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:
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
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
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:
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...
Foraging: 52 Wild Plants You Can Eat Here are a few common North American goodies that are safe to eat if you find yourself stuck in the wild: Blackberries: Many wild berries are not safe to eat, it’s best to stay away from them. But wild blackberries are 100% safe to eat and easy to recognize. Dandelions: The easiest to recognize is the dandelion, in the spring they show their bright yellow buds. Asparagus: The vegetable that makes your pee smell funny grows in the wild in most of Europe and parts of North Africa, West Asia, and North America. Elderberries: An elderberry shrub can grow easily grow about 10 feet and yield tons of food, their leaf structure is usually 7 main leaves on a long stretched out stem, the leaves are long and round and the leaves themselves have jagged edges. Elderberries are known for their flu and cold healing properties, you can make jelly from them and are very sweet and delicious. Gooseberries: Mulberries: Mulberry leaves have two types, one spade shape and a 5 fingered leaf. Pine: Kudzu: Daylily:
How to build My 50 Dollar Greenhouse First off – you really can build this thing very cheaply, but to do so you have to recycle, freecycle, and scrounge. If you just go out and buy new everything it will probably cost over $200 – still not bad all in all.This Article is featured in Jan 2010 issue of Birds and Blooms Magazine!Want to find out if this thing works before you read all this? My $50 Greenhouse Welcome Stumbleupon Gardeners! Materials list Construction Steps Hind Sight – What I would do differently The planning is over and construction on my hoop house greenhouse has begun. After some research I’ve decided to build the structure of the hoop house out of 20 ft. joints of three quarter inch PVC plumbing pipe. My hoop house green house is going to be 11 feet wide and 15 feet long, and will be about seven and a half feet tall in the center. If your Greenhouse is too Flat it will collapse! You might be tempted to make your greenhouse wider and lower at this point to get more floor space out of it – but be careful. Thusly
How to grow a kiwi plant from seed | Growing Wild Kiwifruit is so tasty; it’s intoxicating. All my life, I’ve enjoyed the unique flavour and texture of kiwis but never stopped to wonder where they come from and how they grow. It took 24 years, countless fruit salads, and the digestion of innumerous tiny black seeds before I thought about planting some. After my first kiwi sprouts emerged from the soil, I did some research and realized that Canada, with its uncomfortably cold winters, is not an ideal environment for growing kiwi plants. While fairly hardy, kiwi cannot survive temperatures below -18 degrees celsius. Whether you’re planting to observe or to consume, here’s how you can get growing your own kiwi vines: Things you’ll need: 1) A kiwi. This is they type of kiwifruit I used! 2) A small mug or container. 3) Paper towels, a plate, and a clear plastic container. 4) Potting soil. 5) Containers/pots. 6) Sun, or a grow light. Method for sprouting kiwi seeds: 4) As soon as you’re seeds are sprouted, it’s time to plant. Water. Like this:
5 New Solutions For Growing Healthy Produce Indoors Jeffrey GreenActivist Post An increasing number of people are moving into urban environments and away from traditional agriculture. As a consequence, those who have a mind for self-sufficiency can find themselves falling short. Storable foods are of course an important part of every emergency prepper's pantry, but storable foods are not a sound long-term solution that contain optimal nutrition. Even produce from farmers markets and store-bought organic food will lose peak freshness faster than one might imagine. Alanna Ketler from Collective-Evolution explains: Most people do not realize that vegetables will lose about half of their nutrients within the first week of being picked. Nothing can beat growing your own fresh fruits, vegetables, herbs, and flowers. However, several high-tech solutions are becoming available for city dwellers, or those who have a less-than-green thumb. 1. Visit the site here. For restaurateurs, here is what the commercial model looks like: 2. 3. 4. 5.