit for all participants.

Email the Foundation with the details of your request at jim@growfood.com, or call 801-583-4449 or 888-548-4449. Let’s make 2007 the best, most productive, and most enjoyable gardening year you’ve ever had!

Meanwhile, if you live too far away, or can’t get a large group together, you can get most of the benefits of an in-person seminar by ordering the Garden Master CD, or the Mittleider Gardening Library CD from the Foundation at www.foodforeveryone.org. Then if you request it by emailing me at jim@growfood.com, I will also send you a copy of a live seminar I conducted recently.

Jim Kennard, President Food For Everyone Foundation “Teaching the world to grow food one family at a time.” www.foodforeveryone.org

Jim Kennard, President of Food For Everyone Foundation, has a wealth of teaching and gardening training and experience upon which to draw in helping the Foundation “Teach the world to grow food one family at a time.” Jim has been a Mittleider gardener for the past twenty-nine years; he is a Master Mittleider Gardening Instructor, and has taught classes and worked one-on-one with Dr. Jacob Mittleider on several humanitarian gardening training projects in the USA and abroad. He has conducted projects in Armenia, America, Madagascar, and Turkey by himself. He assists gardeners all over the world from the https://www.foodforeveryone.org website FAQ pages and free Gardening Group, and grows a large demonstration garden at Utah’s Hogle Zoo in his spare time.

Gardening Books, CDs and Software are available at https://www.foodforeveryone.org

Dear Reader:

My whole desire in running the Foundation is to teach families around the world to grow their own healthy food. This mission consumes all of my days, and most of my retirement money already – which I don’t mind! I chose it, and I love it.

However, the only way we will be successful in helping people is if they know we’re here, and then visit the website to get the knowledge they need.

How will people find out about these resources? The internet is the most powerful tool ever devised by man to spread knowledge! And the primary way people use it is with Search Engines. But if you are not on the first page of a search, most people will NEVER even SEE you! We must therefore improve our ranking in the search engines, in order for people to find us.

And you can help! First of all, if you find the website and/or the FAQ Section helpful please tell people! But beyond that, we must have many links from other websites, since that is a major way the search engines rank a site. So, if you have a website, or if you know of anyone who has a website, PLEASE ask them to place a link to these web pages from their own Links or Resources page.

Most folks aren’t excited about helping someone else sell a product, but that’s not what we’re about, even though there are a few things to buy here. Our mission is to teach and assist people to become self-sufficient in their food production.

Because we are all about education, the kind of website that would be MOST HELPFUL as a linking site, is any website with an .edu ending. Do you know of a college or university professor, or even a student who has an .edu website, or who has access to one that would consider a link to us?

So, if you see any value to what we’re doing, please request that anyone you know place a link from their site to the Foundation Home page https://foodforeveryone.org, or this Frequently Asked Questions page https://foodforeveryone.org/faq/, or the Learn section at https://foodforeveryone.org/vegetable_gardening/20/what-is-the-mittleider-method, where we have an excellent ebook.

PLEASE CONSIDER THIS REQUEST CAREFULLY! “By small means are great things brought to pass.” A few people always stand at the fulcrum as agents of change. And because you’ve cared enough to read these materials, you know something about the Foundation and the materials we are giving to the families of the world, and are in a position to make a real difference in our ability and opportunity to do good in the world.

Kindly let me know of anyone I can visit with about linking our site to theirs.

THANK YOU for your interest in vegetable gardening! And thanks for taking the time to consider this request.

Jim Kennard, President
Food For Everyone Foundation
“Teaching the world to grow food one family at a time.”
www.foodforeveryone.org

Q. I am a Mother of 5 children. I don’t have a lot of knowledge about gardening and would like to learn more. I don’t have a lot of time to spend gardening and need to find the best way.

A. I’m sharing my response to with you only to show how each of us can help make the world a better place by sharing – even in small ways – the good that we know. And perhaps you will come to know what motivates me a little better also.

Dear Mother: May I send you a gift to assist you? I am from a family of 13, and my mother didn’t have time to do justice to a garden, so being the oldest boy at home most of the time, I was assigned that task. I would have loved the materials I’m going to suggest here.

On the website – at the Store, you can look at the materials the Foundation makes available. Any one of the gardening books can make you a proficient gardener!

There are a couple of things, however, that I think apply especially well to a busy mother. The 6 Steps to Successful Gardening book is very simple and easy to read and follow, with illustrations for virtually every step.

And the Garden Wizard CD automates the planning and creation steps, and gives you a wealth of background assistance and guidance.

Depending on the ages and computer literacy of your children, and the possibilities of getting them involved in a “fun” gardening project, I believe you would benefit from either one or both of these.

Because My own wife – recently deceased – raised 5 girls, I felt a kinship for some reason when I read your note, and would like to send you one or the other of these two resources as a gift.

Please , if you would like to take me up on the offer, just give me your address and I’ll get something on its way tomorrow.

Best wishes for success in the most important work in the world – raising children. And I hope you can get some of them involved in gardening with you. I still thank my own mom 53 years later for getting me started (she even entered one of “my” pumpkins in the State Fair, for which I received a ribbon!).

Now don’t start sending me names of people you know who want a free book or CD, because I couldn’t begin to fill the requests.

Instead, I challenge each of you reading this to think of ways to “Pay Forward” the knowledge by which you’ve been blessed, by helping and/or encouraging others – in this way or any one of countless others.

Do you have neighbors or family you’d like to see improve their gardening efforts? How about a widow or single mother who needs a little boost?

I can help any of you who would like to use the Foundation’s gardening materials in this way. If you buy 5 or more, for charitable purposes only, in any combination, I will make the Garden Wizard CD and 6 Steps to Successful Gardening available for 1/2 price for the next 30 days, as the gardening season is getting started.

And if you are REALLY interested in helping others, I invite you to consider assisting people in many other countries, who almost ALL need help! As one example among many I could name, the Madagascar garden project I conducted in 2002 is suffering the effects of a typhoon that destroyed the greenhouse and storage shed. It is devastating to this little school that has been running on virtually no money since I left, except for the year’s supply of fertilizers and seeds I left with them.

Q. We want to go into gardening commercially, and hydroponic greenhouse growing has been recommended. How is your Method similar or better for us than going hydroponic?

A. Before you spend any money on Hydroponic buildings and equipment you need to learn about the Mittleider Method, for sure! Building a Mittleider-style greenhouse will save you many thousands of dollars in the building of it and many thousands more in operating costs. The Mittleider Method is sometimes referred to as modified hydroponics, because we feed the plants the 13 necessary nutrients, in a scientifically balanced ratio. However, rather than putting expensive instantly water-soluble formulas in the water supply, we use Natural Mineral Nutrients that are easily and inexpensively obtained and apply the nutrients right on the soil – then water them in. Also, as alluded to in the previous paragraph, unlike hydroponics, we grow plants right in the ground, or if we’re in Greenhouses we use raised Grow-Boxes with open bottoms, so the plants still have access to the natural soil – to obtain other nutrients they may want or need. Mittleider gardens are well known for producing tremendous yields, even approaching those of hydroponics, while our crops like tomatoes are better tasting and cost a small fraction of those grown by hydroponic methods.

Q. Can I grow peppers vertically – like I do my tomatoes? How do you do it?

A. Some information from the University of Florida Extension division at https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/HS228 is fascinating – if you are interested in doing “The Poor Man’s Hydroponic Method” of growing peppers vertically. Pictures of the two common commercial growing methods – the Dutch V and Spanish methods are posted at https://photos.groups.yahoo.com/group/MittleiderMethodGardening/lst. Key paragraphs from the article are duplicated at the bottom of this article.

The Dutch V method prunes the plant to two main branches, and then guides those up strings in a V shape. Little pruning is done in the Spanish system of growing. Pruning to two or four main branches is common practice, and thereafter no pruning is done. Vertical support is provided by poles and strings, or by large tomato cages.

When a pepper plant is carrying the maximum weight of peppers the plant can support, it will stop flowering and fruiting even though there may be weeks or even months left in the growing season. Removing green fruits as soon as they mature signals the plant to continue flowering and setting fruit, and the result is fruit being set throughout the growing season, and obviously more fruit per plant.

“Greenhouse pepper cultivars generally have an indeterminate pattern of growth. Because the plants can grow up to 6-ft tall during a growing season of 250 days, they need to be supported vertically. Pepper plants can be trellised to the Dutch “V” system or to the “Spanish” system ( Fig. 8 ).

“Trellising plants with the “V” system consists of forming a plant with two main stems by removing one of the two shoots developed on each node and leaving one or more adjacent leaves per node. The pairs of stems are kept vertically by the use of hanging twines that are wound around the stems as they grow. The “V” trellis system is used by Dutch and Canadian growers.

“Some of the commonly used cultivars are Parker, Triple 4, Cubico, and Lorca for red; Kelvin, for yellow; and Neibla, and Emily, for orange fruits. New pepper cultivars for greenhouse production are introduced every year by seed companies

“When comparing cultivars for those with the highest yield and fruit quality characteristics with low amounts of culls or other disorders, the best red cultivars were Lorca, Torkal, Triple 4, and Zambra; yellow cultivars were Pekin, Kelvin, Neibla, Bossanova, and Taranto; and orange cultivars were Paramo, Lion, and Boogie

“Greenhouse pepper crops in Florida are grown in soil-less culture. Thus methyl bromide is not needed, yet problems with soil borne diseases, and insect and nematode pests are avoided. The plants are grown in containers filled with soil-less media such as perlite, pine bark, or peat mixes. The media can be reused for several crops (two to three) if disease contamination does not occur

“Pepper plants in soil-less culture are fertigated (watered and fed) frequently with a complete nutrient solution. Nutrient solution concentrations are similar to those used for tomatoes grown in soil-less culture. In plants at full production, the nutrient concentration levels can reach N: 160, P: 50, K: 200, Ca: 190, Mg: 48, and S: 65 ppm, respectively. The irrigation solution also provides the plants with micronutrients.

“The pH of the irrigation solution is maintained at values between 5.5 and 6.5, and the EC, depending on the nutrients concentration levels, will have values between 1.5 and 2.5 mS per cm.”

Hydroponic Growing

Pacific Millennium Greenhouses, in Ladner, British Colombia, Canada in a recent year had the highest reported annual production of tomatoes in the world at 75 kg per square meter.

This translates to 750,000 kg per hectare, or 330,000 tons per acre!

Crops are grown for 11 months, and the plants are 40-50’ long when taken out.

They grow in narrow bags of yellow cedar 1 meter long.

Capitalization and running costs are astronomical, with the greenhouse itself costing $1,000,000 per acre. Some growers have 30, 40, and 50 acres under glass.

Boilers are run 24 hours per day, and cost almost $500 per day per acre.

Irrigation is initiated based on the kilojoules of light measured by sophisticated sensors, and on a hot day, tomatoes or cucumbers will be irrigated 50 times per day.

Some greenhouses have walls 5 meters high (16+ feet), to assure even temperatures on the plants.

Insect control is accomplished by the use of beneficial predator insects.

Fungus diseases, such as powdery mildew, are controlled by electrolysis of the water. The water is separated into two types – anolyte and catholyte. The anolyte water stops powdery mildew in its tracks without damaging or destroying beneficial life forms. The catholyte water is used for other purposes.

They “grow by the numbers”, dialing in changes based on lab reports sent from the Netherlands Labs. Tissue analysis is no longer done, but irrigation and wastewater are tested for symptoms.

CO2 is maintained at 1200 parts per million, which maximizes plant activity and growth.

Pruning is managed carefully to maintain circulation under and through the leaf canopy.

Profit margins are extremely tight, and the industry is vulnerable to supply-demand fluctuations and cost increases.

(Blair McHenry, consultant to the industry – 2/27/04)

To keep melons – and squash – from spoiling because of bugs, critters, and ground moisture, I suggest the following:

The very best thing to do to keep melons and squash from being ruined on the bottom is to KEEP THE GROUND DRY, and move & turn the fruit occasionally.

Putting hay or straw beneath the fruit helps to keep it off the ground, and usually reduces the moisture reaching the fruit, but offers a dark and damp hiding place for bugs, especially if there is any moisture present in the soil surface.

The first and best line of defense is a CLEAN, DRY garden.

If your garden receives rain too often to keep the aisles dry I recommend you create a small re-usable wire mesh stand to keep the fruit off the ground. Does anyone have any experience – or is anyone creative enough to do it and show the rest of us how? Please respond!

Q. The stakes and the string when laying out the rows – are they for lining up the 4-inch ridges or a line for plant placement? And do you leave them in or remove when the bed is finished??

A. Stakes and string are used to define and outline the soil bed. The soil is raked from the center of the aisles to the area under the string first. Then it’s raked flat and immediately below the strings uniformly along its length, then leveled.

Sometimes that leveling process requires moving soil from the high end of the bed to the low end, with a shovel. Then the bed top is flattened again and the level re-checked. Then soil is raked from the center of the bed to make 4”+ ridges immediately under the strings.

The flat level area that is left in the center is where the plants are planted. That area should be 10”-12” wide.

Before you plant remember to apply and dig about 8″ (20 cm) into the soil the Pre-Plant and Weekly Feed natural mineral nutrients, at the rate of one ounce (PP) and ½ ounce (WF) per foot (100 grams and 50 grams per meter for those on the metric system).

Stakes stay in the ground permanently. The strings stay until the plants grow big, so you can pull the ridges down when weeding and quickly rake them back in place again.

Q. I’m interested in improving my lawn. How should I adjust your formulas (I’ve purchased some of your mineral packages) and feeding schedule for a Bermuda grass lawn?

A. The Mittleider fertilizers work wonderfully well for lawns, as well as everything else in your yard and garden. If you want your lawn to produce a large and constant crop of grass, just feed it regularly.

On the other hand, if you want it just to maintain a nice green color and not grow very fast, I recommend you use something else – AFTER you get the lawn thick, green, and growing properly.

To improve a poor lawn feed first with the Pre-Plant Mix of 80 parts lime or gypsum, 4 parts magnesium sulfate (Epsom Salt) and 1 part boron (20 Mule Team Borax).

Then feed two or three times – every ten days to two weeks – with Weekly Feed.

I will be creating a garden near Birmingham, Alabama over the next 3 months, and each step will be recorded in pictures, video, and with a written dialog.

For those of you who say you have no room for a garden, consider doing what we are doing. We are removing lawn to make room for something MUCH more important – FOOD.

The pictures will be posted to the Photos section of the MittleiderMethodGardening@yahoo.groups.com website as Alabama Garden – 2009, beginning in the next day or two, and the Schedule of Vegetables is posted already to the Files section with the same name.

The size of my garden area is 35′ X 65′. I will have 18 soil-beds 30′ in length, or 2,275 square feet – 1/19th of an acre.

Do the math and you’ll wonder how I am putting 18 soil-beds in only 65′. Stay with us and find out!! A hint can be found by looking at Grow-Boxes. Let’s see if anyone can come up with the answer.

About 1/2 of the garden will be grown vertically using T-Frames, and if we are here all season I will plant multiple crops of single crop varieties.

We expect to produce between 4,000# and 8,000# of food, most of which will be given away.

I will begin immediately to describe the process of creating this garden – hopefully beginning with my next Post to the Group.

You are invited to duplicate our efforts in your own yards and gardens.

Preliminary Steps – Lesson I (Using Jim Kennard’s 2009 Alabama garden as a model)

1. Determine how much space you want, then how much you HAVE that
receives all-day sunshine. We wanted between 15 and 30 beds, but only have a 35′ X 65′ sunny space, so that is our limiting factor.

2. Measure and stake the outline of your garden, keeping in mind the space required for rows and aisles (18″ or 4′-wide beds & 3′ to 3 ½’ aisles). We chose 4′ beds with 39″ aisles, in order to get 18 beds in that space.

We have only 2 ½’ end aisles, but we have 30′ of grass beyond that on one end and sidewalk on the other. And outside aisles are nothing on the East (a wall), and a hillside on the West, which we will keep mowed short.

3. Clean the garden area and remove everything, down to the bare
ground. Two types of lawn covered our back yard, so we began by using an 8 HP Troybilt and tilling the top 2″ of soil thoroughly. We then raked up and removed all grass, including roots, rhizomes, and runners.

4. Level the garden area as much as possible. Remove hills and
valleys, and till high sections, using a long board to drag soil from high areas to lower areas.

Beyond general shaping, don’t worry too much about making the whole garden area level. It’s just the soil-beds themselves that must be level.

5. Measure, stake, and apply strings to soil-beds. Make sure you run your beds in the direction that is the most nearly level, and plan on having the water source on the high end of the beds.

Use 18″ 2 X 2 stakes and drive them at least 6″ into the ground. Use heavy nylon string, tying the ends before connecting to the posts.

Tie one end to the post and do not tie the opposite end, but rather pull it tight, loop it around once, then lift the string over itself. It will hold, and will be much quicker to remove when you need to till or weed, etc.

Q. “Is this method OMRI approved. I was told at Steve Regan it was not organic. Please enlighten me.” Patricia

A. I’ve written quite a few articles – in the archives of the MittleiderMethodGardening@yahoogroups.com Group and in the FAQ section of this website – on this subject, and I invite everyone interested in this subject to find out more by reading some of those articles. I will attempt to provide a brief answer here:

All of the natural mineral nutrients used in the Mittleider fertilizer formulas are approved by the USDA for use in organic gardening. And in my personal garden, which is seen by about 800,000 people each year, we use no pesticides, fungicides, or herbicides.

We are more concerned with producing healthy crops by feeding them exactly what they need, and in using the best cultural practices to avoid diseases, bugs, and weeds, than in using only manure, compost, bone meal, etc.

For the past 45 years, Dr. Mittleider (37 years) and I (8+ years) have spent much of our time conducting Family Food Production training projects in 31 countries. In those countries as well as most others around the world people do the very best they can using only organic methods – and many of them are starving. And it’s not uncommon for families in developing countries to spend 70 to 80% of their time providing for their food.

Meanwhile, their gardens are often filled with weeds, bugs, and diseases – often spread by the very organic materials they use to fertilize their gardens. Even in America, a great many gardeners are arguably hurt more by the weeds, bugs, and diseases their unsterilized organic materials bring into their gardens than they are helped by their fertilizer content.

And many others here and abroad end up burning their sprouting seeds and tiny seedlings by applying too much fertilizer salts to their gardens at the beginning and then having their plants stop producing in mid-season because they are starving for mineral nutrients.

We teach a better, safer, cleaner, and more productive way of growing food, part of which includes applying only very small amounts of balanced mineral nutrients several times to assure even healthy growth throughout the plants’ growth and production cycle.

We believe some of the most zealous organic gardeners are actually replicating the same primitive 18th and 19th century methods we encounter in the developing countries, while we are trying hard to help people everywhere learn some of the scientific principles and procedures that have allowed one American farmer to feed more than 100 of us, in a better and healthier way.

That may be why some people say the Mittleider Method is “the best of organic.” I just say that everyone can have “a great garden in any soil, in virtually any climate”, and I travel the world to demonstrate that reality to all who are interested in and willing to improve their food production methods and results.

Q. I have a 1000 square foot veggie garden in Coastal Mississippi that I have been very unsuccessful with in the past 4 years. We have clay soil and Iam a lazy gardener. I don’t think about the garden much … until it is dried out and infested. I plan on changing my ways!

I want to start a garden this weekend. My husband will till the ground and remove the grass (again).

My questions are: What seeds can I plant this month? I don’t want to buy plants. I would like to plant spinach, butternut squash, cauliflower, and broccoli. Where do you get those seeds? My local big-box retailers don’t have seeds anymore.

My husband wants to lay soaker hoses on the garden rows and cover the entire garden bed with black plastic. Is this a good idea?

A. A 1,000 square foot garden can grow a tremendous amount of produce IF YOU DO IT RIGHT (how about 5,000# of tomatoes)! If left alone, or done haphazardly, however, it will be a big disappointment, and you’ll grow weeds instead, so “changing your ways” is definitely important.

You can always buy seeds from Burpee, Park, Harris, Gurney, or one of the other seed companies on the internet.

Clay soil is NOT a problem if you will create slightly raised, level, ridged beds as described in the Mittleider gardening books and in the free e-book at www.growfood.com in the Learn section. And be sure to use the recommended natural mineral nutrients as instructed!

Lay out and stake your garden with 18″ soil-beds, and aisles at least 3′ wide. Use 4 2″ X 2″ PAINTED stakes per soil-bed. Depending on your dimensions you can have 11 – 20′-long beds with 3′-wide aisles.

I would only plant 1/2 bed of cauliflower and 1/2 bed of broccoli, for the following reason. Single-crop plants mature all at once. This means that even with only 10′ rows of each you will have 20 heads of cauliflower and 20 heads of broccoli all mature at virtually the same time, and THEY’LL ALL NEED TO BE PICKED AT THE SAME TIME. Otherwise, they get bad, and they attract both bugs and diseases.

Whenever you plant a single-crop vegetable, plant only what you can use, give away, sell, or store in the 1-2 week ideal harvesting window. If you want them all season you MUST do several small plantings – spaced at 2-week intervals.

It’s for this reason, as well as to get the most from your gardening efforts and limited space, that I recommend growing EVERBEARING crops like tomatoes, cucumbers, pole beans, peppers, eggplant, melons, and squash. And I recommend you grow everything vertically using T-Framse or stakes!

Be CERTAIN that your garden is totally weed-free, including a 4-5′ periphery, at the time of planting. And use a 2-way hoe to quickly and easily weed again about 10 days after planting, or as soon as the weeds begin to show their faces. NEVER WAIT for the weeds to grow bigger! They’re most vulnerable when they are tiny, and they are very easy to eliminate. You might have to do this two or three times, but then you will have a healthy, weed-free garden all season long. It will also reduce your problems with bugs and diseases!

Growing seedlings in a mixture of sawdust and sand in a 2 to 1 ratio, using plastic trays, is the best way to start the plants you are describing, with the possible exception of the spinach. They will grow faster and will be healthier than what you grow in the ground from seed. The seedlings must have constant sunlight to thrive, just as when they were in the garden. Growing seedlings is very rewarding, and is a simple process, but you MUST follow the steps accurately and consistently.

You can learn to become very competent at growing your own seedlings by reading Chapter 22 of The Mittleider Gardening Course – available in the Store section at www.growfood.com.

If you decide to grow from seeds in the ground, make sure your seed-bed is soft and smooth. Scratch a SHALLOW furrow on both sides of the bed near the ridges the full length of the bed (or as far as you are planting that vegetable). For very small seeds mix seeds with sand in a 1 to 100 ratio, and sprinkle carefully the length of the row, as evenly as possible. Then cover the seeds WITH SAND rather than the clay soil. Meanwhile, remember that only ONE OUNCE of small seeds like tomato seeds includes TEN THOUSAND SEEDS, so don’t plant too many!

Which crops you should plant depends on the temperatures in your growing area. Most places cannot grow warm-weather crops like tomatoes, peppers, beans, melons, and squash in the winter months. I suspect Mississippi is no exception. Wait to transplant those into the garden until daytime temperatures are 65-70 and night-time temperatures are 50 or above.

Cool-weather crops like cauliflower and broccoli, and even spinach, beets, and the like, can be planted when it’s colder, but don’t plant if you have frosts at night, and remember that even these hardy plants need daytime temperatures above 50 degrees Fahrenheit to grow.

Using black plastic is generally NOT a good idea when planting seeds. The open space needed for seeds to emerge and grow successfully leaves room for weeds to grow as well. And weeds from all around the opening will find it and choke out your tiny vegetable seedlings as they emerge. Meanwhile, the plastic makes it very difficult to weed thoroughly and successfully.

Black plastic can be used successfully when growing seedlings, but it is not a cure-all, and I believe is less desireable than leaving the ground bare and weeding properly.

Using soaker hoses for watering is much less than ideal for several reasons: The holes are easily plugged; weeding around the hose is difficult; the hose is easily cut when attempting to weed around it; water quantity is uncertain and often inadequate.

The best and easiest watering method I know is the semi-automated method taught in chapter 16 of the Mittleider Gardening Course. This uses 3/4″ Schedule 200 PVC pipe drilled with 3 #57 holes every 4″ running down the center of the soil-bed, and lifted off the soil about 2″ by small 2 X 4″ wooden blocks. Water is controlled by an inexpensive ball valve placed at the head of each row, and the whole garden is plumbed together for fast and accurate watering.

If you can’t or don’t want to automate your watering, simply wrap a large rag around the end of your garden hose, then place the hose in the soil-bed. If your beds are level the entire soil-bed will quickly receive the needed 1″ of water. And whichever method you use, remember to water daily – especially in warm weather – unless it rains.

Successful Gardening!

Jim

There is a great chart showing the differences between the Mittleider Method and other methods. Click here to go to the Comparison Chart.

Q. A Mittleider gardener recently brought the following article to my attention. It talks about the need to update the methods of growing food worldwide. https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7795652.stm

A. The article has some good points, especially the idea that the people of Great Britain (and everywhere else) should re-connect with their land. What they REALLY need to do is to adopt the Mittleider model as taught in this website!

Instead of doubling the world’s food output, we can increase food production as much as TEN TIMES over traditional methods.

And FAMILIES need to be taught how to do it THEMSELVES. That way control and responsibility, as well as the benefits, are all where they NEED and DESERVE to be – in the hands of the common people.

The problems of biodiversity, energy, water scarcity, and urbanization are best addressed and solved by FAMILIES taking control of their own food production needs. Let’s teach EVERYONE the system that saves more than 1/2 the normal water and is very efficient in space and energy conservation, while greatly increasing the quantity and QUALITY of their food.

The fact that the large majority of people live in urban environments only argues more strongly for the Mittleider growing system, because we teach people how to grow in the dirt OR containers ANYWHERE, and to grow VERTICALLY, to maximize the use of any available space.

A prime example of how this has worked in the recent past is the former USSR. I believe history will show that the Mittleider Method played an important role in saving the people of the Russian Commonwealth countries from returning to communism in the 90’s.

Those people were terrified of freedom and the responsibility it entailed when it was thrust upon them in the summer of 1991, but God sent Jacob Mittleider over there to establish his agriculture training program in a small college in 1989, and by the summer of ’91 there were a cadre of teachers available, plus books, videos, and other materials translated and distributed throughout the country.

These things provided hope and a highly successful model to follow, and I’m told the Mittleider Method is now the most productive and popular way of growing family gardens throughout many regions of those vast countries.

One of these days – hopefully soon – the “tipping point” will be reached here in America, and people will wake up to the importance of growing their own food in the most sustainable and productive way possible.

Congratulations on being a part of it!

Jim Kennard

Q. I’ve heard that chemicals may cause low sperm counts in men, and that people who eat organically produced produce are healthier. Is it true?

A. It has been reported for some time that male sperm counts in America and Western Europe are declining and that in many cases we are threatened with infertility. Some people claim the reason for this decline is people eating food produced using chemicals.

There is nothing in the studies I have read that implicates the natural mineral nutrients used in growing a Mittleider garden! Please do not be led into throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Increased estrogen, caused primarily by materials fed to beef cattle, and lower fiber in our diets, are the main two culprits as I read it, and nothing is said about minerals that are mined from the earth, purified and concentrated, and properly applied in tiny quantities as fertilizers to food crops.

Why IS this decline in male sperm counts happening? I’ve reproduced some of the information below, for your consideration, as taken from this website https://www.alkalizeforhealth.net/Lspermdamage2.htm.

One explanation suggests “environmental chemicals called endocrine disrupters that masquerade as hormones. Specifically, synthetic chemicals that mimic the female sex hormone estrogen may influence male development in utero or during the formative years of early childhood when hormone sensitivity is high.”
“In 1993, a study published in The Lancet traced the decline to males being exposed in the womb to female sex hormones that permanently alter their sexual development, and greatly reduce a man’s ability to produce sperm. (6) The study, along with one published later in 1993 in the Journal of Endocrinology established several diet-linked sources of increased estrogenic exposure to males in the womb (7) :

“1) The modern diet increases the levels of natural estrogen in women. Fiber in the diet today is lower than it was 50 years ago. Natural estrogens excreted in the bile are more readily reabsorbed into the bloodstream when the lower intestine contains little dietary fiber. Thus, a fetus today may be exposed to higher levels of the mother’s own natural estrogens, compared to a fetus 50 years ago. (Fiber is found in all whole grains, vegetables and fruits; and is absent in all meats, dairy products, and eggs.)

“2) Synthetic estrogens, including DES, were fed to beef cattle from the 1950s through the 1970s to make them grow more meat faster. Though DES has been outlawed for use in U.S. livestock, hormones such as Steer-oid, Ralgro, Compudose, and Synovex are still used in virtually every cattle feedlot in the country. This is the primary reason the European Economic Union refuses to import U.S. beef. Such practices have increased the quantity of estrogens in meat-eating women, and may have contaminated some water supplies.

“3) Another source of increased estrogens in women today is the many synthetic organic chemicals and heavy metals that have been released into the environment in massive quantities since World War II. Some of these compounds, such as PCBs and dioxins, concentrate in ever higher levels on higher rungs of the food chains. Vegetarians, and even more notably vegans, thus enjoy some degree of protection.”

Q. Can a Mittleider Garden Be Organic?

A. In response to a woman who is growing a 1-acre organic garden in California, I wrote the following. I’ve enumerated a few of the principles and procedures which make the Mittleider Method unique – and better than most others.

Many have referred to the Mittleider Method as “better than organic” because most of our gardens can qualify as organic (once in a while growers in hot countries have to use pesticides or lose their whole crop).

The reasons they may be better than organic include, but are not limited to:

1) because we leave nothing to chance, but apply small amounts of natural mineral nutrients to assure fast, healthy growth. This also helps our plants ward off pests and diseases that will often take less healthy plants.

2) We encourage growing healthy seedlings in a clean, warm environment, which gives the plants a major head-start and avoids much of the problems encountered upon germination and emergence – with cold soil, hungry bugs, damping-off, etc.

3) We water only the root zones, thus not encouraging pest and disease proliferation caused by sprinkling or flooding.

4) We prune any leaves touching the ground to minimize disease and pest infestations from that common source.

5) We allow no weeds – nor encourage putting mulch, etc. on the ground – since both of these harbor pests and diseases.

6) Since our plants grow very fast and reach maturity quicker than typical gardens, the diseases and pests have less chance to take over.

7) Then we harvest and remove a crop immediately at maturity, to avoid the buildup of pests and diseases that occur when people leave their crop too long in the garden (all too common in home gardens).

With these preventative cultural practices, plus fast healthy growth, Mittleider Method gardens have much less need to use pesticides or herbicides anyway.

Q. It is my understanding the microbes found in organic compost materials is what packages the nutrients for the plants. Sort of like the good bacteria that your body needs to maintian the right balance in the blood stream. I also understand that synthetically produced fertilizers will kill these microbes. This is the difference between a naturally packaged fertilizer and a synthetically produced one. How can man’s synthesis be better for the plants than the Earth’s Natural processes? When compared on other subjects, man’s synthetics cannot always produce safe results.

A. What you’re describing, I would suggest, includes some hyperbole being spread by organic promoters.

Reality is somewhat different. Nature provided us with large rock deposits containing one or more of the 13 essential plant nutrients, in many places around the earth. In the past 100 or so years, man has discovered these deposits, learned how to use them properly, and how to mine them. In the mining process, other elements are removed, including heavy metals, and sometimes the essential minerals are concentrated. It is important to understand that the concentration process applied to natural minerals from rocks does not make the material “synthetically” produced, nor does it make it unsafe or harmful to microbes, plants, or humans.

The above described process is what has allowed our farmers to feed 250 million of us and allow us to do other things with our time (1 feeds 100), rather than slaving on the farm as our grandfathers did, using manure (organics) as our only fertilizer source (1 fed 4 or 5).

Please remember that 90-95% of our food is produced using modern equipment and these same natural mineral nutrients from commercially produced fertilizers.

It is important to distinguish between potential problems associated with the misuse and/or over-application of pesticides and herbicides, and the valuable, safe, and highly productive use of natural mineral nutrients, usually referred to as commercial fertilizers.

Q. I have one concern about the Mittleider Method. Since you use mineral nutrients from commercial sources, do those – or could they – cause a toxic build-up in the soil, and might they leach into the groundwater, eventually adding to the problems we have in our streams, rivers, and oceans? Hopefully, you have a good answer, because I love everything else I am seeing with this method of growing!

A. We do indeed have an answer. In 1998 Dr. Mittleider and I hired two highly respected soil labs to perform extensive tests for us regarding this very question. The two labs were Stukenholtz Labs, in Twin Falls, Idaho, and the Brigham Young University Soil Testing Lab, in Provo, Utah.

I don’t remember the number of test holes drilled, but I think it was 45. Three gardens were tested for build-up of fertilizer salts. Test cores were used at 1′, 2′, and 3′ depths in each hole.

One garden was Dr. Mittleider’s own backyard garden, which had been used for 21 years at that time; the second location was my garden at Utah’s Hogle Zoo, which had been used for 9 years; and the third garden was a very visible large garden 20 miles South of Salt Lake City at a place called Thanksgiving Point, which had been in use for 4 years.

There was NO toxic build-up of salts in ANY of the test sites. There was NO indication of ANY fertilizer being flushed into waste-water systems. And some of the test holes even had LOWER salt levels than the controls, which were taken from non-fertilized aisles and garden periphery.

This did not surprise us (although it surely did surprise a few folks who had been accusing us of polluting the groundwater), because we use very little mineral salts, and we spread their application over the growing season.

We only apply 7+ ounces of fertilizer salts to about 3,300# of soil, and do it every 7 days, but for most crops we only apply it about 5 times. Everbearing crops might get8 to 12 applications, spread over several months.

Compare this to the many POUNDS of fertilizer salts organic growers apply to their gardens ALL AT ONCE before planting. That concentrated one-time application is much more likely to cause run-off or seepage into the groundwater than the small amounts the Mittleider gardener applies.

Our vegetables are healthier, because they receive their nutrition throughout the season, as they need it. And being very healthy, they have high brix values, and are less susceptible to diseases and pests, as well.ssssss

Q. Where can I get information that tells how the Mittleider Method is considered organic?

A. Opinions on whether or not the Mittleider Method is organic run the gamut. Some organic enthusiasts poo-poo it (Pun intended) as not being “pure” because something other than manure and compost are used.

While many people consider it “the best of organic” BECAUSE it does NOT put animal excrement and ground-up body parts into the garden, but instead uses natural mineral nutrients – all of which are approved by the USDA for use in organic gardening – and applies just what the plants need throughout the growing cycle, instead of piling on the manure all at once at the beginning.

In addition to the manure user not knowing what nutrition his plants are getting, applying everything before planting often burns germinating seeds and tiny seedlings, and within 6-8 weeks the garden is starving.

The reason the garden is often hungry in a manured garden is that rain and irrigation leach out the heavily applied fertilizer salts from the garden soil. And they take them to the downstream water supply, often causing a toxic buildup of nitrogen and other chemical salts.

You are invited to compare a Mittleider garden with a garden that uses manure exclusively and choose. We happily promise the world “a great garden in any soil, with NO soil amendments.”

There are several articles in the FAQ section of this website that discuss these issues in more detail.

Consider carefully, because I believe the day is fast approaching when you will NEED to live on what you can produce from your garden.

And I for one am getting NEXT YEAR’s fertilizer NOW.

Jim Kennard

Q. I am curious if there are any Mittleider Method materials that have been adapted for organic vegetable production. I have grown vegetables for many years and prefer avoiding soluble commercial fertilizers.

A. We do not use soluble fertilizers, such as Miracle-Gro, but prefer to use the simpler, more natural compounds. All of the materials we use and recommend have been approved by the USDA for use in organic gardening.

We know exactly what we are feeding our plants, whereas organic growers often find themselves not knowing what they have, especially with the micro-nutrients.

Our experience around the world has also taught us that manure and compost often contain weed seeds and diseases, and sometimes even bugs. We get great yields for an entire growing season while some of our organic neighbors watch their gardens stop producing in July and August.

If you are skeptical, I recommend you plant some of your garden using each method separately, and compare the results.

Q. Sometimes I have seen gardens with compost and manure as the fertilizer of choice become very yellow. What causes this, and how do I avoid that happening to my garden?

A. What you have seen is “Induced Nitrogen Deficiency.” Soil amendments, including straw, tree bark, shavings or sawdust, peat moss, and manure (almost always containing a large percentage of bedding straw or sawdust) can induce a nitrogen deficiency on plants. The reason is that these materials are very high in carbon content, and therefore adding them into the soil raises the carbon to nitrogen ratio.

The carbon to nitrogen ratio is the amount of carbon in relation to the amount of nitrogen in the soil. This ratio should be 10:1 or lower. When the soil has ten parts of carbon, it should have at least one part of nitrogen or the plants will not be able to obtain the nitrogen they need. When carbonatious soil amendments are added, the amount of carbon is raised in relation to nitrogen. Micro-organisms in the soil attempt to break down the carbonatious material and in this process they use some of the nitrogen from the soil, making the ratio even worse. The micro-organisms have the ability to take the nitrogen before the plant can, so oftentimes adding soil amendments induces a nitrogen deficiency for the plant population. Therefore, whenever soil amendments are used, it is important to add some nitrogen, to bring the carbon to nitrogen ratio back to a ten to one, so that both the plant and the micro-organisms requirements are satisfied.

Today we will discuss a fundamental question in gardening. Previously I was posed this question: “I hear that chemicals are poisoning our waterways, and that organic growing is much healthier than using chemicals. What’s the truth, and how do I grow a healthy, productive, and sustainable garden without hurting the environment?”

This important question deserves an accurate answer. Therefore let’s learn about plant nutrition. First, plants receive nutrition only as water-soluble mineral compounds through their roots. When we put plants, compost or manure into the soil, the organic material must first decompose, and the nutrient compounds must revert to water-soluble minerals before the next generation of plants can use them. This takes time, and sometimes as much as half of the nutrients are lost in the decomposition process. Nitrogen is particularly susceptible to loss because it is volatile and returns to the air very easily.

Second, there is no real difference between organic, and mineral or chemical nutrients. Everything in this world is a chemical! To the chemist, the elements in the soil are called chemicals, to a geologist they are called minerals, and to an organic enthusiast they are called organics, but they are the same substances. To quote J. I. Rodale, from Organic Gardening magazine, “we organic gardeners have let our enthusiasm run away with us. We have said that the nitrogen which is in organic matter is different (and thus somehow better) from nitrogen in a commercial fertilizer. But this is not so.” And “actually there is no difference between the nitrogen in a chemical fertilizer and the nitrogen in a leaf.”

Third, there is no difference between soil and rocks except for the size of the particles, and 12 of the 13 mineral nutrients plants require are essentially ground-up rocks! They are natural, and there’s really nothing “synthetic” about them.

So you see, there is no difference between “organic nitrogen” and mineral or chemical nitrogen, except two primary things. 1) the nitrogen that is part of an organic substance must decompose and revert to the water-soluble mineral state before being available to plants, and 2) mineral-source nitrogen is much higher in nutritional content, so much less is required to feed your plants.

As further evidence that mineral nutrients are not bad per se, I’ve researched which fertilizers meet the requirements for qualification as a Certified Organic garden, and 12 of the 13 nutrients we use in a Mittleider garden are approved. And the 13th – nitrogen – is the one that’s most often used by organic gardeners, both in the garden and to aid in composting! Go figure.

This being the case, what should you do to assure you have the best garden and the healthiest plants possible? Give your plants accurate dosages of the best combination of nutrition you possibly can. The Mittleider natural mineral nutrient formulas are available at www.foodforeveryone.org/learn. You can mix your own “from scratch”, or get the micro-nutrients from the Foundation website in the Store section. And never over-use any kind of fertilizer. Both manure and mineral compounds will harm our water supply if allowed to leach into the water table.

Meanwhile, remember that 99% of us depend on 1% to feed us, and commercial growers feed their crops! They use formulas like ours and call them “The preferred horticultural mix.” Just check out Scott’s Peter’s Professional Pete Lite as an example.

This is not to say that organic materials don’t have a place in the garden. You can improve soil texture and tilth by adding materials that have desirable characteristics, and even add some nutrient value. However, improving the soil in that way is not necessary to have a good garden, and people often introduce weeds, rodents, bugs, and diseases into their gardens, or provide a haven for them with their organic mulching practices. It is for this reason that we do not emphasize or encourage composting and manure.

Mittleider gardens qualify as “organic” because we don’t use pesticides or herbicides. However, I suggest they are even better than organic, because the plants receive just what they need, they grow fast, and we almost never have insect or disease problems because there are no weeds to provide a home, and the plants aren’t in the ground long enough for the pests to get established.

Dr. Jacob Mittleider’s gardening books, CDs, and Software, as well as natural mineral nutrients, are available at the Foundation website – www.foodforeveryone.org.

Jim Kennard, President Food For Everyone Foundation “Teaching the world to grow food one family at a time.” www.foodforeveryone.org

Jim Kennard, President of Food For Everyone Foundation, has a wealth of teaching and gardening training and experience upon which to draw in helping the Foundation “Teach the world to grow food one family at a time.” Jim has been a Mittleider gardener for the past twenty-nine years; he is a Master Mittleider Gardening Instructor, and has taught classes and worked one-on-one with Dr. Jacob Mittleider on several humanitarian gardening training projects in the USA and abroad. He has conducted projects in Armenia, America, Madagascar, and Turkey by himself. He assists gardeners all over the world from the https://www.foodforeveryone.org website FAQ pages and free Gardening Group, and grows a large demonstration garden at Utah’s Hogle Zoo in his spare time.

Gardening Books, CDs and Software are available at https://www.growfood.com

Q. I am looking at several options in gardening and hope you can clarify something – I am mainly looking at the Mittleider and the SPIN Farming www.spinfarming.com processes. The two do not appear to be exclusive of each other but I know no nothing of ether program (material ordered) so I am hoping you can provide any comparison/contrast if there is any and confirm if the two can be used in a single gardening system?

A. I didn’t have much time to check it out, but I will do more later if possible before leaving for Armenia and the Republic of Georgia.

It appears from the first glance that there are many areas of compatibility, and that you can learn much about marketing your crops from this website.

Two things I noted include

1) they use beds that are 2′ wide with 2′ aisles. This is not as efficient as using narrower beds and wider aisles. Beds of 18″ – tip of ridge to tip of ridge – which gives a 12″-wide planting area, are ideal for plant spacing, feeding, weeding, and watering. Wider aisles are also better. If you are growing smaller plants exclusively you can use 2′ – or even narrower – aisles, but when you plant large plants, such as zucchini, and climbing plants, you need wider aisles to provide adequate space and light for the plants as they reach maturity. I suspect our plant spacing may be different (closer) than theirs also.

2) They also use only organic materials to feed their plants. This certainly can work, but has drawbacks and hazards. Most manure and compost has not been sterilized, and therefore can have diseases, bugs, and weed seeds in it, which will flourish in your garden and substantially reduce your yield. Unless the organic material HAS been composted very efficiently in an aerobic process, which requires sustained temperatures of 140+ for several weeks, you get the aforementioned problems, plus you get much lower nutritional value.

And of course you do not know what or how much you are feeding your plants, since every batch of manure/compost is different, and because none of them have been analyzed to determine their nutrient content. You can expect the manure to have much LESS nutrition than the original plant contained because of going through the cow, then sitting in a compost pile for months in the rain and snow.

Another problem with using organic materials – typically done one time before planting – is that several inches of manure/compost often contain much MORE mineral salts than are good for tiny young plants, and sometimes germination and growth are inhibited or the plants even killed with too much of a good thing. Then, in a couple of months, when large and ever-bearing plants need constant nutrition for producing several months of fruit harvest, the nutrition from the one-time-applied organic material is pretty much used up, and your plants stop producing – right when they should be really getting into it!

If you can learn and apply the growing procedures as demonstrated to be extremely successful in 32 countries around the world over the past 45 years, and use the marketing and other skills taught by these folks, you can have the best of both.

The following just came to my attention, and makes me glad we don’t promote the use of animal manure to feed our healthy vegetables!

12 July 2007
Antibiotics Absorbed By Vegetables

Evaluating the impact of livestock antibiotics on the environment, University of Minnesota researchers have found that many vegetables uptake the antibiotics. The study, in the Journal of Environmental Quality, shows that food crops can readily accumulate antibiotics from soils spread with cattle manure.

The findings were based on a greenhouse study involving three food crops: corn, lettuce, and potatoes. The plants were grown in soil modified with liquid hog manure containing sulfamethazine, a commonly used veterinary antibiotic. The researchers found that the antibiotic was taken up by all three crops.

The antibiotic was found in the plant leaves and concentrations in the plant tissue increased as the amount of antibiotic present in the manure increased. Worryingly, it also diffused into potato tubers, which suggests that other root crops – such as carrots and radishes – may be particularly vulnerable to antibiotic contamination.

Researcher Satish Gupta said that contaminated plants had the potential to cause allergic reactions in people with antibiotic sensitivity. He also noted that contamination is likely to foster antimicrobial resistance, which can render antibiotics ineffective. And co-researcher Holly Dolliver warned that antibiotic contaminated plants may be of particular concern to the organic farming industry, where manure is often the main source of crop nutrients.

While the USDA stipulates that organic producers must manage animal materials in a manner that does not contribute to contamination of crops by residues of prohibited substances, manures containing antibiotics are not formally banned or prohibited. Dolliver concluded that further research is needed to investigate how different plants absorb different antibiotic compounds.

Related articles:
Prevalence Of Antibiotic Resistance Surprises
Prof Ponders Bacterial Benefits
Down On The Farm: Yields, Nutrients And Soil Quality
Increasing Soil Erosion Threatens World’s Food Supply

Source: Soil Science Society of Americass

If you should get mildew on your squash leaves, trim all affected leaves from the plant and do one of the following.

Spray the unaffected leaves (after trimming bad leaves) with 1 tablespoon of wettable sulfur in 1 gallon of water, every two weeks. And spray in the evening so that the sulfur won’t burn the leaves. Most leaves need to cool off before you spray anything on them. Spraying on hot leaves might saute them. Be sure that you buy wettable sulfur NOT soil sulfur.

Another cure is to merely buy a gallon of skim (non-fat) milk and spray it on the squash leaves. Follow the directions above for time of day and trimming all bad leaves off before spraying. You can also mix up your own non-fat milk by using one part dry skim milk with 9 parts of water.

Just wanted to pass this along to those that are plagued with mildew and we here on the Southern California coast are and we deal with it constantly.

Joanne

Q. My question is about snap peas. I’m going to grow them vertically and I want to know if they should be pruned like other vining plants. I can find info on beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, etc… but not on snap peas.

A. Make sure you have POLE PEAS if you expect them to grow tall, and even then they will only reach about 5’+.

You do not do any pruning of peas. And you also do not need to guide them up the strings. You may need to move a few tendrils from one string to another, but that’s all – just like you have to do with pole beans.

High Humidity causes growth of Fungi,Virus and bacterial diseases. I know that vertical growing (using T- Frames) will help as the produce will not come in contact with the soil.

Q. What is the best cultural method to use and possibly the best chemicals to use, in order to contain the fungal, Viral and bacterial infections and diseases that attack Tomato, Chili Pepper and other Vegetables in the tropics during rainy season.

A. Without personal experience I must depend on research, but below is what I’ve found from a site that promotes it. We teach prevention through proper cultural practices (strong healthy seedlings, no weeds, fast growth, keeping plants off the ground by growing vertically, etc). Neem Oil is not a true fungicide or pesticide but acts to prevent those problems. To the extent Neem Oil is also a preventative measure, and safe to use, we can feel good about its use.

“As a preventative, neem is mainly used when problems are just starting to show. What is does is to coat the leaf surface, which in turn prevents the germination of the fungal spores. Neem is effective against rots, mildews, rusts, scab, leafspot and blights. It works as a barrier not as a fungicide. It makes a great garden spray as a general tonic for your plants and soil. Earthworm populations have been showed to increase with the use of neem as a tonic.

How do you use neem oil?

“The product is mixed with water at a ratio of 0.05% to 2.0% depending upon the targeted use. You then apply it as a foliar spray keeping it agitated during application to keep it well mixed. It must be used within 8 hours after mixing with the water. It comes with complete instructions.

How safe is it?

“It is non-toxic to humans, birds, earthworms or animals. Being an oil it can affect bees if it is actually sprayed on them so it is recommended to use it when bees are not visiting. Once the spray has settled it will not hurt the bees.

“Visit the Neem Association web site to learn about all the amazing properties of neem oil.

A. You can use non-fat (skim) milk for your mildew. Spray it on in the cool of the day when your leaves have cooled down from the day’s sunshine. I just buy a half-gallon of it when I need it. If you plan to use the dry non-fat milk, the formula for that is one part skim milk powder to nine parts of water. I would trim all mildewed leaves off of the plant before I spray. Otherwise, the condition will continue to manifest itself since it is spread by spores.

Also good for squash leaves and cucumbers but remove bad leaves before you spray. Treat your plants every 10 days to two weeks. Also after every rainfall.

Mildew on tomatoes? Mix 2 tablespoons of wettable sulfur powder (use micronized so that it will flow) in 1 gallon of water and spray the leaves until runoff. Repeat every two weeks. When watering your veggies, never overhead water. This spreads disease and also washes off any control spray that you have put on your plants. ie. the non-fat milk or sulfur.

Sulfur is considered organic. You must use precautions when using it because, if inhaled, it becomes sulfuric acid in your lungs and will burn. So, just to be sure, use a mask, goggles, gloves. This seems like overkill but better safe than sorry. Sulfur does a very good job on keeping tomatoes mildew and russet mite free.

You can go to Google and research a product called Thiolux which is a micronized wettable sulfur. I believe Ortho also makes a wettable sulfur called Flowtox.

Joanne

Q. Much is said lately about the dangers we face from pesticides in our foods. And “organically grown” foods grown (hopefully) without any use of pesticides are sold for 2 and 3 times the normal price, in order to save us from this great danger. Is the danger to our health from pesticides used on our vegetables and fruits real? Or is it, like so many other things today, hyperbole used to create a market for the organic growers and their marketing agents?

A. Perdue University’s Cooperative Extension Service is among the most highly respected institutions serving the people’s welfare anywhere in the world. Following are excerpts from their research paper ppp-22 – Pesticides and Food Safety, written by Fred Whitford, Coordinator of Purdue Pesticide Programs, along with Linda Mason, a Post-Harvest Research Entomologist, and Carl Winder, Extension Food Toxicologist from the University of California at Davis.

It turns out that about 1% of our national fresh food supply is randomly tested very extensively by scientists specifically looking for pesticide toxicity. This is a very high level of testing, and the findings are VERY comforting and reassuring to those of us who are concerned consumers.

Summarizing the material reported in Pesticides and Food Safety below, our food supply contains about 1/10,000th as much pesticide as would be needed to produce observable side effects, and if we were to eat this food daily for 70 years we would have consumed about 1 percent of the amount needed to produce observable negative health effects.

I, therefore, recommend we stop making ourselves sick with worry over pesticides in our commercially-grown food supply and give thanks instead for the best and healthiest food in the world.

“1. Scientists from the Environmental Protection Agency begin the evaluation process by determining the highest pesticide dose that can be fed to laboratory animals to cause adverse health effects but not death. This dose is called the Maximum Tolerated Dose (MTD).

2. The second step in the evaluation process is the selection of the highest pesticide dose that does not cause observable harm or side effects in experimental animals. This dose level is referred to as the No-ObservableAdverse Effect Level (NOAEL). The NOAEL value can be developed from acute (single incident) or chronic (multiple exposure) studies. The NOAEL is the first safety level.

3. The NOAEL usually is divided by a safety factor of 100 (safety factors range from 10 to 10,000) to take into account individual differences among people and the extrapolation of human health information from animal data. This second safety level is called the Reference Dose (RFD).

4. The RFD generally is expressed in terms of milligrams of a pesticide consumed per kilogram of body weight (mg/kg) per day. It is the amount of a pesticide residue that, if ingested daily over a 70-year lifetime, a human could consume without expecting any health-related problems. It is the RFD that is used as the toxicological indicator when pesticide residues are tested on foods designated for human consumption.

5. Next, EPA scientists determine how much of a particular pesticide residue the average consumer might ingest over a life expectancy of 70 years.

foods are analyzed for pesticide residues after they are in table-ready or final food form. The Total Diet Study yields the best insights into actual pesticide residue exposures and takes into account the reduction of pesticide residues which occurs in the course of growing, handling, shipping, processing, washing, peeling, and cooking. Over the last four years, approximately 55 out of more than 200 pesticides have been detected in the Total Diet Study. The nine residues found frequently in the 1989,1990, and 1991 total diet studies are presented in Table 1. The total consumption of foods containing these residues can then be used to estimate daily intake over a lifetime. For example, malathion was detected in approximately twenty percent of the table-ready foods sampled. The residues found on specific food items were multiplied by the amount of the food consumed. In the malathion example, children between 6 and 11 months, young adults between 14 and 16 years, and older adults between the ages of 60 and 65 consumed an average of 0.1, 0.08, and 0.04 micrograms per kilogram of body weight per day, respectively, of this pesticide. Those exposure values were then compared to the RFD criteria established by EPA and the World Health Organization.

The conclusion drawn from the total diet studies is that pesticide residues being detected represent only one percent of the RFD and generally are about 10,000 times lower than the NOAEL. FDA’s monitoring reveals that the “…levels of pesticide residue found in the U.S. food supply are generally below safety limits set by the Environmental Protection Agency.”

In the learn section of the Food for Everyone website, they include a chart of common vegetable spacing.

https://foodforeveryone.org/garden_genius/94/

I will list that schedule here, with suggested changes. I’ll often recommend planting closer than we put in the Learn section.

Plant Type Sdlng or Sd Spcng Rws/Bed Depth of Seed/Seedling

beans, bush either 3 2 1/2″

beans, pole either 2 1/2 1 1/2

beets, red either 1-2 2 0.25

berries, blrsp. seedling14 1 6

broccoli seedling14 2 alt.* To Crown

cabbage seedling12 2 alt. ”

carrots seed 1 2 0.125

cauliflower seedling 14 2 alt. To Crown

celery seedling 12 2 alt.

chard either 12 2 alt. 0.25

corn seed 8 2 alt. 0.5

cucumbers seedling 9 1 Cover root ball

kohlrabi seed 2 2 0.25

lettuce, head either 12 2 alt. 0.125/cover root ball

lettuce, leaf either 6 2 0.125/ ” ” ”

melons, cntlp either 9 1 0.25/ ” ” ”

melons, hnydw either 9 1 0.25/ ” ” ”

melons, wtrmln either 18 1 0.25/ ” ” ”

onions, grn tp either 1 2 0.125

onions, bulb either 1/4″ 4 0.125/1.0

parsley either 6 2 0.0625

parsnips seed 3 2 0.25

peas, bush either 2 2 0.5

peppers, all seedling12 2 alt. Deep – 2-3″ of stem

potatoes seed 8 2 alt. 1.5

radishes seed 1 2 0.125

spinach either 6 2 alt. .25/Cover root ball

squash, crk-nck either 21 1 0.5/ ” ” ”

squash, yellow either 21 1 0.5/ ” ” ”

squash, zucchinieither 21 1 0.5/ ” ” ”

tomatoes seedlng 9 1 Deep – 3-4″ of stem

turnips seed 2 2 0.125

Q. When is a good time to plant a vegetable garden in Utah?

A. No matter where you live you need to time your planting according to two things:

1. You need to learn the Average Last Frost Date (ALFD) in the Spring for your growing area, and
2. You need to determine the frost tolerance (hardiness) of the plants you’re thinking of growing.

You then plant according to the following schedule (there’s an excellent schedule of vegetables with this and much more information all done for you at the FREE gardening group – MittleiderMethodGardening@yahoogroups.com in the Files section):

Hardy plants – – – – – – 3-4 weeks before the ALFD
Semi-hardy plants – – – 2 weeks + or – before the ALFD
Frost sensitive plants – On the ALFD
Frost intolerant plants -2 weeks AFTER the ALFD

Q. I have celery transplants which I have grown, and need to know when they should be put out. Can they go out with the cool season crops, which I have already transplanted, or should I wait until our frost date is past?

A. The Garden Master and Garden Wizard CD’s both have a section called Preview Plants in the Garden Designer. This is a terrific resource for learning when to plant almost all common vegetables. Some of you may even have one or the other of these CD’s and perhaps haven’t noticed this large illustrated database of helpful information.

I highly recommend everyone consider owning one of these. The Garden Wizard has the complete Garden Designer Software, and is less than $10. When added to the Mittleider Gardening Library, you have a very valuable and comprehensive library of vegetable production knowledge that many Agriculture Universities and County Extension Agents around the USA, as well as in other countries, own and use. Both are available in The Store.

In Preview Plants, there are 5 categories for every plant, including Planting, Fertilizing, Watering, Weeding, and Other Notes. Here is a part of what the Garden Designer says in Preview Plants for Celery – Planting: “Celery is a cool-season plant that is frost tolerant. Transplant seedlings 3 to 4 weeks before the last frost of spring, 2 rows per bed, 6″ apart”.

Q. When do we in the cold and frozen north here (Utah) start our seedlings? I have a greenhouse at the school I can use until I can get my hubby to honeydew my own greenhouse project. I want to plant cabbages and broccoli and brussel sprouts as well as the warmer weather tomatoes and peppers and such.

A. When to start seedlings is an important question – no matter where you live, and the answer is always the same – “When they won’t freeze!” So when is that? It depends on the plant and your weather. First find out the average last frost date in your local growing micro-climate. The Garden Wizard and Garden Master CD’s do a good job of giving you that for over 3,000 places in the United States. Others will have to ask your local government Ag. agent.

Next, determine the frost tolerance of the plant you’re growing, to know when to transplant into the garden. There are 4 levels of frost tolerance – and I quote from the Mittleider Gardening Course:

1. Hardy plants tolerate frost and cold and can be planted 3 to 6 weeks before the average date of last frost.

2. Moderately-hardy plants handle a certain amount of cold. Plant these 2-3 weeks before the average date of last frost.

3. Cold- and frost-sensitive plants don’t like cold or frost. Plant them on the average day of last frost and protect them against late frost.

4. Frost-intolerant plants will not survive any frost and must be planted 2-3 weeks after the average day of last frost.

With dozens of plant possibilities, I can’t tell you here what each plant’s frost tolerance is, but again the Garden Wizard and the Garden Master CD’s give you all of that in the Review Plants section of the Garden Designer.

And finally, you need to know how long your plant needs to be in the greenhouse before being transplanted, in order to get back to the date on which you plant in the greenhouse. And again I refer you to the Garden Wizard and Garden Master CD’s as the best place to find that information. Remove the uncertainty and confusion in this very important step by looking in the Preview Plants section of the Garden Designer. You will learn the number of days required from planting seeds to transplanting in the garden, for all the common garden vegetables.

Q. Have planted a row of green beans in my small garden. They aren’t coming up very well. I followed the package directions. I Have two plants that are looking fairly good (leaves). The others are coming up looking like sticks and the leaves are just barely starting to show on one or two. What have I done wrong?

A. Here’s how we plant bean seeds:
1) Make a straight SHALLOW furrow along the sides of your soil-bed with the end of the HANDLE of your rake or hoe.
2) Place bean seeds 2″ apart in the furrows.
3) Cover with 1/8-1/4″ of SAND.
4) Water carefully, so as not to uncover the seeds.
5) Keep the soil MOIST – watering every day.

These procedures give your seeds the very best chance to germinate and make it into the light of day.

Beyond the actual planting, you should make sure that you apply a Pre-Plant mix of lime, magnesium (Epsom Salt), and boron (20 Mule Team Borax) in a ratio of 80-4-1, at the rate of one ounce per running foot of soil-bed, mixed into the soil before planting. In addition apply the complete mineral nutrient mix called Weekly Feed at the rate of 1/2 ounce per foot, also mixed with the soil. Then, after your plants are up, apply the Weekly Feed mix every 7 days until 3 weeks before maturity.

You can learn everything you need to know about fertilizing your garden by going to www.growfood.com and clicking on the Learn section. A free ebook called The Mittleider Gardening Basics Course is yours to study, download, etc.

Q. How do I pollinate my vegetable plants?

A. You almost never have to worry about pollinating vegetable plants, because nature has provided ways in which it happens without our human intervention. Some folks think they need to help tomatoes to pollinate, but that isn’t the case. They are self-pollinating. You can actually sometimes assist some of the squashes, like zucchini, to pollinate. Take a male flower that is completely open (that’s the one without a fruit growing on it), remove the petal, then touch the male Anther to the Stigma of the female flower. That’s it! Sometimes, however, it’s wise to take part of the petal from the female flower, so that it can’t close up and become a hospitable place for fungus to grow. If you think you are having problems getting fruit on other specific vegetables, tell me which ones, and I will instruct you further.

Q. I have hundreds of blossoms on my tomato, squash and etc. plants yet very little fruit. I have observed that there are no bees (I have only seen 3 at any one time) around. Is this normal? What can I do to correct this situation?

A. The lack of pollinators is rarely a problem for tomatoes because their blossoms are “perfect”, meaning they contain both male and female parts. Even a gentle breeze or movement of the plant stems will allow pollination to occur.

Squash can be pollinated by hand quite easily, so long as you can find male
blossoms. You must take a male blossom (the one WITHOUT a small fruit forming behind the flower), strip the petals off, then touch the tip, or stamen, to the pistil, or tip of the female blossom. One male can pollinate several females.

This must be done in the early morning, when both blossoms are fully open, or the blossom won’t be receptive to pollination.

Are you looking for bees in the early morning hours – before it heats up? That’s the most likely time for them to be active.

Attracting pollinators to your garden may be more difficult than pollinating squash yourself. You could buy a beehive and place that near your garden. Some people also plant flowers near their gardens in hopes of attracting bees, etc.

Another factor that could account for having very little fruit on plants is the temperature. This question was asked the first week of August, usually the hottest time of the year.

Extreme heat is often the cause of plants not being able to set fruit. They like temperatures below 90 degrees Fahrenheit, and when it’s above 95 there is very little fruit-set.

Also, unless night-time temperatures are at least 15-20 degrees lower than daytime temperatures some plants won’t set fruit.

To mitigate the heat problem consider applying partial shade to your plants during the few hottest hours of the day. This is best done by placing a 25%-35% shade cloth directly above the plants, such that it shades only during the hours from 11 A.M. to 3 P.M.

Q. If you plant sweet peppers next to hot peppers will you have sweet hot peppers?

A. Plants are cross-pollinated by bees and other insects, and the thing that is affected is the seed, which produces the next generation of plants.

If you were to eat the seeds that had been cross-pollinated you may notice the heat, but the mother fruit should not be affected.

Q. I like 4 different tomato plants. Can you grow a single plant and get fruit or do you need to have 2 or 3 of each to get a good crop?

A. Tomatoes do not need a pollinator plant – they are self-fertile, meaning the flower has both male and female parts, so they do not need any outside help.

However, different tomato plants can get cross-bred by wind, bees, and of course human intervention (that’s how hybridization is accomplished). Therefore, if you intend to save your tomatoes for their seeds, you had better do two things. 1) Start with heirloom plants – those which will breed true – rather than a hybrid, the seed from which will be something different. 2) Plant your different varieties clear across the yard from each other, and then hope the bees don’t hybridize them anyway.

Potatoes do well in containers, so long as the soil medium is light, there is sufficient room, and they are kept watered.

Grow-Box gardening produces wonderful potatoes. Grow-Boxes are containers that are usually open at the bottom, but not necessarily, if they are on a patio, roof, or driveway.

The key to having great potatoes, beyond the three elements I named in the first paragraph, is to feed them properly.

Apply Pre-Plant Mix and Weekly Feed mix to your soil before planting, and thereafter apply Weekly Feed every 7 days until your plants flower.

Q. I was going through the FAQs at foodforeveryone.org, when I came across a point of feeding the potatoes five times. I believe that Mittleider’s books state four times, but the one time difference is not the point of this question.

I was forcefully instructed by my neighbor who fancies himself a devout
Mittleider devotee to NOT feed the potatoes more than four times as the extra feed will go to the plant above the ground and not to the crop below the ground.

The FAQ seems to imply just the opposite, that the difference of field crop feeding of three times vs. grow box feeding of five times, where the “expected yield is correspondingly higher.” So if five (or four) times gives a higher yield why not six, or seven?

A. Potatoes, and other flowering single-crop plants, such as bush beans, should be fed until the plants flower. Whether this ends up being 4 times, 5 times, or some other number, depends on factors such as water, sunlight, and temperatures. The numbers given
are meant as a guideline, and not as strict limits. In Armenia recently we fed some rows of potato plants 5 times, because the weather was still cool and they were growing slowly, and other rows, planted later, were only fed 4 times before they blossomed.

Jim Kennard

The thing we need to remember when comparing feeding a Grow-Bed or Soil-Bed (these terms are used interchangeably) with feeding field crops is that in the garden you are actually feeding 2 rows of plants at a time in a single 18″ bed. So 1 pound of Weekly Feed applied to 30 feet of row is actually feeding 60 feet of plants, since you plant your potatoes 8 inches apart on both sides of the bed, between the ridges.

Beyond that, field crops do not get fertilized as much or as often as garden crops, mainly because it is not practical to do so. In the garden, we band the fertilizer in each bed – 4 inches from the plants (right between the two rows in the bed). There are 254 30-foot long beds per acre, so one application would require 254#. That is not much different from the field application rate (240#), and the plants are pretty well-fed if you can band the fertilizers, rather than broadcasting them.

Only 3 applications are given to field crops because it is impractical to drive a tractor through a field when the plants are fully grown since many plants would be harmed by the tractor wheels. However, in the garden, we recommend 5 feedings on potatoes, so they ultimately receive almost twice the amount of fertilizer that field-grown potatoes get, and the expected yield is correspondingly higher, which may very well offset the higher labor required.

Just a word about the benefits of Grow-Bed or Soil-Bed gardening: Dr. Mittleider has found that planting two rows of most plants together – about 12 inches apart in the 18-inch bed (the ridges take up the other 6 inches), provides several advantages. First, the fertilizer is immediately available to both rows of plants and virtually none is wasted or used to feed the weeds. Second, watering is very efficient, since the ridged level beds keep the water right at the root zone of the plants, and again none is wasted. Third, weeding is much reduced, since no water is applied to the 3 1/2 foot-wide aisles, and the vegetables quickly shade any weeds that might grow in the bed area. The plants grow out into the aisles, so they get plenty of light and air, and the wide aisles make working much easier and more pleasant, without sacrificing productivity.

Q. Ok I’ve searched and this seems to be the upshot on taters w/ MM. Plant in rows, 4 – 6 inches deep, feed weekly till flowering (starts or is done?), and don’t “hill” but mulch or cover lightly w/ soil to prevent greening. My question now seems to be if it would be better to plant them in my 12″ grow boxes or my 24″ grow-boxes.

I am curious about the hilling tho because I always thought that was how you got more spuds, thus the tire stacking thing. Can you say a little more about that, please.

A. The ideal width of a growing bed, for large plants like potatoes, is 18″. 24″ is wider than is needed, is difficult to water efficiently, and is too narrow for an extra row of plants.

Twelve inch-wide beds or boxes are too narrow to plant two rows of large plants like potatoes, and much aisle space is wasted if you only one row per box.

We plant potatoes, making sure we have at least one good eye, 8″ apart near the edge of a Grow-Box, and at the base of the ridges in a Soil-Bed, with two rows per bed or box.

We plant so that the top of the potato is 3-4″ deep in boxes, and 2-3″ deep in the soil.

We do not ridge, nor do we mulch.

In the weeding process, we pull the ridges down and back up – perhaps as many as two times in the early spring. Each time some soil falls around the stems, but NOT a LOT. Thereafter, as we weed we pull soil from the center of the aisle up the ridges. Again, some soil will spill over onto the stems of the potatoes. Over the course of the summer we may have put 1-2″ of soil on the base of the plants, but again NOT a LOT.

The close planting and healthy heavy greenery do much to keep any tips of potatoes from getting green from exposure to sunlight.

Feeding with Weekly Feed continues until your potatoes are in full flower. That is the last time you feed.

Q. I can’t get to ground level easily so do all my weeding by hand since I only have 4 boxes so far. For this reason my beds are 4′ by 16′, but two are 1′ deep and two are 2′ deep.

Since I get the weeds when they’re tiny (one of the blessings of the Mittleider Method) it hardly disturbs the soil at all, so should I cultivate a little around the potatoes?

In the 4′-wide boxes, how far apart should the potato rows be?

A. If your Grow-Boxes are filled with sawdust and sand there should be virtually no weeding. It’s when people use some dirt in their boxes that they have problems with weeds, bugs, and even diseases.

We recommend using clean organic materials that are very slow to break down, along with sand, in your Grow-Boxes. Things like sawdust, peat moss, perlite, ground-up pine needles, coconut husks, and coffee hulls are very good options. Use 65-75% of these materials, in any combination you like, with 25-35% clean concrete sand – by volume – for best results.

We do NO cultivating around potatoes, or any other crop, except as necessary for weed control, or to get fertilizer below the soil surface if we are using urea as our nitrogen source.

Plant your potatoes 8″ apart in rows. The outside rows should be about 1″ from the sides of the box. The inside rows should be about 12″ from the sides of the box.

This gives you about 2′ of clear space the full length in the center of your Grow-Box. DO NOT plant in that space. It is necessary as an “aisle”, to leave room for the plants to get air and sunlight as they grow and mature.

“Wettable sulfur, sprayed on tomatoes every two weeks at a rate of 2 tablespoons per gallon will absolutely prevent mildew. And….it is cheap.

One tablespoon of wettable sulfur to one gallon of water sprayed on squash leaves AFTER you have removed all infected leaves will control mildew on your squash.

Preventive spraying is the best way to control mildew.

Only spray in the evening when the leaves of your plants have had a chance to cool down. Spraying on hot leaves will burn them. Ditto with the tomatoes.

Cucumbers are a problem and they do not like the sulfur. Skim milk seems to do well on cucumbers.

Keeping all leaves that do not look perfect removed daily from your plants, tomatoes, cucumbers, and squash, goes a long way in preventing the spread of the mildew. Mildew, after all, is a fungus and spreads via spores that blow in the wind.

Just to make it clear regarding the micronized sulfur dilution for spraying for preventing mildew: That is 2 tablespoons of sulfur to one gallon of water. Of course, if your brand of sulfur calls for a different amount of sulfur, use what your manufacturer says to use.

If you only want to use “Organic” solutions, you can buy a gallon of skim milk (non-fat) and just spray it from the bottle. No dilution is necessary. Or, you can buy non-fat dry milk and mix it as follows – one part dry non-fat milk nine parts water.

A good schedule is every two weeks or oftener if you see a problem sooner than the two week period.

It is really important to spray in the cool of the day, I do it in the evening after leaves have cooled down.

It is also really important to keep all bad looking leaves trimmed off of plants so that spores don’t continue to infect healthy leaves.

PREVENTIVE MEASURES

Remove all leaves that touch the ground; remove leaves that overlap; remove all leaves with mildew showing.

Always water at ground level, do not wet the leaves. Always water in the morning in case the leaves do get wet, so they have a chance to dry before nightfall.

Hot days and cool moist nights are perfect conditions for powdery mildew. That is exactly what we are dealing with here in Long Beach, California. Our plants are simply dripping with dew each and every morning.

Joanne – Contributing Member of MittleiderMethodGardening group

Q. Now that growing season is drawing to a close, how can we prepare our Grow-Boxes for winter? What are the best ways to cover them or protect them without having to move them? Do we need to treat the soil or do anything else to “winterize” our garden?

A. As soon as a crop is mature it should be harvested, and as quickly as a crop is picked from the plant the plant should be removed from the soil.

If the plant is clean and free of disease or bugs it can be tilled right into the ground, where it will compost naturally over the winter months and improve the tilth or texture of the soil, along with adding a small amount of nutrients.

Covering the Grow-Boxes is not necessary, and no soil treatments are necessary or recommended.

One thing you can do is to add more sawdust/sand mixture to fill up the boxes.

It’s generally preferable to wait for Spring to add the fertilizers for next year’s crops, as nitrogen is volatile and other nutrients may become “fixed” or adhered to the soil particles and unavailable to the plants.

Q. After a wonderful growing experience, we find ourselves with an overflow of vegetables and fruits. How do we preserve them, in order to use them throughout the year?

A. I will address “root cellar” storage in another response, but for actual preserving I recommend you visit another good website as follows: Check out www.HomesteadHarvest.com as an excellent resource for guides, tutorials and unique equipment for preserving fresh fruits, vegetables, herbs, and even nuts and grains. They offer a free copy of “101 Fresh Garden Recipes” when visitors sign up for their free monthly newsletter, and they include a free 73-page ebook on preserving, called “The Beginner’s Guide to Preserving,” with every purchase.

Folks, this one’s a keeper, so turn on your printer and save it in your gardening library.

With cold weather soon upon us, everyone should be working to save your harvest, either by storing or preserving. Canning, drying, and freezing, are good ways of preserving your crops such as beans, corn, peas, peppers, summer squash, and tomatoes. They need to be done immediately after picking, while crops are fresh and tasty. Whether you cold-store or preserve your produce depends on the type of food you’ve grown, your facilities, and your family’s eating preferences.

Cold storage of vegetables such as cabbage, beets, carrots, potatoes, squash, and turnips can give you the best tasting and healthiest food of the four methods, and may even be the least expensive in the long run. And you can eat every one of these garden-fresh even 4 to 6 months after they’ve been harvested! However it requires some careful preparation, so let’s discuss how best to prepare for and store your fall harvest.

The details of harvesting and properly storing your crops are covered on several of the Mittleider gardening books, including Food For Everyone – all available at www.foodforeveryone.org.

Since tomatoes are many peoples’ favorite garden produce, let’s discuss them first. Before the first killing frost, pick all your tomatoes, including the green ones. Handle them gently, because cuts or bruises will cause them to spoil quickly. Fruit that’s close to ripe can be placed on a kitchen counter, out of direct sunlight, and it will ripen in a few days. Green fruit should be placed on a shelf in a cool, dry place, such as your basement or garage. As they begin to ripen you can bring them into the kitchen. Always remove any fruit that is beginning to spoil. We eat tomatoes into January this way.

Most of your other veggies need more help to keep them fresh. If your garden is very small and you don’t have much to store, you may be able to use an old refrigerator or a barrel buried in the back yard. However, for those who are serious about providing fresh food for your families, I recommend a root cellar, either under the house or buried outside. A good size is 8′ wide and at least 10′ deep. This gives you 2′ for an aisle and 3′ on each side for storage. A shelf on each side is good for things like onions and garlic, which need to be kept dry.

You can set it into the side of a hill or dig a hole 4’ to 5’ deep in a corner of the yard, build the cellar, and cover it with the excess dirt. This will help insulate it and maintain the low, but not freezing temperatures you need. Provide yourself a small door and insulate it well.

Harvest your crops at peak maturity and store only those which are free of disease or damage. Don’t harvest for storage until late fall, since more starches are converted to sugars by the cool weather. Root crops should be picked fresh and stored immediately. Potatoes and squash, on the other hand, first need to be cured at 60-75 degrees for 7 to 14 days. Most produce should be stored at just above freezing temperatures, except winter squash, which does better at or above 50 degrees.

Your root crops will stay fresh and sweet for months if you harvest them with roots intact and pack them in wet sawdust. Cabbage and other brassicas also need their roots. Remove outer leaves, then pack the roots in wet sawdust, leaving the cabbage exposed. Provide separation between crops to avoid mixing flavors, and to keep squash dry.

Potatoes should not be as wet as the root crops. They will do well in temperatures below 40 degrees, but pack them in slightly moist, rather than wet sawdust. Peat moss and sand, or combinations of all three, can be substituted for straight sawdust, but are not as ideal. I recommend you work with your neighbors to find a sawmill and obtain a truckload.

Onions and garlic also store well. They can handle cold temperatures but, like winter squash, they do better with humidity only 60 to 70 percent. Therefore these should be up off the damp floor, on shelves or hung from the ceiling. A cold basement can also work, but be sure to provide separation from living areas to avoid the strong smell.

Remember, cold temperatures are essential for good long-term storage of vegetables, but do not let them freeze! Insulate your root cellar well. Good healthy eating to you! More details are at www.foodforeveryone.org in the FAQ section. © 2006 – James B. Kennard

Jim Kennard, President Food For Everyone Foundation “Teaching the world to grow food one family at a time.” www.foodforeveryone.org

Jim Kennard, President of Food For Everyone Foundation, has a wealth of teaching and gardening training and experience upon which to draw in helping the Foundation “Teach the world to grow food one family at a time.” Jim has been a Mittleider gardener for the past twenty-nine years; he is a Master Mittleider Gardening Instructor, and has taught classes and worked one-on-one with Dr. Jacob Mittleider on several humanitarian gardening training projects in the USA and abroad. He has conducted projects in Armenia, America, Madagascar, and Turkey by himself. He assists gardeners all over the world from the https://www.foodforeveryone.org website FAQ pages and free Gardening Group, and grows a large demonstration garden at Utah’s Hogle Zoo in his spare time.

Gardening Books, CDs and Software are available at https://www.foodforeveryone.org

With cold weather upon us, everyone should be working to save your harvest, either by storing or preserving. Canning, drying, and freezing, are good ways of preserving your crops such as beans, corn, peas, peppers, summer squash, and tomatoes. They need to be done immediately after picking, while crops are fresh and tasty. Whether you cold-store or preserve your produce depends on the type of food you’ve grown, your facilities, and your family’s eating preferences. A good website for learning to preserve your vegetables is www.homesteadharvest.com.

Cold storage of vegetables such as cabbage, beets, carrots, potatoes, squash, and turnips can give you the best tasting and healthiest food of the four methods, and may even be the least expensive in the long run. And you can eat every one of these, garden-fresh, even 4 to 6 months after they’ve been harvested! However it requires some careful preparation, so let’s discuss how best to prepare for and store your fall harvest.

If your garden is very small and you don’t have much to store, you may be able to use an old refrigerator or a barrel buried in the back yard. However, for those who are serious about providing fresh food for your families, I recommend a root cellar, either under the house or buried outside. You can set it into the side of a hill or dig a hole 4’ to 5’ deep in a corner of the yard, build the cellar, and cover it with the excess dirt. This will help insulate it and maintain the low, but not freezing temperatures you need. Provide yourself a small door and insulate it well. A 6’-tall 4’ X 6’ root cellar built under the crawl space in a home with no basement will work. This same size will work buried in your yard. A wooden floor is optional, and at least half the space may be better left open to the soil beneath.

Harvest your crops at peak maturity and store only those which are free of disease or damage. Don’t harvest for storage until late fall, since more starches are converted to sugars by the cool weather. Root crops should be picked fresh and stored immediately. Potatoes and squash, on the other hand, first need to be cured at 60-75 degrees for 7 to 14 days. Most produce should be stored at just above freezing temperatures, except winter squash, which does better at or above 50 degrees.

Your root crops will stay fresh and sweet for months if you harvest them with roots intact and pack them in wet sawdust. Cabbage and other brassicas also need their roots. Remove outer leaves, then pack the roots in wet sawdust, leaving the cabbage exposed. Provide separation between crops to avoid mixing flavors, and to keep squash dry.

Potatoes should not be as wet as the root crops. They will do well in temperatures below 40 degrees, but pack them in moist, rather than wet sawdust. Peatmoss and sand, or combinations of all three, can be substituted for straight sawdust, but are not as ideal. I recommend you work with your neighbors to find a sawmill and obtain a truckload.

Onions and garlic also store well. they can handle cold temperatures but, like winter squash, they do better with humidity only 60 to 70 percent. Therefore these should be up off the damp floor, on shelves or hung from the ceiling. A cold basement can also work, but be sure to provide separation from living areas to avoid their strong smell.

Remember, cold temperatures are essential for good long-term storage of vegetables, but do not let them freeze! Insulate your root cellar well. Good healthy eating to you!

Posted in FAQ, Preserving the Harvest | Tagged canning, cold storage, drying, preserve your vegetables, preserving crops, root cellar, winter storage

Have you ever wished you could grow sweet, fresh pineapples like my favorite Del Monte ones you can sometimes find in the stores?

How about bananas or other tropical delights – wouldn’t it be fun to grow your own, right in your back yard?

There are certainly some limitations, but not as severe as most people think. Let me give you a few ideas to get your imagination going:

Traditionally, pineapple is grown from cuttings from old growth. The crown or growing tip was left in the field until it dried out, then harvested and stuck in newly prepared soil to grow again. This method requires 18-24 months to produce new fruit from the old material.

How about trying a different approach, which you can try from the pineapple you buy at your local store? Just break off the top and prepare it for immediate planting in your greenhouse or other warm space with ample sunlight. Here’s how:

With your fingers, take off the green fronds nearest the broken end for about one inch (2 1/2 cm), leaving the stalk exposed. Place in a 4″ pot or tray of pre-moistened sawdust/sand mixture that has been prepared for planting seedlings, with Pre-Plant and Weekly Feed mixes included at 1 1/2 ounces and 3/4 ounces per 1/2 cubic foot of soil.

Water regularly to maintain soil moisture with clean water, until roots appear, then use the constant feed solution of 1 ounce Weekly Feed for 3 gallons of water for every watering until plants are placed in the garden – about 4-6 weeks, depending on your growing conditions.

Apply Pre-Plant and Weekly Feed to the soil before transplanting into the garden. Feed weekly with Weekly Feed until 8 weeks before harvest.

This simple process changes the time needed to grow mature pineapples from 18+ months to 8 months! Sweet potatoes’ growing times can be reduced from 10 1/2 months to 7 months, and other crops see similar improvement.

With those numbers, I hope some of you – especially in the warmer climates – will have the courage to try your hand at propagating plants. It can be both fun and rewarding.

Just remember that these plants are grown in the tropics for a reason, and make sure they have ample heat and sunlight, along with plenty of water.

For a vegetable gardening guy to be talking about animals may seem inconsistent to some, but since both provide food they are closely related, so I will discuss the general topic a bit here.

From age 12 until I left home for college I had the full responsibility for a cow, to which were added chickens, rabbits, pigs, and even a goat at various times. These all contributed significantly to and were important to our family’s food supply.

However, I didn’t understand at that time that it requires between 10 and 30 times as much land to produce a pound of protein from an animal source as from a plant source, and looking back I realize that our vegetable garden produced much more with fewer inputs than did the animals.

Dr. Jacob Mittleider, who taught me almost everything I know about gardening, had a special perspective on this issue because as a Seventh Day Adventist he was a strict vegetarian. While I am not a vegetarian I also believe that we are healthier when we limit meat in our diets, and our personal family diet is usually less than 10% meat.

And both Dr. Mittleider’s and my own experience around the world confirm that most people have very limited space in which to produce their own food, thus making vegetable gardening the best choice for the greatest return on investment.

I submit that a Mittleider-Method garden, when cared for properly and consistently, is the best use of your time, efforts, space and money, and that excess food grown in your garden can usually be sold or traded for milk, eggs, and meat more efficiently than raising your own animals.

Nevertheless, there are other issues to be considered. Vegetables can’t begin to compete for the special feeling you may get from caring for animals, and those of you who DO have space may still want some animals.

If animals are in your plans, I encourage you to keep their living spaces clean, separate them from your garden so they don’t destroy it, and whenever possible feed them your excess plant residue as soon as the crop is harvested.

Chicken tractors (Google it), can be used for both chickens and rabbits, but must have a wire floor on them if you raise rabbits, because they will dig their way out quickly. If used efficiently chicken tractors can help you keep your yard clean and organized. Each time the tractor is moved remember to till the chicken or rabbit droppings (both of which are excellent fertilizers), etc. into the soil for natural composting without making a mess. And the same goes for all other animal manure. Get it into the soil and let it compost naturally, rather than having it smell bad and attract pests.

For those who have more space – and are willing to accept the responsibility for at least twice daily care (milking, feeding, etc.) – larger animals may also be an option.

Goats are one possible choice, as they are fairly small, don’t take a lot of space to house or graze, and will eat a wide variety of plants, but they don’t give a lot of milk, are not easy to milk, and many people don’t care for the taste of their milk.

My personal preference for a milk-producing animal is one or two Miniature Jersey cows. They are about 1/3 the size of full-size cows; they are very friendly and docile – even the bulls; they produce from 2 to 4 gallons of milk daily when fresh; and they only require a fraction of an acre for grazing.

Many websites have details about the miniature Jerseys. They are a rare breed so far, and will be expensive to buy, but after the initial investment, if you use the best breeding stock, you may be able to recover your initial capital outlays by selling excess calves.

Meanwhile, I will continue to focus on VEGETABLE GARDENING, but encourage those of you who have the interest, the commitment, and the required space for animals to consider the most efficient ways to benefit from them.

Q. My tomatoes are doing great they have little yellow flowers popping out all over. I see small tomatoes also.

Frankly, with my brown thumb, I have been afraid to trim any of the branches.

Should I go ahead and trim all the side branches and leave the main stem? What if there are two main stalks growing, versus one. This is happening a lot.

A. Smart tomato growers prune the sucker stems when they are very tiny. This saves stress on the plant and the grower as well. It also allows all the strength of the plant to be used in growing the main stem, leaves, and fruit, instead of growing a competing set of those things.

An occasional plant with two stems usually won’t be a problem, but unless you are a skilled and diligent pruner, having more than one stem on closely planted tomato plants will cause overcrowding, and your yield will suffer.

Jim Kennard

Q. I would like your advice on raising raspberries using the Mittleider Method. What size grow boxes should I use? Should I use any special potting mix or fertilizers?

A. Detailed instructions are available in Gardening By The Foot or other books, CD’s or software, available at www.growfood.com. A brief review of raspberry-specific procedures follows.

Growing can be in the soil or in Grow-Boxes, and the width box or bed is a matter of your preference – either 18″ or 4′, with lengths to fit your growing situation as well. We recommend planting 2 rows of canes in 18″ beds at 8′ intervals.

Prepare the beds as you would for other garden crops, using Pre-Plant Mix and Weekly Apply to the soil before planting. Feed with Weekly Feed 4 times for single-crop varieties and 6 or 7 times for everbearing varieties.

If you are using Grow-Boxes, you do not need to fill them with “potting mix”. This is just very expensively packaged peat moss, vermiculite, and perlite, with $.25 of fertilizer in it. If you can find sawdust inexpensively, that is one of the best things to use in many places. In tropical climates, coffee hulls or coconut husks are often available and are also good. Bales of peat moss and bags of perlite are good to use throughout the USA.

Mix any combination of the above materials with sand in a ratio of about 30-35% sand by volume and 65-70% of equal amounts of the others. Cut your canes to the ground in the late fall and apply Pre-Plant and Weekly Feed to the soil, mixing it in as you hoe the weeds and remove any unwanted sucker canes.

Dr. Mittleider has grown raspberries very successfully in the same spot for 25 years by following these procedures.

Q. What conditions are necessary for germinating my pepper and tomato seeds? How long will it take?

A. Peppers, tomatoes, and eggplant like the soil temperatures to be at
least 75 degrees Fahrenheit, and they will germinate much faster in the low to mid-80’s. Tomatoes can germinate in less than a week under ideal conditions, and peppers are a little slower. Don’t get them too hot, however, or you’ll lose more than you want to.

The thing that most often causes peppers, tomatoes, and other seeds to take a long time germinating is too-cold temperatures.

Moisture is also important, but don’t leave them in standing water or you’ll drown them.

Store your seeds in a cool, dark, and dry place. Seed will lose its viability very fast in warm, and especially humid conditions. Cool and dry are essential for long-term storage of your seeds.

Jim Kennard

Q. I was asked to look at a greenhouse full of seedlings that were not growing, and in various stages of dying, in the hopes that I could save the crop. Here’s what I found was wrong – for starters.

A. The trays or flats were built with no drainage. Number one No-No! Plants must have oxygen, and will drown without proper drainage, or at the very least there will be a build-up of salinity, which will totally stop them from growing.

The soil medium was more like clay soil than the soft and fluffy sawdust, peatmoss, and perlite that we recommend. Even though sawdust and sand were being used, the sawdust was truly DUST and the sand was finer even than masonry sand. In addition, they were pressed down firmly before planting. We recommend coarser materials than that – again for the oxygen and drainage.

Pre-Plant and Weekly Feed fertilizers were not applied properly. They needed 1/2 again the amount they had been given. For a flat 18″ square (1/2 meter) 1 1/2 ounces Pre-Plant and 3/4 ounce of Weekly Feed should be applied and worked into the soil before transplanting.

The plants were planted too close together. This means more plants are sharing the same amount of air, light, water, and fertilizer. Most plants should not be planted closer than 64 in a 1/2-meter square flat. The ones I saw were all planted 81 per tray.

The flats were also very shallow, which would become a problem soon, if the plants happen to live. Plant roots need room, and a flat should be 2 3/4″–3″ deep.

Almost all plants were exhibiting deficiency symptoms of at least one nutrient, and I believe several were needed. Purple leaves indicate a phosphorus deficiency, and these needed that plus magnesium, and probably calcium (the major nutrient in the Pre-Plant Mix).

I began by drilling 32 1 cm holes in each flat and applied Pre-Plant and Weekly Feed sufficient to correct the original deficiency. I next aerated 200+ flats 1″ deep by dragging a dibble beside every row in both directions. I then applied the other two nutrients I felt were needed immediately by including them in the first watering.

It would be very time-consuming, costly, and stressful to the plants to transplant them into better soil medium. And I could not tell if the holes were sufficient to solve the drainage problem – I suspect they were not, mostly because of the soil medium being much too dense. Sadly I had to leave more than 15,000 vegetable plants to their fate, in the hands of people who know next to nothing about their proper care.

I recommend anyone who is interested in growing their own seedlings, which is very rewarding on several levels, should get the Mittleider Gardening Library CD, which is available at www.foodforeveryone.org in the Store section, and study Let’s Grow Tomatoes and Gardening ByThey Foot for starters.

Pepper seedlings are among the hardest vegetable plants to grow, and some hot peppers are even more difficult than the sweet peppers.

Seeds should be planted at least 8 weeks before the ALFD (average last frost date) in your immediate area. And you should not transplant the seedlings into your garden until after the ALFD.

Use a soil mixture of 65% sawdust and 35% sand. Peat moss, perlite, Coconut husks, rice hulls, coffee hulls, or pine needles can substitute for the sawdust, alone or in any combination.

The Mittleider Magic Pre-Plant mix should be mixed with the growing medium before planting seed – at 1 1/2 oz (3 tablespoons) per cubic foot of soil – then NO fertilizer should be applied until after the seedlings emerge. Water with plain water and keep the soil moist, but not soaking wet.

If you’re only growing a few plants place the seeds 2″ apart in a seedling flat. For hundreds or thousands of plants place 100-125 seeds per row in 1/4″-deep furrows 2″ apart in a tray.

Cover the tray with burlap to avoid moving the seeds as you water.

Keep the planting soil-mix moist and maintain temperatures between 75 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit. No light is best until the seeds show above the soil, then immediate sunlight is needed for 8-12 hours each day, to prevent the stem from “stretching” to seek adequate light.

If you can’t give the seedlings direct sunlight you must provide grow-lights within 1″ of the plant leaves for 16+ hours per day. Two Fluorescent lights – one warm and one cool – work well.

Again, constant temperatures should be maintained in the 75-85 range.

A Constant Feed solution of 16 ounces Weekly Feed mix to 55 gallons of water (a scant 1 ounce per 3 gallons water) should be used for watering the seedlings immediately after emergence.

Seedlings should be transplanted 2″ – 2 1/2″ apart by the time they get their second set of true leaves. The soil for this transplant should contain both Pre-Plant mix at 1 1/2 oz and Weekly Feed mix at 3/4 oz per cubic foot of soil mix.

Peppers grow slowly and need warm temperatures to do well. They will also require a few days to recover from the transplant, so don’t be discouraged if they are still small after 3-4 weeks.

Before transplanting to the garden take seedlings outside onto tables in full sun for 2 to 3 days, to “harden them off”, or acclimatize them to the outside growing conditions. If the nights get very cold bring the plants back inside.

Some protection may also be needed after the seedlings are in the garden. Mini-greenhouses made with greenhouse plastic over arched PVC frames will keep cold winds off the plants and allow the sun to warm the soil much faster.

Remove the covers when outside temperatures approach 70 degrees and make sure that temperatures in the beds do not exceed 80-85 degrees. Some airflow during the daytime is important.

Q. Why are my kitchen-window-grown plants so weak? On taking them outside they turn yellow, burn, and many die the first day.

A. The whole reason for growing plants early – in the house or greenhouse – is to give them a headstart under good growing conditions. The key to success, however, is accomplishing the good growing conditions.

Many times folks think they can stick seeds in some dirt in the kitchen window, and because there is some sunlight the plants will grow and thrive and be healthy and robust when it’s time to go outside. And because so few of us know how to feed plants, we often also fail to feed them in our kitchen-window pots. These practices are a sure recipe for failure, rather than success.

Dirt is just as difficult for sprouting seeds to penetrate in your kitchen window as it is in the garden, and so it’s common for people to have 50% or less of their plants even see the light of day. Never use dirt in seedling production. Use a light and clean growing medium consisting of sawdust and sand, or other similar elements, such as peat moss or perlite. The sand should be 25 to 35% by volume, and equal amounts of at least two others is ideal.

And our windows are often quite cold and drafty – not the ideal warm and secure nurseries our new plant babies need. Use a thermometer and make certain the soil temperatures stay in the range of 70-80 degrees Fahrenheit. A heat pad with thermostat is inexpensive and accurate, and will pay for itself quickly.

With no regular feeding, all babies experience a high mortality rate. A very dilute fertilizer solution similar to the Miracle Grow regimen is very good. We recommend regular watering with a Constant Feed solution consisting of 1 ounce of Mittleider Magic Weekly Feed in 3 gallons of water.

Sunlight all day long immediately after emergence is also essential. If you can’t give the real thing, you must replicate it as closely as possible with fluorescent tubes for at least 16 hours per day. Anything less won’t do the job, and you’re better off not wasting your time and the valuable seeds.

If you are using an exterior seedhouse and it’s cold, build a small second
covering on one of the tables, then place a small electric heater beneath it. That way, rather than trying to heat a large greenhouse in cold weather, you’re only heating the small area for a few flats of new seedlings.

A seed flat can hold 400-800 new seedlings, and for that first critical 2-3 weeks during germination, emergence, and formation of their first true leaves they must have uniform warm temperatures – but they take up very little space. They also don’t need light until they emerge from the soil, but then they need maximum light IMMEDIATELY.

Do your first transplanting when they have their 2nd set of true leaves. Then you will need 10 times the number of flats you started with. It’s usually a bit warmer by then, plus the seedlings can handle cooler weather than germinating seedlings, so with a little heat at nights you can usually make it.

If you are starting seedlings in your house, unless it’s being done in a room with temperatures in the 70’s, the soil may be too cold for good germination. An electric germination mat will keep flats warm, and costs $30 for a single flat size and $70 for a 4-flat size at https://www.greenhouses-etc.net/ghse-sunshine/heatmat.htm. You usually only have to use it until the plants are established – then they can put up with somewhat cooler roots.

But remember that plants need at least 60 degrees Fahrenheit in order to grow, and most of them go dormant at 50 degrees – especially the warm weather ones – so maintaining warm temperatures continues to be very important, especially in the daytime.

Common mistakes in growing seedlings include:

1) Not maintaining even temperatures between 70+ and 80+ degrees Fahrenheit during seed germination, emergence, and formation of first true leaves.

2) Not giving the seedlings full sunlight immediately upon emergence and all day thereafter – or if using grow-lights at least 16 hours of light each day.

3) Not feeding plants properly, which means a) having Pre-Plant Mix in the soil mix before planting seed, b) using only water until plants emerge from the soil, and c) watering with the Constant-Feed solution immediately upon emergence of your plants. The constant-feed solution is a mixture of 1 ounce (2 tablespoons) of Weekly Feed in 3 gallons of water.

If you are growing the seedlings inside your house, if it’s not warm, put a double fluorescent tube, with one cool and one warm, 1″ or closer to the plant leaves, and leave the lights on at least 16 hours per day. And the soil needs to be warm for the seeds to germinate. Buying an electric seed germination mat will improve your germination.

Your goal when growing seedlings is to make them as strong and sturdy as possible, and do it as quickly as possible.

Excellent instructions for growing healthy seedlings are contained in Let’s Grow Tomatoes pages 51-53 and Grow-Bed Gardening pages 86 – 92, and Grow-Bed Gardening has many pictures illustrating the procedure.

Regrettably, both these books are temporarily not available in hard copy, as we have sold out the most recent editions. We hope to soon have them both available for download on the website. Both books are contained in the Gardening Library CD, which I highly recommend.

Meanwhile, here is what Let’s Grow Tomatoes says about pruning leaves to keep the plant stems from becoming spindly, with parenthetical comments added by me:

“When the leaves begin to overlap the leaves of other plants, the experienced grower who insists on thick-stem plants prunes off the leaves which overlap (carefully pinch them off with your finger and thumb). Pruning off the leaves increases the light around the plant stems, and does not stop the growing tip from growing (NEVER take off the growing tip, and always leave 2 or 3 leaves! You can even take off a partial leaf.). Pruning off the leaves temporarily stops the upward growth of the plants, and encourages the stems to thicken, which is what the grower desires.

“During this temporary period of reduced growth in the plant, the grower has two choices:

1. to wait 7 to 10 days for new leaves to grow and overlap again and pinch as before,

2. or, he can shift the plants into larger pots or gallon-size
containers.

“In the first choice, the leaves must be pruned off again at the proper time to keep the plants from getting spindly (because the stems quickly become tall, thin, and weak as the plant stretches looking for light), using the same procedure as explained earlier.

“In the second choice, shifting the plants into larger containers provides more space between plants, delays pruning until a later date, and encourages the stems to thicken – due to increased light and circulation around the stems.

“If, therefore, space is available in the seedhouse to accommodate larger containers, it is recommended that the plants be shifted from the smaller pots into 4-inch pots or gallon containers before they are pruned the second time.”

After 2 prunings, it is recommended that the pots be physically separated to provide light to each plant, rather than continuing to prune.

Jim Kennard

Q. My tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and cabbage are dying only hours after taking them outside! What have I done wrong? The room they were in has a West-facing window, so they received 2-3 hours of sun on sunny days. I put fertilizer in the potting soil, but did not feed them after that.

A. It is so important that plants receive full sun for 8+ hours per day from the moment they poke their heads above ground. Lacking actual sunlight, they have to have a warm and cool fluorescent tube placed about 1″ from the surface of the plants for 16 + hours per day.

Failure to give your plants adequate light in the house-made them very susceptible to burning up in the heat and light of the full sun.

They were also very weak from lack of food, which also made them unable to handle the stress of a changed environment. ALWAYS water your new seedlings with the Constant Feed solution of 1 ounce Mittleider Magic Weekly Feed in 3 gallons of water, and they will be healthy and strong, and much more able to handle the shock of hardening off and transplanting. And of course, they will be much bigger also.

How about pruning. You also must keep them pruned so the leaves do not overlap. This creates small shocks, and gets the plant to grow a stronger, thicker stem – also preparing it for the harsh reality of the outdoors.

I suggest a good nursery, to get you some healthy plants, so you don’t lose the season. The ones you describe will not recover, and will never produce a good crop.

Q. I read that if you leave your light source only about 6 or 7 inches above your plants it will help defeat them getting leggy, is this right? The problem is that I feel the plant light I have over them right now may be too strong and that I might burn them, so should I get a less bright bulb?

A. Unless the light bulb feels warm to your hand from 3-4″ away, you have no danger of burning the plants. You should have 2 – 4-foot 40-watt fluorescent tubes – one warm white and the other cool white. Place them within 1-2″ of the plants. They can’t get too much light, and those 40-watt tubes won’t burn them. 6″ is definitely too far away, and the plants WiLL stretch.

Remember to give your plants full light as soon as you first see any sprouts showing above the soil surface. Any delay at all, and the plants will develop long, skinny, weak stems as they search for that all-important light.

Feeding is also essential as soon as the plants are up. Use the “Constant Feed” solution of 1 ounce (two tablespoons) of Mittleider Magic Weekly Feed mix thoroughly mixed with 3 gallons of water. Water with this solution every time you water, which should be every day at least.

Q. I saw something on Joy in the Garden (a Salt Lake TV show) that says you can plant tomato seedlings in a Wall O Waters now, and have very early tomatoes. She said that when water freezes it gives off heat, and this is what
protects the little plants. Has anyone tried this? It isn’t REAL cold at night, but it is getting into the low 20s. I have three Wall-O-Waters, and will plant some seeds to try to get something going if it seems reasonable.

A. Do not count on Wall-O-Waters, or anything else out in the garden, to sprout your vegetable seeds and get them going! Nature has dictated that seeds need consistently warm temperatures to sprout, and so you need a greenhouse, light box, or light table, etc. to do that effectively and get healthy vigorous plants.

So far as using Wall-O-Waters for protecting tomatoes, etc. from freezing, I would not count on them to help you below about 30 degrees Fahrenheit. You will be much better served to keep your plants in a warm environment with plenty of direct sunlight until the danger of hard frosts is past – and why take them out even then if you have room for them in the protected environment? Your plants will be dormant at temperatures below 50+ degrees, and will likely be slowed more than helped by taking them to the garden too early.

Some folks think having them in the soil early acclimates them and makes them more sturdy. Dr. Mittleider says you need only 2-3 days to “harden-off” your plants outside before planting them, and they will do just great, assuming the weather in the garden is warm enough for them to grow.

If you will grow your plants under ideal conditions, you can gain a 4-6 week advantage over planting in the garden early and thus have a much longer harvest season, with ripe tomatoes by the first of July in Utah and similar climates.

Jim Kennard

Q. I’ve been told I should inoculate my bean seeds. Why should I do this, and how do I do it? Does alfalfa need it? Any others?

A. Why Use Rhizobia Inoculants? Rhizobia bacteria are a group of soil-based microorganisms, which establish symbiotic relationships with beans and other legume plants, such as alfalfa and clover. They then form nodules on the roots of the legumes, where they store nitrogen and provide it to the plants. In return, the plants provide carbon and energy for the Rhizobia, which the plant produces by photosynthesis. Nitrogen is vital for plant growth. It is abundant in the atmosphere as N2, and in soil organic matter in other forms, but because of its volatility, it is not available in the NO3 form that plants can use.

Conventional methods of providing nitrogen to plants include 1) adding nitrogen fertilizers to the soil, or 2) inoculating with the Rhizobia nitrogen-fixing bacteria. Rhizobia then take N2 atmospheric nitrogen and convert it to the NO3 inorganic form that is useable by plants. In addition, the nitrogen they store in nodules on the plant roots, if the roots are left in the ground, can reduce nitrogen fertilizer requirements for the next growing season.

Therefore, before planting, some gardeners “inoculate” their bean seeds. This consists of coating the seeds with a small amount of powder containing the Rhizobia bacteria, thus effectively enabling the plants to draw nitrogen from the air and deposit it in nodules on their roots. This ability to “fix” nitrogen is unique to plants in the legume family, because of the symbiotic relationship with Rhizobia bacteria.

Inoculants only need to be used in poor soils that don’t have much soil nitrogen for plants to use. In fertile soil, the bacteria occur naturally, so inoculants are not needed. The inoculant comes in small packages, it is usually available where you buy your seeds, and it takes very little to do the job. Immediately before planting, put the bean seeds in a pan and add a little water to moisten them. Then add a small amount of inoculant, and stir the beans with a stick until they have a little powder on their seed coats.

To gain the maximum benefit from inoculating your been seeds, spade or till disease-free bean plants into the earth immediately after the last harvest. This adds organic matter to the soil and releases the nitrogen from the root nodules as well. Always destroy all diseased plants immediately.

Some people mistakenly believe planting beans and corn together is good, because the beans can climb the corn stalks, and the corn can get nitrogen from the beans. This is not a good idea for several reasons. The two plants are competing for the same water, food (13 nutrients are needed!), and light, and both will suffer for having to share. In addition, the nitrogen in the bean root nodules is “fixed” and unavailable to the corn. It is only released to the soil after the bean plant has completed its life cycle.

Q. What’s the difference between heirloom and hybrid seeds? And which type of seeds is better for the home gardener to use?

A. Heirloom seeds breed true, meaning that the fruit from seed you harvest from the current plant will be the same as the current plant and its fruit, generation after generation. This means that if you like the current harvest you can use the seeds with confidence that they will give you the same thing next time, and every time.

Hybrid seeds have been cross-bred to achieve improvements in flavor, productivity, disease resistance, holding capacity, or other characteristics which people want and request. However, the next generation cannot be counted on to be the same as the original plant, and thus we need to continue buying seed from the seed grower to be assured of the same end result.
Producing seeds in your own garden is no big problem if you’re growing crops with seeds in the fruit, such as tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, etc. However, for things like lettuce, cabbage, and onions you have to let the plant stay in the garden while it “goes to seed” – sometimes for as long as a second year.

This can make a mess of your garden, and foul up your plans for continuing to grow food to eat.

Harvesting, drying, and saving the seeds are also problems to consider before deciding to grow your own seeds.

I recommend people get the best advantages of both hybrid and heirloom plants by buying and using the world’s best vegetables and fruits from reputable seed companies, and buying a #10 can of 16 varieties of high-quality triple-sealed heirloom seeds from the Food For Everyone Foundation at www.foodforeveryone.org/store.

Store the can of seeds in a cool dry place, and you will have the protection of good heirloom seeds for many years, while at the same time your family harvests and eats the best produce possible.

Q. I want to be able to harvest seeds from my vegetables and count on the next generation being the same. Please list some heirloom seeds for each of the common vegetables, so I can look for and plant them.

A. Here’s a small list of heirloom seeds that have been proven to be good eating and productive. There are many hybrids that are better, but these are good.

Beans – Kentucky Wonder Brown Pole Beets – Detroit Dark Red Cabbage – Golden Acre Carrots – Scarlet Nantes Corn – Golden Bantam Cucumber – Marketmore 76 Lettuce – Romaine Onion – Utah Sweet Spanish Pea – Lincoln Pepper – Yolo Wonder Radish – Champion Spinach – Bloomsdale Long-Standing Swiss Chard – Lucullus Tomato – Ace 55 VF Winter Squash – Waltham Butternut

All of the above are contained in a #10 can, triple-sealed, that’s available from the Food For Everyone Foundation in the Store section, and if kept cool and dry these seeds will remain viable for many years. Buy this and then use hybrids without worry about growing your own seeds.

Q. If I plant turnips and beets by burying the seed instead of “broadcasting” them, how deep should the turnip seed go? The only thing I can find on them is the latter method.

A. A “rule of thumb” for planting seed is to place them in a shallow furrow and bury them 2 1/2 times the width of the seed. Turnip seed is tiny, so they will not be covered very deep at all. Most people end up more or less broadcasting the seed in the furrow but do so much too close together. Your seeds should be far enough apart that the plants do not crowd each other when they are making bulbs. unless you plant your seeds 1 1/2 to 2″ apart, you’ll need to thin them after they are up and growing, otherwise, you won’t get anything but tops.

The best thing you can do to assure good germination and healthy plants is to cover the seeds with sand, rather than the regular soil. Then, keep the soil moist, but not soaking wet.

And it’s important that the soil be warm. Although turnips and beets are fairly hardy and will germinate and grow in cooler temperatures than tender crops like tomatoes and squash, they will grow faster if the soil is warm. Consider using the “mini-greenhouses” to accomplish that for you.

I have extracted this list from the Wholesale seed catalog we receive from Mountain Valley Seed Co. I recommend you consider visiting their website and buying the triple-sealed #10 can of Heirloom Vegetable Seeds. Then you never have to worry about using hybrid seeds again. Just keep the heirloom seeds in a cool dry place, and they will last for many years.

Vegetable Seeds – Quantities Per Ounce

Mountain Valley Seed Co

www.mvseeds.com

Asparagus 600

Bean, Bush 100

Beet 1,500

Broccoli 9,000

Brussels Sprouts 8,000

Cabbage 7,000

Carrot 19,000

Cauliflower 7,000

Celery 70,000

Collards 8,000

Cucumber 1,000

Eggplant 6,000

Endive 20,000

Kale 8,500

Kohlrabi 9,000

Leek 10,500

Lettuce 16,000

Melon 1,000

Mustard 17,000

Okra 500

Onion 8,000

Onion, Bunching 11,000

Parsley 18,000

Parsnip 8,000

Peas 2,000

Pepper 4,000

Pumpkin 200

Radish 2,500

Rutabaga 9,000

Spinach 2,500

Squash, Summer 275

Squash, Winter 150-250

Swiss Chard 1,300

Tomato 10,000

Turnip 12,000

Watermelon 450-700

Q. Why haven’t my carrot and onion seedlings come up after 2 weeks? I planted onions and Carrots in one bed – 1/2 on the front end and 1/2 on the back. Since the seeds are so tiny, I was wondering if my watering was causing them to NOT start. I have faithfully been watering this bed for 2 wks. twice a day w/o any sign of seedlings

The day-time temps range from hi’s in the ’90s and the night-time temps are in the 50’s. We used both products. Pre-plant and (now) weekly feed. They are grown in a mix of 1/2 virgin clay soil and 1/2 peat moss. I dug down into the beds about 1 1/2 foot and then put in the bale of peat moss. I mixed in the virgin soil after that.

I made a 1/2 inch furrow for the carrots and placed the seeds in that. For the onions – I just placed the seed on top of the soil. For watering, I used the end of the hose with a rag on the end and flooded the area. When the watering system was in, I used that – again flooding. The water goes away in a couple of minutes.

A. Planting carrot seed 1/2″ deep in clay soil is much deeper than is wanted, and placing the onion seed on the surface leaves it vulnerable to being dried out by the direct sunlight. Also, soil preparation with 50% peat moss was rather costly and time-consuming, and I recommend a much simpler solution.

Use no soil amendments, but use whatever soil you have as-is. Make a very shallow furrow on each side of your level soil bed next to the ridges. Mix the seed with sand in a ratio of 100 parts sand to one part seed (16 ounces sand to 1 teaspoon seed – or 1/2 kg sand to 5 grams seed). Distribute evenly in the furrows. Cover with 1/4″ (3/4 cm) SAND – not clay soil. Thereafter, if your soil begins to crack as it dries out, sprinkle a few pounds or kg of sand in the planting area and water. The sand will fill the cracks and solve that problem

The soil should be kept damp but not wet. Watering clay soil twice each day by flooding could have drowned your germinating seedlings. Also, the constant moisture and high humidity greatly encourages fungus diseases, which can also kill them.

Water gently, so as to not disturb the seed, and just enough to maintain moist, but not wet soil conditions. Do not use any fertilizers, other than those you mixed with the soil in making the beds, until your seedlings have emerged – then begin feeding the weekly feed down the center of the bed, making sure they do not come in contact with the tiny plants.

Saving Seeds

Q. I want to save seeds from tomatoes, peppers, and other vegetables – How do it do it right?

A. For those who are interested in saving and using seeds from your own garden, or receive seeds from non-guaranteed sources – here’s how we heat-treat tomato and some other seeds for long-term storage and to kill diseases. Remember, however, that hybrid seeds most likely will not produce the same fruit as the parent plant did. If you want seeds that hold true to the vegetable you ate, you must use open-pollinated, or heirloom seeds.

First, place seeds, along with the natural juices surrounding them, in a bowl or bottle. Place the bottle in a warm place out of the sunlight. Allow them to ferment for 5-7 days (the time can vary, depending on conditions). Once the gelatin has broken down from around the seeds, you may proceed to the next step. Next, pour off all materials, other than the seeds. Rinse the seeds gently in fresh water until they are clean – being careful not to wash them down the sink!

After you have fermented the seed and cleaned it, and (preferably) before drying, place seeds in the toe of a pair of pantyhose. Fill a bowl or pan with hot water from the kitchen tap (most people in the USA heat their water-heater water to 130+). Using a candy thermometer, adjust the water temperature to 130 degrees Fahrenheit, with more water – cold or hot. Place pantyhose with seeds in water, moving gently to assure even distribution of water over all seeds. Add hot water to bring temperature back up to 130 degrees. Continue the gentle seed movement and maintain temperature at 130 degrees for 30 minutes. Do not allow the temperature to vary more than a degree either side of 130. Less than 130 degrees will not kill diseases, and more than 130 for any length of time will kill the seed.

Remove seeds from water. Spread thinly on a paper towel in a warm dry place. Allow seeds to dry. When completely dry, place in a storage container with appropriate labeling. Do not return seeds to the container they were in before the heat treatment, but use a clean container.

While heat treatment will reduce germination by 10-20%, it is the weakest seeds that are lost, and the reduction in diseases is well worth the effort.

Q. What seeds should we buy, that will grow and produce well in our unique climate situation?

A. Our experience has been that all seeds that are sold in your area grow well there. Also, we’ve found that unless a variety has a longer growing season – such as sweet potatoes that require 140 days, or something like that – most everything you will buy from the seed catalogs do well there also. Just don’t expect tropical plants to do well in temperate zones.

As for heirloom seeds, we do not worry about them. Instead, we buy the best things we can, which are usually hybrids, and we then buy a #10 can of heirloom vegetable seeds and store them in a cool dry place.

This way, if we are ever not able to buy the great hybrids, we will have good heirloom seeds to fall back on. And in the meantime, we have not had to suffer with the inferior taste or production quality of most heirlooms – and we don’t have to leave plants in the garden long after maturity trying to obtain viable seeds, and thereby attract diseases and bugs.

You can get the #10 can of heirloom seeds right on the website at www.growfood.com.

Q. We just moved to 4 acres of very poor soil, that has been exposed after strip mining, and we need to get something growing. Is there any hope? What can we do??

A. Lucky You!

I’m really not kidding, and here are three good reasons why.

First, it is with good reason that we promise every Mittleider Method gardener “a great garden in any soil”, even WITHOUT ANY SOIL AMENDMENTS!

Following the tried and true principles and procedures outlined on the website, in the books and CDs, in the Training Videos, as well as in the posts on the Yahoo Groups MittleiderMethodGardening Group, you WILL have a great garden – even if your soil is as barren as sawdust and sand.

The natural mineral nutrients are so complete and balanced that you can grow healthy plants even in WATER. That’s one reason this is called “the poor man’s hydroponic system”.

The second reason is that your “barren” soil is probably not as barren of nutrition as you fear. The top layers of your soil – before the mining was done – had been weathering and having nutrition leached out of them from rain, snow, wind and crop removal for thousands of years, and they were probably already deficient in many nutrients.

However, the sub-surface layers of soil had much less of that weathering and leaching going on, and so may actually have MORE of some elements than the top layers had.

The third reason you may actually be lucky is that your land almost certainly has very few weed seeds, bugs, or diseases in it, for the very reason that all of those things have been scraped off. You have a CLEAN slate with which to work, and believe me many others would envy you that fact.

So, don’t worry about your “poor soil”, but be grateful for the positives I’ve described, then just create slightly raised level beds with 4″-high ridges, apply the Mittleider Magic Pre-Plant and Weekly Feed nutrients (per the formulas given in the Mittleider gardening books and CDs, as well as in the Learn section of this website) as instructed, then weed, water, and care for your plants, and you will be very happy with the results.

Many of you have heavy, clay soil in which to grow your gardens, and some have asked how to drain the soil, so it isn’t too wet to grow in. Following is a little history of commercial clay soil gardening in the USA and Russia, along with some suggestions.

The Imperial Valley of California grows some of the most prolific and healthy vegetable crops anywhere in the world. The soil is hard, heavy clay, and before it was drained it was so saturated with salt the crops were very poor. This condition existed because the Colorado River had for centuries deposited salty water on the land, which evaporated leaving the salt residue. At first, the farmers tried applying large amounts of water in attempts to drive the salt down, but the benefits were short-lived. Finally, in the ’40s, the farmers put underground tile drainage systems in, consisting of 4″ drainage pipes buried more than 4′ in the ground at intervals of about 100′, which all led to larger drainage ditches and etc. Today they produce over $1 billion in vegetables per year.

You can also grow great gardens in your clay soil, but if it’s wet or saline you may need to drain it. In Russia, Dr. Mittleider’s students dug drainage ditches 10-12″ wide and 2′ deep to drain a small parcel of “waste” ground loaned to them by the Soviet authorities. It quickly became so prolific and beautiful the authorities gave them 23 acres! That ground is now the site for the most famous and productive family-based gardening agriculture school in all of the Russian Commonwealth Countries. https://www.ipmce.su/~vk/mm/mm_intro.html And millions of Russian families, themselves growing in clay soil, credit the Mittleider Method for giving them self-sufficiency in their food production. https://www.ipmce.su/~vk/mm/images/g_i1a.jpg

The Mittleider Grow-Beds consisting of level, raised, ridged soil-beds themselves assist in the drainage process on clay soil. But if you have very high rain-fall, you may need to leave the ends open during the rainy season. Beyond that, either open drainage ditches or buried drain pipes, as described above, will solve your wet-soil problems.

Q. We live in Arizona on the Hopi reservation. We have added all kinds of soil treatment to our soil. It is mainly sand, blow sand. The problem is that when we water our crops the sand turns into almost like concrete. We sympathize with our plants as they try to survive in the stuff. What do you recommend that we do. I plan on using grow boxes next year and eliminate using our soil all together.

We water our flower garden about every other day. However the tomato plants that we have planted in this garden are struggling, so I used old soda liter plastic bottles and dug down around the plant and buried the bottle there so the roots could get some water. I was surprised as the ground was saturated only about the top 3- 4 inches and the rest of the way was like digging in concrete. I did manage to get through it.

Awaiting your suggestions.

A. There are 3 pictures in the Photos section of the MittleiderMethodGardening@yahoogroups.com group that show a garden near the Utah/Arizona border that was such bad blow-sand everyone in the community said it would grow nothing. The pictures are in the Miscellaneous folder on the second page, and the URL for the first one is https://ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/MittleiderMethodGardening/photos/view/970e?b=2

We also have several videos of gardens in the 4-corners area on the Navajo reservations that are as good or better than these pictures, and MUCH bigger.

Have you created 18″-wide soil-beds that are level, slightly higher than the aisles, and ridged to hold water, as we teach on the website?

I really doubt that you will have to resort to Grow-Boxes if you create soil-beds properly and care for them. Using Grow-Boxes in that hot climate will increase your water requirements significantly, which will probably mean you will have to have a much smaller garden.

Let’s talk more and see if we can’t coach you to some success. It’s not an idle brag when we promise to the world on the website “a great garden in any soil, in virtually any climate.”

Jim Kennard

Q. we live in a house backed onto the beach, the garden has sandy soil, is this ideal for growing vegetables?

A. If your beach is ocean you may have a problem with salinity! Ocean water or even occasional spray landing on your garden soil will likely leave salt deposits that make it difficult or impossible for vegetable plants to grow.

If you have ample clean water you should water the garden very heavily three times before planting. This should flush out the excess salt enough to let you grow a healthy crop.

Q. We are living in a very bad hard-pan soil area. When I dig a hole and add water, the water will stay for days. Can I have a garden on this ground?

A. So long as you have plenty of sunshine and access to water, the soil is no problem!

We promise “a great garden in any soil, and in almost any climate.” And we mean it! If you will follow the illustrations and instructions in the Mittleider gardening books that are available at www.growfood.com you will not even need to amend your soil with organic materials, and you can grow just fine in hard clay soil.

What you’ll be doing is making slightly raised, ridged, level soil-beds, and growing inside those. The only thing approaching soil amendments I do is plant small seeds by mixing 1 part seed with 100 parts sand, then cover the seed with sand, rather than clay soil.

Then, after the plants are up, and the clay soil begins to crack as it loses soil moisture, I will apply 5 to 10 pounds of sand to those cracks before watering. Doing this twice is usually enough to stop the damage to your plants’ roots from the cracking, and over time it improves the soil in the soil-bed as well.

If you feel the clay soil is just too hard to work with, and you’d rather not fight it, then build Grow-Boxes and grow your food above-ground. Several Mittleider gardening books show you how, including Grow-Box Gardening, Gardening By The Foot, and Lets Grow Tomatoes. And The Mittleider Gardening Course has a section that is devoted to Grow-Box gardening.

Simply by restoring the essential plant nutrients in the soil. The minerals from rocks mined from the earth are packaged, inexpensive, and available worldwide for use in your gardens. Their nutrient content is high and accurately determined – almost always far greater than comparably priced “organic” nutrients.

Q. Our soil is heavy clay! What can we do to have a decent garden – short of replacing it with something better, or adding tons and tons of sand and/or compost?

A. If you will do a couple of simple things beyond making raised, level, ridged beds, as described on the website and in all the books, you can have good success with your clay soil – without amending it!

When you plant seed, just use the handle of your hoe or rake to make a straight shallow furrow. Mix the seed you’re planting with 100 parts sand, then apply evenly in the furrow.

Then, instead of covering the seed with clay soil, cover it with a shallow layer (1/8″) of clean sand. You will have much better germination and emergence of your seeds if they don’t have to fight their way through clay.

After planting, as you water your soil-beds when the soil begins to crack as it loses moisture, apply just a few pounds of sand to the planting area of each grow-bed and water the sand into the cracks. The sand will fill the cracks and eliminate the cracking (you may need to do it a second time), and will stop the drying out and breaking of your plant roots that cracking clay soil usually inflicts upon them.

Q. As I sit here in the frozen north and think about spring – and converting from single rows to grow beds with 3.5′ walkways between, I am wondering about the waste of my great soil in these “subject” areas: Is there any reason that I should not remove this good soil and expand my planting area by relocating it elsewhere – after all I have spent years and countless $$$$ on improving it – I am not talking about any major excavation here – just a skimming of the top 4 to 6 inches of the best stuff????

A. Please remember that 90-95% of the work of growing healthy plants is done by the process of photosynthesis using 3 elements that come from the air, and made possible by sunlight and the attendant warm temperatures, plus water.

5%+ of the work is done by the other 13 essential nutrients, which man can control and supply.

Soil provides 6 functions, including 1) Anchoring the plants, 2) Holding moisture, 3) Storing nutrients, 4) Allowing oxygen to reach plant roots, 5)Allowing drainage, and 6) buffering the temperature.

All 6 of those functions can be adequately provided by the worst of soils, if the gardener uses level, raised, ridged beds, and provides water and small amounts of balanced natural mineral nutrients.

Therefore, amending your soil is not essential to having a good and productive garden.

Furthermore, adding organic materials to your garden soil, while it can improve soil tilth and add small amounts of nutrition, may also introduce diseases, weed seeds, and destructive insects into the garden. For these reasons, we recommend you exercise care and caution in trying to “improve” your soil.

Moving existing “improved” soil to another location may provide a benefit if none of the 3 negatives are present, but it is a lot of work and is not necessary. Plus, it leaves the existing garden area with beds that are 4-6″ higher than they should be from the aisles. This may make it difficult to keep moisture in the beds, and thus require much more water, or leave your plants suffering for lack of it. All things considered, I can’t recommend it, but just know that your plant roots will reach out into the aisle area somewhat (depending on water availability there), and can thus benefit from the soil.

Q. I’m concerned about my alkaline soil. What should I do, so that I can plant and hope to get a good crop? I’ve been told to get a soil test for starters, is that a good, or important thing to do, of is it a waste of time and money?

A. We have nothing against soil testing – as a matter of fact Dr. Jacob Mittleider kept a soil testing lab on regular monthly retainer for several years.

Here is what he learned: For the home gardener soil tests are almost never necessary, and the money and time spent are better used, first to buy natural mineral nutrients, and then to plant and care for the garden.

One of the things a soil test will tell you is the same thing that you can learn simply by checking your average annual rainfall. If you receive less than 20″ of rainfall each year your soil will be alkaline, with a pH above 7, and more than 20″ of rain annually will give you a pH below 7, or acidic soil.

This simply means that if your annual rainfall is above 20″, you need to apply lime to your garden as the source of calcium, and if it’s below 20″ you should use gypsum. Lime raises soil pH and gypsum does not. You may also need to apply some extra sulfur, if your pH is extremely high, as in a desert environment. This will lower the pH.

You may be told in a soil test, or by some county Ag agent, that you do not need to add certain fertilizer elements to your soil because “there is already 20-40 tons of potassium per acre in the soil” as an example of a common response. While that statement is very likely true, because potassium is ubiquitous (everywhere), only a fraction of one percent of it is water-soluble at any given time, and thus available to your plants.

What works for trees, shrubs, flowers, and lawns, does not work well for vegetables, and here’s why. Most plants grow fairly slowly, or they are only trying to make leaves, or flowers. Vegetables must grow to maturity very quickly, completing their entire life cycle in 60-90 days, plus they are required to produce fruit in substantial quantities. Both of these require that the 16 elements that plants need for healthy growth must be available in relatively larger quantities all of the time.

I recommend you stop spending time and money testing and/or amending your soil. Instead, use a nominal amount of money and very little time applying small amounts of a scientifically balanced natural mineral nutrient mix to your soil – first before planting – and regularly during the peak of the plant’s growing cycle. Mittleider Magic Pre-Plant and Weekly Feed mix formulas are available for you in Dr. M’s books, CD’s and in the Fertilizer pages of the Learn section on the website.

Water-soluble minerals (plant foods) in soils for thousands of years have moved with the soil-water out of the soil into creeks, rivers, and oceans. This has greatly reduced the water-soluble minerals available in the soil, and thus soils are less fertile. The floor of every ocean and sea in the world contains these solidified minerals, which were once on the dry land.

A new Mittleider gardener expressed the following – “Here’s what I learned after putting in my 1st Mittleider row.

“Start leveling from the center of each row and then work to each end. I think this would have saved some time because my rows dip down in the center.”

I’d like to pass along the experience of building and planting many thousands of soil-beds and Grow-Boxes, for this fine person and all other readers.

Here are the steps I recommend you follow to build and level your soil-beds:

1) Start with a very straight 8 to 10′-long 2″ X 2″ board (2 X 4’s will also work, but they’re very heavy for the ladies to use). Paint or stain it, to minimize warping.

2) Attach a string level to the center of the board with plenty of good glue.

3) After determining what direction you want to place your beds, with the high end nearest the watering source, and the beds as level as possible (do NOT worry about the location of the sun or the shape of your yard, but DO consider SHADE and avoid it!), measure and stake your beds, and tie nylon strings tight – 6″ above the surface – along both sides.

4) dig or till the entire length of the beds 18″-wide to a depth of AT LEAST 8″. DO NOT apply any Pre-Plant or Weekly Feed to the soil-bed until AFTER it has been leveled, or most of your fertilizers will end up in only half of the bed.

5) Dig or till the aisle space SHALLOWLY – just a couple of inches deep.

6) Pull 2″ of soil from the center of the aisle to the string, the entire length and on both sides of the bed.

7) Smooth and level the top of the soil-bed while breaking up any clods, and make the soil-bed the same width, immediately under the strings, all along its length.

8) Starting at the high end, check the level of the entire length of your bed BEFORE beginning to move dirt.

9) Supposing you had measurements at the end of your 10′-long level showing a difference of 2″, 1″, and 3″, it would indicate the high end of the bed is 6″ higher than the low end of the 30′-long soil-bed.

10) With a shovel, throw dirt from the top half of the soil-bed onto the bottom half, with more dirt coming from the first 10′ and going to the last 10′.

11) Your goal is to lower the high end of the bed by 3″ and raise the low end 3″ while keeping the bed flat and even throughout its length. This takes some practice, but it becomes easier after doing a few, and the beds are EASIER to do the second time, after they’ve once been leveled!

12) Only AFTER leveling the bed as described above do you apply and till or dig in the Weekly Feed ( 16 ounces for 30′, or 1/2 ounce per running foot) and Pre-Plant mixes (32 ounces for 30′, or 1 ounce per running foot).

13) After the fertilizers have been applied and mixed with the soil, re-check your level, smooth the top of the soil-bed, making the width equal throughout the entire length, and then begin making the ridges.

14) Pull 2 to 3″ of soil from the center of the bed to create a 4″-high ridge on both sides and ends of the bed with the top immediately under the strings.

15) When the ridges are complete drag a rake down the center of the bed to smooth and level the planting area. This should be about 12″-wide, and about 1″ higher than the aisles. DO NOT make your beds with the planting area more than 2″ higher than the aisles! This will lead to watering problems, and your beds will dry out too quickly.

16) Re-check the level of your bed throughout its length, and move dirt to assure that it is level. You should have no more than 1″ of fall in a 30′-long soil-bed.

Q. When should I prepare the soil in my garden? What about tilling in the Fall versus the Spring? And I’ve even heard you shouldn’t till at all because it makes the soil too fine and hurts the beneficial soil organisms. Also, should I “let the soil rest” before planting? I’ve heard this is something I should do.

A. You may hear that the soil should be tilled in the fall, and then you can plant in the spring without tilling. Also, some people will insist that a tiller is “bad for the soil structure” because it breaks up the soil particles too finely, and that you should only use a shovel, or plow, etc. And some folks are avid “no-till” gardeners, believing you shouldn’t disturb the soil at all, with it’s layer of sod and beneficial soil organisms, but rather, just poke a hole for your new seed or seedling, and let it compete with the existing situation for survival.

Please consider the counsel of Dr. Mittleider as follows:

We have never been able to discover any harm to the soil from the action of a roto-tiller. On the contrary, our experience has been that the better job that is done in breaking up the large soil particles into small ones, the better the soil is for new seeds and seedlings.

Tilling in the fall – either with a roto-tiller, shovel, tractor, or whatever means you have at your disposal – puts clean, healthy plant materials back into the ground where they can compost naturally through the winter. That includes any weeds that have managed to survive your vigorous weeding efforts, thus preventing them from wintering over. There are other benefits as well, including having the freeze-thaw cycles break up the clods and improve the soil tilth.

Failing to till again in the spring gives the weed seeds that are always in the ground, just waiting for favorable conditions to sprout, a substantial advantage over the vegetable seeds you are just planting. The same holds true for preparing your beds and then waiting several days before planting. Always prepare your soil beds immediately before planting, so that your vegetables have an even start with the weed seeds.

No-till farming has proven to be beneficial in certain situations, such as places where erosion can remove the topsoil. And it works well in the grain fields of places like Montana (where the best wheat I’ve ever used is grown by Wheat Montana Farms using this method). However we do not recommend it for your backyard garden, for several reasons – and since erosion is seldom a problem in that setting hopefully it won’t tempt you too much.

Q. “If one were to begin anew – from a previously untilled field covered in an assortment of vegatation: Grasses, broadleaf weads, etc; What is the best course of attack? Kill everything that grown with a short-term herbicide like round-up, then till and proceed from there;

A. THE HERBICIDES WILL ONLY KILL LIVING TISSUE THEY REACH SYSTEMICALLY WHEN APPLIED TO LIVING LEAVES. THIS CAN LEAVE MUCH OF THE ROOT SYSTEMS VIABLE. NEARBY PLANTS CAN ALSO BE DAMAGED OR KILLED. APPLICATIONS OF 2-4-D TO WEED CEREAL CROPS HAVE TRAVELED A MILE OR MORE ON THE WIND AND KILLED OTHER VALUABLE CROPS, SUCH AS TOMATOES.

Q. “Should I till the entire plot and fight the good fight with the runner type vegetations like knotgrass?

A. IF YOU HAVE AN INFESTATION OF PERENNIAL WEEDS, YOU SHOULD REMOVE THEM, INCLUDING ROOTS, RHYZOMES, AND RUNNERS. FAILURE TO DO SO WILL DOOM YOU TO MANY YEARS OF FIGHTING THEM.

Q. “Should I use some other method, perhaps cover the plot with black plastic and smother/cook the vegetation and then till?

A. BLACK PLASTIC WILL WASTE A GROWING SEASON WHILE IT DOES ITS WORK, AND WILL NOT KILL ROOT SYSTEMS THAT GROW MORE THAN A FEW INCHES BELOW THE SURFACE. AND TILLING WILL BRING A FRESH BATCH OF WEED SEEDS TO THE SURFACE TO GERMINATE AND MAKE YOUR LIFE MISERABLE.

Q. What if I concentrate on the grow beds and leave the pathways covered in grass and mow them so they do not provide weed seeds?”

A. LEAVING WEEDS OF ANY KIND IN THE AISLES PROVIDES “BUG HOTELS”, SO THE BUGS (AND DISEASES) CAN ATTACK YOUR PLANTS EASILY. ALSO, THE WEEDS WILL GROW INTO YOUR BEDS, AND YOU WILL BE OVERRUN WITH WEEDS IN THE ENTIRE GARDEN.

THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR PROPER PREPARATION OF A GARDEN AND ELIMINATING ALL WEEDS IS A MAJOR INGREDIENT OF THAT TASK. WE RECOMMEND YOU START WITH A MUCH SMALLER GARDEN THAN YOU PLANNED ON; PREPARE THAT SMALLER SPACE RIGHT AND COMPLETELY, AND YOU WILL GROW MORE IN THE SMALLER SPACE THAN YOU WOULD HAVE DONE IN THE LARGER SPACE YOU ORIGINALLY PLANNED. THEN, NEXT YEAR, IF YOU STILL WANT MORE VEGETABLES THAN YOU HAD LAST YEAR, PROPERLY PREPARE ANOTHER SECTION OF YOUR GARDEN PLOT BY ONCE AGAIN ELIMINATING ALL WEEDS, INCLUDING THEIR ROOT SYSTEMS.

Q. What do pine needles do? We have many pine trees and an overabundance of pine needles. They make nice coverings for the ground and keep in moisture (In Alabama that is important.), but do they make chemical changes in the soil?

A. Pine needles are good for your garden! They are best if you can chop them up finely – with a hammer mill, or perhaps several times through a chipper shredder. And if you are thinking of growing your own seedlings, or would like to build and grow in Grow-Boxes, pine needles make a good substitute for sawdust, peat moss, perlite, etc.

Jacob Mittleider has used them many, many times – always with good success. He has even grown seedlings in STRAIGHT PINE NEEDLES, just to prove his point that they are not harmful.

Q. Sandy soil is difficult to keep ridged. The ridges melt away in heavy rains that we have here. What can I do to improve the soil, so it will hold up, and how can I build the ridges strong enough that they hold up?

A. Gardening in sandy soil has its challenges, but they are not difficult to solve. For very sandy soil I recommend you find clean organic material, such as grass clippings or leaves – mulch the leaves as fine as possible with a chipper/shredder or mulching mower – and then till them into your soil-beds. In the fall you should be able to find an abundance of leaves. Just don’t use walnut leaves, as the sap is very hard on some of your vegetables, especially tomatoes. This will improve your soil tilth, and over time it will help the deterioration of the ridge sides.

Also on sandy soil – to reduce the tendency for the sides to give way, I make the ridges a bit higher than normal – perhaps 5 to 6” – by pulling more soil from the planting area. This usually leaves the planting area only a little bit higher than the aisles. Then I will do one of two things. As I make the beds, the final step is to hit the inside base of the ridges for the entire length a couple of times with the rake. This firms and settles the soil in the ridges, making them just a bit lower, wider, and less likely to fall back onto the newly sprouting seedlings. For the most sandy soil, I will go down the sides of the beds and press the ridges down with both hands cupped, to help them retain their shape.

Jim Kennard

A. My raised beds, which we like to call Grow-Beds, or Soil-Beds, do not have any added compost. We teach and demonstrate that you can have a great garden in any soil with no soil amendments, and it’s been proven in gardens all over the world.

HOWEVER, If you have materials that are clean and free of weeds, bugs, and diseases, it is a good idea to incorporate organic materials into your soil. And before winter is the ideal time to do it, so they will have time to decompose thoroughly before you plant. BUT NEVER PUT MATERIALS – COMPOSTED OR OTHERWISE – INTO YOUR GARDEN UNLESS THEY FIT THIS CRITERIA. DOING SO WILL CAUSE YOU MANY MORE PROBLEMS THAN THE BENEFIT YOU WILL RECEIVE FROM IMPROVED SOIL TILTH AND MAYBE A LITTLE ADDED NUTRITION.

IF YOU ARE USING CONTAINERS, WHICH WE LIKE TO CALL GROW-BOXES DO NOT USE COMPOST OR SOIL AT ALL!! Our experience has not been good with having people use their existing soil, especially mixed with compost, for filling their Grow-Boxes. Aside from the problems of the soil itself, such as too much clay, etc., etc., often there are seeds, diseases and/or pests in the soil which are introduced into the mix.

In addition, compost is often an additional problem – with seeds, pests, and diseases from that source – since most people don’t know how or don’t take the trouble to compost with sufficient heat to kill those things.

It’s for these reasons that we always strongly encourage people to obtain clean, fresh materials such as sawdust, peatmoss, etc. and sand for their container gardens.

Q. From some things I’ve read it sounds as if you advocate using a soil-less growing medium, like in hydroponics. Is that correct? And if so why?

A. If a person chooses to grow in containers – which we like to do in certain situations, such as where people have no soil, or very little space, or if their soil is toxic or so rocky that it can’t be worked – then we recommend a mix of clean materials such as sawdust, peatmoss, perlite, and sand.

This eliminates problems so often caused by weed seeds, pests, and diseases that are many times found in natural soils. Nutrition is provided by the two natural mineral nutrient mixes included in all the books and on the website.

In the large majority of situations, however, we suggest people grow in their existing soil. We do not recommend soil amendments as an essential, or even important part of the gardening process, simply because most people cause more problems than they solve in adding “compost”, etc. to the soil. The problems come from improper and/or incomplete composting of the materials, resulting in the same problems that exist in the soil itself, i.e. weeds, pests, and diseases being introduced into the garden.

If plant residues are composted properly, the core temperature of the material will be sustained at 140 degrees Fahrenheit virtually full-time for about 3 weeks. This kills all weed seeds, soil pests, and pathogens, and the compost is safe and healthy for gardens. For an example of this being done, read The ZooDoo Man article in this section of the website, which describes my 2-year experience making and selling “the world’s best compost” at Utah’s Hogle Zoo.

The nutrition we give the plants is the same, whether in the soil or in containers. For this reason, the Mittleider Method is sometimes called “the poor man’s hydroponic method”. We feed the same because we have found that most soil is deficient in some or all of the 13 elements plants need from the soil, and for the family gardener it is much more efficient and cost-effective to provide proper nutrition than to expend the time and money for soil tests, and then have to find, buy, and mix whatever elements are recommended.

Doing this has never caused excess fertilizer problems for the soil or the plants, and our gardens have been found to be clean, healthy, and free of any toxicity wherever we have been.

I say soil testing is not necessary for the family gardener because our experience  has indicated such to be the case as we have grown gardens and assisted people around the world.  In Jacob Mittleider’s early books he did advocate soil tests, but after many years of experience he removed those statements from his later books.
The reasons he did this included 1) one big reason for soil tests is to determine the pH, and his experience taught him that he (and every one of us) could determine what we needed to know about pH by finding out the amount of annual rainfall.  Everywhere annual rainfall is more than 20″ the soil pH will be acidic (below 7), and wherever annual rainfall is below 18″ the soil is alkaline (pH above 7). 
And the solution to getting pH into the ideal range for plant growth is to provide calcium (an essential plant nutrient, and “the foundation of a good feeding program”) in the form of lime whenever rainfall is above 20″, and in the form of gypsum wherever rainfall is below 20″.   The application of calcium is done separately from the regular weekly feeding regimen.  We apply what’s called a Pre-Plant Mix before planting of every crop, and for crops that will be growing longer than 3 months we apply Pre-Plant a second time (and even a third time if necessary).  All of this information is explained in The Mittleider Gardening course book – www.growfood.com/shop
2)  The second reason for soil testing is to determine the levels of nutrition of the numerous essential elements in the soil.  Again, Dr. Mittleider’s vast experience taught him over the years that almost always the AVAILABLE nutrition is deficient for most all of the elements, and so the best use of peoples’ time and money is to assume the nutrients are needed and feed all plants a complete and balanced diet throughout the growing season.  This is called the Weekly Feed mix, and once again is explained in The Mittleider gardening Course book.

Q. This is the second year I’ve planted squash in my garden. Last year we did nothing special to the soil, and the plants died. Just the squash. This year we added potting soil and humus to the soil and they are already starting to die. They have only been in the ground for a week. They are in full sun like the directions indicated. What am I doing wrong? Is there anything I can do to save them?

A. What condition were the squash in when you received them? Were they in a greenhouse environment? What is the weather like in your garden? Squash are a very tender plant, and must be hardened-off (acclimated to the outside) for two or three days before being transplanted into your garden.

Nothing needs to be done to the soil to grow squash successfully. Using the Mittleider Magic natural mineral nutrient formulas will give you good healthy squash plants in any soil.

However, unless it is above 70 degrees Fahrenheit in the daytime and doesn’t go much below 60 at night, they will not do well. They like warm weather, and people waste their time, effort and money when they plant squash and melons too early in their growing season.

Q. Would you recommend planting butternut squash in the grow boxes? Any special instructions?

A. You certainly CAN grow butternut, and all other squashes, in Grow-Boxes! Whether you’re growing in containers or in the soil the instructions are the same:

Any vining squash should be grown vertically, and T-Frames, with the plants guided around baling twine, are the best way to do that. Plant only one row in a narrow box, with plants a foot apart, and prune off the sucker stems. Guide alternating plants to opposite sides of the wood, pipe, or wire you have placed on opposite sides of the T-Frames.

Short varieties, such as zucchini and yellow squash, should again be grown in a single row (two rows on opposite sides of a 4′-wide box or bed). These should be spaced at least 2′ apart, and pruning of leaves that touch the ground and that compete with their neighbors should be continued throughout the season. This is important, so don’t neglect it.

The large squash leaves block the sun, and leave the environment under the plant very conducive for fungus diseases to grow. More fruit is produced in conditions where there is adequate light, and the harvest will be much longer if you can avoid or delay the powdery mildew that so often attacks squash plants.

Q. In Mittleider’s books, he mentions pruning *some* squash. I suspect that the pruning of those vine-type squash would be like the cucumbers???

However, what about a non-vine squash? Is it okay to prune off some of the leaves? We have some growing quite nicely, out in the rows, and we would like to get around a little better.

A. Pruning squash that you are growing vertically will be similar to other vertically-grown crops. You have to become familiar with the variety and not take off the fruit-producing vine(s).

For zucchini and other determinate varieties, you will do well to prune leaves regularly. Without pruning the plants get too many leaves, which restricts airflow and light. They will also be less susceptible to diseases like powdery mildew with proper pruning.

Jim Kennard

Q. My acorn-type squash is dying…specifically, the blossoms are falling off and/or if they do start putting on the fruit after it gets about one inch in diameter, the blossom end rots, and the fruit falls off. Otherwise, there is no indication that the plant is suffering. It is growing quite prolifically. What’s wrong, and what can I do to fix it??

A. Squash plants have two blossoms on the same plant (monoecious or one house). The female blossom is recognized by the tiny squash beginning to grow behind the flower. The male flower is recognized by the skinny stem behind the flower. Often, particularly early in the fruiting season before the bees find your plants, the female blossoms fail to get pollinated, and the plant aborts the tiny fruit.

Hand-pollinate your squash plants by taking the male flower – tearing off the petals – then going to a receptive female blossom, which is one in full flower and wide open, and also taking off a piece of the petal, then brush the pistil (the receptive part of the female, with the stamen, which pollinates it.

Jim Kennard

Q. The zucchini flowers disappear from the vine. Is it insects or animals?

A. Squash blossoms are edible, and in some societies even highly favored. I’m told that in Japan people even buy them. So if you have folks living nearby who enjoy squash blossoms they may be on your neighbor’s dinner table!

Bugs usually won’t be eating the entire blossom, so it’s most likely that some animal has discovered this culinary delight. I suggest you set a Hav-A-Heart trap bated with blossoms and see what you discover (hopefully not your neighbor’s hand :-)).

By Bernard Bailey – The best berries and the best production come from plants that were new the previous year.

Generally, space your plants 12 in. apart and feed and water according to the Mittleider Method. Be sure to water very well.

Strawberries, along with other fruit-bearing plants, bear the best in full sun.

After production is over, only allow plants to produce as many new plants as you want for the following year, cutting off all other new runners as soon as possible.

In late summer/early fall, dig out the mother plants and dispose of them.

Dig up the new plants for next year’s crop and sandwich between layers of wet newspaper or the like to keep wet.

Prepare the new bed, whether the same old bed, or an all-new one.

Don’t forget to apply the Mittleider Pre-Plant & Weekly Feed fertilizers and mix into the soil (1 oz of Pre-Plant and 1/2 oz Weekly Feed per running foot of bed).

Plant the new plants 8-12 inches apart, depending on variety.

When you plant, trim as many new leaves as necessary to prevent wilting (between 1/2 and 2/3rds); be sure the roots are spread out and buried as deeply as practical.

The crown, where the new buds grow out and the roots come out below, must be at the surface of the soil. If covered with dirt, the crown will rot, and the plant is lost. If out of the soil, it will be hard for it to produce new roots.

Water the plants very well. These plants will re-establish themselves and bear the following year, coming out like gang-busters in spring.

Now, this system is for people who want the biggest, nicest berries and a nice crop, but it requires some work.

Alternatively, you can renew every other year, but will get a reduced crop and berry size the second year.

There is another system my uncle used to use, but I don’t especially care for it.  In it, he let as many stolons (runners) grow as would, to produce a mat of plants. He only replanted every second year, and the only training he did was to return “runaway” stolons that wandered out of the bed back to the bed before they root in.

One will get a LOT of strawberries with this system, but they are very small (sometimes sweeter than the bigger ones in the other system).

There is greater total production in weight of fruit with this system. However, not only are the berries smaller, but you will have more problems with slugs, other insects and disease using matted rows.

Obviously, getting in with a hoe to weed is impossible, but very few weeds invade, because the berries smother the ground with their foliage and fruit.

This system works especially well with small, wild strawberries, yielding unbelievably sweet and flavorful fruit.

My uncle had customers for these berries that would not buy store strawberries or large berries from roadside stands. I can attest to how good they were from personally gluttony, ah, experience!

If you let ducks into the beds when there are no buds, blooms or fruit, they will reduce slugs and other pests.

Having a sustainable garden means very different things to different people. Some folks are led to believe that a sustainable garden must use only organic materials, because someday the commercially-available mineral nutrients may not be available. To me, this sounds somewhat like the suggestion that we should all ride bicycles because someday gasoline may not be available.

I suggest that a sustainable garden means one that can be used productively over an extended period of time, and would necessarily involve several elements, including the following:

Growing food you want to eat, so you are motivated to continue growing, Growing economically, so that it is worthwhile doing, and taking care of environmental issues, so that the ground will continue to support growing healthy crops. You can grow a sustainable garden using organic gardening, container gardening, hydroponic gardening, or soil-bed gardening. The Mittleider method encompasses them all.

Growing Food You Want to Eat The plants to be grown should be chosen primarily on what your family wants to eat, and what will grow in your locale. The Garden master CD, available at www.growfood.com in the Store section, has an excellent vegetable database, which will give you all you need to know about which veggies you should plant, as well as when and where to plant them, and how much you can expect to harvest. I could take this whole article to rave about the GM CD, but you can look that up in the Software category.

After that, consideration might be given to using heirloom seed rather than hybrid, if you are very concerned about losing the ability to replace seed each year from commercial sources. Growing for seed is easy if you’re growing heirloom corn or tomatoes, but very difficult and time-consuming if you’re wanting non-fruiting vegetables like onions, carrots, lettuce, etc.

An easy and inexpensive alternative to trying to harvest your own seeds is to buy the Garden-In-A-Can. This is a #10 can full of 15 varieties of triple-sealed heirloom seed, available at www.growfood.com. Storing it in a cool dry place will maintain a high germination percentage for up to ten years, and makes me grin (because I don’t have to do it) every time I think of the folks trying to grow for seed in their own backyard.

Growing Productively and Economically

Using the best-known growing practices will assure you the greatest yield of healthy vegetables from the smallest space and with the least amount of labor and financial inputs per unit of production. By doing this a family can be self-sufficient in their food requirements from proper gardening of a small fraction of an acre. I promise those we teach that they will have twice the yield on only 25% of the space they’ve used traditionally.

This is the greatest evidence of success in achieving a sustainable garden. Good examples of excellent, high-yield gardening methods that have been proven effective worldwide are found in the gardening books and CDs at www.foodforeveryone.org. And many pictures of successful gardens using these methods can be seen at the free gardening group MittleiderMethodGardening@yahoogroups.com.

Caring for the environment

Gardening should always be done without injuring the land, but rather should improve the land so that it will continue to support healthy plants indefinitely. Therefore, pesticides and herbicides should be used very judiciously, and only in extreme need.

Wherever possible these issues should be handled by cultural practices, such as those taught by Dr. Jacob R. Mittleider in the Mittleider Gardening Course and other books, CD’s and software at www.growfood.com as follows:

Eliminate all weeds from the garden area before planting and during the growing season. If not weeds will steal most of the water and nutrients from your crops. Prepare the growing area to be ideal for plant growth, but inhospitable to bugs and diseases. Water only the plants’ root zone. This saves over 1/2 the water usually used. Begin plants in a protected environment for a fast, healthy and strong start. Feed plants balanced natural mineral nutrients to assure fast and healthy growth. Harvest all plants at maturity to avoid allowing pests and diseases to multiply. Discard any bug or disease-infested plant parts away from the garden, and incorporate healthy plant parts into the soil to improve soil structure.
Following these sustainable gardening procedures will assure your family a great yield of healthy vegetables, give tremendous satisfaction, and even give you pleasure for many years to come.

In getting started with your sustainable garden it’s important that you choose the right sizes for the beds or boxes in which you’ll grow your plants.  Spacing your plants within your beds is just as important (see page 262 of The Mittleider Gardening Course book), and we’ll discuss that another time. For today I’ll explain why you will want to plant in soil-beds or containers of 18″ wide, or 4′ wide.

There are important production and efficiency-related reasons for these sizes. Do not make the mistake of thinking any size is just fine, or you will discover that you are not getting the yields you expected, and/or wasting water and fertilierd.  Remember, the “poor man’s hydroponic system” Mittleider Method is a recipe!

Bed widths narrower than 18″ put most plant rows too close together when planting two rows. They also crowd the roots in some larger crop varieties. There’s less available water, which can lead to water stress, and the soil mix in the boxes can dry out faster in hot weather, making it even worse.

Widths wider than 18″ make watering and feeding more difficult and less efficient. For example, placing fertilizers down the center of a box or bed that’s 22″ wide will leave young plants hungry, because their roots haven’t spread far enough to find the food. Applying two bands of fertilizer doubles the work and may still not solve the problem, depending on how well the watering system dissolves and distributes the fertilizers. Also, the water will not reach young plants’ roots as well, and they will suffer from lack of moisture.

Even the size for the 4′-wide beds or boxes has been worked out for maximum yield and efficiency. This size allows for planting 4 rows of most plants, and two rows of vertically-grown varieties.  Some folks mistakenly think they can get by with a 3′-wide box, and they pay heavily in lost yield unless they’re planting carrots or onions. The reason is that most crop varieties need the 2 feet of space between the inside rows for light and air. Always plan for the space your plants will need when they’re mature!  For recommended plant spacing see the Garden Planting Details Schedule, page 262 in The Mittleider Gardening Course book – www.growfood.co/shop.

The 5′-wide boxes demonstrated in Jacob’s first book, Grow-Box Gardens, are no longer recommended for several reasons. First, it’s difficult to reach into the center of the box.  Second, efficiency requires planting across – rather than lengthwise in the bed – and then watering becomes a problem. Watering must be done by hand since the automated watering system doesn’t work well for planting across the width of a 5′-wide bed.

Remember also that aisle widths are important! We recommend 3 1/2′ widths – especially for soil-beds. You can do alright with 3′-wide aisles if you prune properly and continuously.  Aisles less than 3′ usually do not provide sufficient light and air for large crop varieties, and thus reduce yields.  It’s also difficult to get equipment down narrower aisles.

The container depth of 8″ works very well – especially if plants can send their roots down into the native soil. For a patio planter with a bottom – or if planting on cement, etc. a deeper box can be good, to give more room for root growth and to avoid overheating in warm weather. Remember, however, that a deeper box takes more material to fill, which adds to your expense. It also requires more water, and keeping the soil mixture moist is critical to your success. And finally, the fertilizers are distributed throughout a greater volume of soil-mix, so young roots have to search for them.

Benefits of having a deeper box include aesthetics if you’re using your Grow-Boxes in a landscaping scheme. It also makes it easier for folks who have difficulty bending over to work near the ground. Some people have successfully used Grow-Boxes as deep as 3 feet.

Once again, remember that the 8″ depth is least costly to build and fill, and is most efficient for watering and feeding, and then govern yourselves accordingly. For more details, illustrations, and lots of pictures check out the Mittleider gardening books at www.foodforeveryone.org.

Q. The Mittleider Gardening Method seems to be based on the availability of modern-day fertilizers. Understanding that current day fertilizers may not be available in the future, how viable is this system for ongoing sustainability?

A. First off, the Mittleider Method is NOT dependent on commercial fertilizers for viability – see the third paragraph. The reality for over 50 years, however, is that everywhere we have been – including several countries in Africa, Papua New Guinea, Madagascar, Colombia, the Philippines, and 25 others – fertilizers have always been available.

Using modern-day fertilizers judiciously increases a family’s gardening yield many times – sometimes as much as 10 times what they were growing without them. This is what has allowed America to change from 1 person feeding a  few others to 1 person feeding 150 others.  So why would we NOT use them?  And why would we not want to teach people in the developing countries to use them – unless perhaps we WANT them to stay in the 19th century?

We strongly recommend people obtain enough fertilizers and seed (a long-term storage package of 24 varieties of heirloom seeds are available at www.growfood.com) for several years’ gardens. Fertilizer stores almost indefinitely without losing its value, and costs very little, compared to the yield it produces. Small storable packages of micro-nutrients are also available at www.growfood.com.  It is recommended that you acquire and put away at least 2-3 years’ seeds and fertilizers, so that you are prepared.

If fertilizers were ever to become unavailable it would be because the market system had collapsed, and everything would indeed be fouled up. In that event, using the methods we teach and using manure, compost, or even human waste, if that was all that was available – as “Manure Tea” as described in several places – the Mittleider gardener will still grow 2-4 times as much as his neighbor.

Gas may also become unavailable. Perhaps some folks would advocate selling your car and walking right now because automobile travel really isn’t sustainable in the long run. And gas is much more difficult and costly to store than fertilizer. Is that analogy too strong? Sorry if I offend anyone, but let’s all use wisely the best that we have available, and prepare calmly for the future. “If ye are prepared ye shall not fear.”

Graphically illustrated instructions for building and installing T-Frames are contained in the Mittleider Gardening Course – advanced section, Chapter 15, as well as other books. Here are the “guts” of it. For a 30′ Soil-Bed or Grow-Box, buy 6 – 8′ treated 4 X 4’s. Cut two of them into 6 equal-sized pieces 32″ long. Four 32″ lengths become the top of the T.

The other two 32″ 4 X 4 lengths then are cut into 4 equal-sized braces using 45 degree-angle cuts as follows: Measure and mark 10 5/8″ along the bottom edge, then 3 5/8″, then 10 5/8″, then 3 5/8″. On the top edge, measure and mark 3 1/2″, then 3 5/8″, then 10 5/8″, then 3 5/8″. Draw lines between these marks, then, using a table saw, cut on the lines.

Pre-drill through the top center of the 32″ tops, then use a 6″ spike to nail into the 8′ post. Screw or nail the braces to the top and post. Bury 15″ in the ground at 10′ (or shorter) intervals.

Use #8 gauge wire and eyebolts between the T-Frames, or use 1/2″ galvanized pipe (held in place by two nails). If you want to extend the growing season, use 2 X 4’s on edge, and make an arched canopy with 3/4″ PVC and 45 degree Slip fittings every 2′, then cover in early Spring and late Fall with 6 mil clear plastic.

Q. Where do I place my T-Frames in my containers that are 4′ wide?

A. If putting T’s in a 4′-wide box you build your T’s with 6′-long tops.  Place them inside the end of the box and at the center. This gives a 1′ overhang on each side into the aisles, and with a 3 1/2′ aisle (which is the minimum you need in this case) you end up with 18″ between the T’s in the middle of the aisle. Always place 4 T-s in a 30′-long bed or box – 10′ apart.

If you build the PVC arches and cover with plastic to extend your season, the plastic doesn’t come straight down but would be angled back in toward the box at the bottom, so a person can walk down the aisles.

Q. I am starting a nursery with a group of individuals using the Mittleider method. I am following the Gardening Course book as closely as possible but I am still unclear on 1 crucial point:

WHEN do you transplant the young mass propagated tomato plants from the wooden flats to individual cells? Do the plants need to have their first true leaves before you pull them out of the ground to transplant them? Advice on this would be greatly appreciated.

A.  The Mittleider Training Videos contain good material to SHOW you how to grow seedlings. They include 80 lessons contained on 5 DVDs, and are the backbone for the intensive 3-month training program we conduct. The cost is $49.95 + shipping at www.growfood.com/shop.

Meanwhile, here’s a short explanation: The first transplant – from a flat or tray with hundreds of tiny seedlings to either another flat or individual 2″ cells – needs to be done after the seedlings have their first “true leaves”.

1) If using another tray be sure to mark it first with a spacing marker.

2) Water the first tray before transplanting;

3) do not “pull” the seedlings out of the ground, but use a dibble (a 1/2″ doweling rod 6″ long, sharpened on one end), to carefully remove the seedlings;

4) keep as much soil mixture on the roots as possible;

5) remove the “seed leaves”.

6) Make a hole at each mark large and deep enough to accommodate the root ball and allow the seedling to be planted deep, with just the leaves above ground.

7) Water (always with the Constant Feed solution – 1 ounce of Weekly Feed to 3 gallons of water) immediately after transplanting, and be sure to leave the flat in full sun all day.

Q. I have started to spot the dreaded Blossom End Rot on SOME of my tomatoes. A plant may have a few tomatoes with the black spots on the bottom and then the others on the same plant are fine. The leaves and the entire plant look very healthy.

I am watering regularly and feeding weekly. However, we are experiencing very high temperature currently (in the 95-100 range) and I am wondering if this is the reason, or is it lack of calcium, or too much nitrogen, too much water, not enough water…maybe all of the above? What would be the best approach to saving the tomatoes?

A. The wet and slimy blossom-end rot is a disease and is probably not what you are seeing.

The DRY blossom-end rot is caused by stress to the plant when the fruit is maturing. Any stress, including a nutrient deficiency, can contribute to this condition. Calcium and boron are common culprits.

You should consider putting another application of Pre-Plant Mix onto your tomato rows, and working it into the top 2″ of the soil, if you have not done so in the past 4-6 weeks.  One application of Pre-Plant is sufficient for each crop of a single-crop variety of plants, however, a tomato “crop” is continuous throughout several months – not like a cabbage crop that is finished in 75-90 days.

On the other hand, in hot weather (95+ daytime temperatures) like you’re experiencing the stress could simply be heat-related.

Seriously consider putting some 25-30% shade cloth placed directly above the plants, to shade them between 11 A.M. and 3 P.M.  If you can shade them a bit during these hottest hours of the day it may relieve some of that stress.

Also, don’t hesitate to water a second time each day in that kind of weather. You don’t need a LOT of water (standing water = field capacity), but it needs to be available to the plant constantly, as the plant must transpire (sweat) to stay cool in hot weather, and it uses as much as 95& of its water to do that.

Q. What is causing our tomatoes to have curled leaves? Could it be too
much water? We are watering with two PVC lines per 10’x34″ vegetable box.

Have been watering twice a day as the temperatures have been in the 90 degrees many weeks (live in southern California). We notice the water does come out from the bottom of the boxes into the surrounding soil – boxes are 12″ deep but the soil is about an inch below edge of box – Dr. M’s books say to level but we find that the water runs off too quickly when soil is that high.

Also, some of the plants have rusty or dried leaf edges, What could cause that? We looked in the three volumes of Dr. M’s -The Garden Doctor, and it showed too much fertilizer can cause dry leaf edges. Do you think that is the case?

A. Curled leaves could be because the leaves are old; it could be because of the heat; it could be a general deficiency; it’s highly unlikely that it’s too much water directly.

If you’re watering twice per day I recommend you consider applying less fertilizer and do it twice each week. Very frequent watering can leach the fertilizers out of the Grow-Boxes, and you can end up with a general deficiency and slow your plants’ growth.

Unless you’re applying more fertilizer than prescribed your dry leaf edges are not excess fertilizers. Lack of potassium can cause dry leaf edges, and I suggest you try applying some potash fertilizer one time between regular feedings, using 12-16 ounces per 30′-long bed.

Q. I am wanting to try double density on my tomatoes this year and can’t locate the distance between the suspension pipes on the T-frames. Is 18 or 24 inches about right?

A. Tomatoes can be planted as close as 6″ apart, but 8-9″ is recommended until you become very competent and regular in your pruning and suckering.

The width of the “T” top recommended is 32″, and the pipes or wires should be placed about 1″ in from the outside edge. This gives you a separation of 30″. Pipes are held in place with two nails, one on each side of the pipe.

Q. last year I planted tomatoes the plants were full of little whiteflies. The tomatoes had a sticky black to the touch. What did I do wrong?

A. Perhaps we should ask ourselves what did you fail to do. Whiteflies are a real nuisance on tomatoes, and you may need to discuss control measures with your local gardening expert – perhaps a garden center, nursery, or your County Agriculture Agent.

Be aware that some commercial pesticides are recommended for whitefly control, but they also kill beneficial insects, such as ladybugs, that feed upon whiteflies.

Start by spraying infested tomato plants with a strong stream of water.  While only a temporary solution, this can knock whiteflies and other pests off the plants.

Remove all old plant material from the garden, including all weeds.

Ideal temperatures for growing tomatoes are above 70 degrees daytime and 55 degrees nighttime, and below 95 degrees daytime and 80 degrees nighttime.

A 15 degree differential between daytime and nighttime temperatures is best.

Temperatures outside the above ranges will substantially reduce or stop fruit-set and also contribute to other problems, such as cat-facing, blossom-end rot, etc.

Q. I saw a picture in the YahooGroups MittleiderMethodGardeningGroup Photo file named: Mitts Tomatoes 2005. Those were the most beautiful tomato plants I have ever seen.

What I would like to know is, were they grown next to a fence and tied off to make them so tall and straight? I didn’t see any tomato cages or stakes. We are building box gardens this year and I really want my tomato plants to look like Mitts. Also, can anyone tell me what mixture to use in my boxes?

A. The tomatoes were grown under T-Frames and guided up baling twine strings.

The soil mixture we used was sawdust and sand (I helped Dr. Mittleider with building and filling the boxes).

Jim Kennard

The comments and questions are from a new Mittleider gardener in the MittleiderMethodGardening group in Yahoo.Groups.com, and my responses are in parentheses. It is instructive, and shows someone is really paying attention!

Over the past couple of weeks, I have signed on to this group and obtained an enormous amount of help and information. I have also read one of Dr. Mittleider’s early books. What I have found is that I read something in a post or article and then forget where I read it. I am planning to garden using the 18” beds (not grow boxes) for my garden. Here is what I have gathered in summary. Please check and see if I am correct.

1. Grow beds in the garden should be 18” wide and 30’ long. Aisles should be 3 1/2’ and ends 5’. (Any length is ok – just remember to feed Pre-Plant 1 ounce per running foot and Weekly Feed 1/2 ounce per running foot).

2. They should be 12” in the middle with 3” ridges on each side. (The actual planting area will be between 10” and 12”, and the ridges take up about 3” horizontally on each side, but they need to be 4” + high).

3. I can plant two rows of small crops in each 18” row if I plant at the base of the ridges.

4. I need to only plant 1 row of vining plants such as tomatoes, beans, melons, squash, etc. offset to one side.

5. Watering is done with the PVC method, three holes, one in the middle other two at 45-degree offsets. (Watering can be done with a hose also. Just tie a large towel over the end of the hose – with the end open. This cuts the pressure but allows the full flow of water.)

(If using the automated watering system you need the three holes described – each one drilled with a #57 drill bit (much smaller than a 1/16th” bit) in Schedule 200 PVC pipe – every 4” along the entire length of the bed or box.)

6. The T-frames are made of 8’ (4 X 4) posts set into the ground 15” with 32” tops. They should be set no more than 10’ apart.

7. QUESTION: How many strands of #8 wire do you recommend at the top? (Two strands of wire are used – one on each side, near the edge of the T.)

8. QUESTION: How do I get my vines to the wire strands on the T-frame? If I was using the grow boxes I see that I could attach a string or wire to the box and the other end to the wire. However, since I am using the beds, I don’t have anything to attach to. (You use baling twine. First, run tie-wire along the base of the T-Frame, nailed to the T-Frames at ground level the full length of the bed. Tie the twine to the wire or pipe, etc. at the top, then drop it down and tie it to the wire at the bottom. Run strings from both sides of the T-Frames down to the same wire. Then guide the plants up the strings, alternating between the near and far sides of the T-Frame)

9. I am doing a “trial run” this fall. I will be starting with three rows. I am in central Alabama. (where, exactly? I have a part-time home in Birmingham, and would love to meet you if we can work it out.)

10. QUESTION: If I cover each bed with the plastic greenhouse mentioned will that significantly increase my growing season (in Alabama) and ultimately the produce I gain? (So long as you can avoid frost getting to your plants, you can keep them growing, and thus producing.  You must remember to keep feeding them until 8 weeks before you expect to stop production.)

Growing Tomatoes Vertically Using T-Frames

Here’s how to grow tomatoes the way “the big boys” do it! Do it right and your yield will amaze you as well as your neighbors. Use one T-Frame every 10 feet maximum. Between the T-Frames use heavy-gauge wire, galvanized steel pipe (1/2″ is adequate) or even 2 X 4’s on edge. If your growing season is short and you want to build a frame strong enough to support a plastic covering in early spring and late fall, use the 2 x 4’s. Then arch PVC on top using 45 degree slip fittings, and cover the entire structure with 6 mil clear greenhouse plastic for the world’s least expensive greenhouse. This works best tying two adjacent beds together into one greenhouse.

Graphically illustrated instructions for building and installing T-Frames are also contained in the Mittleider Gardening Course – advanced section, Chapter 15. This chapter is available free on the Food For Everyone Foundation’s website at www.foodforeveryone.org, and great illustrations are contained in the Appendix.

For a 30′ Soil-Bed or Grow-Box, buy 6 – 8′ treated 4 X 4’s. Cut two of them into 6 equal-sized pieces 32″ long. Four 32″ lengths become the top of the Ts.

The other two 32″ 4 X 4 lengths then are cut into 4 equal-sized braces using 45 degree-angle cuts as follows: Measure and mark 10 5/8″ along the bottom edge, then 3 5/8″, then 10 5/8″, then 3 5/8″. On the top edge, measure and mark 3 1/2″, then 3 5/8″, then 10 5/8″,then 3 5/8″. Draw lines between these marks, then using a table saw cut on the lines. Pre-drill through the top center of the 32″ tops, then use a 6″ spike to nail into the 8′ post. Screw or nail the braces to both the top and the post.

Bury the T-Frame 15″ in the ground at 10′ (or shorter) intervals just inside the ridge on one side of your Grow-Bed, or inside the side frame of your Grow-Box. Use #8 gage wire and eye-bolts between the T-Frames, or 1/2″galvanized pipe, held in place by two nails placed 1″ and 1 ½” in from the outside edges, or 2 X 4s on edge, nailed to the outside of your 4 X 4 cross-pieces.

To extend your growing season several weeks in both spring and fall, use 2 X 4’s on edge to tie the T-Frames in two adjacent beds together, and make an arched canopy with 7’-long 3/4″ PVC and 45 degree Slip fittings every 2′, then cover in early Spring and late Fall with 6 mil clear greenhouse plastic. Some heat may be necessary to protect from hard frosts, so consider an electric heater or other heat source.  Again, excellent illustrations are in the appendix of The Mittleider Gardening Course book.

Growing Tomatoes Vertically – How Close to Plant

How close together should you grow your tomato plants? The answer depends on several factors, and ultimately it is all up to you. If you are growing vertically and using T-Frames, with tomatoes growing up baling twine string, you can plant them as close as 8″ apart.

The key to success is in how diligent, accurate, and consistent you are in pruning the sucker stems! gently guide your plants around the string at least once every week in the spring, and every 4-6 days in the summer, and take off all sucker stems also at least that often. This will give you a single-stalk plant with large hands of tomatoes every 5-7″ all the way up the stalk, and your fruit production will amaze you, with anywhere from 15# to 30# of fruit per plant.

On the other hand, if you neglect to take off all the suckers, your plants will become big, bushy masses of leaves and branches. The plants will compete with adjacent plants – and even with their own sucker branches – for light, and you will have a big mess on your hands, with much less fruit for your efforts.

So, if you are not diligent in pruning, even 14″ apart is too close together. I recommend planting your tomatoes every 9″, with ONE ROW ONLY in your beds, and then guiding every other plant up baling twine strings to opposite sides of T-Frames.

Growing Tomatoes Vertically – How to Prune

In order to harvest a large amount of healthy home-grown tomatoes in a small space, indeterminate plants should be used and grown vertically using stakes, or more preferably, T-Frames and baling twine strings. This requires that you allow the plant to have only one or two stems, and eliminate all others by pruning.

Let’s first discuss how to remove all the sucker stems. This is the major function of pruning tomatoes.

Where the leaf branch grows out from the main stem (in the crotch) pinch off the new growth that comes out of that area. But make sure you don’t pinch out the top growth. When in doubt stay away from the top of the plant.

Also, stay away from the blossoms that grow about an inch above the leaf node or crotch. Those become your fruit.

To maximize your tomato yield, you must manage the plant’s growth. This could be compared to the biblical pruning of the vineyard.

A single plant, taking up less than one linear foot of space, can produce 15 to 30# of fruit – but only if you keep it to one or two main stems. Remember, we’re doing “Modified ” here, and the hydroponic and greenhouse growers know what they are doing when they prune to one main stem per plant.

Prune the sucker stems from Indeterminate varieties only! Right at the point where each leaf grows out from the stem, a new (sucker) stem will appear and begin to grow. Take it off, and the sooner the better. Don’t let the plant waste energy growing the sucker stem. But DO NOT remove the leaf – only the sucker stem growing between the leaf and the stem!!

Once your plant has several sets of leaves, it will begin producing blossoms. THESE BECOME YOUR TOMATOES. They appear about one inch ABOVE the leaf joint, or node as it’s called. NEVER take off the blossoms. Remember, that’s your fruit!

Both pruning and guiding your tomatoes up the baling-twine string should be done religiously, at least once each week for every plant.

You should prune all leaves that touch the ground, and you may also need to prune some leaves, or parts of leaves, to prevent them from overlapping with the leaves of adjacent plants and competing for essential sunlight. Minimize your problems from over-crowding of your plants by allowing adequate space for each plant to grow to maturity in full sunlight.

Q. Almost all of my tomatoes have big cracks in them. What causes that and is there something I can do to prevent them? I’ve been following your gardening advice for two years now and am very pleased with the improved yields in my garden. Thanks.

A. Cracking is caused by fluctuations in soil moisture, caused by uneven or infrequent watering – particularly after the fruit has reached the mature green stage and is beginning to ripen. At this stage of growth, the skin becomes thicker and more rigid. When the water supply is then restored, the plant will resume bringing nutrients and moisture into the fruit. This will cause the fruit to enlarge, which in turn splits the skin and results in cracking.

Some people believe you shouldn’t water after the fruit begins to ripen, and if you want only those few fruits that are already grown, then you can perhaps ripen a few tomatoes without additional water.

However, indeterminate tomatoes will produce fruit for MANY months, until frost kills the plant, so stopping the water permanently is not a good solution – for cracking or anything else.

The single best control for cracking is a constant water supply to the root zone of the plants. This requires watering daily – and sometimes even more often in very hot weather.

Q. My tomato bush is 4 feet high, why are the leaves turning yellow at the bottom and center of the bush?

A. It could be any one or a combination of several things.

1. What are you feeding your plants? lack of any of 4 different nutrients could cause some yellowing symptoms, including nitrogen, zinc, manganese, and iron. Those symptoms are somewhat different, so you need to learn the specifics of how each one affects the plant.

A great set of books to make you an expert on deficiency symptoms is The Garden Doctor 3-volume set, by Dr. J. R. Mittleider. They can be purchased on the website in paper, or for only $20 more you can have the entire Mittleider Gardening Library on CD ROM as a Searchable Database.

Q. Do you have information about orchard care? I think we do pretty well with the pruning (read lots of books) but is there a best way to fertilize the trees? I’d like to let the grass grow under the trees and just keep it mowed to keep the weeds down unless that’s a bad idea.

We have a fairly high water table, (about 6 feet down we hit water in the summer months) so I’m not sure how often to water, either. Any advice?

A. Shallow disking to eliminate weeds saves all nutrients for your trees. If you keep the grass, etc. that’s growing between the trees in your orchard mowed properly, it is not a big problem that way. Do remember, however, that any growing materials under or around your trees can harbor pests and diseases.

There are two reasons for pruning fruit trees: 1) to increase light to the center (and all parts) of the tree, and 2) to shape the tree to your desires. “The best time to prune is when you have a sharp knife (pruning shears – JK).” (Dr. M)

Watering should be done at least once every 7 to 10 days. However, once your trees are well established, if you have a permanent water table only 6 feet down, you may not have to water as often. Never allow your trees to show signs of water stress, such as wilting of the leaves. Unless you have a serious problem with drainage, it is better to water too often than not often enough.

You should feed your fruit trees 4 times each year.

If you are transplanting small trees, you need to do the following: Dig a hole 12″-15″ (30-37.5 cm) wide and deep. Make a Pre-Plant mix with 5# (2 kg) lime with 4 ounces (114 grams) Epsom Salts and 1 ounce (28.5 grams) of borax.  Make a “Weekly Feed” mix with 25# of 16-16-16 (11.36 kg) fertilizer plus 4# (1.8 kg) of Epsom salts and 10 ounces (285 grams) of the Mittleider Micro-nutrients.

Mix 2 ounces (57 grams) Pre-Plant mix and 1 ounces (28.5 grams) with the soil going in the hole. Plant the tree. Water regularly.  Wait 3 weeks, until the roots are settled and well established in the soil, then apply 1 ounce (28 grams) Weekly Feed to the soil around the tree, keeping at least 3″ (8 cm) away from the trunk. Apply Weekly Feed again in 45 days, and again in 45 days, watering thoroughly each time.  In long growing seasons an additional feeding can be made.

For established small trees, loosen the soil at the surface and apply Pre-Plant mix at the end of the dormant season.  Trees should receive Pre-Plant once each year, in amounts double the Weekly Feed applications which follow. Two weeks after applying the Pre-Plant, apply Weekly feed as follows: For a 1″ to 2″ (2 1/2-5 cm) diameter trunk – 1 ounce (28.5 grams).   A 2″ to 4″ (5-10 cm) diameter trunk gets 4 ounces (114 grams). And a 4″ to 8″ (10-20 cm) diameter trunk should receive 8-12 ounces (228-342 grams).   After 45 days and 90 days, and in long growing season areas – when next year’s buds begin to form – repeat the above applications. Large trees of 12″ to 16″ (40-80 cm) diameter, would get 1-2# (454-908 grams) in 4 applications.

Q. Can a pit of a peach be successfully planted into a pot and grow into a tree, or should I just order a peach tree from a nursery?

A. Producing a peach tree from a pit planted in a pot is plenty possible (Pretty imPressive huh?). However, there are reasons you may not want to take the time and effort to do so.

Most peaches we buy and eat today are from hybrid plants. This means that the tree you get from a planted seed will not produce the same fruit that you had the pleasure of eating, but will be different, and very likely inferior. A hybrid tree is grown by grafting a branch from the mother tree onto rootstock from another variety. Therefore, unless you are sure the peach is an heirloom (not hybrid), or you are willing to have something much different than the peach you ate, you should not bother to plant your peach pit.

Walnut seeds won’t germinate immediately when planted because they are in a dormant state, and you must break their dormancy before the seed can germinate. Both scarification and stratification are required to break a walnut seed’s dormant state, for germination to occur.

The black walnut’s dormancy is caused by the thick, hard seed coat. Breaking or weakening the seed coat is referred to as scarification, and is the first step necessary to break the seed’s dormancy. A metal file or coarse sandpaper can be used, but is difficult and time-consuming, unless you have a power sander.

Treatment with boiling water also works. Place seeds in water of 170 to 210 degrees F. Make sure it’s not boiling! After the water cools, continue to soak seeds for 12 to 24 hours. The process is slow because you need to use 10-20 times the volume of hot water as seed.

Whatever scarification method you use, you must be careful not to damage the embryo inside. Once scarified, seeds will not store well and should be planted as soon as possible after treatment.

If scarification is done naturally after planting the seed coat may be broken by microbial action, exposure to alternate freezing and thawing, or fire. Depending on nature to scarify your seeds may require leaving them in the ground longer than one year.

The second step in breaking the black walnut seed’s dormancy is stratification. This requires being exposed to cool temperatures and moist conditions for several months. Winter weather in the Northern USA provides the necessary conditions to break dormancy naturally.

You can also break the seed’s dormancy by stratification in a refrigerator. Using a coffee can, plastic jar, cottage cheese container, or a plastic bag, place the seed in a moist 50:50 mixture of sand and peat moss. Punch holes in the lid of the container to provide air.

Let’s take the process from the start: Collect your walnuts immediately after they fall to the ground – before the squirrels get them. Remove the husks, then place the nuts in water. Nuts that float are not viable and should be discarded. The viable nuts will sink to the bottom.

Scarify your nuts, and plant 1 to 2″ deep in the fall or stratify the nuts in a refrigerator at 34 to 41°F for 90 to 120 days and plant in the spring. Use the natural soil or Grow-Boxes that are open to the soil beneath the box, because walnuts produce a long taproot.

Prepare the soil with Pre-Plant and Weekly Feed, then after the seedlings emerge feed 3 times each year. Walnut seedlings grow fast, and it’s recommended they be transplanted into the orchard within 2 years after germination, unless you have tree-planting equipment.

Jim Kennard

Q. How do I care for trees? I need to transplant some small bare-root ones, and I want to properly feed the other trees in my yard.

A. If you are transplanting small trees, you need to do the following: Dig a hole 12″-15″ (30-37.5 cm) wide and deep. Make a Pre-Plant mix with 5# (2 kg) lime with 4 ounces (114 grams) Epsom Salts and 1 ounce (28.5 grams) of borax.  Make a “Weekly Feed” mix with 25# of 16-16-16 (11.36 kg) fertilizer plus 4# (1.8 kg) of Epsom salts and 10 ounces (285 grams) of the Mittleider Micro-nutrients.

Mix 2 ounces (57 grams) Pre-Plant mix and 1 ounces (28.5 grams) with the soil going in the hole. Plant the tree. Water regularly.  Wait 3 weeks, until the roots are settled and well established in the soil, then apply 1 ounce (28 grams) Weekly Feed to the soil around the tree, keeping at least 3″ (8 cm) away from the trunk. Apply Weekly Feed again in 45 days, and again in 45 days, watering thoroughly each time.  In long growing seasons an additional feeding can be made.

For established small trees, loosen the soil at the surface and apply Pre-Plant mix at the end of the dormant season.  Trees should receive Pre-Plant once each year, in amounts double the Weekly Feed applications which follow. Two weeks after applying the Pre-Plant, apply Weekly feed as follows: For a 1″ to 2″ (2 1/2-5 cm) diameter trunk – 1 ounce (28.5 grams).   A 2″ to 4″ (5-10 cm) diameter trunk gets 4 ounces (114 grams). And a 4″ to 8″ (10-20 cm) diameter trunk should receive 8-12 ounces (228-342 grams).   After 45 days and 90 days, and in long growing season areas – when next year’s buds begin to form – repeat the above applications. Large trees of 12″ to 16″ (40-80 cm) diameter, would get 1-2# (454-908 grams) in 4 applications.

Now is the time to prune many of the trees in your yard. They are dormant now and don’t mind being pruned at all.

1. Start on the inside of the tree. Remove any dead wood or any branches that are growing toward the center of the tree.

2. Remove any branches that are crossing another branch or rubbing together. The inside of the tree needs to be open and airy.

3. Move to the outside of the tree. Stand back and look at the tree and imagine how you would like the tree to look. Draw an imaginary line around the tree to the exact shape of how you want the tree to look. Then start removing any branches that are growing outside of that line.

4. The same rules apply for the outside of the tree. Open the tree up a little and remove any branches that are too close to another branch or are rubbing or crossing another branch.

6. When removing branches near the trunk of the tree always make your cuts as close to flush with the trunk as possible and do not leave a stub sticking out.

7. Wounds larger than a 50¢ piece can be painted over with a tree wound dressing, but in most cases, it’s not necessary, and some professionals feel that wound dressings slow the healing process.

8. That’s it! Your tree will love you for it.

Have a great week!
-Mike McGroarty

John Coleman: Comparative Anatomy & Taxonomy

Comparative anatomy works on the simple and demonstrable fact that the biological form usually defines function. Human is closest to frugivore animals (fruit eaters), from the anatomic and taxonomic point of view.

Comparative Anatomy & Taxonomy

Comparative anatomy works on the simple and demonstrable fact that the biological form usually defines function. Individual features, or species may break the rules, but a look at many factors will reveal a species true biological role. Certainly science does not really validate the typical vegan diet, as this serves cultural imperatives. Science provides us with an indicator of human nutrition which was not established by culture, but is certainly that of a herbivore or frugivore and not a carnivore or omnivore.

Adapted from The Comparative Anatomy of Eating by Milton R. Mills

THE GARDEN DOCTOR: UTAHN HAS TRAVELED THE WORLD TEACHING PEOPLE HOW TO GROW CROPS IN ANY SOIL, CLIMATE OR CIRCUMSTANCES.
By Dennis Lythgoe, Staff Writer
Published: April 6, 1995 12:00 am

JACOB MITTLEIDER is an Idaho baker turned agricultural wizard. For 30 years, he has specialized in turning “devil land” into genuinely productive crops that will feed families many times over.

His is a single-minded effort to help people all over the world to become self-sufficient.  A Utahn for almost 20 years, he grew up in California (raised in Idaho and lived for many years in California – JK) but has spent extended periods in such underdeveloped countries as Ethiopia, India, Lebanon, Tonga, Fiji, Samoa, New Guinea and several African countries teaching people how to grow crops that will never disappoint, whatever the climate, materials or circumstances.

He is best known for his “grow-box garden,” which is known for the elimination of weeds and the production of a large crop in a small space. The old grow-box garden was planted in raised beds in open wood frames and filled with custom-made soil.

The beds were usually about 30 feet long, 5 feet wide and 8 inches high, and the nutrients were mixed in. The soil was a mixture of sawdust and sand. The boxes were purposely bottomless so the roots could penetrate the subsoil.

The “garden doctor” has learned a lot since he introduced grow-box gardening and now believes in a more refined system with even greater simplicity.

The irony is that Mittleider has never liked farming.

“I grew up on a farm, but I never could understand why we could have so many bad patches in a corn field. I remember asking my father, `Why can’t we grow it all the same?’ He said, `The ground makes the difference.’ But it just didn’t make sense to me.”

Even though he became a baker, then spent 20 years in the nursery business – growing flowers and vegetables commercially, he never forgot that conversation with his father. He was unsure of his future when some agricultural specialists at the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s Loma Linda University approached him about taking a trip.

Mittleider’s nursery was located near the university. Besides, he is a devoted Adventist and had taught gardening classes there.

“I had never taken any education in agriculture, but they said, `We’d like to have a disinterested party give us a report on why the yields in these underdeveloped countries are declining.’ ”

Mittleider talked it over with his wife, Mildred, and they decided to do it. “We spent 41/2 months in 1963 in 24 developing countries, and I was never so shocked in all my life with what I saw. I said to myself, `There is absolutely no excuse for people to be going hungry, and why doesn’t some-body do something about it?’ ”

When he returned, the Australasian division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church questioned him about what he found. He was typically blunt. “You get the sunshine, the rain and the land free, and you waste all three.” Their wise response was to challenge him to spend two years in New Guinea demonstrating how to make the best use of natural resources.

Mittleider immediately remembered a simple statement about farming he had memorized years earlier: “The narrow plans, the little effort put forth, the little study as to the best methods call loudly for reform. If any of them do not wish you to speak to them of advanced ideas, let the lessons be given silently. Keep up the culture of your own land. Let the harvest be eloquent in favor of right methods. Demonstrate what can be done with the land when properly worked.”

That statement was “as loud as loud can be” in his head. He knew he could never convince anyone unless he was willing to make a demonstration, even though there was no money to underwrite the project. “Even today the same thing exists. You can find money for anything, but you can’t find it for agriculture.”

He proposed that a scientific method of agricultural production be simply taught to people in a variety of countries, and they could then care for their needs. So he went to New Guinea, where they had a plethora of weeds and did not get 2 percent off the land. He used a shovel and a rake, plus a tractor, to plow the land. Then he made a seedbed, planted and finally added nitrogen, phosphate and potassium for fertilizer. It’s called NPK.

“They hadn’t fertilized, so they got nothing. I won’t let the plants die. I can’t just look at it and forget it. I want healthy plants.”

The 110-acre farm he started is still operating today – and continues to make a profit every year. After his stay in New Guinea, Mittleider went to Fiji, where he transformed more wasteland into a successful modern farm.

After spending years teaching people to grow gardens in every imaginable circumstance, including Monument Valley in Utah, he was convinced anyone could do it. “I don’t care what kind of ground it is. You can grow the same kind of crops that you can on what is called `good ground.’ ”

Mittleider’s method is synonymous with simplicity. He says it is easy, eliminates guesswork and guarantees success anywhere. It is based on maximum utilization of space, time and resources. His crops tend to be large because the plants are placed close together, nourished by supplemental feedings of mineral nutrients. No special equipment is required.

“When people are sick, they go to the doctor and he takes a blood sample. And if they need potassium, he fills them up with potassium – and they go home and they’re well. With the stresses of the nursery business, I lost part of my stomach, and because of that I have to take iron now every day or I’m sick. We do the same for animals – but we have never told people that with a plant it’s just as easy to do it as it is for people and animals.”

It is Mittleider’s claim that anyone can look at an animal or a person and tell if either is healthy. “We don’t have to carry a sign saying we’re healthy. But when we look at vegetables, most of the organic produce you see is discolored, small, woody – and we say that is food we should eat.”

Mittleider has seen all the extremes of weather and circumstance in his long career – “heat, cold, wet, dry, all kinds of soil – and we grow the same kinds of crops.”

The secret is fertilizer.

Mittleider remembers being snickered at when he went to the old Soviet Union to teach his methods. “One of these guys admitted they didn’t put the fertilizer on the land. They dumped it in the creek. So they thought the fertilizer from the land killed the fish. In the collective farm days, they got paid 200 rubles a month whether they did anything or not.”

Today Mittleider maintains manure or compost are not needed to grow successful crops. “I’m not against manure or composts, but how are you gonna feed people if they don’t have it? The fact is you don’t need it. That’s what I’ve demonstrated now for 30 years. We’ll take ground as hard as this floor, but we’ll prepare a seedbed, plant, water, feed and harvest – that’s all. We don’t care what kind of ground it is.”

According to Mittleider, “The plant is going to fight, if you give it half a chance. We’ve been doing this since 1964, and we’ve never had a crop failure. We feed regularly and watch for signs of the plant’s nutrition. If it needs boron, we give it to them. If it needs more calcium, we give it to them. Plant nutrition is the key. You need 13 nutrients. This whole thing is very simple. You can’t run an automobile unless you put gas in the tank.”

So Mittleider watches his plants very closely, and if a deficiency becomes apparent in any of the 13 nutrients – whether nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, chlorine, magnesium, manganese, sulfur, copper, zinc, iron, boron or molybdenum, he treats them accordingly.

Mittleider’s analogies trip off the tongue. “There is a bank on many corners. I lean against the bank on the corner with 10 cents in my pocket. In the bank vault, there is a million dollars. How much of that million dollars and 10 cents can I spend? 10 cents. That’s the way the ground is. Man doesn’t have the ability to loosen these things up and make them water-soluble. Osmosis is the key to what I’m doing. These inorganic soils are loaded with nutrients.”

If anyone is critical of Mittleider, it is likely to be because of his conviction that chemical or inorganic fertilizer is acceptable – as opposed to organic fertilizer. He notes that organic materials are often characterized as natural, such as leaves, grass, compost, animal manure, and other decayed materials. Yet such “natural” materials can be deficient in important nutrients.

In fact, Mittleider believes the most important function organic materials provide is loosening soil and adding fiber to absorb and hold moisture.

On the other hand, some people assume that because inorganic mineral fertilizers are commercially prepared and packaged, they’re unnatural and not good for plants or those who eat them.

Mittleider says, “The organic material has to rot to such a state of decomposition that it reverts to inorganic solution. Plants use nothing in the organic form. Everything a plant uses is inorganic. It’s converted to organic material in our bodies.”

Mittleider has written 10 books, the most recent of which is “6 Steps to Successful Gardening,” a quick-read paperback guide to simple, dependable gardening. In it he says, “Soils are soils and vary surprisingly little in fertility, regardless of the area or country. Even though specific minerals may vary from place to place, water-soluble minerals (those that plants require) nearly always are deficient. Thus the same type and amount of balanced, essential nutrients can be fed to all garden varieties.”

Among his other books are “More Food From Your Garden,” “Grow-Bed Gardening,” “Let’s Grow Tomatoes,” “Gardening by the Foot” and a three-volume set titled “The Garden Doctor.”

Because he is “way into” his 70s, Mittleider and his wife do not plan to travel as extensively in the future to teach gardening techniques. His friend Jim Kennard has prevailed upon him to assist in planting a piece of property he owns adjacent to Hogle Zoo, near the giraffes.

When the numerous zoo patrons look at the giraffes, they are likely to get a good glimpse of the new garden. “Jim wants to put in a showcase, and I’m going to support him. If I fail, it’ll be the first time.”

Over the years, Mittleider has worked tirelessly with various groups, including Catholics, Baptists, Apostolics, Mormons and his own Seventh-day Adventist Church, teaching the tricks of the trade. He is convinced that his work is more spiritual than practical as he dedicates himself “to the Lord.” The key to his success in teaching others his theories is that he always insists on demonstrating rather than talking.

“I’ve been to about 30 countries, and I often have several projects going at once. If I have to travel 229 miles a day to keep the gardens growing, I’ll to it. I won’t let them fail.”

And remember this – he’ll do it in the worst possible soil.

What Happens When Thousands of Animals are Raised in One Small Space?

While the implications for the animals are obvious, the impact on the environment is very well concealed from public view. When you raise thousands of animals, you’re left with a lot of waste.

In a small farm setting, that waste is used to naturally fertilize the land, and in that way, it becomes quite healthy (at least useful – JK).

In a factory farm setting, however, there is no way you can use millions of gallons of animal waste in a “healthy” way.  So, large “lagoons” are created to hold the waste, or excessive amounts of the waste are sprayed onto crops in the area.

It is not at all unusual for this waste to leach into groundwater or runoff into surface waters. At Farm Sanctuary, a farm animal protection organization, they explain what this means for the future of the environment:

“The quantity of waste produced by farm animals in the U.S. is more than 130 times greater than that produced by humans. Agricultural runoff has killed millions of fish, and is the main reason why 60% of America’s rivers and streams are “impaired.”
In states with concentrated animal agriculture, the waterways have become rife with Pfiesteria bacteria. In addition to killing fish, Pfiesteria causes open sores, nausea, memory loss, fatigue and disorientation in humans.”

Some have expressed concern about using chemicals to feed their plants, wanting to stay away from “synthetic” materials. Others don’t know how much to use.  Let’s review some basics!

Suppose you have a garden 20′ X 30′ and you want to have a good yield of healthy tomatoes. A common practice is to work 2-3″ of composted horse or cow manure into the soil in the plot before planting.  Is that a reasonable supposition? That’s 20′ X 30′ X 1/6′, – 100 cubic feet, or about 3 1/2 cubic yards of manure.  A yard of clay soil weighs about 3,000#, may we assume composted manure weighs a third as much? that would mean we have applied about 3,500# of manure to our garden.

If the manure is 1% nitrogen (a general assumption – plus roughly comparable amounts of P and K and smaller amounts of several other salts, often including table salt from the animals’ salt licks), then we have applied 35# of actual “chemical” nitrogen to the garden – all at once – at the beginning of the growing season. And total chemical salts you’ve applied amount to between 150# & 175# (let’s say 150# or 2,400 ounces)!

When you think you don’t use chemicals, you’re only fooling yourself. Everything in this world is a chemical! And your plants can’t use that nitrogen – or anything else until it has decomposed from the organic state and become a water-soluble mineral.

Now, please remember also, there’s something called the nitrogen cycle. Nitrogen is volatile, and doesn’t stick around long – especially in warm weather, so how long do you suppose you have the benefit of those 35#’s of nitrogen applied all at once at the beginning of the growing season?

A Mittleider gardener uses a 13-8-13 mix (that’s percentages of each N, P, and K nutrient). Is that scary – using such a highly concentrated material?  Let’s compare the actual amount of nitrogen we’re applying to that 20′ X 30′ garden.  First off, we only apply fertilizers to the root zone of the plants, not the entire garden.

Each week – 4 times for lettuce, 5 times for bush beans, 6 times for corn, and 12+ times for indeterminate tomatoes – we apply 8 OUNCES of nitrogen, 8 OUNCES potash, and 5 OUNCES phosphate, along with much smaller amounts of the other 10 elements, for a total of about 25 ounces. That’s for the entire 20′ X 30′ garden!  So I am actually applying only 1/96th (2400/25) as much mineral nutrients to my garden at any one time as the organic gardener – but doing it several times over the growing season. Which is better?

So, how much nitrogen do I use in total? It obviously depends on the crop, but let’s compare.  If I planted the entire garden in one crop here is the total nitrogen I’d use:

Lettuce – 2# – less than 1/17th the amount applied using manure.

Bush beans – 2 1/2# – less than 1/14th the amount applied using manure.

Corn – 3# – 1/12th the amount applied using manure.

Tomatoes – 7# – 1/5th as much as is applied using manure.

And I give my plants very small amounts on a regular basis, and apply it 4″ from the plant stems (far enough so as not to burn them) and water it in so that it’s immediately available. Doesn’t that make sense?

So, what is the cost? Between $25 and $40 for the growing season. How much work is it to apply it all those times? Less than one hour over the growing season. What is the result, or yield? At least double that achieved using manure, and most often 5 to 10 times. And I’ll match size, looks, taste, and any other measure you’d care to make. after all. “THE PLANT CAN’T TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NITROGEN FROM A LEAF AND THAT FROM A FERTILIZER BAG” (J. I. Rodale – Organic Gardening magazine).

Please also consider another factor in this equation. How many people have access to 3,500# of manure to use on their garden – (and remember I’m describing a very small garden!)? In rural areas it may be relatively
plentiful for the few who care enough to use it. But just suppose everyone had to depend on it!! There is not enough manure available to satisfy even 5% of the people if everyone had to grow a garden and live off it’s bounty.

Is a loving and all-knowing God going to arrange things so that 95%+ of the people can’t get “the only true” fertilizer?? I don’t think so! He has made concentrated deposits of all the necessary mineral (rock) plant nutrients (which are also humans’ essential nutrients!!), and man has learned how to grind them up and mix them in the ratios they’re needed, and how to accurately apply them to the soil to grow healthy plants.

So, let’s do it!! :o)  You can get the essential Micro-Nutrients and instructions on how to make the perfect natural mineral fertilizer, at www.growfood.com/shop

What does “Natural” mean, and what does “Synthetic” mean? And exactly what makes commercially (synthetically?) produced fertilizers any worse for your garden than naturally produced ones? This is one area in which a lot of baloney gets thrown around – and regrettably too often believed by many good people.

The simplest and most natural of the “commercial” fertilizers may be lime. The world has an inexhaustible supply of limestone (calcium carbonate), and it’s simply ground to powder in powerful rock crushers, bagged, and sold to the public. We even receive much of our magnesium from the same process, when the raw material is dolomitic limestone.

All twelve of the other nutrients man can control are also mined from the earth. However, we have learned over time how to:

1) remove impurities, such as heavy metals,

2) increase the concentration of the individual nutrients, and

3) make the nutrient percentages exact, by running them through a simple concentration process. This is often a sulfuric acid bath, which leaves us with a much higher concentration of the original nutrient in compound with sulfur, which is itself a very important nutrient.

So, we benefit by getting a much higher concentration of the nutrient we want, plus sulfur, with no heavy metals, and it costs MUCH less to ship and handle, because it weighs only a fraction of the original raw material. And we are able to apply measured amounts to provide exactly what is needed, with no waste.

Are those fertilizers synthetically produced? I don’t think so, but perhaps they are by some peoples’ definition.

Even nitrogen is mined out of the ground! This may surprise many people, but it actually is – in South America – where huge mines of sodium nitrate exist. But can you imagine the cost to get it to the USA?!

Thank goodness we have found a better, more efficient, and therefore far less costly way to produce nitrogen fertilizers.

About 100 years ago two German scientists, Fritz Haber and Karl Bosch, discovered and commercialized the process by which nitrogen could be separated from other elements in different compounds and made available as fertilizer. These discoveries arguably served as the single most important component leading to exponential global agricultural growth, and the Haber-Bosch process is still used today.

I believe we owe much of what we have today to the use of nitrogen that’s produced by the Haber-Bosch process, and whether or not it’s synthetic to me is no more relevant than if God’s separation of nitrogen from those same elements by the use of lightning is synthetic.

Meanwhile some passionate organic advocates even say the use of chemicals is terrible, not even adding the “synthetic” epithet. This really just shows an ignorance of the laws of nature, because everything in this world is chemical! What the geologist calls mineral, and the farmer calls manure, the chemist calls chemical, but they’re all talking about the same thing. Even J. I. Rodale, the “father” of the organic movement as the publisher of Organic Magazine, said “A plant can’t tell the difference between nitrogen from a leaf and that from a fertilizer bag.”

If there is a valid and important argument against the synthetic production of chemicals having to do with the garden, I believe it should be limited to pesticides and herbicides.

Let’s address the issue of nitrogen fertilizer again from a slightly different angle. Nitrogen is the only nutrient we use that is usually not mined from the earth, and the most common sources are the air itself, and organic material. How so?

Most everyone knows about the animal sources called blood and bone meal, and the vegetable sources called manure and compost. Those are not very efficient sources, however, with the best containing only 5-10% nitrogen, and the most commonly used (manure & compost) containing only about 1% nitrogen.

I believe in using nitrogen from the best sources available, and those are God’s free air and His Compost Piles. What? Where does it come from you ask? Our greatest source of nitrogen is from the air (76% nitrogen!), and lightning causes it to combine with rain, providing many millions of tons of it all over the world.

As I mentioned earlier the German scientists Haber & Bosch, back around 1913, learned how to extract nitrogen from the air, as anhydrous ammonia, and fertilizer from ammonia is credited with sustaining 1/3rd of the world’s population!

In addition, massive deposits of earth’s first land plants – vegetable organic materials that lie deep underground all over the world, and which over millennia have been compressed into coal – are dug out and then processed into coke, with ammonium sulfate nitrogen as an important by-product!

And urea (46-0-0), one compound made from anhydrous ammonia, is actually classed as an organic material because it includes carbon, although it is not as readily available to plants, and therefore not as good in the garden as ammonium nitrate (34-0-0), and sometimes even ammonium sulfate (21-0-0).

I say, don’t be afraid of these nitrogen compounds! Long after mankind has stopped using gasoline and gone on to use the hydrogen from air as fuel, we will most likely still be using the nitrogen from air and from earth’s first organic compost piles to feed our garden plants. I believe that’s the way God intended it, and He’s a much better composter than even the best of us.

Q. My wife told me about your free seminars here in Mesa 3 years ago and I attended both of them. It completely changed the way I garden, and I love it. I learned more about plants and how to meet their needs in one afternoon from you than I had learned from my whole life of “recreational” gardening.

You shared so many simple, time and energy-saving “tricks” in the garden that I have been having a hard time trying to come up with any improvements on them.

I now garden for yield and my feelings about Arizona have really changed. We have an amazing growing season here. With all our sunshine you can really get a small amount of space to produce!.

I have a total of 10 beds ranging from a small 10′ one next to the house to two 30′ ones with the t-frame trellis over them. Last year the two trellis beds produced over 500 lbs each of Armenian cucumbers. I was supplying 5 different farmer’s markets, giving them away at work and taking an apple box full each week to church. I also made some good money selling fresh okra to an east India market that was willing to take all I could grow. I am learning what crops do well here in the desert heat.

I see you will be teaching again here in AZ next week. I’d love to have you stop by and check out my garden if you have some time. It should be an inspiration for the wonderful work you are doing. I’ve probably had a dozen friends come by to see it because I describe the yields I am able to get using the Mittleider Method.  I’m hoping to reclaim another section from the Bermuda grass lawn and add another pair of 30′ beds in the next year.

While you are in the area, if you need ANYTHING, please contact me. I feel I owe you a great debt.  To show my gratitude I’d like to support you in the work you do that has benefited my life and the lives of my family and friends. I’m sure I’ll get to at least one of your classes while you are in the state, so I’ll be able to thank you personally and watch the way you work that 12″ rake.

Bill Oliphant

Thank you Bill! I hope others can benefit from the seminars this time, and I invite everyone reading this to organize FREE group gardening seminars in your own areas.  Although it requires some work, it an change the future for your community’s families.  If you are serious about hosting a seminar email me at info@foodforeveryone.org

I.The nutrient value is unknown:
A. Nutritional adequacy and balance in the original plants is unknown
B. Much is lost before it reaches your plants:
   a. Animal which ate the plant received a substantial amount
   b. About half of remaining nutrition is lost in urine.
   c. Some of remaining nutrition is lost to leaching during composting
   d. Nitrogen is lost into the air due to volatility
   e. More nutrition is lost during decomposition – see III below

II. Not clean because very rarely composted with sufficient heat (140 degrees F for 3 weeks) to remove:
A. Weed seeds
B. Diseases – plant and/or human
C. Bugs

III. Organic nutrients are not water-soluble and available to plants. They must be changed from organic to water-soluble inorganic minerals through decomposition in the soil.
A. Takes time, so plants do not receive immediate benefit
B. Some nutrition lost to:
   a. Micro-organisms, worms, etc.
   b. Leaching,
   c. Fixation in the soil

IV. Availability is very limited. There is only enough manure for a very small percentage of people to grow gardens, especially in urban areas, where most people live. And during crisis situations, there will likely be much less.

V. Cannot easily be stored for later use due to:
A. Bulk,
B. Cost
C. Smell
D. Pests and diseases

VI. Common practice (required for Certified Organic Growers) of applying large amounts before planting the garden:
A. Puts 10-20 times more mineral salts into the soil than plants need
B. Often burns and kills emerging seedlings
C. Excess salts are leached into the groundwater, killing life downstream and damaging water supplies
D. Nutrition is gone by early-mid summer, and ever-bearing plants stop producing right at their peak.

VII. To ensure clean crops, restrictions on manure use are applied:
A. “Certified” organic growers must cease feeding with manure 120 days before harvest with plants where edible parts touch the soil, and 90 days before harvest with plants where edible parts do not touch the ground.
B. Nutrient deficiencies are virtually guaranteed in that time frame.
C. Salmonella, e-coli, etc. problems occur when non-sterilized manure is used.

The question is often asked if the family gardener should pay for a soil test before planting his garden. Our advice is to not pay for a soil test. However, a few students have discovered a statement by Dr. Jacob Mittleider in the book Food For Everyone (P 137) wherein he states that “The soil test is the beginning of operations…”. Following is my response.

The book Food For Everyone was written in 1972, and at that time Dr. Mittleider was having soil tests done wherever he went, including numerous developing countries. However, over the ensuing years, he learned enough that by the time most of his GARDENING books were published Jacob no longer used nor recommended soil tests, and here’s why.

Two reasons for soil tests were (1) to determine the soil pH, because plants are best able to take nutrients from the soil and use them when the pH is between 6.5 and 7, and (2) to determine any nutrient deficiencies in the soil.

Through long experience and field testing in gardens all over the world, Jacob learned that whenever annual rainfall is 20″ or more the soil pH is below 7 (acidic), and the simple solution is to use lime – to raise the pH and to supply essential calcium.

When annual rainfall is 18″ or below the soil pH is above 7 (alkaline) and the solution is to use gypsum as the calcium source. It will not raise pH because it contains almost equal parts calcium (raises pH) and sulfur (lowers pH). And Jacob learned that this was usually all that was necessary to grow successfully in high pH soils.

If the high pH in the soil continues to be a problem simply apply sulfur to lower the pH.

Furthermore, Jacob’s long experience with soil tests taught him that they often did not accurately predict the availability of the nutrients to the plants. The natural state of the many mineral compounds in the soil is to be “fixed” or adhered to the soil particles, and in order for the plants to use them the minerals must be water-soluble and pass in the soil water into the plant through the root hairs.  That availability changes quickly, and a test taken last month, even if accurate at the time, may not be accurate today or tomorrow.

Jacob also learned that soils throughout the world were almost universally low in available nutrients, and he created a balanced formula containing all 13 essential plant nutrients that he applied everywhere in the world with great success. And they are applied weekly throughout the growing season so that they are available to the plants as needed.

This knowledge allowed Dr. Mittleider to eliminate the need for soil testing, thus saving time and costs for everyone. This is a tremendous boon, especially for the family gardener, because they have neither the time, the money, the knowledge, nor the patience to order and wait for soil tests.

Q. My cucumbers are often bitter. Why is that and what can I do to prevent it?

A. The most likely answer is lack of water and/or lack of proper nutrition. Properly fed and watered cucumbers grow fast and are crisp, tender, and taste very mild.

If the soil surface near your plant roots is dry, you can be sure your plants are not getting enough moisture to sustain even healthy growth and sweet-tasting fruit. The best solution is level beds, slightly higher than the surrounding aisles, with 4″ ridges all around to hold the water in the root zone, and watering every day in warm weather. Much less water is used as compared to sprinkling or flooding, and the plant roots receive a constant supply of essential moisture.

In addition, everbearing plants like cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, squash, and eggplant need continued feeding over the many months of their productive life. Small amounts of a balanced natural mineral nutrient mix, applied weekly and watered into the root zone, will keep them healthy and producing right up until the frost kills them.

Review the Mittleider Gardening Course book for complete instructions and a do-it-yourself mineral nutrient formula every plant in your yard will love and thrive on.  www.growfood.com/shop

Q. My cucumbers are wrapping around other plants in my garden. What should I do?

A. Cucumbers should be grown vertically. We use T-Frames with pipe or wire, and strings (baling twine) on which they grow up.

In your situation, I recommend you get some 8′-long 2″ X 2″ stakes, put them in the ground about 15″ apart near every plant, then take your cucumber vines and gently unwrap them from the other plants and guide them around the stakes. You may need to put a nail in occasionally and tie the vines, so they don’t slip down.

Also, you should take off the sucker stems that grow from every leaf node on the main stem. Cut them off after the first female flower, which is usually at the first leaf.

If you don’t prune your plants in this way you will soon have a terrible mess of vines everywhere. the cucumbers will be eaten, trampled, diseased, etc., and your yield will be small.

Go to the Group site – https://www.facebook.com/groups/2304852529528161/ – and see the photos of gardens grown vertically. The main picture on the home page shows tomatoes in a greenhouse, but we do tomatoes, eggplant, cucumbers, squash, small melons, pole beans, eggplant, and even peppers this way. And we often also do it right in the dirt, with no greenhouse.

And the yields are many times greater than traditional methods in the same amount of space.

Q. How do strawberries do in the 18″ sawdust/sand rows? And how is the fertilizer regulated?

A. Growing strawberries in the Grow-Boxes can be very rewarding and successful. With no weeds to compete with them, and make it difficult for you as the grower, they do very well.

As the runners leave the box and begin to root in the ground surrounding the box you need to cut them off, or they will very soon be in your aisles.

Fertilizing depends on the variety you are growing. If you are growing a single-crop variety you will only need to fertilize 3 or 4 times the first year, and 3 times after that.

ever-bearing or two-crop varieties will need more feeding. Just remember that you don’t feed after the blossoms appear unless it is a true ever-bearing crop that just “keeps on giving”, and then you stop 8 weeks before the first killing frost.

Q. over three weeks ago I planted several vegetable seeds: Onion, carrot, radish, pumpkin, cucumber, squash, sunflower, corn and green beans. I planted them all according to the instructions, (I think). The only thing that has sprouted great are the radishes. The sunflowers have few sprouts they look really weak. Do you have any advice on how long I should wait to replant or what I can do differently?

A. On warm days in early spring, we are often enticed to plant things that require warm temperatures to grow. Then we are sorely disappointed when cold temperatures return and the seeds rot in the cold ground or die trying to grow in the too-cold environment.

Your onion, carrot, and radish seeds may be able to live in early spring temperatures, but onion and carrot will be slow to germinate and grow, so don’t give up on them just yet.

As for all the others you mentioned, they must have warm soil conditions to germinate and grow. and any frost would kill them if they did come up. Just wait until after all danger of frost is past before planting.

The Garden Planting Details Schedule (Apendix B – Page 262) in The Mittleider Gardening Course book provides very good instructions on when to plant everything in your garden.  That single schedule covers 14 different subjects, and is worth more than the price of the book, in my opinion.  www.growfood.com/shop.

Alternatively, you can plant them in a greenhouse or under grow-lights 3 or 4 weeks earlier  than you would plant them outside. Remember to give them maximum light immediately upon emergence, and plant in 6-paks or pots to minimize transplanting shock, because everything you named does  poorly as a bare-root transplant.

Q. Why doesn’t my swiss chard grow large and green? Collard greens in my garden are huge. Perhaps I do not thin out the plants, and they are too crowded?

A. What color and what variety is your chard? Some varieties are different colors, such as the one that looks like beet tops. There might be a variety that is small also.

More likely the problem has to do with sunlight (lack of), plant spacing, feeding, watering, or weeding.

Are you taking care of all those things? Full sun, plants 6″+ apart, feeding small amounts of complete balanced natural mineral nutrients, daily watering, and eliminating competition from weeds will assure a great crop in any soil.

Q. How much can be grown in a 10 meter-long soil-bed of the various vegetables? Our climate will allow growing tomatoes, etc. pretty much through October.

A. There are so many variables that I don’t like to make guesses beyond saying that we typically increase existing traditional family garden production between 4 and 10 times. However, for purposes of figuring possibilities, here are some numbers.
Using vertical growing with the Mittleider Method, 1 10 meter-long bed of Better Boy or Big Beef tomatoes (46 plants) can produce 500# of tomatoes from July through October.

One bed of sweet peppers (65 plants) can produce 300 peppers.

One bed of eggplant (46 plants) – grown vertically – can produce 300 Black Beauty or 450 Ichiban eggplants.

One bed of cucumbers (46 plants) – grown vertically – can produce 450 cucumbers.

One bed of pole beans (200 plants) can produce 200# of beans.

One bed of zucchini (17 plants) can produce 300-900# of zucchini, depending on size at picking.

One bed of carrots (700 plants) can produce 100-250# of carrots, depending on variety.

One bed of cabbage (45-65 plants) can produce 150-300# of cabbage, depending on variety.

One bed of beets (400 plants) can produce 100-200# of beets.

One bed of onions (400 plants) can produce 150-200# of onions.

One bed of potatoes (92 plants) can produce 200-300# of potatoes.

The carrots, cabbage and beet crops can often be doubled by growing an early and late crop in the same space, which make these more valuable for the serious grower.
All of the above are broad-range estimates only, since variety, climate, care, and other unknowns all affect yield.

Q. What vegetable varieties are best to grow in Southern California?

A. That is a big order when you ask for favorite veggies but here are a few that we love growing here in Southern California. Since I do all of the Trials here at Community Gardens, I find a lot of gems that become mainstays here.

Tomatoes:
Big Beef is our main crop.
First Lady is a great tasting early tomato
Enchantment also wonderful flavor. It is a salad sauce tomato. Egg shaped
Orange Russian
Akers
Striped Marvel
First Born
Big Ugly Red

Cucumbers:
Burpless Tasty Green (my favorite)
Sweeter Yet—wonderful flavor

Squash
Already wrote about them in another post

Eggplant
Neon—-great taste and beautiful color
Plant gets at least 3 to 4 feet tall

Corn
I don’t grow it because of the corn ear worm

Lettuce
Nevada
Green Ice
Bronze Mignonette
Thai Green

Broccoli
Small Miracle(gives long period of side shoots)
Packman

Cauliflower
Wentworth(self wrap)

Cabbage
Savoy Express
Copenhagen
Regal Red
Kilosa (savoy)

Beets
Chioggia

Carrots
Sweet Sunshine

Artichokes
Violetta

Swiss Chard
Lucullus

That is it. These are my personal favorites.

Joanne

Q. I live in Durango Co. I have my garden on the west side of my house. It gets the afternoon sun. What plants would do the best there?

A. All vegetable plants need direct sunlight to flourish and produce a crop. All plants that produce fruit (generically speaking), as opposed to those which just produce leaves, need at least 6 hours of direct sunlight. And the more sunlight they have the better and faster they’ll grow – and the more fruit they’ll produce.

If you have at least 6 hours of direct sun on your garden you can try most any plant. Just remember to adjust your expectations according to the hours of sunlight your garden receives.

Some folks worry about the cost of buying a large roll of baling twine. Because it contains something like 9,800 feet of twine they are concerned that most of it will be wasted.

Consider the following, and then find others with whom you can share the cost.

1. Each “string” should be 9′ long.
2. A single 30′-long bed of tomatoes, cucumbers, or eggplant would require 41 strings, or about 370′.
3. A 30′-long bed of pole beans would require 182 strings – 1,638′.
4. If the strings are cared for they will last for several years.
5. Other options are much less desirable. Smaller string will cut through heavy plants’ stems. Other materials will deteriorate faster – often in less than one growing season.

Q. When trellising cucumbers or melons, should I cut all but one main
stem. And I don’t seem to see how to trellis Zucchini or yellow squash.

A. To grow cucumbers and small melons vertically, by all means, limit them to one stem. However, in removing the sucker stems you allow the stem to grow just long enough for the first female flower to form. This is usually at the first leaf. Keep the blossom and leaf, but cut or pinch off the stem at that point.

Zucchini and yellow squash are determinate plants, and can’t be grown vertically. No trellis or string is needed. However, it is imperative that you take off old leaves and those touching the ground. Keeping air and light into the interior of the plant will improve your yields, and it can reduce the likelihood of powdery mildew taking over the plant.

Q. I am planning on trying a vertical garden (most of the veggies) next Spring. I have heard about “vertical” growing methods, but I am not quite sure what all the details are. Also, when and how do you prune tomato plants? Do all tomato plants need to be pruned?

A. Several of the Mittleider gardening books give good illustrations and instructions for vertical growing. I recommend the Mittleider Gardening Course, Gardening by the Foot, Let’s Grow Tomatoes, and Grow-Bed Gardening. The best place to obtain all of them is by getting the Mittleider Gardening Library CD. All are available at www.growfood.com in the Shop section under Books and Software.

Vegetable varieties that can be grown vertically include indeterminate tomatoes, cucumbers (not the bush type), pole beans, smaller varieties of vining squash, small melons, greenhouse varieties of peppers, and eggplant.

Beans don’t need to be pruned, but all others should be pruned regularly, by removing all sucker stems as soon as they begin to grow. Several articles on the website in the FAQ section are devoted to pruning. I recommend you look there for a comprehensive discussion on how to prune – however, the books will be the best, as they include pictures and illustrations.

Q. I connected with your web site after admiring the beautiful garden west of Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City. (my family was admiring the giraffes!) I like the concept of vertical gardening. My question is this: Can you grow stuff like pumpkins, watermelons, squash, etc. up a wire? If you do, how do you support the fruit? Even cucumbers seem like they’d be too heavy. I’m excited to try the drip irrigation system this spring. I feel like I’ve been knocking my head against a wall for 15 years because we water with canal water and fertilize with horse manure. My kids and I could spend our whole lives in the garden and couldn’t begin to keep the weeds out of it. This year we’ll be using well water and trying the Mittleider method. I hope we can manage to kill off all that grass and morning glory. Maybe you’ve got some ideas for that as well.

A. we recommend fruits that are less than 6# each for vertical growing. We grow indeterminate tomatoes and eggplant vertically, guiding them up baling twine strings that are fastened to strong wire strung between T-Frames. Cucumbers are ideal for growing vertically, as well as any of the small indeterminate squashes.

Any of the aforementioned plants need to be pruned, in order to have success growing them vertically. You can expect to increase your yields by 3-4 times in this way. Detailed instructions are included in several of the Mittleider gardening books and CD’s available at www.growfood.com. Articles in this FAQ section also deal with vertical growing and pruning. Look under Tomatoes for several.

Keep your fruits picked as they ripen, to avoid excess weight on the vines, which can sometimes drag the vines down if too many fruits are allowed to remain.

I’ve been “knocking my head against a wall for 15 years” also, telling people to avoid canal water (or filter it) and manure for the reason you cite, as well as the problems many have with pests and diseases. Thanks for the testimonial.

Remembering that “one year’s seeds makes 7 years’ weeds”, I recommend you get a couple of 2-way hoes as shown on the website’s Store pages at www.growfood.com under Tools. Follow the recommendations for “E & O” (early and often) weeding, and by leaving the aisles completely dry, you will get ahead of the weeds quickly.

Q. I’m using t-frames for my tomatoes, and the tomatoes are growing into the string; should I loosen the string or cut it? I’m afraid the plants’ circulation will be cut off, as the plants continue to grow.

A. You should be using a very large string. We recommend the 170# polypropyline baling twine as being ideal. Smaller string can indeed cut into the stems of your plants.

Also, you should not tie the string to the base of the plant stems, but instead attach it to a tie-wire that is run at ground level between and attached to the T-Frames.

The baling twine should have some slack in it so that you can easily guide the plant stem around the twine without twisting, kinking, or breaking it. Don’t make it so loose that it sags, but rather leave extra string on the top (tied with a slip knot) and give more twine as needed so that it doesn’t get tight to the point that you can’t gently guide the plant stem around it.

Q. I live in Southern Ontario, Canada. We at times get much rain and at times no rain for weeks. Will heavy rains do any damage to the growing of plants in the “Mittleider Method”?

A. Heavy rains will not be a problem in the Mittleider Method. In fact, the Grow-Beds, or Soil-Beds, as well as the Grow-Boxes, are designed for proper drainage so that plants will not be drowned in heavy rains. The only thing needing to be done during those times is to leave the ends of the beds open, so water does not stand in the beds.

If you receive hard pounding rains, they may damage some of your plants. If this is a common occurrence, you may want to prepare covers for the plants, to protect them. The “Mini-Greenhouses” work well for short plants, and the “Greenhouse-in-the-garden”, using arched PVC over T-Frames and covered with plastic, will give protection to your tall-growing and vining plants.

See Lesson 23 – Cold Weather Gardening – for instruction, pictures,  and illustrations on protecting your plants, whether it is needed for cold, heat, or precipitation.  The Mittleider Gardening Course is the best gardening book on the planet, and the last gardening book you will ever need, in my opinion  🙂  www.growfood.com/shop

Q. I had a question regarding soaker tape. my garden is to big for me to try to water with a hose and sock ( 50 + soil beds 60 feet long). But the cost of running pvc and all the fittings and the 400 feet of main line would run me over 2000 dollars just for materials not including the cost of renting a trench digger.

So I looked into soaker tape and found it to be considerably cheaper. I was able to have what I needed to water 100 beds for less than 300 dollars. Although I must admit there is still some fine-tuning that I have to do concerning water pressure and figuring out how many beds can be watered at the same time. Just wanted to know what you thought about and what may be your experience with it.

A. Being on the ground it is subject to getting cut when weeding occurs.

It is also subject to getting soil particles into the orifices, plugging it up.

It is not designed to supply a large amount of water quickly, but rather to work for several/many hours applying a little water at a time.

It is not possible to know how much water is being applied.
Plants sometimes (often?) are under-watered.

Life expectancy is 2-4 years.

One thing to consider is that you are making an investment that will last for 15-25 years, and so the cost per year is minimal. My garden at Utah’s Hogle Zoo has had the same inexpensive PVC pipes for 20 years now.

And by the way, you do not use Schedule 40 pipe, but instead, use the inexpensive Schedule 200 pipe.

Jim Kennard

Q. “I came across a question and answer you gave previously (another article which states that 1″ of water in the beds is needed each time you water) and it confused me somewhat. I have a question about putting an inch of standing water on the beds every day. Conventual wisdom is an inch of water per week. Are we to apply a week’s worth of water per day to the beds”?

A. An example of the confusion many people experience with this subject can be found in an article by Cornell University Agricultural Extension Division about watering tomatoes. The author states that tomatoes need 1″ of water per week at a minimum. In the very next paragraph, the article gets more specific and says that a single tomato plant needs between 3 and 5 gallons of water per week.

On the surface, those two statements seem to be very inconsistent, but let’s go a little deeper. Traditionally, tomatoes are grown much farther apart than we do in the Mittleider Method. In addition, traditional watering is done by flooding the entire garden area.

Let’s suppose a person’s tomatoes are planted 2′ apart, in 30′-long rows that are 3′ apart. That garden space of approximately 100 square feet would contain about 16 plants and would require 64 gallons of water per week (assuming 4 gallons per plant).

Applying 1″ of water to 100 square feet of garden would require 8 1/3 cubic feet, or 62.5 gallons (1 cubic foot is 7.5 gallons), which is consistent with what Cornell recommends, both as to the 1″ and the 3-5 gallons per watering.

In the Mittleider Method 16 tomato plants – planted 9″ apart – will take up 12 lineal feet in a soil-bed. The width of the planting area is 10″-12″. Using a 12″ width, it would require 1 cubic foot of water each time(12′ long X 1′ wide X 1/12′ deep =1 cubic foot). That amounts to 7.5 X 7, or 52.5 gallons per week.

So, you can see that watering 1″ per day in your Mittleider Method soil-bed uses less water than watering 1″ per week by flooding.

There is more to consider, so let’s carry it a bit further. If you are growing in heavy clay soil Cornell’s recommended 1″ per week may be sufficient, because water drains very slowly from clay soil. But if your soil is loamy or sandy, or if the temperatures are hot, the water will be gone from the top 8-12″ of the soil in less than a week, and your plants will be stressing.

Tomato plants grown under traditional watering conditions have to expend substantial energy sending their roots deep into the soil, to follow the receding water, and keep from dying. This is energy we prefer to use growing and maturing fruit.

Furthermore, flooding the entire area wastes much of the water, and usually much more than 1″ depth is applied, wasting even more. Also, flooding makes the aisles hospitable places for weeds to grow, increases humidity which invites diseases, and the moisture, weeds, and cooler temperatures nurture the bugs.

All things considered, Dr. Mittleider has it figured out very well, even to the point of declaring that you will save 1/2 or more of the water you traditionally used, and promising a better garden with fewer problems with weeds, bugs, and diseases – without resorting to pesticides and herbicides.

I highly recommend The Mittleider Gardening Course book for the details on recommended watering methods and procedures – www.growfood.com/shop

Q. “Regarding irrigation, I found a couple of black “soaker” hoses (the type that basically weep out water) and tried them in my grow boxes. They worked very well for me as an irrigation setup for my grow boxes. I did wonder if the black color of the hose could heat up during hot sunny days and possibly “scald” the younger plants. A friend recommended slightly burying the hoses, but I felt I would have even more undissolved fertilizer if I did this. I appreciate any feedback”.

A. Our experience with soaker hoses has not been as good as with drilled PVC pipe. Being right on the ground, and with VERY small holes, they tend to plug up and not deliver water from every orifice. Cost and durability are factors, and when used on dirt they get in the way of weeding and are susceptible to being cut in the weeding process.

Black soaker hoses will not burn or harm your small plants if used properly. They are supposed to be placed in the center of the bed between two rows of plants, and so will be several inches distant from plant stems.

Leaves should not come in contact with them, because you should always be pruning your leaves that touch the ground.

Lesson 16 of The Mittleider Gardening Course book will show you how to automate your watering in the best way possible.  Go to www.growfood.com/shop.

Q. Our BIG problem right now is drought. What is the most efficient way to water a garden in drought conditions?

A. The Mittleider method of watering is great for saving and making the best use of available water. The narrow ridged beds keep all the water right at the root zone of your plants. Close planting means the soil is shaded, so very little water is lost to evaporation, and level beds keep the water from running off.

Automating the process using drilled PVC pipes allows quick watering of the entire bed, again avoiding waste. This process is explained graphically in Chapter 16 of The Mittleider Gardening Course book, and that chapter is included FREE in the Store section of the website at www.growfood.com.

The MM watering system saves more than half the water of traditional methods.

Q. 2. If you spread the Weekly Feed down the center of the bed and you’re quite certain that it’s going to rain shortly, is it OK to just leave it there for the rain to wash in? Or will it burn the plants somehow? We’ve been getting thunderstorms every night in a row, and my garden is full of standing water.

A. If you are receiving heavy rains, by all means, let the rain do the watering. You never want your plants to be in standing water for any length of time. They must have oxygen and can drown if the soil is drenched. That is one of the reasons we create raised beds with ridges. And in high-rainfall areas, during the rainy season, we have people remove the ridges from the ends of the beds, so the excess water drains out.

Q. “We water our gardens with irrigation water. How do we do the Mittleider method? I have pressurized irrigation, but the water comes from the river and clogs the pipes with mud, rocks, worms, and even fish! And my parents have flood irrigation – how do we do the beds to accommodate that”?

A. With pressurized irrigation water, just use screening materials that are fine enough to screen out the problems. There are materials you can buy from places like House of Hose, etc that are very fine mesh, yet strong enough to last. I pump from a creek myself and my screening material is several years old. Running your water either to the head of each bed or into a PVC pipe system will give you fast watering. Always use pipe with threaded ends, so you can flush the built-up sediment. And if the tiny holes begin to clog up, just tap the pipes with a stick or the hoe or rake handle to clear them.

If you currently have flood irrigation and don’t have the capacity or finances to install a pump and pipes, you just need to build your beds so they have access to the water at one end and give them a 1″ fall in 30′. The only problem you may have is if your irrigation turn is only every 7 or 8 days, your plants will be hurting greatly for water. You may want to arrange – if you can – to take a much shorter turn more often, and help your neighbors to do the same. This will make everyone’s plants healthier and more productive.  And it uses much less water than traditional flood irrigating!

Q. “I am in the process of starting work on the irrigation part
of my conversion to the MittleiderMethodGardening system. I would like to ask if the small #57 holes in the PVC pipes present any special trouble
with stopping up”?

A. A #57 hole in a Schedule 200 PVC pipe will not plug up much at all if you are using water from a well or from the city system, etc. If you use irrigation water from a canal or stream you may have some sediment that can clog the holes.

I water from a mountain stream that is sometimes quite dirty – especially in the spring and after a hard rain. If I experience any clogging of the holes in my pipes I just carry a hoe with me and hit the pipe with the hoe HANDLE a few times. This will dislodge the tiny pieces of pebble, or whatever it is. Immediately after doing this to a pipe I will unscrew the far end-cap and let the water run through for a few seconds, flushing any loose residue out the end of the pipe.

If any of you are tempted to use Schedule 40 PVC pipe, because “its stronger and will last longer”, etc., I don’t recommend it.  It’s usually more than double the cost, heavier, much harder to drill the holes (breaking lots of drill bits), more inclined to plug up, harder to break loose the blockage with the hose-handle, and even the Schedule 200 will last more than 20 years with any kind of care, so who needs it to last longer.

Q.  “I have been watering every day and the ground is now GREEN. Am I doing too much watering?

Also when trellising cucumbers or melons, should I cut all but one main stem?

And I don’t seem to see how to trellis Zucchini or yellow squash.”

A. Nothing’s wrong with having your ground green under the plants. HOWEVER, you only want to keep your soil MOIST, and not WET at the root zone.

Water often enough to keep the soil surface from DRYING OUT. In dry climates without rain in warm weather, this usually requires an inch of water in the planting area 5 or 6 days per week. And in very HOT weather you may need to water TWICE a day occasionally.

Remember that an inch of water is sufficient for each watering.  Also, remember that the 1″ of water is only being applied to the 12″-wide planting area in a soil-bed

To grow cucumbers and small melons vertically, by all means, limit them to one stem. However, in removing the sucker stems you allow the stem to grow just long enough for the first female flower to form. This is usually at the first leaf. Keep the blossom and leaf, but cut or pinch off the stem at that point.

Zucchini and yellow squash are determinate plants, and can’t be grown vertically. No trellis or string is needed. However, it is imperative that you take off old leaves and those touching the ground. Keeping air and light into the interior of the plant will improve your yields, and it can reduce the likelihood of powdery mildew taking over the plant.

Q. What is best, watering from above (sprinklers) or watering from below (flooding or soakers)?

A. Sprinklers are the worst – for several reasons, including 1) the great waste of water from evaporation, 2) the waste of water and encouragement of weed growth by watering the aisles, 3) the increased risk of disease infection caused by wet and humid conditions, and 4) discomfort from working in muddy conditions.

Flooding the garden area also is a great water waster. It also waters the aisles, and it often brings in weed seeds.

And there is a better solution than using soakers. 1) They sit on the ground and any back-pressure will suck soil particles into the aperture, plugging it, 2) because they are on the ground they get in the way of weeding, 3) there is no practical way to measure the amount of water your plants are receiving, and 4) the water must stay on for a very long time – potentially wasting water.

The semi-automated PVC system we use and recommend is 1)inexpensive to install, 2) lasts MANY years, 3) delivers water quickly and accurately, and 4) wastes not a drop when used with the raised – ridged beds.

The plans are in several of the books. They are also FREE on the website. You can see and download them by going to www.growfood.com/store then Books, then the Mittleider Gardening Course. On the left side of the page, you will see a free chapter you can download. It’s all about the watering system.

Q. At some point, at least with some crops – vines not growing vertically come immediately to mind – you have to stop weeding because your close-planted plants are going to take over the pathways. Winter squash and pumpkins especially will overgrow an entire planting area. And while you may be able to pull the occasional weed as it rears its ugly head up out of the vines before the seeds form, you ain’t never going to get them all, at least in my experience – and I have been planting these guys two plants to a hill 4 feet apart in a row with rows 6 feet apart for years – which is a lot spacier than a single plant 14″ apart in the row, with 3.5′ between rows………..??? Am I correct in assuming you just let ’em go?

A. We get almost all weeds when they first emerge, with a rake and two-way hoe. And we do it two or three times if necessary, so the beds are clean. After this, because the plants are close together, they shade the ground completely, and even hardy weeds can’t grow in complete shade. Therefore, later in the season when plants are large, weeds are not a problem.

The aisles may also need weeding, but if they are treated the same as the beds, with weeds eliminated as soon as they emerge, very quickly the aisles will be clear also. And since no water (or food!) is applied to the aisles the weeds will grow slowly, if at all.

On the other hand, traditional gardening methods plant farther apart as described in the question, thus leaving ample sunlight for weeds to prosper. And the problem is made much worse if watering is done by sprinkling or flooding! Both methods water the aisles, and flood irrigating most often also deposits new weed seeds everywhere, to grow in the newly watered soil.

In response to the spacing of plants such as winter squash and pumpkins, we plant them between 14″ and 21″ apart on one side of a bed, and we leave the adjacent bed vacant, so the plants have 10′ to run. This gives similar spacing to traditional methods, but greatly minimizes weeding, watering, and feeding.