Grey Duck Garlic: How to Grow Big Garlic Top Ten Tips for Giant Sized Allium Bulbs! Do you want to grow prize winning garlic? Would you like to raise really large garlic bulbs? Garlic responds well to optimal growing conditions and with a little special care your crop can increase dramatically in size. Right: Tiny but cute Siberian bulb on the left and large elegant German Red bulb on the right. With a little effort and some soil preparation, you can grow huge gourmet garlic for top chefs, high end restaurants, CSA’s, Farmer’s Markets or yourself. Hardneck gourmet garlic can sell for $8-$30 pound (depending on market and quality). 1) Use good quality large seed garlic: If you want the biggest bulbs at the county fair start with good quality seed garlic free from disease. Start with BIG cloves. We have noted that larger cloves are more resistant to adverse conditions and frost. Below right: Romanian Red bulbs typically contain 2-6 extra large cloves. 2) Prepare soil well: Soil should be loose, loamy and easy to dig. References:
Storing Vegetable Seeds - Gardening Our Self Sufficient Home Every spring we invest in a variety of garden seeds, plant as much as we can fit into our garden, and stash the remaining seeds. When the seeds are pulled out the following spring I always question how viable they are after being stored in a ziplock bag in the pantry all summer and winter. So, the challenge is how to store garden seeds to maximize shelf life. The 3 most important factors in seed storage are moisture, light and temperature. Seeds germinate in warm, moist, and bright environments. The amount of light seeds are exposed to is simple to control by the container used to hold the seeds as well as the location of storage. My solution is this: seeds vacuum sealed inside mason jars then stored in a cabinet in the basement, which maintains a fairly constant temperature, or in the refrigerator. I used wide mouth mason jars and the wide mouth jar sealer attachment for the food saver vacuum sealer. Once sealed, the jar sealer attachment is removed and the vacuum seal remains intact.
Burdock: Pictures, Flowers, Leaves and Identification Arctium lappa Recognized mainly for its burrs, burdock is an interesting biennial plant because it consists primarily of carbohydrates, volatile oils, plant sterols, tannins, and fatty oils. Researchers aren't sure which active ingredients in burdock root are responsible for its healing properties, but this plant may have anti-inflammatory and antibacterial effects. In fact, recent studies show that burdock contains phenolic acids, quercetin and luteolin - all are powerful antioxidants. Burdock, in its first year has no stem and grows only as a basal rosette of leaves that stays close to the ground the first year and the beginning of the second. Fields of Nutrition has medicinal benefits and vitamin/mineral content of Burdock (click here). Distinguishing Features: Burdock is best recognized as a stout, common weed with annoying burrs that stick to animal fur and clothing. Flowers: Burdock has purple flowers on tips of prickly ball of bracts that blooms between June and October.
Thy Hand Hath Provided: Braiding Garlic Jamey pulled our garlic the other day. We found that the right time to pull it is when some of the leaves/stems are turning brown, while most are still green. Other years, we waited until the stems were all brown. The bulbs with all brown leaves had more cloves that were already separating from the bulb and tended to sprout faster. If some of the leaves are still green, the bulbs' papery covers are more intact, keeping the cloves from splitting and sprouting as soon. I still have a braid hanging in our kitchen from a year ago. When I tried braiding garlic for the first time last year, I was a bit disappointed by instructions I found on line. Today I am writing for you what I wish I could have found- instructions with pictures (I'm a visual learner). Braiding Garlic Start by cleaning as much dirt as possible off of your garlic. *Update 7/17/09*: It was two weeks ago that I braided my garlic (seen in the pictures above and below). garlic cleaned with roots cut off, ready for braiding
25 tipos de caminhos diferentes para o seu jardim - Blog Construir Confesso ter um pouco de inveja quando vejo grandes ou médias propriedades com um grande quintal, afinal, é sempre bom ter algum tipo de contato com a natureza e toda a sua beleza. Bom mesmo é quando você está estressado e sai de casa na tentativa de esvaziar a cabeça, e é onde entra o jardim, um lugar que com certeza acalma qualquer um. Sentir o cheio da grama, das flores, ouvir pássaros cantando é maravilhoso. É claro que quem tem um jardim, tem um caminho por onde passa para não machucar nenhuma planta, certo? 1. 2. 3. 4. Agora vamos para as fotos?! 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. E aí, o que acharam? Até a próxima! Fonte: goodshomedesign Aproveite também para conhecer nossa LOJA VIRTUAL, onde você encontrará vários cursos em DVD com CERTIFICADO reconhecido pela ABED – Associação Brasileira de Educação à Distância. Gabriela Miranda Olá!
Healthy herbs nutrition facts and the health benefits of herbs Healthy herbs have long held an important place in our wellness. Prized since ancient times, and today we even more depend on them to purify our body, mind, and soul! Of course, we all use herbal parts in our daily lives, one way or the other, whether for their fragrance, for their healing power, or in lovely recipes. Herbal benefits are many; be it for spiritual reasons or to spice up your taste buds, or as a home remedy for ailments like cold, or sore throat... herbs are handy for each need! Although, the herbs been in use in our diet since antiquity, only recently have taken the center-stage of nutrition scientific world for their potential health benefiting and detoxification properties. Here is the complete list of healthy herbs with their health benefits, nutrition value, culinary and medicinal uses: Why herbs in our diet...? Culinary herbs
Edible Flowers Chart Edible Flowers This chart is a collaborative research project by Amy Barclay de Tolly and Home Cooking Guide Peggy Trowbridge. The links will take you to full color photos of the specific flowers to help with identification, but please don't depend solely on these photos. Be sure you know exactly what you choose to consume. If you are allergy-prone, it's probably best to forego consumption of flowers. For more information, refer to the article on Incredible Edible Flowers and Poisonous Plants and Flowers Chart. • Poisonous Plants and Flowers Chart • Edible Flowers Information and Recipes • Herb Information • Spice Information • A to Z Recipes and Food Disclaimer: The author and Home Cooking Guide have thoroughly researched all the aforementioned edible flowers. • Edible Flowers Chart • Edible Flowers Information and Recipes • Herb Information • Spice Information • A to Z Recipes and Food More Herb RecipesReturn to Recipe Index A to Z Recipes and Food | Articles by Topic
Hack your solar garden lights. Solar garden lights.... How on earth do they manage to sell something with a solar panel, rechargeable battery, step-up converter, LED and the plastic and metal casing for a dollar/pound. You can't even buy the bare components for anywhere near that, in fact the solar panel alone would probably cost you five times the cost of the whole light! This project is about hacking your solar lights to make them different colours and potentially increasing the battery life too.Solar lights are great to hack. They're cheap enough not to worry if you mess up, and very gratifying because they are effectively free to run due to being powered by sunlight. Here's the test subject for this project. Inside is a small NiMh cell and a PCB with the LED, a small inductor, a switch and a COB (Chip On Board) which is basically a bare integrated circuit which is stuck to the board, connected and then covered with a blob of black resin. Now put in your new LED noting the polarity (long lead is positive).
Building Fertile Soil - Organic Gardening I Love My 4X4 But... Cam finds getting around in the country, especially in the winter, so much easier with his 4X4 truck... Composting Humanure Humanure management for maximum nutrient secuestration and minimum resource loss. Building fertile soil means learning how to feed the soil to feed the plants. It's a fundamental axiom of organic gardening and farming, and once you understand what "feeding the soil" means to building fertile soil, you'll also understand why organic methods, and no-till techniques in particular, work so well. Even though you can't see most of it, a complex soil food web lives in your garden; it's teeming with earthworms, mites, bacteria, fungi — all kinds of mostly microscopic, interdependent organisms that release mineral nutrients and create the loose soil structure crops need to thrive. Your crops actually help feed all this underground life. But this complex, mostly invisible soil ecosystem can be damaged easily. First, minimize plowing, tilling and digging.
Edible Flowers, How to choose Edible Flowers, Eatable Flowers, Edible Flower Chart, List of Edible Flowers, Incredible Edible Flowers Edible flowers are the new rage in haute cuisine Photo of edible flowers picked in Linda's garden in July (lavender, thyme, dill, cilantro, day lily, squash blossom, Nasturtiums, chives, and basil). After falling out of favor for many years, cooking and garnishing with flowers is back in vogue once again. Flower cookery has been traced back to Roman times, and to the Chinese, Middle Eastern, and Indian cultures. Edible flowers were especially popularin the Victorian era during Queen Victoria's reign. Today, many restaurant chefs and innovative home cooks garnish their entrees with flower blossoms for a touch of elegance. One very important thing that you need to remember is that not every flower is edible. In fact, sampling some flowers can make you very, very sick. You also should NEVER use pesticides or other chemicals on any part of any plant that produces blossoms you plan to eat. Never harvest flowers growing by the roadside. How To Choose Edible Flowers - Edible Flower Chart: Directions:
20 Plants for garden pathways which can handle foot traffic » Gardening Clan There are infinite numbers of plants available to cultivate in your garden. But, there are very few varieties of plants that can be grown on pathways, because most of the plants are too sensitive to tolerate people’s feet. Here is a list of some very common plants which you can use to decorate the walkways of your garden. 1. It is one of the most important family member of Moss but much different from other plants of Moss family. 2. They look very pretty with the bright green leaves and become more attractive from the last spring to the arrival of summer when it blooms beautiful yellow flowers. 3. Fascinating Brass Buttons are low growing plants that spread at a high speed. 4. These ornamented plants have an immense and gorgeous look with a sweet fragrance. 5. Creeping Jenny which is also known as money wort in many places is a perennial plant that loves afternoon sun. 6. Beach strawberry is a perennial member of the rose family. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.
The Underground, Year Round, Ever Growing Greenhouse! Make no mistake, the world is coming into major transition and change. Economies are inflating like helium filled balloons, debt is escalating like runaway trains and it's unlikely to be long before big shifts happen. If not the back end of this year, then I would say certainly in the next three. That's why growing your own food is important, especially as GMO, chemtrails and pesticides continue to decimate topsoils and contaminate the food chain. The "Walipini" I came across this idea recently on Wake Up World. "The Walipini, in simplest terms, is a rectangular hole in the ground 6′ to 8′ deep covered by plastic sheeting. Energy and light from the sun enter the Walipini through the plastic covered roof and are reflected and absorbed throughout the underground structure. Designed to inspire Here's a video from LaPaz, Bolivia, narrated in Spanish but with great music accompaniment! If you'd like to see some other general designs, here's a very useful website I came across...