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Grow Superfoods – For Pennies – In Tiny Spaces!
Vegetables, especially greens – the darker the better – are arguably the healthiest foods on the planet, and you can grow enough to feed your family in a very small space, with costs literally only pennies for a family meal.
What are superfoods, and why are they so important – Dark green leafy vegetables such as kale, Swiss chard, spinach, collards, bok choy, mustard, romaine lettuce, turnip and beet greens, arugula, carrots, including the tops, watercress, and microgreens are important as:
- Great sources of nutrition, including vitamins A, B, C, E, & K, as well as iron, magnesium, potassium, and calcium.
- High in antioxidants, thus helpful in preventing cancers and heart disease.
- Low in calories and fat, and low glycemic index, helping with weight control and type 2 diabetes.
A good article by the Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center details the nutrition they provide and the many health benefits of dark greens here – https://www.ars.usda.gov/plains-area/gfnd/gfhnrc/docs/news-articles/2013/dark-green-leafy-vegetables
Where and when to grow your superfoods – Because these vegetables are hardy or semi-hardy they can be started in the garden 2-3 weeks before the average date of last frost in the spring, and harvesting can continue for several weeks after the first fall frost as well. Combined, these factors can increase your harvest time by as much as 2 months as compared to warm-season crops!
In addition, they all grow to harvestable size quickly, so that you can be eating them within 3 to 5 weeks of planting. And by removing one or two outer leaves every week they will provide a continuous harvest for many months throughout the growing season (more about this below).
And for fresh greens in the winter months, or if you have no garden space at all, you can grow microgreens on a countertop in your kitchen in only 2 weeks! A good source of sprout and microgreen seeds is True Leaf Market in Salt Lake City, Utah – https://trueleafmarket.com/collections/microgreens-kits-and-supplies
How much space is needed, and how many plants do you need to grow – An important feature that makes these vegetables so valuable is that with most of them a single plant – if harvested timely and properly – will continue to produce throughout the growing season. Just remove one or two outer leaves each week from the plant and it will grow new leaves for months! If you neglect to remove leaves as described the plants will produce a seed stalk and seeds, and your harvest will soon be finished.
This means that just a few plants can feed you for the entire growing season. For example, 6 each of kale, chard, collards, and romaine lettuce plants, and 16 each of turnips and beets need just 24 square feet of garden space. Do-able? That’s only 1/1,815 of an acre!
Recommendations for the best sustainable way to grow your superfoods –
Buying six-packs of seedlings from a reputable nursery will save you time and effort, but get them early, before they get root-bound and leggy! Those plants are NOT what you want, and will lead to crop failure. Producing your own seedlings can be done on your own schedule, and allows for choice in varieties, but requires some time, effort, knowledge, and a small investment in facilities and materials.
I have prepared a presentation to teach you what you need to know in order to grow your own seedlings. It’s free and it’s located at – https://growfood.com/learn/
I recommend everyone take advantage of the substantial health benefits, and the financial savings to be gained from growing and eating the healthiest foods on the planet.
Healthy Eating!
Jim Kennard
© Copyright 2025 – Food For Everyone Foundation
Feed Your Family In 64 Square Feet Of Garden Space
Tiny Gardens – Plant Across the Width to Maximize Choice & Yield
Many people have only a small space in which to grow, such as a porch, patio, or driveway, and want to plant so as to get the greatest possible yield in the least space. Here’s an idea on how to do that.
You can plant across the width of a box or soil-bed, rather than the traditional lengthwise, if you’re willing to do the extra work of feeding, watering, weeding, and pruning that it requires. Remember the first law of plant growth – direct sunlight all day long – and that applies to all of your plants, for optimum harvest. Therefore, planting close together as I’ll suggest here requires that you prune your plants so that they do NOT shade or overlap each other.
You’ll also need to water by hand, to assure even coverage to all plants. And if you’re in the soil, weeding will not be as easy because of the close proximity of plants to each other. The two-way hoe is still the best tool for the job.
And remember to quit feeding the single-crop varieties three weeks before they reach maturity, and ever-bearing crops 8 weeks before hard frost, so as not to waste fertilizers. Multiple crops are certainly an option for several of these, especially carrots, kale, lettuce, and green onions.
Here’s what you could grow in a 2” X 8” box 4’ wide by 16’ long
Rows are from North to South OR East to West (Yields are in parentheses):
ROW LOC CROP – (No. Plants & Yield)
1 – – – – 0’ 1” – Tomatoes (2 = 30#), Cucumber (2 = 40#) and Vining Squash (1 = 10#)
2 – – – 2’ 6” – Zucchini (3 = 45#)
3 – – – 5’ 0” – Peppers (5 = 15#)
4 – – – 7’ 0” – Broccoli (5 = 5# + 10# from leaves)
5 – – – 9’ 0” – Cauliflower (5 = 10# + 10# from leaves)
6 – – – 10’ 6” – Kale (9 = 30# Note: keep leaves picked and harvest can be 9 months!)
7 – – – 11’ 0” – Carrots (45 = 15# + 5# from leaves – YES they’re edible and tasty!)
8 – – – 12’ 6” – Red leaf lettuce (9 = 18# – keep outer leaves picked and yield increases result)
9 – – – 13’ 0” – Romaine lettuce (9 = 18# – same as above)
10 – – – 14’ 6” – Green onions (48 = 5# + 8# from 12 bulbs)
11 – – – 15’ 0” – Italian parsley (16 = 10# – again, harvest can be season-long)
12 – – – 16’ 0” – Sweet potatoes (5 = 25# + 10# from leaves) at opposite end of box
TOTAL YIELD – Plants = 164 – – – – Production = 314#
Tomatoes, cucumber, squash, and zucchini all must be grown on 2” X 2” stakes and pruned to one stem – tomatoes right at the crotch, cucumber and squash cut sucker stems after first female blossom. Zucchini – older leaves pruned as they touch the ground or interfere with adjacent plants
Broccoli and cauliflower leaves should be pruned to keep them off the ground and away from adjacent plants (eat them, they’re edible!).
Sweet potatoes will only work in the space describes above if you can let them run outside the box. You’ll need to prune and train them so they don’t cover your onions and lettuce. These leaves are also edible – use them.
For more information visit www.growfood.com
Jim Kennard.
Feed Your Family On 1/50th of an Acre
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Prepared – Got Your Wheat, Beans & Rice? So What Are You Going To Eat?!
As we try and stay warm during this cominf cold winter season probably very few of us are thinking of gardens or growing our own food – but maybe we should be! When God cursed the ground it was for our sake, so when He said we were to eat our bread by the sweat of our brow perhaps He was pronouncing a blessing on us. At the very least it was instruction on how we were to live, but today too many of us , if we exercise at all, pay to “work out” in the gym instead of working out in the garden.
It is time to change that!
Great and wise men have said every family should have a garden, and that we should “Grow all the food that you possibly can on your own property…grow vegetables and eat those grown in your own yard. Even those residing in apartments or condominiums can generally grow a little food in pots and planters.” Spencer W. Kimball
Evidence all around us points to the wisdom of those words. Today much of what we eat comes from places we know not and contains things that sometimes harm us. And a diet of fresh vegetables and fruits would eliminate many of the chronic health problems plaguing our society
I suggest now is a good time to begin preparing for your own garden next spring. Why? Because it makes sense to follow wise counsel at any time, but also because like someone recently said, when times get tough you’re not going to want to live just on rice and beans and wheat.
In talking with a motivated Mittleider gardener I asked how he became interested in gardening as an important component of his family’s preparedness regimen, and his answer was both humorous and instructive:
“Years ago my wife and I were going over our Preparedness list, basically taking an inventory of where we were in the process, and I asked her “what are we going to eat”, to which she replied “well, we’ve got wheat, beans, and rice . . . “. I thought about that for a few seconds and then said “so what are we going to eat”? She repeated “we’ve got wheat, beans, and rice”, and I responded again “so, what are we going to eat!”
“As we talked about this we decided that we really needed to have an on-going, fresh and sustainable source of nutritious food if we hoped to maintain any degree of long-term health and activity, and so we determined that we had to get serious about growing a garden.”
And here’s “the rest of the story” as Paul Harvey would say. His wife became a Certified Master Gardener, and for 30 years she worked diligently at trying to grow food for their family. However, until recently their success was very limited, even though they tried every method they could find. Their amazing success sfter finding the Mittleider Method of gardening is truly inspiring, and it is documented in some excellent short instructional videos at http://www.ldsprepper.com. I recommend you go there and see for yourself what they’ve done (and what you can do) in the back yard of a small lot in a gated community, with homeowners’ association rules dictating what your yard can look like.
So, what CAN we do in the winter in order to be prepared when it comes time to plant our gardens? Let me describe several important things you can begin doing immediately:
Certainly, planning next spring’s garden is important. And the Garden Planting Details Schedule lists most all of the common garden vegetables and then gives you valuable information in 14 categories including when to plant, where to plant, how far apart to plant, whether to plant seeds or seedlings, how long you can harvest, how much yield to expect, and 8 other important categories of information to guide your decisions. This is available free in the Files section of the gardening groups listed below, as well as in appendix B of The Mittleider Gardening Course book.
Other important areas of planning you should be covering this winter include ways to lengthen your harvest time, and this can be accomplished by growing your own seedlings, and by protecting your plants in the garden.
Seedling production is surprisingly simple, but requires following closely the basic laws of plant growth. Soil temperatures must be in the 70-85 degree range for optimum germination and growth; maximum light must be applied immediately upon emergence; soil must be damp but not soaking wet; and plants must be fed a balanced nutrient mix on a regular schedule – preferably with every watering.
Protecting your plants from the cold (and heat in mid-summer) can be done simply with hoops and clear greenhouse plastic immediately over the plants (low tunnel), or using something larger, again with hoops and plastic sometimes called high tunnels. A third way, costing more but allowing you to grow crops vertically and increasing yields by 4-6 times in a given space, is what I call the in-the-garden greenhouse. These are built using a set of T-Frames tied together by 2 X 4’s and again covered by clear greenhouse plastic, and they can be used to grow seedlings in late winter/early spring and then to grow ever-bearing crops clear into the next winter. Gardeners in southern-tier states even use them to grow successfully year-round.
A family of 4 can live out of a garden of less than 1/20th of an acre! So start planning and preparing now, and expect to have your highly productive sustainable garden in place and growing by the time your neighbors begin even thinking about their gardens.
Short videos demonstrating many steps in the gardening process are available free at. Start there, and if you feel you want to join one of the Food For Everyone Foundation’s free gardening groups to learn more and share with others, simply go to either https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/MittleiderMethodGardening/info or https://www.facebook.com/groups/2304852529528161/
So, what are YOU going to eat when the stores are all closed? If you’re serious I will give you some very exciting and important details next time.
Tiny Gardens – Feed Your Family in Only 64 Square Feet
Tiny Gardens – Plant Across the Width to Maximize Choice & Yield
Many people have only a small space in which to grow, such as a porch, patio, or driveway, and want to plant so as to get the greatest possible yield in the least space. Here’s an idea on how to do that.
You can plant across the width of a Grow-Box (simple 2″ X 8″ container) or a soil-bed, rather than the traditional lengthwise, if you’re willing to do the extra work of feeding, watering, weeding, and pruning that it requires. Remember the first law of plant growth – direct sunlight all day long – and that applies to all of your plants, for optimum harvest. Therefore, planting close together as I’ll suggest here requires that you prune your plants so that they do NOT shade or overlap each other.
You’ll also need to water by hand, to assure even coverage to all plants. And if you’re in the soil, weeding will not be as easy because of the close proximity of plants to each other. The two-way hoe is still the best tool for the job.
And remember to quit feeding the single-crop varieties three weeks before they reach maturity, and ever-bearing crops 8 weeks before hard frost, so as not to waste fertilizers. Multiple or extended (ever-bearing) crops are certainly an option for several of these, especially carrots, kale, lettuce, and green onions.
Here’s what you could grow in a 2″ X 8″ box 4′ wide by 16′ long
Rows are from North to South OR East to West (Yields are in parentheses):
ROW – LOC – CROP – (No. Plants & Yield)
1 – – – – 0′ 1″ – Tomatoes (2 = 30#), Cucumber (2 = 40#) and Vining Squash (1 = 10#)
2 – – – 2′ 6″ – Zucchini (3 = 45#)
3 – – – 5′ 0″ – Peppers (5 = 15#)
4 – – – 7′ 0″ – Broccoli (5 = 5# + 10# from leaves)
5 – – – 9′ 0″ – Cauliflower (5 = 10# + 10# from leaves)
6 – – – 10′ 6″ – Kale (9 = 30# – keep leaves picked and harvest for 9 months!)
7 – – – 11′ 0″ – Carrots (45 = 15# + 5# from leaves – they’re edible and tasty!)
8 – – – 12′ 6″ – Red leaf lettuce (9 = 18# – Pick outer leaves weekly to increase)
9 – – – 13′ 0″ – Romaine lettuce (9 = 18# – same as above)
10 – – – 14′ 6″ – Green onions (48 = 5# + 8# from 12 bulbs)
11 – – – 15′ 0″ – Italian parsley (16 = 10# – harvest can be season-long)
12 – – – 16′ 0″ – Sweet potatoes (5 = 25# + 10# from leaves) at opposite end of box
TOTAL YIELD – Plants = 164 – – – – Production = 314#
Tomatoes, cucumber, squash, and zucchini all should be grown on 2″ X 2″ stakes and pruned to one stem – tomatoes right at the crotch, cucumber and squash – cut sucker stems after first female blossom. Zucchini – older leaves pruned as they touch the ground or interfere with adjacent plants
Broccoli and cauliflower leaves should be pruned to keep them off the ground and away from adjacent plants (eat them, they’re edible!).
Sweet potatoes will only work in the space described above if you can let them run outside the box. You’ll need to prune and train them so they don’t cover your onions and lettuce. These leaves are also edible – use them.
Get The Mittleider Gardening Course, 6 Steps to Successful Gardening and other great gardening resources at https://growfood.com/shop
You can feed your plants everything they need no matter where you live! Use natural mineral nutrients in the Mittleider Micro-Nutrient Mix and follow simple instructions. Get them at https://growfood.com/shop
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9215057
Tiny Gardens – Plant Across the Width to Maximize Yield
Many people have only a small space in which to grow, and want to plant so as to get the greatest possible yield in the least space. Here’s one idea to do that.
You can plant across the width of a box or soil-bed,m rather than the traditional lengthwise, if you’re willing to do the extra work of feeding, watering, weeding, and pruning that it requires.
Remember the first law of plant growth – direct sunlight all day long, and that applies to all of your plants, for optimum harvest.
Therefore, planting close together as I’ll suggest here requires that you prune your plants so that they do NOT shade or overlap each other.
You’ll also need to water by hand, to assure even coverage to all plants.
And if you’re in the soil weeding will not be as easy because of the close proximity of plants to each other. The two-way hoe is still the best tool for the job.
And remember to quit feeding the single-crop varieties three weeks before they reach maturity, so as not to waste fertilizers. Multiple crops are certainly an option for several of those, especially spinach, lettuce, and green onions.
Here’s what you could do in a box 4′ wide by 16′ long – from North to South (or East to West):
Tomatoes (2), cucumber (2) and vining squash (1) – close to edge
Zucchini (3) – 2.5′ from edge
Peppers (5) – 2.5′ from zucchinis
Broccoli (5) – 2′ from peppers
Cauliflower (5) – 2′ from broccoli
Spinach (9) – 1.5′ from broccoli
Spinach (9) – .5′ from spinach
Red leaf lettuce (9) – 1.5′ from spinach
Romaine lettuce (9) – .5′ from red leaf lettuce
Green onions (48) – 1.5′ from romaine lettuce
Italian parsley (16) – .5′ from green onions
Sweet potatoes (5) – 1′ from onions, at opposite end of box
Tomatoes, cucumber, squash, and zucchini all must be grown on 2″ X 2″ stakes and pruned to one stem – tomatoes right at the crotch, cucumber and squash cut sucker stems after first female blossom. Zucchini – older leaves pruned as they touch the ground or interfere with adjacent plants
Broccoli and cauliflower leaves should be pruned to keep them off the ground and away from adjacent plants (the leaves are edible!).
Sweet potatoes will only work in the space describes above if you can let them run outside the box. You’ll need to prune and train them so they don’t cover your onions and lettuce.
