Hard Water (high pH) - effect on fertilizers
Q. We’re told our pH is very high here. Can we grow a garden? What amendments do we need to apply so that we can grow in this soil?
A. Probably the only thing you need to do is use gypsum in your Pre-Plant Mix. However, if you were to test your water and discover that it is in the pH range of 8.5-8.9, since sulfur lowers pH, you might need to use some sulfuric acid in the water to bring the pH down closer to 7.
Consider that Dr. Mittleider himself lives 20 miles from Yucaipa, California (notoriously high pH) and does nothing other than using gypsum. And his daughter lives IN Yucaipa, and they do nothing other than using gypsum, and they have wonderful gardens.
In Duccor, California several years ago, Dr. M. had water with a pH of 8.6-8.9 and he used sulfuric acid in the water. Other than that and one other place in Idaho, he has never had to go to those extremes.
He says to treat your blueberries like everything else, and if they aren't thriving, a little more gypsum, or in the worst case, a little sulfur will take care of it.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Mixing Square Foot Gardening with The Mittleider Method?
Q. I would like to get the fertilizing method clarified. For the past 3 years I have used the square foot gardening method in raised beds. Last year I wasn't as happy with my tomato production and realized when my husband turned the bed that I would have to do something with the soil. Initially it was 1/3 top soil, 1/3 peat moss and 1/3 compost.
So this spring I decided to do some online research on how to fix my soil and came across the Mittleider Method. I thought I would be able to incorporate some of these methods with the square foot method. So, we added a bag of manure to each raised bed. They are 4' x 10' for 3 and 4' x 8' for two. We worked this into the beds along with some chopped leaves and peat moss. Once the soil was well mixed, we leveled it off and added 5-10-15 pre-planting fertilizer. In addition bone meal 7-5-0 was sprinkled on tope of each bed as rabbit
control. This was done before I read the ebook on the Mittleider method for fertilizing. Can I continue on with the weekly fertilizing? Do I really add fertilizer on a weekly basis? Since my beds are only 10' long, how much fertilizer would I use?
BTW, last year our garden with the exception of tomatoes did well. I was able to can 21 quarts of green beans besides what we ate fresh. It was a bad gardening year too. It was too hot and too dry. Tomatoes were really so so. Even zucchini did poorly which is why I started looking for other methods. I like the square foot method for higher yield production in small areas yet the fertilizing makes a lot of sense to me. So this year my garden is a mix of the square foot method and Mittleider method along with a heavy reliance on companion plantings.
A. I can't answer for what you can do, since you didn't say how much of anything you put in your beds, except the manure. I suspect you added more of the things you mention than needed, and you say nothing about the important secondary and trace minerals.
The reason fertilizing using the Mittleider Method produces such great gardens consistently year after year is that we always know just what we are adding to the soil, and we provide just what the plants need of all 13 natural mineral elements, without taking the risks of disease, weed seeds, and bugs that are so often associated with compost and manures.
We apply only small amounts of the Weekly Feed mix (5 ounces to a 10' row of plants) on a weekly basis until 3 weeks before harvest for single crop varieties, and until 8 weeks before first frost for ever-bearing plants like
tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, etc.
Best of success to you. I do hope you'll give the Mittleider Method a fair chance. I'm confident you'll be pleased with the easy and simple procedures, and especially pleased with your yields of beautiful healthy produce.
So this spring I decided to do some online research on how to fix my soil and came across the Mittleider Method. I thought I would be able to incorporate some of these methods with the square foot method. So, we added a bag of manure to each raised bed. They are 4' x 10' for 3 and 4' x 8' for two. We worked this into the beds along with some chopped leaves and peat moss. Once the soil was well mixed, we leveled it off and added 5-10-15 pre-planting fertilizer. In addition bone meal 7-5-0 was sprinkled on tope of each bed as rabbit
control. This was done before I read the ebook on the Mittleider method for fertilizing. Can I continue on with the weekly fertilizing? Do I really add fertilizer on a weekly basis? Since my beds are only 10' long, how much fertilizer would I use?
BTW, last year our garden with the exception of tomatoes did well. I was able to can 21 quarts of green beans besides what we ate fresh. It was a bad gardening year too. It was too hot and too dry. Tomatoes were really so so. Even zucchini did poorly which is why I started looking for other methods. I like the square foot method for higher yield production in small areas yet the fertilizing makes a lot of sense to me. So this year my garden is a mix of the square foot method and Mittleider method along with a heavy reliance on companion plantings.
A. I can't answer for what you can do, since you didn't say how much of anything you put in your beds, except the manure. I suspect you added more of the things you mention than needed, and you say nothing about the important secondary and trace minerals.
The reason fertilizing using the Mittleider Method produces such great gardens consistently year after year is that we always know just what we are adding to the soil, and we provide just what the plants need of all 13 natural mineral elements, without taking the risks of disease, weed seeds, and bugs that are so often associated with compost and manures.
We apply only small amounts of the Weekly Feed mix (5 ounces to a 10' row of plants) on a weekly basis until 3 weeks before harvest for single crop varieties, and until 8 weeks before first frost for ever-bearing plants like
tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, etc.
Best of success to you. I do hope you'll give the Mittleider Method a fair chance. I'm confident you'll be pleased with the easy and simple procedures, and especially pleased with your yields of beautiful healthy produce.
Monday, October 5, 2009
How much water pressure is needed for auto watering?
Watering System Question
Q. When I set up my watering pipes, I made a separate hose attachment for each row.
Now I would like to connect them to a manifold to water several rows at a time.
How many rows can be watered at once with a typical house faucet pressure? The
south side of my garden has 9 rows, and the north side has 4. Thanks!
A. With a water source of a 3/8" (sometimes smaller!) water hose you won't have much
success watering multiple rows at the same time, unless your rows are
substantially shorter than 30'.
I water 25 rows at one time, but I have a 2" main line with water delivered by a
5 HP Honda pump. The laterals that feed 20-25 rows are 1 1/2", and T's that feed
individual beds are 3/4".
A 1" main line could water several beds at a time - the number being dependent
on the water pressure to your garden.
Q. When I set up my watering pipes, I made a separate hose attachment for each row.
Now I would like to connect them to a manifold to water several rows at a time.
How many rows can be watered at once with a typical house faucet pressure? The
south side of my garden has 9 rows, and the north side has 4. Thanks!
A. With a water source of a 3/8" (sometimes smaller!) water hose you won't have much
success watering multiple rows at the same time, unless your rows are
substantially shorter than 30'.
I water 25 rows at one time, but I have a 2" main line with water delivered by a
5 HP Honda pump. The laterals that feed 20-25 rows are 1 1/2", and T's that feed
individual beds are 3/4".
A 1" main line could water several beds at a time - the number being dependent
on the water pressure to your garden.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Organic Gardening to Produce Food for your Family
Gardening to Produce Food For Everyone
My name is Jim Kennard, and as President of the Food For Everyone Foundation I am excited to help in fulfilling the foundation's mission of "teaching the world to grow food one family at a time."
The first way we do this is by providing a wealth of free vegetable gardening information, training, tips, and advice on the internet at www.foodforeveryone.org. People from all over the world log on here to receive free training and advice, as well as to obtain the great gardening books, CDs and software written by Dr. Jacob R. Mittleider, some of which were created in collaboration with several BYU PhDs and Professors of Educational Psychology and Technology.
The Mittleider Gardening Basics Course ebook is free on the website at www.foodforeveryone.org/learn. The book-length FAQ section also has over 500 short gardening articles, which answer people's questions and give advice on many important vegetable gardening subjects.
In addition we have free greenhouse plans and free plans for automating your garden watering system, as well as a free gardening group where you can share knowledge and experience with thousands of successful vegetable gardeners.
I'll briefly introduce you to the Foundation's gardening methods by describing a few things about the Mittleider Method that are important, and which distinguish it from other gardening methods.
Most of the time our gardens are grown right in the native soil, with no amendments. We promise you "a great garden in any soil, in almost any climate". From straight sand to the worst clay, we'll show you how to have success growing healthy, delicious vegetables the first time and every time. The picture is Jan & Gretchen Graf’s first ever garden West of Santa Clara, Utah in blow-sand. It was a great success.
Grow-Boxes, or containers are sometimes needed for people living in apartments, and for disabled people. Container gardening can be just as effective as growing in the soil. Three of Dr. Mittleider's 10 books are dedicated to the unique features of the container gardening process, and for the next 5 days I will send a copy of the Digital version of Gardening by the Foot to all who request it from me at jim@growfood.com.
The Mittleider Method is sometimes called "the poor man's hydroponic system", because we use some of the principles and procedures of greenhouse growers, such as
1. Vertical growing,
2. Allowing NO weeds,
3. Watering often with small amounts of water,
4. Feeding the plants accurately throughout their growing cycle with natural mineral nutrients, and
5. Controlling temperature extremes, thus extending the growing season in both the spring and fall.
The Second major element in the Foundation's mission is teaching, training, and assisting people directly. One way we do this in America is by conducting free ½-day group gardening seminars. These can be arranged by contacting me by email at jim@growfood.com.
We also conduct humanitarian projects in countries throughout the world. In 2002 I was in Turkey and Madagascar for the Church. Every year since 2004 we have spent time in Armenia. In 2007 and 2008 we were also in the Republic of Georgia, and in 2007-2008 we were on a University campus in Colombia for several months – again for the Church. Everywhere we’ve been we grow many kinds of vegetables the locals thought couldn't possibly be grown in "their region", and we try to leave people in place to be the local “experts” to carry on and expand the work.
Another way in which we extend our reach is to train others who are becoming missionaries. One example is Howard and Glenice Morgan from Southern California, who recently returned from a 2-year LDS mission to Zimbabwe. They were sent to teach Mittleider gardening to Church members throughout the country, and they did a FABULOUS job.
They prepared by studying the Mittleider gardening books. Then, after some training in my garden adjacent to Utah's Hogle Zoo, and using only the simple 6 Steps to Successful Gardening book, the Morgans created 84 large “community” gardens in 4 countries, and taught over 10,500 people to feed themselves by growing their own healthy vegetables.
And Howard and Glenice thanked me for helping them have the time of their lives! Howard was a retired dentist, by the way, with very little previous experience in gardening.
So, whatever level you are currently on, you too can experience this kind of success – whether it's in your own home garden, a community effort, or as a humanitarian missionary in some distant country.
Join us as we teach people how there can be “food for everyone”, and learn to produce the best gardens of your life.
Jim Kennard
My name is Jim Kennard, and as President of the Food For Everyone Foundation I am excited to help in fulfilling the foundation's mission of "teaching the world to grow food one family at a time."
The first way we do this is by providing a wealth of free vegetable gardening information, training, tips, and advice on the internet at www.foodforeveryone.org. People from all over the world log on here to receive free training and advice, as well as to obtain the great gardening books, CDs and software written by Dr. Jacob R. Mittleider, some of which were created in collaboration with several BYU PhDs and Professors of Educational Psychology and Technology.
The Mittleider Gardening Basics Course ebook is free on the website at www.foodforeveryone.org/learn. The book-length FAQ section also has over 500 short gardening articles, which answer people's questions and give advice on many important vegetable gardening subjects.
In addition we have free greenhouse plans and free plans for automating your garden watering system, as well as a free gardening group where you can share knowledge and experience with thousands of successful vegetable gardeners.
I'll briefly introduce you to the Foundation's gardening methods by describing a few things about the Mittleider Method that are important, and which distinguish it from other gardening methods.
Most of the time our gardens are grown right in the native soil, with no amendments. We promise you "a great garden in any soil, in almost any climate". From straight sand to the worst clay, we'll show you how to have success growing healthy, delicious vegetables the first time and every time. The picture is Jan & Gretchen Graf’s first ever garden West of Santa Clara, Utah in blow-sand. It was a great success.
Grow-Boxes, or containers are sometimes needed for people living in apartments, and for disabled people. Container gardening can be just as effective as growing in the soil. Three of Dr. Mittleider's 10 books are dedicated to the unique features of the container gardening process, and for the next 5 days I will send a copy of the Digital version of Gardening by the Foot to all who request it from me at jim@growfood.com.
The Mittleider Method is sometimes called "the poor man's hydroponic system", because we use some of the principles and procedures of greenhouse growers, such as
1. Vertical growing,
2. Allowing NO weeds,
3. Watering often with small amounts of water,
4. Feeding the plants accurately throughout their growing cycle with natural mineral nutrients, and
5. Controlling temperature extremes, thus extending the growing season in both the spring and fall.
The Second major element in the Foundation's mission is teaching, training, and assisting people directly. One way we do this in America is by conducting free ½-day group gardening seminars. These can be arranged by contacting me by email at jim@growfood.com.
We also conduct humanitarian projects in countries throughout the world. In 2002 I was in Turkey and Madagascar for the Church. Every year since 2004 we have spent time in Armenia. In 2007 and 2008 we were also in the Republic of Georgia, and in 2007-2008 we were on a University campus in Colombia for several months – again for the Church. Everywhere we’ve been we grow many kinds of vegetables the locals thought couldn't possibly be grown in "their region", and we try to leave people in place to be the local “experts” to carry on and expand the work.
Another way in which we extend our reach is to train others who are becoming missionaries. One example is Howard and Glenice Morgan from Southern California, who recently returned from a 2-year LDS mission to Zimbabwe. They were sent to teach Mittleider gardening to Church members throughout the country, and they did a FABULOUS job.
They prepared by studying the Mittleider gardening books. Then, after some training in my garden adjacent to Utah's Hogle Zoo, and using only the simple 6 Steps to Successful Gardening book, the Morgans created 84 large “community” gardens in 4 countries, and taught over 10,500 people to feed themselves by growing their own healthy vegetables.
And Howard and Glenice thanked me for helping them have the time of their lives! Howard was a retired dentist, by the way, with very little previous experience in gardening.
So, whatever level you are currently on, you too can experience this kind of success – whether it's in your own home garden, a community effort, or as a humanitarian missionary in some distant country.
Join us as we teach people how there can be “food for everyone”, and learn to produce the best gardens of your life.
Jim Kennard
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