I am always amazed at how strong the plants in my Mittleider garden are.
This year I grew mostly heirloom seeds just to mention a few of the varieties I grew
Habanero Peppers
Onions
Horseradish
California Wonder Peppers
Roma Tomatoes
Yellow Pear Tomatoes
Cubenelle Peppers
Black Krim Tomaotes
Delicious Tomatoes
Organic Garlic
Super Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes
Health Kick Tomatoes
You can see video about my 2010 Mittleider organic garden here
What I do with most of my vegetables is chop them up and freeze them I call it my Vegetarian meal starters.
Next year I plan on building a greenhouse and also using Mittleider garden row covers to extend my season.
As I get more experience I am sure I can turn my Mittleider garden into a full time gardening business. I cant wait to get into the soil next spring
This is all part of my strategy to start my own Homestead, I want to use solar and hydro power and be totally off grid. But I will still need Internet access :):)
Happy gardening and I would like to give a big shout out to Jim Kennard of the Gardening Non-Profit Food for Everyone Foundation who teaches the Mittleider method.
Showing posts with label mittleider gardening. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mittleider gardening. Show all posts
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
My Mittleider garden 2010
Great year with my garden got the blight but planted early varieties of tomatoes got about 85% of the yields better then last year for sure, please be sure to check out this lens and pass it on.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Phase two Mittleider garden setup
My garden is rocks rocks and more rocks the Mittleider method allows me to grow in this "soil"
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
When to Plant - Some Seeds Must Wait!
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, but 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. Alternatively, you can plant them in a greenhouse
or under grow-lights 3 or 4 weeks earlier. 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 very poorly as a bare-root transplant.
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, but 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. Alternatively, you can plant them in a greenhouse
or under grow-lights 3 or 4 weeks earlier. 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 very poorly as a bare-root transplant.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Sweet Potatoes - Storage
First, avoid breaking whenever possible, and clean broken ends with a hydrogen peroxide solution, then dry for 2 to 3 hours. Next, place them in a dry area holding the temperature at 85 F and 90 to 95% relative humidity for 4 to 7 days. Curing helps prevent the entrance of decay organisms by healing cuts and other injuries received in harvesting and handling. After this curing period, place them where the temperatures will range from 55 degrees to 60 degrees F. with a relative humidity of about 85 percent. Immediately remove any roots that show signs of deterioration or decay.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Preserving your Harvest
Folks, this one’s a keeper, so get out your scissors and save it in your gardening library.
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.
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. The drawing shows a 6’-tall 4’ X 6’ root cellar intended to be built under the crawl space in a home with no basement. This same plan will work in your yard. The 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! More details are at www.foodforeveryone.org in the FAQ section.
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.
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. The drawing shows a 6’-tall 4’ X 6’ root cellar intended to be built under the crawl space in a home with no basement. This same plan will work in your yard. The 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! More details are at www.foodforeveryone.org in the FAQ section.
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