Mittleider Gardening Magic – Advice and Tips for Your Vegetable Garden

Welcome to Mittleider Gardening Magic advice and tips! I’m excited to be sharing the wisdom of “the world’s greatest vegetable gardener.”

I’ve been a Mittleider gardener ever since the mid 70’s when Jacob Mittleider moved about a mile from my home, and I became his student – patterning my own garden after his prolific backyard masterpiece.

We became friends as I worked with him over the years, and after assisting him on a major teaching project in Russia in 1993, I continued working with him on several other projects. And finally in 1998, after 20 years of study and work under Jacob’s tutelage, I was given the responsibility and privilege of carrying on his work. I accepted this full-time non-paying job with the proviso that he would continue to stay involved and answer any and all questions, to which he readily agreed, since gardening was his life’s greatest love (just ask his wife, Mildred). Sadly, Jacob died just one month after his 88th birthday, on May 23, 2006. Therefore anything you need to know that Jacob hasn’t already taught me, I will research from his prolific writings.

So, just who is Jacob Mittleider, and what’s his Method all about? You may have seen a neighbor’s beautiful and highly productive Mittleider vegetable garden, and wished yours looked and produced like that. Or perhaps you’ve heard of the great work he’s done around the world. Maybe you even have one of his books and have experimented with growing your own vegetable garden this way. If so, then you may know Jacob’s history, but for those who don’t know him let me tell you very briefly why he’s so famous, and why he promises you a “great garden in any soil and in any climate.”.

For the last 43 years of his life Dr. Jacob Mittleider quietly and without fanfare dramatically improved the lives of multiplied thousands of people, and even changed the economies of countries, by teaching people how to better feed their families by growing healthy and highly productive vegetable crops – both personally and commercially. He created 75 teaching and demonstration projects in 27 countries – and documented his experiences and the great lessons he learned in 10 books, 9 manuals, and 86 video lectures.

To help tell the world’s families about this great gardening method, we have established a 501©(3) Public Charitable Foundation, and created a website at http://www.foodforeveryone.org, with a section for free Gardening Techniques and one for frequently asked questions (FAQ’s). The Mittleider Gardening Basics book is there for you free, with Dr. Mittleider’s best wishes for gardening success. There is also a page where you can buy any or all of his books and CD’s, as well as his Mittleider Magic natural mineral Micro-Nutrients, from which you can make his Mittleider Magic Weekly Feed fertilizer mix, also known as “the poor man’s hydroponic mix,” because it is a scientifically balanced and complete plant nutrient mix.

So much for introductions! Let’s get down to learning about growing better vegetable gardens, shall we?

What problems or questions do you have? I will teach you the principles of successful gardening, but I also want to resolve any concerns you may have. There are many conflicting ideas, methods, and procedures out there, and we will do our best to give you factual “works every time” advice and counsel. A few topics we’ll discuss, about which you might have some concern, include:

1. “My soil is terrible, and nothing will grow. What must I do with my soil so that it will grow a good garden?”

2. “I hear that chemicals are poisoning our waterways, and that organic growing is much healthier, how do I grow a healthy, productive garden without hurting the environment?”

3. “It seems like so much labor-intensive work, with little reward. Is there a way to have a garden that makes financial sense?”

4. “Weeds just take over our garden, and the vegetables don’t really have a chance. What’s the answer?”

5. “Bugs, diseases, and critters get most of our produce! It’s hardly worth growing for the little bit we manage to save – what can we do to minimize our losses?”

6. “We want to be self-sufficient in food, but we’ve heard it would take 2 ½ acres in order to be truly self/sufficient. We live on a 1/3-acre lot – what practical chance do we have to accomplish that?”

7. “I hear using hybrid plants will only make us dependent on the big seed companies, and I want to use heirlooms, so I can save the seed and be assured I’ll always be able to have good plants, is this something I can do, and how do I do it?”

Exciting stuff, don’t you agree? Join me for real, practical advice and answers to the hard gardening questions. You may also pose your own questions, and you’ll find many answers by going to http://www.foodforeveryone.org and looking in the Posts or FAQ pages. Until next time – Great Gardening!

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

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