Excellent tips from Dr. Robert Malone, and his wife, in the email this morning.
I have included excerpts here, but if you wish to read the complete article, here is the link:
In the 1970s, Americans traveling in Mexico were routinely warned not to eat raw salads or leafy vegetables. The advice was simple: drink bottled water, peel your fruit, and avoid uncooked produce that might have been irrigated, washed, or handled with contaminated water. No one considered this particularly controversial. It was ordinary travel advice based on the known risk of fecal contamination and gastrointestinal illness.
Today, Americans increasingly eat Mexican-grown vegetables without leaving home or even thinking about it. That is especially true during the winter, when supermarkets remain stocked with cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, herbs, lettuce, and other fresh produce grown far to the south. The United States now imports roughly half of its fresh fruit and about one-fifth of its fresh vegetables, with Mexico serving as the dominant foreign supplier for many categories.
[…]
Although only a few thousand illnesses each year are recognized as part of documented produce outbreaks, epidemiologists estimate the true burden is vastly larger. One recent analysis concluded that leafy greens alone are responsible for as many as 2,307,558 illnesses annually in the United States. The economic cost of these illnesses is estimated to be up to $5.278 billion.” Thus, making them one of the single largest sources of foodborne disease.
[…]
Robert and I rarely buy bagged salad anymore. Not because we are terrified of Cyclospora. The odds that any individual package will make us sick remain small. We stopped buying it because once you learn to grow greens, packaged salad simply stops making much sense.
Homegrown greens taste better. They last longer because the food stays on the plant until harvest, and then it is harvested minutes before dinner rather than days or even weeks after processing. They cost pennies instead of dollars. There is no plastic container headed for the landfill, and we know exactly where they came from. We also know what was used to grow them, which, in our case, means no pesticides or herbicides, and the nitrogen comes from living soil instead of being made from natural gas. Our fertility comes from compost, cover crops, mulch, animal manures, and living soil rather than primarily from nitrogen manufactured from natural gas. Our practices feed the soil first, and the plants second.
People tend to think gardening means waiting until July for the first tomato. In reality, greens are among the fastest and easiest foods to grow. With a little planning, they can be harvested during nearly every month of the year.
The secret is to stop thinking about “the garden” as a single annual event and begin thinking in terms of succession planting. Instead of planting one large crop, sow a smaller amount every few weeks. Use raised beds, containers near the kitchen, or any sunny patch of ground. When cold weather arrives, move production into a simple hoop house, cold frame, unheated greenhouse, or sunny indoor space.
Spring belongs to spinach, lettuce, arugula, mustard greens, Asian greens, and peas. These crops prefer cool weather and often grow more vigorously before summer heat arrives.
Summer requires a different strategy. Traditional lettuce and spinach often bolt in the heat, but Swiss chard, New Zealand spinach, Malabar spinach, amaranth leaves, sweet potato leaves, and beet greens will continue producing. Many people harvest beets for their roots and throw away the tops, even though beet greens are tender, nutritious, and delicious. We harvest both.
Autumn brings a second season for cool-weather crops. Spinach returns, kale becomes sweeter after cold nights, lettuce thrives again, and Asian greens flourish as temperatures fall. With a light cover, many of these crops will continue producing well past the first frost.
Winter is where a little creativity pays off. Microgreens can be harvested on a kitchen counter in ten to fourteen days. Pea shoots grow quickly indoors. Sunflower shoots are packed with flavor. Broccoli sprouts are easy to grow and are among the most nutrient-dense greens available. Mung beans and alfalfa remain old standbys, although sprouts require careful sanitation because the same warm, humid conditions that promote germination can also promote bacterial growth.
In our greenhouse, we continue harvesting herbs long after the outdoor garden has gone dormant. A greenhouse is wonderful, but it is not essential. A simple hoop system over a raised bed can protect greens from frost, wind, and heavy rain while extending the growing season by weeks or even months. The hoop system is what we use for our main greens – lettuce, spinach, and kale during the early winter months and early spring.
Raised beds make the process easier. They warm more quickly in spring, drain well during heavy rains, and allow the gardener to build living soil over time. We add compost regularly, mulch generously, and plant cover crops whenever a bed will sit empty for more than a few weeks. We are still experimenting with cover crops; this year, daikon radishes and turnips will do dual duty as cover crops and also for their clay-busting potential. Healthy soil produces resilient plants, and resilient plants are not chemical inputs.
One of the biggest surprises for new gardeners is how little space greens require. A single four-by-eight-foot raised bed can produce salads for weeks. Add another bed, a few containers, and some trays of microgreens indoors, and many families can stop buying packaged greens for much of the year.
Stella's Place 