Having a sustainable garden means very different
things to different people. Some folks are led to
believe that a sustainable garden must use only
organic materials, because someday the commercially-
available mineral nutrients may not be available.
To me this sounds somewhat like the suggestion that
we should all ride bicycles because someday gasoline
may not be available.
I suggest that a sustainable garden means one that
can be used productively over an extended period of
time, and would necessarily involve several elements,
including the following:
- Growing food you want to eat, so you are motivated
to continue growing,
- Growing economically, so that it is worthwhile
- Taking care of health and environmental issues, so
that we are fed well, and the ground will continue
to support growing healthy crops.
Growing Food You Want to Eat
The plants to be grown should be chosen primarily on
what your family wants to eat, and what will grow in
your locale. After that, consideration might be given
to using heirloom seed rather than hybrid, if you are
very concerned about losing the ability to replace
seed each year from commercial sources.
An easy and inexpensive alternative to trying to
harvest your own seeds is to buy the Garden-In-A-Can,
which is triple-sealed heirloom seed, from a source
like Mountain Valley Seeds (www.mvseeds.com), and
store it in a cool dry place. This will maintain a
high germination percentage for up to ten years.
Growing Productively and Economically
Using the best-known growing practices will assure
you the greatest yield of healthy vegetables from the
smallest space, and with the least amount of labor
and financial inputs per unit of production. By doing
this a family can be self sufficient in their food
requirements from proper gardening of a small
fraction of an acre.
There's lots of evidence of success in
achieving a sustainable garden. You'll find
excellent examples of high-yield gardening methods
that have been proven effective worldwide at
Pictures of successful gardens using these methods
can be seen below
and at the free "Mittleider Method"
Caring for health and the environment
Gardening should always be done without injuring the
land, but rather should improve the land, so that it
will continue to support healthy plants indefinitely.
Therefore, pesticides and herbicides should be used
very judiciously, and only in extreme need.
Wherever possible these issues should be handled by
cultural practices, such as those taught by Dr. Jacob
R. Mittleider at www.growfood.com as follows:
- Eliminate all weeds from the garden area before
planting and during the growing season.
- Prepare the growing area for ideal plant growth,
but inhospitable to bugs and diseases.
- Water only the plants' root zone.
- Begin plants in a protected environment for a
fast, healthy and strong start.
- Feed plants balanced natural mineral nutrients
to assure fast and healthy growth.
- Harvest all plants at maturity to avoid allowing
pests and diseases to multiply.
- Discard any bug or disease infested plant parts
away from the garden, and incorporate healthy
plant parts into the soil to improve soil
Following these sustainable gardening principles and
practices will assure your family a great yield of
healthy vegetables, and give tremendous satisfaction,
and even pleasure, for many years to come.
is President of the Food For Everyone
, a non-profit organization with the
mission of "Teaching the world to grow food one
family at a time". You'll find many free vegetable
gardening resources, including a gardening ebook,
greenhouse plans, automated watering plans, and
a free chapter from each of the great gardening
books and software CD's Jim offers, at the