The Modern "Victory Garden"

It was a beautiful sunny day today.   Took advantage of it and spent a fair amount of time out in the garden and greenhouse.   A quick inspection this morning revealed that the spinach I direct seeded on February 14th are up.   I took the grow tunnel cover off of the bed for most of the day to allow the very small plants to enjoy some unfiltered sunshine.   I put it back on around 2:30 pm so that it had time to warm up inside before the sun went down for the day.                

One of the tasks I wanted to get done this weekend is the planting out of the onions.   I have Walla Walla and Candy onion plants I had started back in January that were ready for transplanting.   In addition, my onion sets (red and yellow onions) arrived last week and I wanted to get them into the ground as well.   I prepped the soil and raked it smooth and then used my 4-inch spaced planting jig to mark the planting area.   I got all the onions planted and still had a section about 3 feet by 4 feet left open in the bed that I then planted with a second sowing of spinach (Bloomsdale Savoy).   Here’s a picture of the Walla Walla onions after I transplanted them.        

This same bed has the Elephant garlic and regular garlic (Inchelium Red) growing in it.                                                            

I also wanted to start some more lettuces and the sugar snap peas (Cascadia) this weekend.    However, the bed that the sugar snap peas will go into is still largely in shade much of the day and the soil is quite cool as a result.   Rather than wait, I decided to plant the seeds into cell packs and get them started in the greenhouse.   In a few weeks when they are ready for transplanting, the soil should have warmed up enough in that bed that they will then thrive.   The greenhouse is a great place for plants at the moment as the sun is now high enough on the horizon that it is clearing the tall trees surrounding our property and hitting the greenhouse pretty regularly for a large portion of the day.   The result is a significant increase in temps in the greenhouse.   The plants inside the greenhouse are basking in the sun exposure.   The young pac choi is settling in after transplanting and putting on some growth.         

The mache is almost ready to begin harvesting finally.                              

And, the Chinese cabbages are forming up tall heads.                            

Tomorrow, the weather is not forecasted to be quite as nice but still good.   I am hoping to plant out (under cover) the cabbages (Savoy Ace and Tronchuda), the second round of pac choi (Ching Chiang) and some lettuces (Merlot). 

I hope you are enjoying some time in your garden or among your seedlings this weekend.

It’s Wednesday and time for my customary mid-week blog entry.   Nothing overly exciting to update you on but I do have a few little bits of garden related news to share.

• First, I received an email on Tuesday letting me know that my bare root raspberry plants have shipped and should be here by Friday.
• Second, the lettuces, kale, and pac choi that I planted out in the greenhouse last weekend are all doing fine.
• Third, the horizontal pea trellis support I erected on Sunday suffered some damage earlier this week.   I had placed a plastic cover over the whole structure and we had some heavy rain on Monday night,  which pooled on the flat top of the structure and put a lot of weight on the rather flimsy end supports.   Two of them gave way and broke.   They are easily replaced and I will pick up the wood and take care of it this weekend.   Hoop covers definitely work better in rainy weather as the rounded tops shed the water when we get heavy rains.
• Fourth, the big round of tomato, broccoli, swiss chard, and celery that I started on February 13th is doing really well. Lots of plants have emerged and are growing on.
• Finally, the super early tomatoes (Siletz) that I started on January 22nd and the second round of lettuces (Merlot), kale, cabbages, and pac choi that were started January 30th and February 6th have all moved up to the overflow light area… weaning off of bottom heat. The early tomatoes were repotted last weekend and do not seem to have suffered too much from transplant shock.

Here’s some photos I took tonight of the super early tomatoes, lettuce, kale, cabbages, and pac choi.                                                      

Everything is progressing along.   Hopefully the raspberries will arrive before the weekend, so I can get them planted up in the light of day.   How are things going in your garden and seed starting?

There really is nothing quite like soup when you are feeling a little worn out or under the weather.   Even better - soup that starts with good chicken stock and builds upon that base with an abundance of great tasting vegetables!   I really slept badly last night and was headachy and tired all day today as a result.   I decided some comfort food was in order for dinner tonight but did not want to spend much time in the kitchen to get it accomplished.   Inspired by the culinary efforts of a friend and colleague, I decided to make some tomato and roasted pepper soup with crusty toasted cheese sandwiches.   I modified the soup recipe to fit with what I have on hand and since I did not write down the recipe I was pretty much winging it – despite all that it turned out really delicious.              

Tomato & Roasted Red Pepper Soup

• ½ cup of chopped onion
• 2 large cloves of garlic, peeled and diced
• Olive oil (enough to coat the bottom of the pan)
• 1-quart jar of diced tomatoes (drained)
• 1 cup of roasted red peppers, diced
• ½ box of organic free-range chicken stock (box is 32 ounces)
• Dried basil (not sure how much I added really)
• Pinch of sugar (to taste as needed to cut the acid of the tomatoes a bit)
• Dried red pepper flakes (hot!) – as much or as little as you like

In a large heavy bottomed stockpot, sauté onion and garlic in the oil until it starts to become translucent.   Add the remaining ingredients and bring to a low boil.   As soon as the peppers are generally softened, use a stick (immersion) blender and blend the soup until it reaches a nice chunky puree consistency.   Continue to simmer on low heat for about 15 minutes or until the flavors are well blended.   Adjust seasonings as needed.   That's it!

I used up the last of the storage onions last weekend, so I am using diced frozen onions currently.    Hopefully the freezer supply will last me until the green onions are ready to start being harvested.   The roasted peppers are also from my freezer supplies and while many of them were red and yellow, I also used some roasted jalepeno peppers too.  So this was actually a "Tomato & Roasted Multi-Colored Pepper" soup!    The home canned tomatoes are from the pantry.   I am afraid I did not think to take pictures of this soup because my head is fuzzy this evening and my focus was just on cooking, eating, and getting to bed early.    I have managed two out of the three objectives so far!                 

The seedlings in the shop under lights are doing splendidly. I watered them last evening and checked on them after dinner tonight.   The cabbages and pac choi started last Saturday are substantially emerged.   I am going to leave the humidity dome cover on them for one more day and then pull it off.   The Chinese cabbages and kale I started in mid December are continuing to really size up.            

These will be planted up in the unheated greenhouse in less than two weeks.

I hope you are having a good week and enjoying some of the bounty of your garden in your daily meals too.

I was hoping to be able to make significant progress on turning over the large 40-foot long by 4-foot wide bed of crimson clover green manure/cover crop this weekend.   Unfortunately, the weather is not being very cooperative.   Woke up to a drizzling rain that is leaving everything too wet to mess with.    Hopefully, I will get a break either today or tomorrow that is long enough and dry enough to allow me to make at least some progress on this task before the weekend is out.    

Spent some time in the shop this morning bottom watering the trays of seedlings I have going under lights, used scissors to snip away extra seedling sprouts from each cell pack to allow the stronger plant in each cell to grow on, and I did a little rearranging under the lights to make room for the next round of starts that I was scheduled to get started today.    I have two trays each of Candy and Walla Walla onion seedlings.   Strangely, one tray of each variety is sprouting beautifully and the other is looking rather spotty in germination.    Here’s a tray of the Candy onion seedlings which are doing quite well.  You can see a tray of Walla Walla onions behind it that are doing less than spectacularly in emerging.                     

But just one over from it is another tray of Walla Walla’s that are doing just fine and are giving me reasonably good emergence.                                  

They are from the same seed packs so it is not seed issue, same germinating soil mix, same bottom watering regimen, and I have been rotating them around to ensure varied exposure to the overhead lights.   Regardless, I am getting more than enough of both varieties to sprout and grow that it really is inconsequential… just a bit of a puzzler.                

Started 6 six-packs of seeds this morning - following my seed starting schedule.   Planted 2 six-packs of kale (Improved Siberian), 2 six-packs of cabbage (Tronchuda), 1 six-pack of pac choi (Ching Chiang), and 1 six-pack of cabbage (Savoy Ace).   There were covered with a humidity dome cover and put on the heat mat to germinate.                    

The kale and Chinese cabbages I started in December are coming along nicely.   I took them outside to give them a thorough watering and took this picture to show how much they have continued to grow.                             

In about two weeks, I will move them out to the greenhouse and plant them up in one of the large containers.   By mid February the sun strength and day length will decidedly be on the upswing and they should be able to grow on in the protected environment of the greenhouse without the aid of lights.     

Ground hog day is coming up on February 2nd and Punxsutawney Phil will once again make his appearance to predict if we are in for six more weeks of winter.   I don’t take much stock in the weather forecasting skills of a giant rodent, but Groundhog day does have some significance for the vegetable gardener.   February 2nd is not only “Groundhog Day” but also marks the mid-point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox – a point in time also known as Imbolc.    By the time February 2 arrives, we have completed the most difficult portion of our ascent out of winters darkest point (December 21st – winter solstice), and are heading towards the longed for beginning of spring (March 21st – spring equinox). It’s a time of optimism because the low point of winter is behind us and we can feel, taste, and see the promise of spring just around the corner.   It’s also the point in time where items that I have overwintered in the garden or the green house begin to respond to the increasing sun strength and day length by putting on a more substantial amount of growth.   It’s truly the turning point of winter and I look forward to it each year.

Daphne at Daphne's Dandelions regularly hosts a "Monday Harvest" post whereby everyone shares their harvest for the week.   Up until today, I have not participated in this weekly event (although I always enjoy reading about everyone else's harvests!) because I generally do not have pictures of everything I harvested over the course of the week and my Monday's are usually just too wickedly crazy.   However, I decided to join in this week because Daphne made a genuine plea for participation to chase away the winter blahs and put visions of tomatoes and spinach  in her head for the holidays.              

No tomatoes or spinach, but will some fresh kale and crisp cold carrots do? 

Harvested Sunday afternoon.    The ground was frozen solid for the first two or three inches of the soil and the kale has been through several freezes too.   The result is that the sugar content is quite high in both the carrots and the kale - quite yummy!                                     

I harvested brussel sprouts on Christmas Eve day as well, but unfortunately... no pictures of that harvest to share. 

The living room is a jumble of treasures and surplus wrapping paper at the moment.   Several of the gifts I received were related to cooking and baking, but I did get a couple of gardening related gifts too - an amaryllis bulb planting kit, another pair of my favorite gardening gloves (Atlas Glove / Nitrile Touch), and a Flip digital video camera!         

I promise not to inundate you with too many videos, but I do plan to add an occasional video to the mix of items I post on the website in the coming year.   It’s going to take me a while to learn how to use it reasonably well before I will be ready to launch the first one.   Not much happening in the garden at the moment to capture on video anyways.   In fact, the most exciting thing at the moment is that the Mache (corn salad) has not only germinated in the half-barrel containers in the unheated greenhouse, but is progressing along nicely enough that you can see the sheen of green now.    

The kale and Chinese cabbage seedlings (in the shop under grow lights) are forming their first true leaves.   I will be giving these their first drink of very diluted kelp emulsion tea tomorrow.                        

Arriving before Christmas were some other treasures from two garden blog friends.                                                                        

Daphne of Daphne’s Dandelions sent me a packet of Market Miracle tomato seeds saved from her garden, and Dan from the Urban Veggie Garden Blog sent me several packages of seeds including; Double Yield cucumbers, Merlot lettuce, Red celery, and Cherokee Purple tomatoes.   I can hardly wait to get these started and grow them in the coming garden season.

I wish for everyone a Merry Christmas and a New Year filled with health, happiness, garden bounty, and daily doses of love and laughter.

I noted in my last blog post that it appeared I had some creature getting into one of the carrot patches – chewing off the tops of the carrots and pulling up several and gnawing them up quite well.  The little rascal was not even bothering to finish off the carrots that were pulled before moving on to pull up yet another!                             

Last night, I popped out the back door to let our elderly dog outside for a while and noticed that something was in the carrot patch.   The back porch light had been on so the adjacent garden beds (which is where the carrots are) were well illuminated, and luckily our old dog is so deaf and blind that she just ambled off and did not bother the creature - giving me an opportunity to quietly move up closer and get a good look without frightening him off.   I did not have my camera with me so I do not have photos to share, however, I think some Beatrix Potter illustrations will do nicely instead.

Yes, Peter Rabbit has braved the modern day equivalent of Mr. McGregor’s garden for a tempting meal of sweet, crunchy, garden fresh, carrots.   He was quite brazen and rather fearless as he continued to eat while I stood close by and admired his size and handsome pelt.   I must inform you that this is a well-fed rabbit and my carrot patch probably had a great deal to do with that!    

I have decided he may have the rest of the carrots in that particular section of garden as he largely topped them all already.   However, I am going to put some netting up over the remaining bed of parsnips and carrots as soon as I am home during daylight hours .  He has not found his way to the other main bed of root crops (yet) so I need to get some mechanical barriers in place to protect them from potential damage.   Netting is a good way to do this and does not hurt the animal in any manner - just blocks his access to the goodies.  There is only so far I can go with my generosity of sharing the garden abundance – after all, my family needs to eat too!                    

If you have not enjoyed "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" for a while, I would encourage you to read it online HERE.   As a vegetable gardener the beautiful story and illustrations are particularly appealing and timeless.

There are many of us who have limited space availability for food production gardening and yet still manage to produce a tremendous amount of our own food supply.   This post is part of a blog series devoted to exploring the many techniques available to optimize food production gardening.    There are quite a few topics that relate to this pursuit - including (among others):

• Crop Selection
• Intensive Planting Practices
• Season Extension
• Soil Management & Fertility

Focusing on Crop Selection kicked off the blog series.     Now we are exploring Intensive Planting Practices.   Intensive planting techniques generally include a combination of planting in raised beds (either double dug or otherwise greatly amended and improved), closely spaced planting, intercropping and succession planting, and the use of vertical growing techniques – all for the purpose of producing the same amount of food in approximately 20% of the space used by traditional row gardening practices.   To date, we have discussed the topics of Raised Beds and Closely Spaced Planting.   This week we will keep moving through the intensive planting techniques by spending some time discussing intercropping and succession planting.                        

Intercropping and Succession Planting –                       

The goal is to maximize food production from a given growing area in the allotted time that our individual growing season provides.   Intercropping is the practice of growing different plants together in the same area to optimize yield.   Succession planting is the practice of maximizing productivity of garden space by having a new crop ready to plant as soon as an earlier crop is harvested.   Both of these intensive planting techniques can dramatically improve production per square foot of growing area.               

Intercropping can be used in several different ways providing different potential benefits.   The first use is to plant fast growing and/or shallower rooted and potentially shade tolerant crops in between plantings of larger and slower growing crops.   Large plants such as brussel sprouts, broccoli, cabbages, corn, etc, are spaced widely apart when first planted so that when they eventually reach maturity - they are properly spaced such that the leaves of the plants barely touch the leaves of adjacent plants and the roots are given adequate room.    However, while the plants are young and small - the required spacing leaves large areas of the growing bed essentially unused and unproductive.   Intercropping puts that unused bed space to work!   Planting lettuce between larger plants (like broccoli or tomatoes etc) is a great example of this technique.   The lettuces are fairly shallow rooted and actually benefit from the partial shade created by the maturing large plants as the growing season progresses.   Ultimately the faster growing crops (like lettuce) generally produce their harvests and then conclude long before the larger and slower growing crop is at the height of it’s production.   Pulling the spent second crop not only makes room for the maturing larger plants, but opens up and aerates the soil for the remaining larger plants.        

Another variation on this is to grow plants that physically complement one another, such as planting shallow and deep-rooted items intermixed together (beans interplanted with deep-rooted corn for example).   The combination of deep and shallow rooted items improves soil structure because plants with root systems at differing depths and widths in the soil open up the soil at differing levels and utilize nutrients from a greater span of soil layers.   This practice also allows more closely spaced plantings because the adjacent intercrops do not crowd each other for root room.    One plant uses the upper soil layer and the adjacent is spreading its roots out by burrowing down deeper.

Another intercropping technique is to use an under story planting of either a shade appreciative crop (such as cucumbers which like heat, moisture, a well drained soil , and some shade in the height of summer) or a green manure crop.   Green manure intercropping provides weed suppression and water retention while the main crop is finishing up and the green manure crop then enjoys a head start going into the winter.   Chosen carefully, the intercropping plant can also provide nutrient benefits to the main harvest crop, such as when a nitrogen fixing plant such as beans or clover are interplanted with a heavy nitrogen consumer such as corn.   The classic intercropping example is the “Three Sisters” combination of planting corn, beans, and squash.                        

The beans use the structural support of the corn to grow up upon while providing nitrogen for the corn and the squash.   The squash spreads out under the other plantings providing a living mulch and is content to grow in partial shade while the corn and beans reach up for the sun they love.   This classic combo maximizes bed space because it provides three crops in one bed area and the plants structurally complement one another.   However, I personally have found the three sisters combo to be somewhat difficult to do well because the squash plant vines tend to make it difficult to get to the other plants to harvest them!   My variation on that is to skip the squash altogether and use bush beans or half runner bean varieties intercropped with corn.   Full runner or pole beans tend to overrun anything but the tallest of corn varieties, but half runners or bush beans work pretty well.              

There are potential problems with intercropping that should be considered as you use this technique.   The obvious ones are the potential for overcrowding and too much shade creation for even plants that will tolerate (or prefer) some shade.   Careful planning can avoid most of those potential problems and the benefits of intercropping are considerable.               

Most of us have growing seasons long enough that multiple plantings of many crops are possible.   In my area, cold tolerant crops planted early in the season that are harvested and removed no later than mid July can be followed by another reasonably fast growing and cold tolerant crop that will produce well into the fall and even winter months. I   use this technique a lot.   I plant a patch of early spring spinach or garden peas, which usually are concluded by late June or early July.  These are followed by a planting of broccoli, cabbage, or carrots that produce a good fall and over wintering harvest.   Having plants started and ready to plant out just as the other crop concludes, makes this process even more efficient.   This is why many of us start seeds in flats even during the summer months for items that many consider easier to just direct seed in the garden.   The reason we go to that trouble is that we want to have plants ready to go into the ground as soon as the bed is opened up and available.   This practice gives a big jump on growing the second crop which is usually racing against the clock to get to maturity before the approaching colder fall weather arrives and sun strength and day length are reduced.   You may recall that I did this with the bed that had my 2009 spring planted pea patch.   The peas produced a heavy harvest that was completed on the Fourth of July weekend.   The bed was then planted up the very next week with sturdy seedling starts that I had going of broccoli, kohlrabi, and some loose leaf cabbages.                 

(Pea Patch in Early June) 

(Harvesting the Peas on July 3rd)

(The Same Bed Planted Up with Cole Crops on July 11th)

(Same Bed Two Weeks Later on July 25th)

(Mature Cole Crops - Mid September)                 

Succession planting is one of the more important and effective intensive planting techniques available to the food production gardener.   Next week in part 4 of the Intensive Planting topic we will look closer at another very important method of maximizing output from our modern victory gardens – vertical growing.

The temperature dipped down to 34 degrees last night.   There was frost on the deck railing but nowhere else to be seen.   Still, the combination of really wet and colder conditions has taken its toll on the Jalapeño pepper plants in the greenhouse.    They still looked really robust and healthy …              

… however, a closer inspection revealed that the growing tips were moldering, a sure sign that the plants were giving it up for the season.           

They were still carrying a significant amount of fruit on them, but they were not going to grow any more without some warmer temperatures.   This afternoon, I stripped the plants of the remaining peppers and removed the plants altogether.   The final harvest of fresh peppers for 2009 yielded just under 3/4 of a pound.            

I then used my garden cutters to remove the tree like plants and composted the vegetation debris.                                       

The emptied containers were then seeded with Corn Salad (Mache).            

These greens will not be ready until February or March but will be much needed by that time when the rest of the winter harvest is depleted significantly.   In the meantime, I have some nice looking swiss chard in the greenhouse pots.         

In the main garden, the bed of lettuces is still going strong too.                

And the celery plants are still producing beautifully.                

The heads of Ruby Ball cabbages are looking rather waterlogged from our soaking fall rains, but are continuing to grow and hold the promise of some good eating to come.                                              

Harvested some parsnips and carrots a day or so ago.                  

I am using some of the parsnips this afternoon to make Cornish Pasties for dinner.   The parsnips (3 medium sized ones) are peeled and cubed and then combined with diced onion (1 medium), peeled and cubed potatoes (1 large potato), and lean pork cut into small cubes (I used one large pork chop).   The meat and vegetables are sprinkled with a tablespoon of flour, some beef bouillon granules (equivalent of one cube), 1/3 cup of catsup, and a little water, then stirred until well coated.   This is allowed to marinate in the fridge for an hour.   At which time it is spooned into rolled out pastry dough circles given a sprinkle of salt and pepper and then the crust is folded over and sealed shut creating a turnover.   Bake at 375 for 45 minutes.

Are you using items from your garden (fresh or preserved) in your dinner prep today?

I am constantly working to obtain the greatest food production possible from our limited growing area.   I don’t have the luxury of expanding my garden much beyond what I currently have - because it would require cutting down significant portions of our wood lot to provide needed sun exposure.   We like our trees and the beautiful setting they create for our home, so that is not a good option.   Instead, I work with the area of our property that gets adequate sun exposure and use various techniques to optimize food production therein.   There are many of us who have limited space availability for food production gardening and yet manage to produce a tremendous amount of our own food supply.   Over the next several weeks, I thought I would devote some of my blogging time to exploring the many techniques available to optimize food production gardening.   There are quite a few topics that relate to this pursuit - including (among others):

• Crop Selection
• Intensive Planting Practices
• Season Extension
• Soil Management & Fertility

To kick this blog series off, I will focus today on Crop Selection.   Our choice in what to plant greatly determines the success we will experience in producing a greater amount of our own food supply.   There are several things to consider in this process.                                                

Minimizing Waste – Using limited and valuable garden bed space to grow items that ultimately end up not being eaten is contrary to the pursuit of optimizing the garden’s food production capabilities.   I suspicion we have all been guilty at some time or another of growing items that we only marginally like and end up either letting it go to seed or rot on the vine because we just are not interested in using it or even preserving it for later use.   To the extent we can avoid such waste by choosing crops more carefully, the greater our food garden’s actual production will be.   For these reasons, I generally do not grow eggplant, cauliflower, bitter greens, and only occasionally (and in modest amounts) grow beets and kohlrabi.   For the 2010 garden season, I intend to pass on growing beets and kohlrabi altogether to make greater room for more valued crops.                 

 Nutrition Per Square Foot - Some crops are much more dense nutritionally and provide greater value accordingly.     Some particular noteworthy garden produced “Super Foods" include; spinach, blueberries, broccoli, cranberries, kale, winter squash & pumpkins, dried beans, tomatoes, garlic, and onions.   Virtually all plants and fruits are of great values nutritionally, but these particular items are significant in their contribution to good health and should be given some extra consideration in the process of choosing crops for the home food production garden.   Of course, if you do not particularly like to eat any of these items,  then it is wise to remember the goal of minimizing waste by not planting items that will not be fully used – no matter how good for you they are supposed to be!   Luckily, I happen to love all of these super foods and so they have a place in my garden.                         

Yield in Pounds Per 100 Square Feet of Growing Area - If your growing space is limited, then producing as much as possible from that available area is important in the pursuit of producing a greater amount of our own food supply.   I have added to this site a table of average crop yields for a selection of vegetables and grains grown in intensively planted beds.   It gives a good approximation of yield for planning purposes based on a number of assumptions.   Specifically, non-hybrid plant varieties in ordinary soil with sufficient water are assumed.   Obviously actual yields will vary greatly based on actual variety selection, soil condition, sun exposure, and climate etc.   It is quite possible with excellent soil and growing conditions that yields can be even greater than these averages.   You can see from this table that certain crops provide a better yield per 100 square feet of intensively planted growing bed area.   One of the astounding revelations is that chard actually out produces potatoes!

If you adhere to the food pyramid guidelines and serving sizes then you would need 456 lbs of vegetables, 365 lbs of fruits, 250 lbs of grains (wheat, corn, oats, and rice etc), and 159 lbs of protein foods (lean meats, dried beans, dairy, & eggs) for one adult person.    My primary focus and goal is to provide all of our family’s vegetable needs.   To do this and meet the suggested quantities of the food pyramid for my family of two adults and one (almost adult) teenager - I would need to produce 1,368 pounds of vegetables.   Currently, I do produce all of our family’s vegetable needs in that we do not buy any vegetables other than those we consume in meals eaten out (such as restaurants, potlucks, or when eating at someone else’s place).   Obviously, we are not eating the recommended amounts of vegetables as I am only producing between 600 to 750 pounds of produce a year and that does not come anywhere close to the recommended 1,358 pounds of vegetables!   Our daughter will be heading off to college in less than a year’s time so our numbers will be more closely aligned to the recommended amount for two individuals but we will need to change our eating habits too - basically including greater volumes of veggies and lowering our meat consumption.   I will never be able to grow all of our fruit needs on this property given our space limitations, but I can get to approximately 50% with wise planting and crop selection.   My recent additions of bush pie cherries, raspberries, and more cranberries and strawberries should help me work towards meeting that goal.   I need to give consideration to other fruit options that might further increase our production.                

Climate & Growing Conditions – Planting crops that naturally do well in your specific climate and growing conditions will give you a big jump in production.   Devoting a great deal of bed space to plants that fail to thrive because they are out of their preferred element is squandering valuable bed space.   Some crops are just plain worth the extra effort to grow, but the trade off of production capability should be factored into the decision to grow such high maintenance crops.   Similarly, where you grow items in your garden can also greatly influence production capability.   I have one section of garden that gets very good sun and this area is where I plant all the sun intensive crops.   The other section of the garden is bordering on marginal sun exposure and if I want to optimize food production, I need to confine myself to planting more shade tolerant crops there – such as greens and carrots.                                                 

Variety Selection – Carefully choosing varieties that are noted for good production, disease resistance, and with days to maturity that match your area’s growing season and conditions is very important to the pursuit of increasing food production capabilities.   If you are interested in seed saving, then open pollinated varieties will be an important factor in the decision.   However, if you are not planning to save a specific item’s seed, you may find that a hybrid variety offers more vigor and production potential than it’s open pollinated cousins.   That is certainly not always the case since many heirloom varieties meet or exceed their hybrid counterparts in production yield, but in certain circumstances a hybrid is the better performer and should be given some consideration when selecting a variety to grow.                                        

From my perspective, these are some of the more critical elements of crop selection that heavily influence the garden’s utility and productivity.   As I begin the process of choosing crops for the 2010 garden, I intend to think about these considerations and hopefully wind up with even better results next year as a consequence.