Fresh from the Garden

Weed 'Early and Often"

Vegetables are better for you if they have been grown without pesticides.  One good way to keep the bugs off our plants is to have clean, weed-free aisles, and garden boxes. 

The secret to weeding is to pull them up when they are tiny.    

This keeps the bugs much further from our plants and makes the garden look well kept.

A two-way hoe also makes weeding easy. It just rakes across the soil and catches the weeds by their roots.  I've only seen this at Ace hardware in Cullman (in the Piggy Wiggy) but the hoe can be order at Growfood.com.  This organization donated one to Hulaco.  

Sometimes it's hard to tell which are the plants that are supposed to be in the garden, and which are the weeds.  We planted the garden in neat rows near the water pipes, everything else is a weed.  The arrow on the left is pointing to weeds in the middle of the box.  Those need to be pulled out.  The arrow on the right is pointing to crabgrass weeds outside the box.  These will try to grow inside the box and choke our plants.  

When crabgrass is about the size of a quarter is the best time to pull it up.   

Crabgrass makes a star shape and is still easy to pull up at this stage.

If crabgrass gets big, it may take a shovel to get it out.  The motto for weeding is "Early and Often".  You can tell it's a weed if it's not growing in a straight line near the water pipes in the garden.  Weeding the garden is easy if it's done just a few minutes each week.  

I hope you have great success with your garden.  To get more inspiration check out the Mittleider Garden group on Facebook or click here to go back.

How to shop for plants and seeds

When shopping for plants, tomatoes for example, check to see if the soil is very dry.  Bedding plants should be watered every day.  Poor watering practices can weaken plants.  Check for green leaves.  Yellow leaves is also a sign the plant has not been cared for properly. 

Check the underside of the leaves for tiny little bugs.  Once these get on the plants and lay eggs it may take chemicals to get rid of them.  The bugs will also transfer onto your healthy plants.  Check for fruit.  If plants are too neglected, usually from lack of water, they will attempt to bear prematurely as a way of casting seed before they die. 

So look for watered soil and green leaves, no bugs and no fruit.  The local feed store is my favorite place to shop.  They sell them in packs of three for around $1.50.  

This Better Boy is my favorite tomato.  Notice where it says “Vine Type: Indeterminate” That means the plants will continue to grow all season and can be pruned.  Pruning helps the plants bear more fruit.  We will talk about pruning in the next lesson.  One Indeterminate tomato plant can produce about 35 tomatoes. The tag also tells how big the fruit will be, about 1 pound each.  The “Days to Maturity” will help you plan how long before you’ll have fruit.  This tomato is a Hybrid which means it is a combination of more than one type of plant. If you save the seeds from the fruit and plant them, the new plant won’t be a true representation of this plant.  I like hybrids through because they have been bread to resist diseases and produce nice uniform fruit.  

This is my second favorite.  It is an heirloom.  As opposed to a hybrid, the seeds will be true to the parent plant so they can be saved and replanted year after year.  This Brandywine is more acidic than Better Boy and has an old-fashioned taste.  The fruit is not uniform but very tasty.  It is also Indeterminate which means it can be pruned.  It will grow well with T-Frames and strings.  If pruned this plant will also produce about 35 tomatoes.

Notice the “Vine Type: Determinate”.  It also says in the description that it “Grows well in containers.”  This plant isn’t good for pruning but it is a good choice for a container on a porch or deck.  Determinates don’t produce all season.  They usually come on all at once and are done.  One plant may have about 8 tomatoes. 

This is a pruned Indeterminate.  When I’m shopping for tomatoes to help me remember which ones to purchase, I think, Indeterminates produce “Indefinitely”, or at least all season. Determinates are “Determined” to produce all at once and get it over with.  

When choosing seeds, season is what matters most.  The map on the back will tell what time of year to plant the seeds.  Hybrids are breed to avoid certain problems with diseases and sometimes cracking or misshapen fruit.  Hybrids are generally easier to grow, especially for a new gardener.  

Once you have your plants and seeds, it's time to plant the garden or click here to return!

Choose a Sunny Location

There are four things to consider when choosing a garden spot to grow vegetables.  It needs to get full sun, drain well, be level or can be made to be level, and be near a water source. 

Because plants use energy from the sun to make fruit choose a garden spot that gets sun all day or at least 6 hours. 8 hours is even better.

I had planned to put the garden near the deck were the grass was sparse.  I didn't want to dig up the yard.  When I noticed that spot was the last place the snow melted, I realized it was shaded by the house.    

  

TIP: On a sunny day, use your phone and make a short video of your yard every hour or two. Note the time the sunlight first shines on potential garden spots and when it moves away from the area.  By the end of the day, you'll have found your perfect spot.  Vegetables need six full hours of sun but it can be collective, morning and afternoon sun.  Remember to account for nearby trees that will continue to grow and encroach on your garden light.

Our sunny spot was on the other side of the yard.  This spot drained well with no standing water.  The ground wasn't level but we were able to move dirt around and level the area.      

...and it was near a water source.

This is another idea for leveling a sunny spot is this garden by Steve and Beth Morril.     

The best garden spot may not be in the backyard like the grass by this sunny wall.  

This one step leading to our deck gets morning sun and afternoon sun, totaling more than six hours and the wicker basket drained well.  You may need to think outside the box to find a place to grow a garden. You are looking for four conditions;

• sun all day or at least 6 hours 
• well-drained soil without standing water 
• level or could be made level 
• close to a water source  

Take your time choosing a garden spot because these are the greatest factors in your garden doing well. 

  When you've found your garden spot, then it's time to choose a garden style or here to return.

Decide on a garden style

Once you've chosen a well drained spot with full sun, that is level or could be made level, and close to a water source you are ready to decide what kind of garden you'll make. There are several styles to choose from:

You could make a container garden.  Wicker is ideal because it drains well.

A garden in the ground is the fastest, cheapest and you could probably start it today.  The disadvantage is weeds grow on the ridges and they will need to be raked down and built back up. This is good for beans, squash, carrots, onions, broccoli, cabbage, lettuce and any vegetable that doesn't need support.  

In ground with a T-frame.  Notice how he cleared the whole area then pulled from the sides to pile up this ridges. T-frames are good for pole beans, tomatoes, and cucumbers. 

Or you could do a combination of both like in Bobbie Willingham's garden.  She planted according to height, short to tall.  The tall tomatoes and pole beans are on the northeast side so the warm afternoon sun can shine on everything. 

Well almost everything, the okra by the fence on the far right didn't grow as fast as the beans, oops.

If you have poor soil like this yard, vegetables will grow in it but it's a pain to dig in!  A garden box would be more enjoyable. Can you see how the dirt forms a box to whole the water near the plants? 

A garden box with a small T-Frame on the back and a row on the front is also a good option. This is a side view of our garden  The T-Frames in the back support tomatoes, cucumbers, cantaloupe and pole beans.  The front of the box is squash, bush beans, onions, squash, lettuce, and carrots. The advantage to a garden box is less weeds and a more defined space.  The disadvantage is the cost of materials and the time to build it.  The box can be filled with free material like leaf mulch or sawdust from a cabinet shop.  A few bags of purchased concrete sand is a nice addition.    

This is a double box without a T-frame.  He has five rows of corn growing in this box. 

This is Jim and Araksya Kennard's home.  This garden box has tomatoes, cucumbers and honey dew melon hanging.  He used a double T-Frame that is 6' wide at the top.  Jim is the one that brought Mittleider Gardening to Alabama.  These T-frames were donated and relocated to a girl's camp.  Click here to see pictures of the project.

Another option for a garden box is to not use purchased wood.  Teresa and Cris Partain's garden box is made from tree trunks.  They planted in leaf mulch and sand.

They even used logs for the wood at the top.

These tall trees fell during an ice storm just as they were about to buy the wood their garden box.  Remember, the point is to keep the grass and weeds out and the water in.  A variety of materials can be used.  Use thee resources you have? 

To help you choose between planting in the ground or making a box or simply planting in containers, consider what your family will eat and what you could grow. If everything you want to plant is short, then there is no need for T-Frames.  Here is a list of vegetables that don't need T-frames.  
Bush beans, beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, Swiss chard, corn, eggplant, kale, lettuce, okra, green onions, bulb onions, parsley, all types of peppers, red potatoes, sweet potatoes, radishes, all types of squash, spinach, turnips, and watermelon.  

Small melons, pole beans, tomatoes, peas, and cucumbers work best on T-Frames.  

If you've found a good spot for your garden and have decided what type you want -- then it's time to start digging or click here to return!

Constructing Your Garden

Regardless of which garden type you choose, the first step is to remove the weeds and grass.  This will be more important mid-summer when it gets hot and the ones that don't get removed keep growing.


This can be done with a shovel or a tiller. 

I removed all this grass with a shovel.  I wish I would have removed all the grass in and around this box before putting the wood in place.  Eight years later and one corner still has grass trying to grow under the edges of my box.   

With a tiller, till down only about 2 inches.  then with a metal rake, rake the grass and weeds away.  Then till again about 8-10 inches to have dirt to shape the beds.

Can you see how he used a rake to pull dirt from the isle? 

 

I'm sure at this point you would love a video.  This is a video of Jim Kennard demonstrating how to make a garden in the ground. This is a handout that shows the layout of the garden beds.  

This video show how to make the garden boxes.  After 10 years of Mittleider gardening an 18" wide box is my favorite size.  One long box can be watered with just one timer.  This narrow box is also easier to tend.  

Consider getting this book if you plan to make a Mittleider Garden.  It has much more details than I've included here. The Mittleider Garden Course 

Once you've constructed your garden, then it's time to plan to plant or here to return.