This is the end of the second growing season for the Mittleider Garden, our showcase experimental garden. Because of the unique soil mixture Mittleider gardens use, the plants establish deep roots, require less water and the beds suffer fewer weeds than standard gardening methods.
Despite weather challenges, the 2019 harvest of cabbages, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, okra, spinach, beets and carrots yielded 639 pounds of produce in just two 4 x 24 ft. beds! This is up from 600 pounds of produce harvested for the Food Pantry in the first growing season in 2018! All of this is in addition to the more than 9,000 of pounds of fresh, nutritious produce grown in the Feed Fannin Community Garden at Ada Street and donated to the Food Pantry.
The Mittleider Garden now has proved over two growing seasons to be a very successful high-yield, low-maintenance concept. As a result, the Research Garden volunteers will move the Feed Fannin Barbara Ferer Research & Demonstration Garden and construct new Mittleider beds next to the Food Pantry in the new Family Connection building at 501 Industrial Park Road. The beds will serve as a demonstration garden on view for interested Feed Fannin members, local citizens and visitors, and they will continue to provide nutritious produce for Food Pantry clients at the new site.
Keep an eye out for a workshop on the Mittleider Gardening Method to be offered in Spring 2020.
Submitted by Carol Martel, Garden Research Coordinator