4 Ways to Grow Spinach Edit Article Choosing a VarietyPrepping Your Planting AreaPlanting Your SpinachCaring for Your Spinach Plants Edited by Flickety, Eric, Nathan Wong, Scott Cushman and 2 others A cool-weather loving green, spinach is a fast-growing relative of beets and Swiss chard. Ad Steps Part 1 of 4: Choosing a Variety 1Grow spinach in USDA Hardiness Zones three through nine. 3Choose smooth-leafed spinach for a fast growing time. Part 2 of 4: Prepping Your Planting Area 1Choose an area with full sun. 4Fertilize the soil thoroughly. Part 3 of 4: Planting Your Spinach 1Decide whether you want a spring or fall harvest, or both. 5Water the planting area thoroughly. Part 4 of 4: Caring for Your Spinach Plants 1Thin your plants. 5Harvest your spinach. Tips Always wash spinach before eating.Be aware that spinach shrinks when cooked. Warnings Be wary of flea beetles, spider mites, and aphids, which feed on spinach leaves.Heat and long days will kill your crop.
The Best Kales By John Navazio August/September 2003 Colorful, super-nutritious and hardy, kale deserves a spot in every garden! Count kale as one of the true treasures of the fall garden, with its sweetness revealed only after old Jack Frost has kissed its leaves a time or two. This ultra-cold-hardy, leafy green vegetable is a reliable deeply satisfying addition to any cool-weather garden. KALE AND FLOWER KALE: ORNAMENTAL FOOD PLANTS March/April 1983 Adapted from The Beau... Considered by many to be Portugal’s national dish, this soup gets its green color from finely slice... A salad spinner can be used to dry herbs and vegetables. These easy to make salad dressing recipes are all based on oil and vinegar, ingredients you can fin... Corn salads — also known as mâches — are unusual salad crops because they are very cold hardy and g... For years, kale also has been touted as one of the best vegetable sources of calcium — which is especially important for vegans and others who don’t consume dairy products.
Healthy News and Information There is nothing better than plant to mouth in 1 second flat from your own backyard, but sometimes we don’t have a spare moment to prune, water or till. Every year there’s so much to do it makes my head spin! So any chance to save some time or effort is a real lifesaver. Here are 9 cool hacks that will not only save you time but will transform your backyard into an oasis of greenery! 1. Vacation Watering For potted plants: this trick will save your plants when away for a few days. 2. Mixing your old eggshells and coffee grinds into your soil as compost will not only boost the nutrients in the ground, but can help prevent blossom rot. 3. That’s right, I said sweetener, but this one is all natural. Another use for baking soda with tomatoes is to make an organic spray for fungal diseases. 4. Using the stems of roses, you can regrow a whole rosebush by simply poking them into potatoes before planting them in the ground. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Share: Comments
How To Plant Cuttings Of Potatoes Overview Potatoes are starchy, tasty root vegetables that are easy to start from cuttings of other potatoes. From French fries to scalloped to baked, potatoes have a wide range of uses in many different types of dishes. If you have an area of your garden that has light, deep, slightly acid, well-drained soil, consider starting a potato patch. Planting Potato Cuttings Step 1 Purchase potatoes called "seed" potatoes from a nursery, seed catalog or Internet site for the best results in sprouting and growing potatoes to maturity. Step 2 Expose your seed potatoes to direct sunlight and temperatures ranging from 60 to 70 degrees F for two weeks before you plant them in spring. Step 3 Cut your seed potatoes into pieces about 2 inches square, making certain to include one or two eyes in each chunk. Step 4 Prepare your planting area by digging in at least a third the volume of soil with compost and other organic materials. Step 5 Step 6 Fill the trench half full with additional soil/compost/straw.
What We Learned From A Year Without Food From A Grocery Store By Rachel – dogislandfarm.com I can’t believe it’s been a year now since we started our year without groceries. We learned a lot in that year. When we first decided to do a year without buying food from the grocery store, convenience stores, box stores or restaurants we thought the challenge was going to be really difficult. But as time continued onward we started to get into the groove of things. We met a lot of great small family farmers and built relationships with them. About 6 months into our year we realized that it was pretty easy and that we wanted to have more of a challenge. We were so far behind on planting due to Mother Nature refusing to cooperate that I was worried we wouldn’t have anything to eat fresh. On the plus side though we learned first hand what we should have in storage in case of emergencies. After a year of being free from grocery stores we decided to continue this journey indefinitely but we’ll allow ourselves one restaurant visit a month.
Garden Planning for Preservation: Best Foods to Freeze, Can, Dehydrate and Ferment Our vegetable gardens offer us beautiful, fresh bounty during the growing season — and they also have the potential to increase our food security the rest of the year. When you craft a plan to put up some of the crops you grow, you’re preparing for the future, simplifying winter meals, reducing waste, and saving money, too. As you plan your garden with preservation in mind, consider what your family loves to eat versus what they merely tolerate. Talk with your household members about what you want your meals to look like for the following year. If you’re aiming for year-round veggie self-sufficiency, calculate how many times per week on average your family eats a particular crop, and multiply that figure by 52 (number of weeks in a year). Easy Crops and Preservation Projects From a preservation perspective, some vegetables are much more flexible to work with than others. So how many tomatoes should you sow? Cucumbers are a classic crop to pickle. Year-to-Year Garden Planning
Growing Your Own Garlic As far as I'm concerned, garlic gets the blue ribbon for growing your own. It's absurdly easy to plant and care for; it tastes great; it looks beautiful and it takes up so little ground that even those with very small gardens can raise enough to be self-sufficient in garlic for a good part of the year. All you have to do is choose the right varieties; plant at the right time, in the right soil; then harvest when just right and store correctly. 1. If you look in a specialist catalog like the one at Gourmet Garlic Gardens, you'll find dozens of varieties of garlic listed. You see where this is going – and you can see a lot more types of garlic on either of those websites, but for general purposes the most important difference is the one between softneck and hardneck. Softnecks are so called because the whole green plant dies down to pliancy, leaving nothing but the bulb and flexible stems that are easy to braid. Gardeners in most of the U.S. can try some of both. 2. 3. 1. 2. 4. 5. 6.
Vegetables and Fruits: Get Plenty Every Day - What Should I Eat? Table of contents Introduction “Eat your fruits and vegetables” is one of the tried and true recommendations for a healthy diet. What does “plenty” mean? For most fresh or cooked vegetables and fruits, 1 cup is just what you would put in a household measuring cup. Remember—on the Healthy Eating Pyramid, created by the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, potatoes are not counted as a vegetable, since they are mostly starch and should be used sparingly. Over the past 30 years or so, researchers have developed a solid base of science to back up what generations of mothers preached (but didn’t always practice themselves). Vegetables, Fruits, and Cardiovascular Disease There is compelling evidence that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables can lower the risk of heart disease and stroke. Vegetables, Fruits, and Blood Pressure High blood pressure is a primary risk factor for heart disease and stroke. Vegetables, Fruits, and Cancer Vegetables, Fruits, and Vision References
Small Yard, Big Yield: Growing Vegetables In A Limited Space You are trying to take care as a family, and you have decided to start recycling more, eat healthier, produce less waste, start exercising more, you are watching what you buy and the ingredients they contain and are purchasing organic produce and products from companies that are responsible and fair trade. But you have come to realize how expensive buying organic groceries can get and find yourself in a dilemma: How can feed your family fresh, healthy, organic vegetables without spending a fortune. You'd grow them yourself, but you have a very small yard and limited time. Grow those vegetables anyway! First of all, let me say this: even with a space of only 100 square feet (10 feet by 10 feet) you can grow enough vegetables for a steady supply of salad greens for a family. With a space of 400 square feet (20 by 20) you'll have more than enough veggies for your family without a lot of plant swapping. To get your garden started, you'll first need to answer a few questions: via Yardshare
Shady Veg. Garden Most people envision their gardens as being in full sun all day long, and yet there may be some of us that have more shade in our yards than full sunshine. Is it still possible to have a vegetable garden? I say yes, you can! You may not be able to have all of your favorites, but then again you may be able to grow plants that others cannot. Then you can barter with those in your community that need what you have grown for what you are not able to raise in your own garden – see my article “Bartering.” So what can you grow in a shady garden? There are plants that hate shade: tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and all varieties of squash. If your garden area is only partially shady during the daylight hours, there are plants that will work well for you. I think that all homegrown vegetables taste much better than their store bought relatives. Help your garden out by knowing what it needs. Enjoy the fruits of God’s blessing and your labors!
Beets nutrition facts and health benefits Beets are highly nutritious and “cardiovascular health” friendly root vegetables. Certain unique pigment antioxidants in the root as well as in its top greens have found to offer protection against coronary artery disease and stroke; lower cholesterol levels within the body, and have anti-aging effects. Botanically, the tuberous root vegetable belongs in the Amarathaceae family, in the beta genus. Beets are small herbaceous plants with broad dark-green leaves. Different cultivars exist; red, orange-yellow and white verities. Health benefits of beets Garden beet is very low in calories (provide only 45 kcal/100 g), and contain zero cholesterol and small amount of fat. Selection and storage In the store, choose fresh, bright, firm textured beets with rich flavor and uniform size. In the farmer markets, oftentimes the roots with intact top greens put for sale. Top beet greens should be used while they are fresh. Preparation and serving methods Here are some serving tips: Safety profile 1. 2.
Shazam for Plants Will Identify Any Plant From a Picture Well that time has come! For plants, anyway. The app “PlantNet" works by using an image search engine, with information collected through a large social network. The users of PlantNet regularly collect field data and then share their findings, which help to identify and add information about the quality of images and the plants' nuanced patterns. Their newest project, IdentiPlante, actually allows you to use the database to quickly receive data about the plant which you have taken a picture of. How cool is that? UPDATE: Since it seems a few of our readers were confused, the PlantNet app is still in development. via Someecards Related articles in Green Recent articles
All About Tomatoes May 19th, 2010 Email 72 users recommend Photo: Danielle Sherry Tomatoes are the favorite food crop of America's home gardeners. I like my greens and beans, but tomatoes are at the top of my gardening food pyramid. For an entertaining video overview of planting, pruning, staking, preserving, and cooking with tomatoes, watch Homegrown/Homemade: Tomatoes. posted in: tomatoes, trellis, pruning Get special offers, FREE eLetters and your FREE PDF bonus now. Find us on:
Foods That Can Help Save Your Life By Anthony Gucciardi Contributing Writer for Wake Up World Chances are that a number of food-based and environmental stressors are adversely affecting your health, putting pressure on your biological function and taxing you away from your optimum health potential. Turmeric & Cayenne Pepper Nutrient Drink For starters, Turmeric is one nutritional powerhouse that you should be consuming on a daily basis. Take 1 teaspoon Turmeric & the smallest pinch of Cayenne Pepper and mix them with some olive oil in a glass shooter. Chlorophyll, The Green Nutrient Powerhouse As you may know, Chlorophyll is actually responsible for the green pigmentation in plants. Beyond removing mercury from your body, chlorophyll has a whole host of other benefits. Overall Health Benefits of Chlorophyll According to peer-reviewed research, chlorophyll has been found to: Altogether, this powerful string of healing foods will be reinforcing your immune system, removing waste, and much more — but where’s the true flavor?