Gardening | Moms Simple Life

November 2, 2023October 19, 2023

Best Companion Plants For Your Garden

Here is a list of companion plant pairing you may want to consider and why:

Basil repels moths that lay tomato hornworm eggs and will repel thrips. Basil is a good plant to attract pollinators like bees. Even though tomatoes self-pollinate for the most part, this will improve the tomatoes taste and overall health. I personally don’t deal with these pests in my own garden but I know so many others do.

Borage can be paired with strawberries to enhance their vigor and flavor. Pair Borage with tomatoes to attract pollinators.

Dill is another great plant that will attract ladybugs to help deal with aphids and spider mites. I deal with spider mites every year, but some years are better than others.

***Image by https://megapixel.click – betexion – photos for free from Pixabay***

Garlic has a strong scent that will repel and confuse insects like aphids. Garlic repels ermine moths, Japanese beetles and onion flies but at the same time attract aphid eating hoverflies.

***Image by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay***

Mint deters ants, flea beetles and aphids with its strong scent. BUT mint can easily take over the garden. Their roots grow deep and far that will cause mint spreading very fast and can choke out other plants. So consider planting them in a container or its own garden bed with some type of barrier underneath. Trust me, you will be fighting with your mint if you just through into any bed. I built a 2’x2’ bed to help me with not letting it take over again. Plus, mint is nice to have for teas and mojitos.

***Image by congerdesign from Pixabay***

Nasturtiums is a great one to plant close brassica type plants like cabbage, kale and broccoli. They attract hungry caterpillars away from these plants and will be a good host plant.

Parsley is great to attract beneficial insects like pollinators

***Image by Gulzer Hossain from Pixabay***

Sage is a great herb that repels cabbage moths and carrot flies. Cabbage moths usually come out in the late summer in my area. You can also use row crop covers to keep those pesky moths from laying their eggs in your cabbage.

***Image by cferrigno426 from Pixabay***

Sunflowers is a natural trellis for your cucumbers, pole beans and other climbing plants. Sunflowers also extract pollutants like copper, zinc and cadmium out of the ground through their roots.

***Image by Mircea Ploscar from Pixabay***

Tansy is a great perennial which will come back every year and will attract pest eating insects like lady birds, ladybugs and predatory wasps. Tansy also repels cutworms which could attack asparagus, bean, beets, cabbage, carrot, celery, corn, lettuce, pea, pepper, potato, and tomato plants. Cutworms target young seedlings and it looks like the top of the seedling is cut right off, they also target the roots.

Calendula, cosmos and marigolds are a beautiful and beneficial flower that will attract beneficial insects and even can be a host plant.

Corn and pole beans will benefit each other. Pole beans have nitrogen fixing capabilities while the corn will give the pole beans a structure to climb on.

Here is a list of companion plants and their benefits:

Please leave me a comment and check out my YouTube channel for more content.

Written by: Melissa Ferris

October 26, 2023October 19, 2023

Rules for Companion Planting

Companion planting seems to be talked a lot about throughout the gardening community. This involves finding the right plants that will get along with each other and help each other grow. It can be as easy as pairing up plants that give and take different nutrients from the soil, so they both aren’t robbing the soil of the same nutrients. Plants that repel pests from certain plants that are prone to infestation. Or planting flowers that will attract pollinators. Click here for a list of plants you may want to start planting together or which ones you may not.

Here are a few things you may want to consider when companion planting:

Spacing- Every plants needs their own specific amount of space to grow healthy and to give you the best yields. If you plant things too close in general, you can be dealing with smaller yields, pests/insects and robbing of resources like water, nutrients and light requirements. Even if you are planting a whole bed of the same variety, each plant needs their specific amount of space. Most gardeners, including me, seem to have trouble with this. Especially when you started WAY too many seeds in the dark days of winter. Yes, our heart and eyes are bigger than our garden space. Try to plant like sized things together, that will grow and mature at the same rate. This will insure the more mature plant isn’t over shadowing its baby sister. Or on the opposite you plant carrots and radishes seeds that have completely different growth and maturity rate at the same time. Radishes are fast growing and can be harvested sooner than carrots. This will allow you to grow two crops in one space.

Insect/pest pressure- There are plants that are prone to insect and pest pressure. Try to avoid planting these together to discourage an all you can eat buffet. Kale and Cabbage in my own garden seems to always get aphids at a certain points of the season. So if I plant these together (which I have done before) both crops will be infested with Aphids. If I plant a second crop of cabbage or kale later in the season, find a different area to plant them. This will give them a better chance of not having insect pressure that maybe their older sibling has or is currently dealing with. It’s also a good idea to plant things that can repel pests or a host plant that can attract pest. This will help give your plants a chance. This isn’t always a 100% method, but it can decrease the amount of pest you will see on your main crops.

**Image by Melani Marfeld from Pixabay**

Nutrient needs- Some plants demand more nutrients than others, but giving too much fertilizer to some can make the plant produce more leaves and will not flower and produce as much fruit, for an example beans. But those plants will look really healthy lol The same can be true for under fertilizing, they may not be productive and give you the yield you desire. Its one of those double edged swords. I had a neighbor that once built all new garden beds and filled them with ONLY compost… Lets just say they struggled with most of their plants showing signs of stress and not producing fruit. You don’t want to plant a high nutrient demanding plant next to a low demand plant and fertilize them both the same.

**Image by Joke vander Leij from Pixabay**

Here is a list of the nutrient demands:

*LOW DEMAND*	*MEDIUM DEMAND*	*HIGH DEMAND*
Arugula	Artichoke	Asparagus
Beans	Basil	Broccoli
Beets	Cilantro	Brussels Sprouts
Carrots	Sweet Corn	Cabbage
Collard Greens	Cucumber	Cantaloupe/Honey Dew
Endive	Eggplant	Cauliflower
Herbs (most)	Garlic	Celery
Kale	Lettuce	Kohlrabi
Parsnip	Okra	Leeks
Peas	Peppers (smaller fruit like chili’s)	Onions
	Potatoes	Peppers (large fruit like bell pepper)
	Pumpkin	Spinach
	Radish	Turnips
	Rutabaga
	Squash
	Swiss Chard
	Tomatoes
	Watermelon
	Zucchini

Water Needs- Some plants need more or less water, especially if you are planting them at different times of the season. More established plants are usually fine with getting watered every other day, but shallow rooted or baby seedlings will need more. Keep in mind a quick finger test seems to be the easiest method to make sure your plants are getting enough water. When transplanting any type of plant, they need more water for the first 2-3 weeks until their roots are more established, then you can start to back off. But in all honesty, these “RULES” are sometimes hard to follow, especially if you have your water system on a timer and they are on the same zone. I installed spigots in every garden bed so I can shut off the beds I don’t need water too anymore. I will be installing individual shut off valves to my row crops next year. I know a lot of us also use over head sprinklers to water the whole garden, so this will be hard to pinpoint which plants need more or less. But its always easier to come out and hand water the plants that need a little extra, than to over water the whole garden. I do this when I start seeds. Be consistent with watering, plants don’t like to go through long dry periods of time then to turn around and receive too much water. This will cause plants like Tomatoes to start splitting and the leaves to curl. Cabbage is another one that will start to split open if they get too much water all at once. Keep them on a schedule, it could be once or twice a day or even every other day watering schedule, depending on your climate. If you make sure your beds soil is moist several inches deep when you first plant, then you shouldn’t have a problem with them drying out and can have a shorter water duration.

Image by <a href="https://pixabay.com/users/manfredrichter-4055600/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=3611518">Manfred Richter</a> from <a href="https://pixabay.com//?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=3611518">Pixabay</a> — Image by Manfred Richter from Pixabay

Seasonal maturity times- Plants with shorter dates to maturity should be planted together so you can rip them all out at the same time when they are done. For example: Broccoli is a cold tolerant plant that will be harvested earlier than say peppers or tomatoes. When its time to take your broccoli plant out of the garden it can disrupt other nearby plants root system. This can be seen when you haven’t pulled weeds when they were little. The bigger the plant gets, the bigger the root system is. But if you find yourself needing to pull out a plant that may mess with a nearby plants root system, consider cutting it off at the dirt level and wait to pull out the roots later.

Light requirements– Most of the veggies you will plant will need full sun, 7+ hours. But some, like leafy greens (Kale, Swiss Chard, Collard Greens, lettuce, and especially spinach) can enjoy less (3-4 hours minimum), especially during the dog days of summer. Cilantro is another one that can use a little less sun so it won’t bolt. I try to plant these type of vegetables in an area that gets shaded in the afternoon and evenings. Plants that need moderate amount of light (5-6 hours) are root crops like carrots, radishes, beets, onions and potatoes, in addition to the leafy crops. Full sun (7-8 hours) crops are beans, cucumber, corn, peppers, squash, tomatoes and fruit. All vegetables need sun light to survive and thrive. But if you don’t have full sun areas to grow, consider planting the vegetables mentioned above.

Please leave me a comment on this post and check out my YouTube channel for more content.

Written by: Melissa Ferris

October 19, 2023October 19, 2023

End of Growing Season Notes

I don’t know about you, but I am so bad about writing down notes about how the garden went throughout the season. But here is my notes from my 2023 garden:

**Image by Karolina Grabowska from Pixabay**

PLANT EARLIER!!! yes, I planted so late this year. Last year I planted late because of buying our new property. Which I am so excited we did. I figured this year I would start on time with the planting. But since my husband convinced me to rip out all the vegetable beds and make the foundation of my garden better, it took me awhile to get to the point where I can actually plant. I am so glad my husband helped me with this huge project. It allowed me to do the things I missed the first time I put the garden together. It allowed me to rotate my design 180 degrees to reflect where we enter the garden the most. Which made more sense after using this area for a year now. Also I was able to install water spigots in every bed so I can shut off the beds that are not in use.

START SEEDS EARLIER– I am usually really good about this, but this year was my first year trying to figure out where my seed starting area is going to be. After figuring out the garage is the only area I can use, I ordered a small green house to have inside my garage. This helps keep the heat in the greenhouse with the lights, heating mat and space heater. The seeds had a nice warm area to grow. We use our garage everyday and I needed a way to keep the seedling safe and warm, so the greenhouse was the best option. This will also be where I store some of the root veggies during the fall and winter until I’m ready to start seeds next year.

DON’T START TOO MANY SEEDLINGS! – I tell myself this every year and every year I plant a full flat of tomato plants (72 plants). A different variety in each 6 cell container. But yet I only have room for maybe 2-3 of each variety. When I grab those little seeds, and think of all the people I can give the extra plants to or even sell, I start to over plant. Then I got overwhelmed and all my extra plants ended up in the compost. I did this with flowers this year too. I planted all these seeds that I didn’t have a spot for. But we all know, I will still start way to many plants again next year.

DON’T ORDER TO MANY SEED PACKETS!– I put this in here, even though I know I will be ignoring this note. If you know, you know. Seed addiction is a real thing.

DON’T OVER PLAN– I’m a huge planner. I have my mile long dream list that I break down every year to accomplish. Nothing wrong with that, but sometimes I bite off more than I can chew. It doesn’t bother me too much, but I’m sure it bothers my husband with all of my unfinished projects everywhere lol But he still loves me and loves to see and show off the finished (or almost finished) projects.

**Image by AC works Co., Ltd. from Pixabay**

WEED, WEED, WEED- I put this in here for everyone else, because I am always on top of the endless weeds. lol If you don’t know me, I’m being sarcastic. I don’t know one person who has a perfectly weeded garden at all times. But next year I want to start a schedule that I know I will most like NOT keep up with, but the idea sounds nice. I don’t know about you, but there is something relaxing about putting on a podcast or music and weed in peace. If you REALLY want to get into it, make yourself a strong drink and call it a date.

FERTILIZE- I did really well on this for the most part until the last month of the growing season… but plants didn’t show signs of nutrition deficiency until the end of the season. Which at that point, I figured I will be pulling those plants in the next few weeks. Why waste fertilizer.

PLAN OUT WHICH PLANTS WILL GO IN WHICH BEDS- You don’t want to start planting and notice you over planted one type and you don’t have room for others. I just want to clear the air on this one… I planted 3 beds of garlic this fall… I bought WAY to much garlic bulbs and now I have 3 2’x10′ beds of it… But my thought was to use the garlic plants as a deterrent for aphids and other pest you would have in the garden. I’m still going to pop a clove here and there, to TRY to keep the aphids away.

TAKE CARE OF PEST ASAP– Sometimes I don’t notice an infestation until its too late. It starts small and I get out my organic bug spray thinking I’m getting this problem under control. A few weeks later the problem gets worse. Then I throw up my hands after spraying for several weeks with no end in site. I harvest the veggies, wash off the aphids and peel off the outer layers of the cabbage and call it good. This next year I have a plan, garlic! That’s it, that’s my whole plan. I’ll probably try to plant host plants that will keep my veggies clean of pests. But for right now, garlic!

Please leave me a comment on some of your notes from the growing season, I would love to read about it.

September 29, 2023October 4, 2023

Everything you need to know about planting, growing and harvesting garlic

Time to Start Planting Garlic! It’s that time of the year where the trees are putting on their fall colors, pumpkin spice everything is in the air and we start to bring out our fall decor and sweaters. But for us gardeners… It’s time to plant garlic for next year! This time of the year seems to sneak up fast and I never feel ready to hang up my gardening gloves until spring. But it’s exciting to plant that last crop of the season.

Figure out what type of garlic you want to plant- hardneck and/or softneck garlic.

Hardneck garlic has less individual garlic cloves inside, but the cloves they do have are bigger in size. Hardneck garlic is the only one that produces the edible scapes or also known as the flowering stem. The scapes can be used in many dishes to add a mild peppery flavor. From grilling, sautéing, stir-fry, pickling and making pesto. As the bulb is growing underground it is growing a single row of garlic cloves. The hardneck name says it all, the stem/neck that comes up from the center of the garlic is hard as it matures and the cloves are easier to peel. This type is hardier for colder climates and you can store the bulbs from 3-6 months after harvest, which is not as long of a shelf life as the softneck garlic type. But within this type of garlic you can find several dozen varieties to choose from.

Softneck garlic has more cloves but the cloves are way smaller than the hardneck garlics. This type of garlic is what you would usually find at the grocery store. They have a more mild flavor and works well in any recipe. It does NOT produce edible scapes. Softneck garlic has softer neck and are more leafy in appearance. This type of garlic has thicker papery peel, which makes it a little harder to peel, but makes it have a longer shelf life (6-8 months but some people say 9-12 months) when storing them. There is a few dozen varieties of softneck garlic’s you can plant.

HOW TO PLANT GARLIC?

The two types we talked about above are planted the same.

Prepare your soil ahead of time with compost, aged manure or synthetic fertilizers. Garlic has a moderate to high demand for Nitrogen. When you buy a fertilizer the bag should have a N-P-K number on it. Which stands for N- Nitrogen P- Phosphorus K- Potassium. I like to use an all purpose fertilizer in my area which is a 16-16-16. I use this when I make my Mittleider Weekly feed. But do not over fertilize or the garlic plant will put all of its energy into the leaves and not the garlic bulbs. Garlic likes to grow in well draining soil so that the garlic bulb will not rot. You can grow garlic in a raised bed if your native soil holds onto too much moisture.

Can I plant garlic cloves from the grocery store? NO! The very first year you want seed garlic bulbs, because usually the ones you buy in the grocery stores are sprayed with a chemical to stop them from spouting (just like potatoes). But the second year, you can save some of the garlic you planted the year before and those will be your new seed garlic bulbs. This will definitely help with the expense.

How to pick the best garlic to plant? You want BIG healthy garlic cloves. Plant big – Harvest big. This rule isn’t true for everything, but for garlic, it is. So when you are pulling apart that garlic bulb to show the cloves, only plant the larger cloves, unless you have ample space to plant it all. You can use the small cloves in a dish. Also, you do not need to take off the papery peel on the cloves.

When to plant? BEFORE the ground freezes. Zones 4-7 Early to Mid October, zones 7-9 Late October to mid November and zone 9-10 late October into December. Zones 9-10 should be planting softneck variety which would need less of a cold period to develop their bulbs. Don’t plant to early or the plant will start growing to soon and send up several inches of leaves that may cause the bulb to rot during the winter months. But if you see a little green pop up, I wouldn’t worry about it. If you are in an extremely cold zone, make sure to mulch it high. Garlic needs 4-8 weeks of freezing temps to go into dormancy to develop the biggest bulbs.

What way do you plant the garlic cloves? Rooted side down. I look at it like a rain drop, you want the fat end to go in the hole first.

How Deep? 2-4 inches This depends on how cold your winters are. For colder climates, you want to plant them deep, like 4 inches. But for more mild climates 2-3 inches will do the job. Make sure to mulch high if you are in an extremely cold climate.

How far to space your garlic? 4-8 inches You do NOT want to plant them to close because they will need to have room to expand. When you plant them to close the bulbs will be smaller. So 6 inches seems to be a happy medium.

Light Requirement– Full sun 6-8 hours at least. Like most vegetables and fruits, they need full sun to be the best they can be. You may have smaller garlic bulbs if you don’t give them full sun.

Now What? You can relax all winter long and wait for your garlic to start to show signs of growth in the Spring. At this time you will need to give them fertilizer high in Nitrogen. Fertilize every 2-3 weeks until you are 2-3 weeks from harvesting. If you are growing hardneck garlic, make sure to cut off those flowering stems or the plant will be putting its energy into making seeds for next year and not the bulb.

Water- When and How Much? Its best to water in the morning time. This is true for almost all plants. It gives it time for the leaves to dry out and not rot during the night. If you are using drip you don’t have to be as careful. Garlic is a shallow rooted plant, so if the soil around the plant and bulb is dry you need to water it right away. For some people in hotter areas, this can be done 2 times a day. If the leaves are turning yellow, try backing off on watering. Its hard to say how long to water, because everyone uses different watering methods. Drip, hand water, overhead sprinklers and so on. I use 1/4″ drip and the emitters are spaces every 6″ in all my beds and I run them for 15 minutes.

When is it time to Harvest? You will notice the leaves start to die back, use a shovel or gardening fork to loosen up the soil around the bulb, but without damaging it. If you harvest it too soon that papery peel around every clove may not have fully developed yet. But if you wait to long, then that tight garlic bulb will start to separate. Both of these things will hinder the storage life of your garlic. So test out one garlic before you start to pull up your hole garlic patch.

After you are done harvesting– You want to dust off all the soil gently and move them out of the sun to a well air circulated place for the curing process. Do NOT wash your garlic bulbs and leave on the leaves or stalk for best curing practices. You can lay all your garlic on a wire rack or tie them up in bundles and hang them to allow the bulbs to have good air circulation. The drying process will take 3-4 weeks. After the skin and leaves/stalks are dried you can cut 1/2″ above the bulb for storage or leave the bundles hanging. Store in a cool dry place preferably 45-55F degrees. But you can always freeze, can, or dehydrate your garlic after the curing process.

I would love to hear what plans you are making for your garlic patch this year! Leave me a comment below.

Article by: Melissa Ferris

August 22, 2017September 19, 2023

Dealing with Ants in the Garden?

About 2 years ago, we had a huge ant problem in our front yard garden bed. Lets just say, we didn’t clean out the bed from the season before as well as we thought we did. I needed to get my sweet potato slips in the ground ASAP and needed a natural way to take care of these ants. I just purchased over $100 worth of sweet potato slips online, which I would never do that again. Killing these sweet potato slips was not an option.

On our talk radio station they just went over getting rid of ants in and around your home with mint oil. You need to mix mint oil and water and spray where you have seen them and where you suspect they are entering into your home. The mint is so strong to the ants that they don’t want to be around it. He continues to say if you wipe the inside of your cabinets, they will not start coming around.

Anyways, so with a mint plant taking over my garden in the back, which was a major mistake to plant mint in my garden bed in the first place, I started to cut. I headed to the kitchen to start a large pot of water with mint leaves on the stove. Note: don’t bother washing your mint leaves or removing the stem, the ants won’t notice. I left the pot simmering for a few hours, which left the house smelling so clean, even if it wasn’t.

Here is the video from that day:

I hope you enjoyed the video and blog post!

Let me know if this works for your ants too.

Resources you might like:

-You can buy the Mittleider course book: click here

-Micro-Nutrient Mix:Click here

Garden doctor book series: Click here

February 8, 2017February 25, 2017

The Garden Doctor- Is it worth it?

Yes, its worth it! I love that these books cover what is wrong with your plant, with Pictures and a description, then tell you how you can fix your problem. I’m a prepper at heart, so I still buy my resources in the printed form. Just in case the $h!t fits the fan, I have these in printed form. Not all of the books I read do I keep a paper copy, just the ones that I would not want to lose if something happened.

I own a lot of resource guides, How to dehydrate, how to can, How to garden…. ect I think its very important to keep learning and to buy these resources in printed form. This world is so big with so much to learn.

Leave a comment on the things your learning this year!

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April 15, 2015May 19, 2020

How to Build a Trellis System for Vertical Growing

We originally built a “T” frame for our vertical growing for our Peas to grow up on, then after realizing we would turn it into an in the garden green house we added the side supports and canopy to the top to hold up the plastic.

We decided that our next trellis system will be more simple to make and wouldn’t need so many holes to be dug. I saw someone posting on Facebook picture of them at the Mittleider campus, and fell n love with the design. It was simple and seemed more sturdy. When we talked about having a Mittleider gardening method grow bed devoted to Tomatoes, we knew that we wanted to try something different from the T frame structure. A trellis system seemed to be easier and more stable to build, plus it would be easier to turn into an in the garden greenhouse.

This is what we ended up with so far, this is just the main structure.

What you’ll need to buy:

(qty 5) 8′ treated 4″x4″

this will be your 4 post and one will be cut down to (4 qty) 2′ long cross knees

(qty 2) 6′ treated 4″x4″

These will be your headers

(qty 2) whatever length your grow bed or vertical growing area is, mine was 12′ treated 2″x4″

This will be your side brackets that will also hold your 3/4″ PVC pipe(thin wall, schedule 40, 200psi) that you cut down to 3″ to hold your 1/2″ PVC pipes (thin wall, schedule 40, 200psi) for your canopy.

(qty 1) 6′ treated 2″x4″

this will be your cross bracket for more support for your upper wires.

Here is a diagram for the main structure:

I also used 4″x4″ post brackets you can find in the decking area of your home improvement store. This made it easier to put together, because of the post being 4″ you can’t find screws longer than 3.5″ so you will need this metal post bracket to hold it together.

The side bracket that will also hold your 3/4″ PVC pipe(thin wall, schedule 40, 200psi) that you cut down to 3″ to hold your 1/2″ PVC pipes (thin wall, schedule 40, 200psi) for your canopy. This will help turn your trellis system into an “in the garden greenhouse”. The number of hoops you will need is based on how long your trellis system is. So my trellis system is 12′ long, so I did 7 hoops. You’ll need one on each end and one in the middle then add hoop fitting to the center of each section, so add 2 more fittings. If you get snow I recommend you add more fittings to help handle the snow load. Remember if you do get snow, you will want to brush it off to help get the light into your green house.

You don’t always need the middle support board, but if your bed is longer than 10′ you need to add this. One middle board for beds 11′-19′ long, if its 20′ + feet then you will need to add more 4X4″ posts like the what are on the ends every 10′. This will allow extra support. Also you will be able to use 1 continuous upper wire for beds under 19′, but if they are longer than 20′ then you will need to separate the upper wire into sections. This is recommended for security, you don’t want to come out to your 30′ trellis system with 30′ worth of plants on the ground.

For more details on this project, please check out our video below.

Here is our Video on how we made our trellis system:

Also I have uploaded our video on how to build the canopy for the hoops on top of the trellis system:

Resources:

-You can buy the Mittleider course book: click here

-Micro-Nutrient Mix:Click here

Garden doctor book series: Click here

If you have any questions or comments I would love to hear from you!

April 15, 2015May 19, 2020

Mittleider Gardening: 6 Laws Of Plant Growth

After learning so much from the Mittleider Gardening Course book , these are the six laws of plant growth. If you want to have a successful garden you MUST follow these 6 laws.

Law 1:

Your plants need at least 6-8 hours of sunlight. Every plant needs photosynthesis to survive, so keep that in mind if your planning on growing vertically , and with plant spacing, you don’t want to have plants to close or they will fight over sunlight. From my experience I didn’t follow this step when I had my tomatoes in cages then the ended up dying from blite, because of lack of sunlight, not enough air circulation, and I didn’t use the automatic water system they outlined in the book. So make sure you find a good sunny spot in your yard that allows your plants to get at least 6-8 hours.

Sunny gardens — Law 1- Make sure your grow beds or garden gets enough sun.

Law 2:

Depending on your type of crop almost all plant need temperatures from 55-85 degrees, but some like your winter crop will prefer it on the lower end and sweet potatoes and tomatoes will prefer it on the higher end of that range. So this law is basically saying, if your trying to grow sweet potatoes in the PNW like me, then you’ll need to have an in the garden green house. 6 mil clear plastic to cover your crop will help you have great success. Or if your in the south and its getting high temperatures, you will need shade cloth so your plants won’t burn.

Law 3:

Plants need water, but just not any water. Scheduled watering, it is best like humans to be able to feed your plants on a schedule. This is why in the Mittleider course book, they talk about have an automatic watering system. For our garden, I had each grow bed on a different zone water timer. This ensures that your plants don’t dry out, this can also help your tomatoes not get blossom rot. By using the automatic water system they outline how to make, you can save 40% more water that traditional gardens.

Law 3- I have my automatic watering system all hooked up on a water timer, to ensure my plants gets the water then need

Law 4:

Make sure your plants have sufficient air circulation, you can do this by adding sand, or other amendments to your soil, proper drainage is very important or your plants roots will drown and rot away. In my garden I have soil beds made out of 1/3 soil, 1/3 sand, and 1/3 compost. I also have grow beds made out of 75% sawdust and 25% sand. This summer will be the first time using soil beds, for me the sawdust and sand works great because of all the rain we get. We want to test out to see if which growing mediums have the highest yield.

potato barrel soil — Here you can see that the 75% sawdust and 25% sand allows enough air for your plants to grow and produce a lot of vegetables. This is our potato Barrel we did last year that we got about 18X yield from, we only planted 1lb of seed potato and gained over 18 lbs of red potato after subtracting the bucket weight.

Law 5:

Plants need nutrition all season long, so make sure you fertilize on a regular basis. That is usually the problem when people don’t have a successful garden, they only fertilize once at the beginning and assume the plants will be fine. Its like playing a sport, the harder you play the more thirsty your body becomes. This is why in the Mittleider gardening method they talk about the 16 nutrients plants need. Airborne nutrients is Carbon(C), Oxygen(O), and Hydrogen(H). Primary Nutrients are Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), and Potassium (K). Secondary Nutrients are Calcium(Ca), Magnesium (Mg), and Sulfur (S). Trace Elements needed are Boron (B), Copper (Cu), Iron (Fe), Manganese (Mn), Zinc (Zn), Molybdenum (Mo), and Chlorine (Cl). The book goes into greater detail of why each of these nutrients are needed. I love using the pre plant fertilizer and weekly feed, you can mix your own based on the list of minerals needed or you can buy it already mixed for you (click here for the micro nutrient mix). Even if the Mittleider Method weekly feed doesn’t interest you, you can still benefit from the Garden Doctor vol. 1-3 . In these 3 books they talk about nutrient deficiency you may have based on the look of your plant. The Garden Doctor books are full of pictures and great information on what your plant needs. Like humans we feed our body the nutrients it needs to perform and we need to do the same with our plants.

Law 6:

Keeping the competition at bay, for example don’t allow weeds, insects, animals, etc to overtake your garden. This is sometime easier said than done, but your plants need to have a clean area to grow without bugs, weeds, and animals to worry about. You can use many organic choices out there to deal with this, from fences, netting, to Down dish soap mix to kill bugs, or to just pulling out the weeds by hand your garden can thrive and be productive. This is one more reason I love using sawdust and sand as a growing medium, it doesn’t allow weeds to take over your garden.

All of this information can be found in the Mittleider Gardening Course book (click here for the book)

Resources:

-You can buy the Mittleider course book: click here

-Micro-Nutrient Mix:Click here

Garden doctor book series: Click here

If you have any questions, please leave me a comment or come join our face book page!

Link to Mittleider Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/MittleiderGardening/

April 2, 2015October 19, 2023

Setting up a Seed Starting Area

I wanted to grow my own organic veggies for my family, but sometimes the cost of starting a garden can be really high. So I was on a mission to find short cuts in in keeping the cost down. I used reclaimed material from our old deck that we tore down, re purposed wire racks I bought off craigslist when we first bought our house, and used emergency blankets around the shower and as the door to keep the heat and light in. I made these racks easy to remove so we can have our shower back during the summer. This bathroom is in our basement where it is really cold and we don’t heat the down stairs to save energy($). Click here for the post and video on how I made these grow lights.

Here is a video that I did on how we set up a seed starting area:

March 29, 2015May 19, 2020

Mittleider Gardening: How to Plant Big Bulb Onion Starts

I am so far behind this year on planting, I guess I can blame mother nature for that… Looks like our last frost date was pushed up a few weeks due to our abnormal warm weather. But that ok, because that means we are going to have a longer gardening season! I started out my bed hand tilling the soil to make sure everything is nice and loose, and to get rid of roots that might be left over from last year. I added my pre plant fertilizer and weekly feed to 15′ of my bed, this is the area I’m planting in today. You don’t want to add the pre plant fertilizer and weekly feed to the whole bed, because if you’re not able to plant the whole bed your wasting your fertilizer. Next you will want to map our with a stick or make a line of where your going to have your PVC pipe for your automatic water system at. This will insure you don’t plant right under your watering pipe. The reason why you don’t want to plant under your watering pipe is because, this will block the water from getting to the other plants near by.

Next you need to mark where you are going to plant your onions. According to the Mittleider planting detail sheet, I’ll need to make 4 rows 4″ apart for my 18″ wide planting area. Even though my grow bed is actually 3′ wide, I treat it as 2 18″ bed.
After marking where I’m going to plant my onion starts, I start to pull them apart and plant the onion starts 1″ deep.
Finally, just water your newly planted onion start really well, this will activate the plant start to start growing again! Onions are a very hardy plant that strives to survive and grow.

Here is the video I did on How to plant onion starts using Mittleider Gardening Method!

Resources:

-You can buy the Mittleider course book: click here

-Micro-Nutrient Mix:Click here

Garden doctor book series: Click here

January 15, 2015October 19, 2023

DIY Grow Lights

So last year I wanted to start my first veggie garden in our new house, but was struck with the sticker shock of how much it would be to start a new garden. At that point I started to look at ways to cut the cost but still grow a lot of organic food for my family. So before I even built any of the grow beds in my back yard, I started to grow organic veggie starts indoors. I looked all over the web for inexpensive grow lights and even looked at shop lights that I can replace the bulbs. But after adding up the cost to buy the housing and grow bulbs, it was too much. At that point I started to look at different ways of making my own housing for grow bulbs that would fit into my down stairs shower ( limited space). That’s when I saw a YouTube video that gave me this idea, but I cut a few costly things and made my grow lights more… Better? Sorry but sometimes some YouTube videos are done by people… guessing? I don’t want to be rude about it, but my dad has always taught me to do my own research before attempting things that need a “Don’t try this at home” label. It’s the wiring up part that made me scared for this person, electrical tape and a pocket knife are NOT the only things you need.

Most of these you can find at your Home Depot(or already own) or Amazon, here is the list of items I used:

Rubber Bands ( found on green onions or just have)
Twist tie ( found on bread lofts)
Extension Cord
Electrical Tape
Wire Nuts (make sure you get the right size, #14 gauge and #16 gauge wire is what we are using, the color changes by brand, sadly)
BBQ Skewers 12″ long
Baler Twine
Vent Pipe 4″ x 2′ (in the air duct aisle in a box usually )
1/4″ drill bit (for the corner holes for the skewers to go through)
1 1/4″ drill ( or you can drill a bunch of holes to make a 1 1/4″ circle)
Weatherproof lamp holder (picture of box below)
Y shape 2 splitter adapter (picture of box below)
Chain and S hooks (or you can just tie your Baler twine to the shelf like I did last year)
Wire Strippers
and finally Grow bulbs

Resources you might like to have a high yield garden:

-You can buy the Mittleider course book: click here

-Micro-Nutrient Mix:Click here

Garden doctor book series: Click here

Leave a comment below if this helps you start seed indoors this upcoming grow season.

October 23, 2014October 19, 2023

How to Grow and Harvest Sugar Snap Peas

Why my family loves growing and harvesting sugar snap peas:

Easy to grow
They are Frost Tolerant
They are Beautiful plant
My kids love Sugar Snap Peas
Peas grow fast and you can harvest them within 6-8 weeks after planting
Fresh and organic when they come from your back yard
Healthy snack for the whole family
Easy to add to any meal
Easy to store in the freezer for longer use
Easy for the kids to plant the seeds
They climb nicely up trellis or twine
They grow vertical, so they don’t need a lot of space

Sugar snap peas is the easiest and tastiest to grow!

Growing Sugar Snap Peas

Starting from Seed

It’s not recommended that you try to start seedlings for later transplant, because of the delicate root system. Since peas are frost tolerant planting directly in the ground earlier in the season is recommended, there is usually no need to start your seed indoors.

As soon as the ground is warm enough to dig, then you can plant. This will usually be 4 to 6 weeks before your areas last frost date. The only downside to such early planting is that the seeds can be prone to rotting, but by using the sawdust and sand this also can be avoided. Using the Mittleider method allows you to have a longer growing season, than your neighbors. It is preferred to use an in the garden green house when trying to start your seeds early. Buy the Mittleider Course book here

Prepare your soil by tilling thoroughly. Once you have tilled your grow bed, you will need to level it to see if you need to add more soil(sawdust and sand). After you have a leveled the grow bed you can add your pre plant fertilizer and weekly feed. You can make your own or buy it pre mixed at growfood.com This is an organic fertilizer that you can find how to make it in the Mittleider gardening course book. Follow the book on how much fertilizer to put in your garden. Once you have mixed the pre plant and weekly feed into your garden, re-level your grow bed. You will need to install your ground wire for your Baler twine and water system. After your grow bed is ready to plant your seed, draw a line with a stick 1″ away from where your ground wire would be, creating a trench 1/2″ to 1″ deep. Space the seeds 2″ apart and cover with your soil mix. Water generously to allow the peas to germinate.

At this point is when I installed my baler twine to the lower and upper wires to allow more space for the peas to grow up, you will still need to assist your peas. I have realized that most animals do NOT like to go through the baler twine, including squirrels! I had a huge issue with squirrel stealing my seeds before they even poke through the soil. The baler twine was a huge deterrent. But if you want to wait to install the baler twine, I would recommend you put burlap on top of your seed to keep animals out. Burlap is also used to insure your seeds stay most, and for smaller seed don’t wash away during watering

After the seeds start to poke through the soil you will start your weekly feed. Once a week apply weekly feed an inch away from the base and water in. I usually do this before my automatic water system goes off. According to the Mittleider Course book, you will need to measure out the weekly feed. You do this by measuring the linear feet of your garden. 1 foot equals 1/2 oz of weekly feed, so if you have 12′ of peas it will be 6oz of fertilizer.

Wrapping your baling twine around the peas not wrapping your peas around the baling twine will help reduce your chances of breaking the growing tips. This is very important to make sure your peas have support to allow them to produce more peas and resist against diseases. Even though sugar snap peas are pretty much disease resistant, but you will need to make sure your peas have enough breathing room between each plant to resist against powdery mildew.

Vining peas can be planted closer together than bushing peas also vining peas have a longer growing season and produce more peas! At my work, we always joke around about not working harder, just smarter. Sugar snap peas are definitely working smarter, not harder.

When Harvesting:

Usually Sugar Snap Peas can start harvesting in 66-72 days after planting the seeds. When the peas reach about 3″ long, it is time to harvest. Using your hand as a measuring guide will help you harvest your peas faster. Harvesting young peas will allow you to eat the shell and pods, if you wait to long the shells become tough and are no longer that sweet, fresh, snappy snack you wanted. The more often you harvest the more the plant produces. Cut the pea off at the top, right under the leafs to stimulate the plant to grow more peas. (Check out our video below)

Here are some of the things I bought to do this gardening project. This baling twine is thick and will last you many years, it also will handle heavy plants like tomatoes without choking them.

…

September 29, 2014October 19, 2023

High Yield Potato Barrel

Please make sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel, because I am planning on doing a lot of potato barrels/ towers this summer!

From the research I have done, I have found that mid to late season do better growing in a tower method. Early season potatoes like Yukon gold only produce once and won’t produce roots up the stem.

Last year I believe I planted Red Lasoda but then it may be Chieftains. I will find out which ones getting a higher yield because I bought all the mid to late seasoned seed potatoes I could find. So stay tuned, and don’t forget to like Moms Simple Life on Facebook for more updates to what I’m doing!

I started looking for gardening methods and found the Mittleider Method. I used the same 6 laws of plant growth (I have also done a post on all 6 laws) they mention in “The Mittleider Gardening Course” book. Even though barrels are not used with this method, I wanted to try to see if this would work since most of the YouTube videos failed. Plus it was something fun for the kids to grow.

What I used:

(1) 35 Gal. Barrel –

I cut the top off using a Sawzall, drilled 1/2 in holes down the side of the barrel for air circulation, and 2″ holes drilled on the bottom for better drainage.

75% sawdust and 25% sand-

This is my custom soil mix, this allows for great air circulation and water drainage. Its light weight compared to traditional soil, so this will allow more potatoes to grow and expand.

Fertilizer-

I used pre plant fertilizer (measure the height of your soil in the barrel and times it by the width) and weekly feed described in the Mittleider course book. About once a month I added a little bit of 21-00-00 which is ammonium sulfate which adds a small amount acid and nitrogen that help tomatoes and potatoes to grow. Without acid and nitrogen potatoes will be small or non-existent. To get this high yield you’ll need to use pre plant fertilizer, weekly feed and 21-00-00(very small amounts).

To stop the custom soil mix from falling out of the bottom of the barrel, I lined the bottom with some news paper. Then I added 5″ of the custom soil mix and some pre plant fertilizer mixed in. The I planted 1Lb of certified red potatoes seeds I bought from a co -op. The cost was .98 cents for the seed potatoes in which I picked out the small seed potatoes to have 3-4 to plant but yet keep it at 1Lb. I covered the outside of the barrel with outdoor plastic curtains to keep the sun out. If you want you can also pant it a dark color to keep the sun out. Sun exposure on potatoes will cause them to turn green, green potatoes contain a toxic chemical called solanine which is unhealthy and toxic to consume.

When the plants started to grow above the soil mix I added the weekly feed to the top and watered it in.

I waited for the plants to be about 6-8″ before adding more soil mix. Cover most of the plant and allowed 2-4″ of plant to stick out.

Keep doing this until you reach the top of the barrel. Don’t forget to continue to fertilize your barrel with the weekly feed once a week. Also about 1/2 cup 21-00-00 once a month, don’t over fertilize! Plants are just like humans and we don’t take more vitamins than what the label says, so please don’t over fertilize thinking your plants will be more healthier.

Watering is very important to keep it on a regular timer if possible. We used a small round sprinkler upside down on low, had it on a timer to water once a day for 1 minute.

These are the 2 types of water timers I use, I love them and highly recommend them to make your gardening experience more pleasant.

The plant will grow over your potato barrel, which this is ok. Some people tie it back, but I just let it go. When the plant dies completely or before the first frost, cut off the plants and let the potatoes sit in the barrel a few days to help the skin harden. Set out a tarp when you are ready and just dump it over. The kids will have so much fun digging out the potatoes like a treasure hunt. But remember, “If its green, it has to go!”

After digging up your red potatoes time to “cured” for storage. Curing toughens up a potato’s skin and extends its storage life. Lay your potatoes out on newspaper or cardboard in a well-ventilated place that’s cool (50 to 60 degrees F.) and dark. In two weeks, the skins will have toughened up. After they have toughen, rub off any dirt clumps (potatoes should never be washed before storage) and pull out any damaged potatoes, which should be eaten, not stored.

We harvested 19.4Lbs of red Potatoes using the Mittleider method and a Potato Barrel.

Resources:

-You can buy the Mittleider course book: click here

-Micro-Nutrient Mix:Click here

Garden doctor book series: Click here

To see the Potato Barrel Harvest and our 19x yield, join us on YouTube:

July 21, 2014May 19, 2020

When I Realized I Wanted to Grow my own Food

The first flower from our indoor pea plant, waiting for last frost.

Hello,

Last year I came across a You Tube Channel I fell in love with. LDS Prepper you tube channel has been a real eye opener for me. He talks about more than just gardening, but how to be a prepper. Based on his channel and resources he offers, I decided to start my very own vegetable garden! I’ve never really gardened before, so the neighbors looked at me like I was crazy when I told them I’m using 75% sawdust and 25% sand for the growing median. I know I can grow our family’s organic vegetables from our back yard and I am determined to prove it to everyone!

I first started growing seeds indoors at the beginning of January. I built my own grow lights based on a few ideas from you tube videos . They cost me around $30-$40 each (The “>light bulbs cost more then the set up), which is a huge savings compared to the store bought ones, which can run from $50 – $600 on amazon. I also invested in several seed starting “>cell packs with “>cell trays and good “>organic potting soil.

If I wanted to be a true self sufficient organic Gardener, I needed to find “>Non-GMO heirloom seeds. I couldn’t find it in stores, nor did I waste my time driving around looking. Amazon.com is my life saver, it saves me time and gas, plus I get to read all the Good and Bad reviews(my favorite part). Between the Lowes hardware store and Amazon.com I was set to start growing!

Many people say that they have purchased the Non-GMO heirloom seed banks just in case something happens to our food supply in the future, but it leaves me wondering why wait?

Resources:

-You can buy the Mittleider course book: click here

-Micro-Nutrient Mix:Click here

Garden doctor book series: Click here

*CROP*	*COMPANIONS*	*BENEFITS*
Asparagus	Calendula, Petunias, Tomatoes	Calendula, petunias, and tomatoes deters asparagus beetles.
Basil	Peppers, Purslane, Tomatoes	Basil improves the flavor of tomatoes and peppers, while purslane helps shade the soil.
Beans annquasarano from Pixabay“>	Beets, Corn, Lovage, Nasturtium, Rosemary, Squash, Strawberries, Sunflowers	Corn benefits from beans nitrogen fixing capabilities while providing a structure for the pole beans to grow up. Lovage and rosemary repel pests. Sunflowers provide shade and a structure for pole beans. Nasturtiums can be used as a host/trap plant to keep aphids off bean plants.
Beets Tracy Lundgren from Pixabay“>	Brassicas, Bush beans, Garlic, Lettuce, Onion family	Brassicas have a different nutrient needs than beets, which allows them not to rob each other of nutrients. Garlic and Onion provides a pest control against aphids, army-worms, cutworms, and mice. Lettuce will help suppress weeds and won’t get in the way of beets roots.
Broccoli Nataly from Pixabay“>	Oregano and Other Brassicas example: Cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, etc.	Oregano will help repels pest such as cabbageworms
Cabbage Jose Antonio Alba from Pixabay“>	Garlic, Nasturtium, Sage	Nasturtium deter pest like beetles and aphids. Garlic also repels pests like aphids, while sage deters cabbage moths
Carrots ShireShy from Pixabay“>	Chives, Leeks, Onions, Peas Radishes, Rosemary, Sage	Sage, rosemary and leeks repel carrot flies and rust flies. Chives improves the growth and flavor while it repels aphids, flies and mites.
Corn Goran Horvat from Pixabay“>	Beans (pole), Cucumbers, Dill, Melons Peas, Squash, Sunflower	Beans help provide more nitrogen to the soil and corn is a structure the pole beans can climb on. Mature corn offers the cucumbers a structure to climb up. Spinach and other leafy lettuce greens are great to plant around the corn so the corn can give them a cool shade environment. Sunflowers are great for a wind block and to attract ladybugs to keep aphids under control. Squash and Melons provide a ground cover to help with retaining moisture and suppressing weeds.
Cucumber Krzysztof Jaracz from Pixabay“>	Beans, Borage, Dill, Nasturtiums Oregano, Radish, Sunflowers, Tansy	Dill protects against aphids and mites. Nasturtium deters aphids, beetles and bugs and improves growth and flavor. Oregano deters pests in general. Radish, Nasturtium, and Tansy repel cucumber beetles; radish also repels flea beetles. Sunflowers will allow cucumbers to have a strong structure to grow on if you plant your cucumber seeds when the sunflower is 12″ tall.
Lettuce Th G from Pixabay“>	Chives, Onions, Oregano, Peas, Poached Egg plants Radishes, Scallions, Tomatoes, Zinnia	Tomatoes can offer lettuce some much needed shade from the hot summer sun.
Onions Ilo from Pixabay“>	Beets, Cabbage, Carrot, Chard Lettuce, Strawberry, Tomatoes	Onions aroma disorients pests like borers and cutworms. To protect your onions from onion maggot flies, try planting marigolds nearby, so the smell of this plant will reduce these types of pests.
Peas Steve Dietrich from Pixabay“>	Alyssum, Carrot, Chives, Corn, Grapes Lettuce, Mint, Radish, Spinach, Turnip	Alyssum attract pollinators which will eat aphids. Chives will deter Aphids. You can plant garlic and onions around most plants, BUT DO NOT plant them around peas, because it will hinder the growth. Carrots are great to plant around peas, since they are both cold weather crops and are mature around the same time. Corn is a great structure for peas to climb on.
Peppers NoName_13 from Pixabay“>	Basil, Chives, Garlic, Marjoram, Onions, Oregano, Scallions	Basil, Marjoram and Oregano are great herbs to plant around peppers because they have a protective insecticidal qualities. The allium family like chives, onions, garlic and scallions are great to deter pest.
Potatoes	Basil, Beans, Calendula, Catmint Cilantro, Garlic, Horseradish, Oregano Peas, Tansy	Cilantro and Garlic repel pests like Aphids, spider mites and potato beetles. Calendula, tansy, catmint and horseradish ward off potato beetles. (Tansy is consider invasive in some areas, so check with your local agriculture department.) Catmint can invite cats into your garden, so consider planting in pots on the edge or corner of your garden. Beans can help produce larger tubers.
Radishes Mirko Fabian from Pixabay“>	Chervil, Lettuce, Nasturtium, Peas	Nasturtiums are good trap plants for radishes. You can also plant radishes to be a trap plant to fight against flea beetles. Chervil improves growth and flavor and peas add nitrogen to the soil. Lettuce grow well with radishes since the care are the same.
Winter Squash and Pumpkins Alexa from Pixabay“>	Beans (pole), Buckwheat, Calendula Corn, Marigold, Nasturtium, Oregano	Pole beans provides nitrogen to the squash and you can plant corn so the beans has a structure to climb on (the three sisters). Buckwheat attracts beneficial bugs to take care of pests. Nasturtiums, Calendula and Oregano provide pest protection.
Spinach Maike Wilstermann-Hildebrand from Pixabay“>	Beans, Cilantro, Eggplant, Oregano Peas, Rosemary, Strawberries	Cilantro, Oregano, and Rosemary repel pests. While peas, beans and eggplant is great at offering shade during the hot summer months. Strawberries benefit from Spinach since spinach contains saponins which repels against destructive pests.
Tomatoes kie-ker from Pixabay“>	Asparagus, Basil, Borage, Calendula Dill, Garlic, Nasturtium, Onion Parsley, Thyme	Asparagus repels nematodes. Basil repels aphids, spidermites, mosquitos and whiteflies. Basil attracts pollinators. Garlic repel aphids and other pests. Borage repel hornworms. Thyme reduces the armyworms from laying their eggs and dill reduce cutworms from laying their eggs while also supporting parasitic wasps that eat pest caterpillars.
Zucchini Summer Squash HBH-MEDIA-photography from Pixabay“>	Buckwheat, Oregano, Nasturtium, Zinnia	Buckwheat attracts pest predators. Oregano and zinnias attract pollinators. Nasturtium protects against aphids and white-flies.