The 16 Best Healthy, Edible Plants to Grow Indoors From farmers’ markets and Community Supported Agriculture, to urban farms and rooftop gardens, to produce delivery services, more and more people across the U.S. are embracing farm-fresh food. And for good reason: Locally grown produce tends to be better for the environment and for local communities than its store-bought counterparts. Growing food at home also ensures that growers know exactly where their food comes from and how it was grown (no need to worry about deceptive food labeling). If you’re not whipping out the pruning shears yet, consider this: Learning new skills is good for our brains. Luckily, you don’t need to be a farmer (or even live near a farm) in order to reap the benefits of home-grown produce. General Growing Tips Before you get started, here are a few tips that will be handy to keep in mind no matter which of the plants from this list you choose to grow. Fruits and Veggies Photo: Alpha 1. 2. 3. 4. How to Harvest: Most lemons will ripen in six to nine months. 5. 6. 7.
How to Grow Garlic: Organic Gardening Soil preparation: Garlic will tolerate some shade but prefers full sun. While I've seen cloves sprout in gravel pits, garlic responds best in well-drained, rich, loamy soil amended with lots of organic matter. Raised beds are ideal, except in very dry regions. Planting: To grow garlic, you plant the cloves, the sections of the bulb; each clove will produce a new bulb. Spacing: Place cloves in a hole or furrow with the flat or root end down and pointed end up, with each tip 2 inches beneath the soil. Watering: Garlic needs about an inch of water each week during spring growth. Scape Sacrifice: By mid-June, your garlic will begin sprouting flowery tops that curl as they mature and ultimately straighten out into long spiky tendrils. Harvesting Hints When half to three-quarters of the leaves turn yellow-brown, typically in late June or early July (depending on the variety and the weather), it's harvest time. Go Green Using Tips From America's Top Organic Experts!
How to Grow Ginger | How To Grow Stuff Ginger is popular in American food, but it’s practically a staple in Asian cuisine. Not only is it easy to grow and delicious in recipes, but studies show that ginger packs powerful health benefits. Although it is a tropical plant, it will adapt easily to indoor and container planting, making it possible for anyone to enjoy fresh ginger throughout much of the year. Here’s what you need to know to bring this favorite into your own kitchen. Before You Plant Choose the Right Type of Ginger: For practical purposes, ginger is most often home-grown from tubers. Find a Suitable Place: Plan to grow ginger indoors unless you live in the extreme southern portions of the U.S. or in one of the desert states. Prepare the soil: Mix organic material or prepared compost into soil to fill the container (or amend garden soil in the same manner).Ginger will grow quite well in commercially prepared potting soil. Planting/Growing Ginger What You Will Need: Ginger rootPrepared soil How to Plant Ginger: Related Posts
20 Uses for Garlic : EcoSalon Pungent and powerful, garlic has dozens of health and household uses. Chew up a raw clove of garlic and you might exhale noxious, eye-watering clouds of stink all day, but you’ll also repel mosquitoes (and vampires), increase your immunity, heal cold sores, expel parasites and maybe even get in the mood. Garlic is a broad-spectrum antibiotic, killing bacteria, fungus, viruses and mold, so it’s an important ally for natural health. Check out these 20 unusual and sometimes strange alternative uses for garlic.Acne Slice open a clove of raw, fresh garlic and apply it to breakouts as a home remedy for acne. Pesticide Whiteflies, aphids, cabbage loopers and squash bugs. Cold sore treatment These unsightly lesions always seem to pop up at the most inopportune times, like the morning before a big date. Mosquito repellent If you don’t mind smelling like Italian dressing, garlic can work wonders in warding off pesky mosquitoes without the use of DEET and other potentially toxic chemicals. Fish bait
101 Gardening Secrets The Experts Never Tell You I like to use natural top soil to start my garden seedlings in. I usually don't use potting soil because it generally does not produce the results I want. I usually fill a large, deep baking pan I have with top soil and bake it for thirty minutes at 350 degrees. This sanitizes the soil and makes sure that no weeds or grass come up in your soil. I fill my trays up with my potting soil and then I plant my seeds. I cover each seedling with a clear plastic cup that I wash and reuse. If you want to root a plant or cutting in water, add a aspirin or two to the water. If you plant your seeds outdoors sprinkle flavored powdered gelatin in the soil with the seeds. Transplanting Tomatoes Or Pepper Plants When planting any type of tomato or pepper plant, pinch off all but the top leaves of the plant. Then carefully fill the hole with dirt and pack the dirt down tight. The Lint From Your Dryer You can shred your daily newspaper and add the shredded paper to your compost bin. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
HOW TO GROW A PINEAPPLE FROM SEED |The Garden of Eaden The pineapple fruit - Ananas comosus, is a common sight in most supermarket fresh produce aisles, but as familiar as it is today the pineapple is steeped in history and was once considered to be the most coveted of all fruit. Discovered in 1493 by Christopher Columbus during his voyages to the Americas, the pineapple became an instant hit when it was introduced to Europe. Unfortunately the pineapple has a notoriously short shelf life and the 1-2 month sea voyage it made obtaining one was almost impossible. Its extreme rarity meant that the pineapple quickly became a symbol of wealth and luxury, but despite the best efforts of European gardeners it was almost two centuries before they were able to mimic the conditions required to bring a pineapple plant to fruition. In order to get your hands on some seed cut a fresh and fully ripe pineapple into slices and remove the small, black seeds in the fruit's flesh. Place the seeds into a clear, plastic bag with a sheet of damp kitchen towel.
Foraging for Wild Food: 6 Sustainable Techniques Let's say you’re hiking up the trail with sweat dripping down your face and a sunburn on your neck, and all that your stomach wants is some nourishment to keep you going strong. But where to find it? You left your snacks at home. Arthur Haines, a research botanist and plant taxonomist with the Delta Institute of Natural History in Maine, says that foraging for wild foods can actually be beneficial for both plants and people — so long as it is done properly. "Usually, the very first thing that people think is that foraging damages plant populations," said Haines in a recent phone call. Haines gave us some tips on how to gather wild foods responsibly the next time you’re outside and in a pinch. 1. More is not always better. "It’s not considered lethal collection when we talk about perennials and we harvest the top part," Haines says. 2. Also important concerning what sections you forage for is when you forage for them, Haines says. 3. The lesson? 4. 5. 6.
Cultivating, Harvesting and Curing Tobacco -- Victory Seed Company Cultivation, Harvest, and Curing We originally started growing and offering tobacco seeds as ornamental annuals. They are a quite magnificent plant with beautiful flowers making them a great selection for the back of flower beds. Pictorial of a Growing Cycle For more information about organic tobacco cultivation, click here. After the tobacco has cured for a period from several months to several years, it is then fermented and processed in many different ways. Click Here to Purchase Tobacco Seeds Many of the variety descriptions above are from the book entitled, "Tobacco Leaf", 1897, by J.
Native Wildflowers : Prairie Nursery Choosing plants that are well suited to the soil conditions at hand helps create an ecologically beneficial planting and healthy thriving plants. Use the Plant Finder to sort your search by soil type, moisture content, light conditions and more... White Doll's Eyes requires a rich soil with plenty of humus. Its bright white berries and lush foliage make this... Black Cohosh is a striking woodland native that creates a strong vertical statement in a shade or border garden. The... Bright red berries set against deep green foliage make Actaea rubra one of the showpieces of the woodland shade garden.... 49The crushed leaves of Lavender Hyssop, also known as Anise Hyssop, have a fragrance of mint and licorice. Nodding Pink Onion is long-lived, super hardy and looks great in short prairie gardens and meadows. Nodding Pink Onion (Allium cernuum) is long-lived, super hardy and looks great in short prairie gardens and meadows.
Self-Seeding Crops You’ll Never Need to Replant One of the characteristics of a truly sustainable garden is that it produces at least some of its own seed. This is most often done when gardeners select, harvest and store seeds until the proper time for planting the following year. But some self-seeding crops produce seeds so readily that as long as you give them time to flower and mature, and set seed, you will always have free plants growing in your garden. In addition to getting all the free garden plants you need (and some to share with family and friends), nurturing self-seeders is also a great way to provide a diversity of flowers that supply pollen and nectar for beneficial insects. Starting a new colony of any of these annuals is usually a simple matter of lopping off armloads of brittle, seedbearing stems in the fall, and dumping them where you want the plants to appear the next season. Spring Seeds for Fall Crops Managing Annual Self-Seeding Crops Volunteer Veggies Controlling Rampant Self-Seeders 34 Easy Self-Seeders
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