Winter storms, accumulated snow, freezing temperature, and more can cause quite a wreck on your garden and its plant life. It will take some serious repair and care to bring your garden back to life. It is critical that you take care of your winter problems before the first warm breeze of spring arrives.

Dead and infected turf, broken branches, dried crowns, and dehydrated plants are some of the problems you might face. Here are some expert tips and tricks to fix your garden after a severely cold winter.

Access your damage

The first thing you need to do is take a stock of all the damage. Check your turf, plants, shrubs, and trees. There might be dead or infected grass under the snow or broken and damaged branches from winter storms. Make sure to remove all the snow from the floor of your garden, the roots of your trees, flowerbeds, and such. Be careful when removing snow; if you are not gentle, you can cause more damage to the suffering plants.

Take care of any broken branches

Accumulated snow, hail, or other extreme weather conditions can cause your branches to break or get infected. As soon as the weather starts to warm up and the snow starts to melt, you need to take care of any broken branches.

Remove any snow from the branches with your hand; a shovel may cause additional damage. Prune all the broken and infected branches and make sure that there is no infestation or nasty insects nearby.

Remove dead grasses

Grasses face the worst of the freezing cold winter and accumulated snow. Stored under layers of snow, they can dry up, die, or get infected.

You need to check your turf for any signs of life before removing it. If there are any green tissues near the base, there is a chance that they might recover. Otherwise, remove the dead plants from your soil and plant new seeds.

You might want to remove a light top layer of the soil and use manure, fertilisers, and organic composts to get your soil back to health before you start planting new seeds.

Regular watering

Dehydration is one of the most common problems that plants face during winter. The freezing cold temperature turns any source of water into ice, leaving the plants without any water to stay hydrated.

Giving your garden a good and thorough watering will ensure that all the snow and ice has melted. Plus, you will need to water your remaining plants regularly to keep healthy and thriving.

Another problem your garden might face is the after effects of de-icing salts. Make sure to buy the best pocket hose on the market and water your garden daily to avoid your plants from getting dehydrated.

Protect from rodent attacks

One of the most irritating and frustrating problems you will face is the rodent attacks on the base of your trees.

Due to the extremely cold weather and snow, mice, voles, and rabbits will look for places that are warm and comfortable. They usually go for the lower bark of thick trees and will chew and damage the bark from the outside and inside.

The best thing you can do is protect your tree by installing a sheet or a galvanised screen around the trunk before winter arrives. But if you have not done so, make sure that you fill up any holes nearby and let your tree repair itself. All you can do is protect it from further damage.

Preparing for warmer weather

You might need to prepare your soil with fertilisers and composts before the weather becomes warmer. Make sure that you finish all of your repairing and remodelling work before the time to plant the spring blossoms arrive.

Preventing winter damage

If you want to keep your garden’s winter damages to the minimum, prepare your garden for the incoming winter. Pruning your trees and turf, installing screens around the roots of your trees, and cutting off any unnecessary plants will help you keep your garden from getting too damaged.

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Clay soil is characterized as consisting of 50% heavy clay or clay particles. It is easy to determine clay soil. Clay soil sticks to your garden tools or your shoes like glue does, cracks when the weather is dry and becomes a clod that is difficult to separate.

Although clay soil is okay for shrubs and trees; vegetables, perennials and annuals are not strong enough to thrive in clay soil. Bulbs will never survive winter in clay soil, too. Here are more of the downsides of having clay soil:

• Often alkaline
• Prone to heaving in winter
• Easily gets compacted making root growth difficult
• Warms slowly in spring
• Drains slowly

The good news though is there are things you can do to improve clay soil to make it suitable for most of your vegetables and flowers. Here are some remedies on how to improve clay soil.

1. Add Organic Matter

Add organic matter such as compost, rotted manure, shredded leaves, and grass clippings (chemical-free).

Organic matter will make the heavy clay soil lighter. Organic matter will also improve the soil’s drainage and provide nutrients for microorganisms that will improve the soil. It is best to mix organic matter between 6 to 12 inches deep into the soil.

A shovel is the best tool to mix organic matter with clay soil because it does not pulverize the particles of the soil when it turns the earth. If digging to mix organic matter with clay soil will be too strenuous, you can use an electric tiller.

After adding organic matter to the clay soil, you will have a raised garden. The soil will however settle and get back to its original height over the course of the planting season. The structure of the soil though will continue to improve because the organic matter you added will break down because of the microorganisms in the soil.

Keep on adding organic matter at least once a year to allow the structure of the soil to keep on improving and to deal with any possible settling.

2. Sow a Cover Crop

A cover crop is similar to a live mulch. Choose a cover crop that is ideal for your region. If you are in the warm regions, oats and crimson clover are the best. Winter rye and winter wheat are popular choices for cooler region.

If you are working with a winter cover crop, plant them after you have harvested the last crops. When you start planting the following spring, simply add organic matter and till your plants into the improved clay soil.

3. Do Some Mulching over the Winter

Mulching with organic matter over the winter and the growing season to keep rain from packing down on the bare soil. Adding a layer or two of straw will lessen corrosion and protect soil from being compacted. Mulching can also prevent the growth of weeds.

4. Create Raised Beds

Raised beds improve drainage. This is because clay soil retains water. When beds are raised, water will tend to run off. You can build raised beds from stones, bricks or wood. Make sure the beds are in the right sizes so you reach the middle part without having to step on the bed. Not stepping on the bed can reduce compaction.

Be aware that before improving clay soil, make sure to avoid compaction. When clay soil gets compacted, the more difficult it is work with. It is best not to till too much and also not to walk on it before you have improved clay soil.

An improved clay soil will make it ideal for planting flowers and vegetables. Best ph meter for garden soil testing will help you determine the exact soil conditions to keep your plants healthy.

Do you live in an area where clay soil is common? Have you been successful in improving your clay soil? Share with us some of your thoughts in the comments section.

If you find this article helpful, please share it with your friends who need to deal with clay soil.

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When it comes to growing your own food, you want to consume the healthiest produce and ensure that you are continuing the safest practices possible. This is why organic gardening and the techniques associated with it are so important in our day and age. While much of the world has given themselves over to GMO (genetically modified organism) plants with unknown chemical compositions, organically focused growers are continuing onward with traditional methods that are thousands of years old. Not only is this the most feasible option, it is also the most nutritious and most logical way to grow our food.

When growing organic food, you know exactly what you are going to be putting into your mouth, rather than the modern practice of ignoring unknown chemicals and mutations in your food. This means that you are going to avoid unknown complications from chemically induced mutations and will logically ensure that you are only eating food that you know is healthy for you. This practice has been proven to improve your health and comes with no unknown health risks, unlike the alternative.

Organic gardening challenges and rewards

Growing using more traditional methods does come with some challenges that seem unique in our current world. While GMO plants grow under almost any conditions, cultivating natural varieties takes more time and added attention to their proper growing conditions. This can manifest in the form of extended growing times, shade requirements, soil drainage needs, and even fertilizer needs. However, these challenges have been around for centuries and there are easy solutions available for each and every one of them.

Growing in this manner does have a number of benefits outside of health as well. There are exciting opportunities to create familial heirloom varieties that can be passed on to newer generations or cross bred with other gardener’s crops. This is possible because heirloom seeds and plants grown using natural methods maintain their ability to produce viable seeds, something that mainstream crops have lost. This lack of terminal seeds makes breeding and continuing on centuries old traditions easy and cost efficient.

Organic gardening preparation

When choosing to create an organic garden you will need to ensure that you have the correct tools, soil, and maintenance plan in place. The best way to accomplish this is by researching the crop that you want to buy, purchasing seeds from a reputable breeder, and then following their instructions for the crop. Any good breeder will give you information about the soil, shade, water, and growth needs of the seeds that they sell.

The next step is to ensure that your soil is the right condition for the seeds and that it will be able to sustain life. This is usually accomplished by getting a soil test and then correcting for any deficiencies in the soil. When doing this you should avoid any and all commercial treatments as they contain unknown components and can damage the soil or transfer over to your produce. Instead, organic matter such as manure, moss, clippings, and fungi can be introduced and tilled into the soil to create the correct nutrient profile.

Organic garden maintenance

Once you have begun growing your crop you will want to ensure that you continue with natural maintenance methods. Avoid chemical additives like Miracle Grow for water, commercial potting soils, and any root additives. It is also important to avoid any pesticides and sprays that contain inorganic compounds. Remember, anything that you put in the ground, on your plants, or into the water can end up in your mouth and in your body as well.

Depending on the variety that you have chosen to plant you may have different harvest times. It is important to keep track of approximate dates and to check on your plants every single day. When growing traditional produce you will have a much shorter time to harvest and utilize your crop as they have not been engineered with preservatives. However, this means that they will always taste fresh when they are picked and will have a much fuller flavor profile than anything you buy at the store.

Any fruit or vegetable that you grow using organic methods will be healthier and have a better taste than chemically treated foods. The unadulterated flavors contained within your harvested goods will ensure that all of your food has vibrant and exciting flavors.

By avoiding the chemical infestation of modern GMO foods you prevent traditional breeding and growth methods from stalling and ensure that a new generation of real food will be created and enjoyed by health conscious individuals.

The post Organic Vegetable Gardening: So Rewarding appeared first on Growing Veggies.

1. Lettuce

Most households eat lettuce a few times a week, if not everyday. Imagine salad fresh from the garden! Luckily, lettuce is super easy to grow and maintain.

Lettuce comes in a variety of shapes and sizes. Decide which variety to grow based on the time of year (some varieties cannot cope with very hot weather) and the taste and texture you prefer. Try the melt-in-the-mouth leaves of the Butterhead, and the tender and colourful Red Oak.

Lettuces have shallow roots, so are sensitive to water. They require moist, but well-drained soil, and partial sun. You can sow lettuce seeds every two weeks or so to ensure you have lettuce to harvest throughout the growing season.

2. Potatoes

If you’ve never tasted the difference between a homegrown and store-bought potato, you’re in for a real treat! Homegrown potatoes have a firmer texture, and much tastier flesh. Plus, potatoes are easy to grow, even for inexperienced gardeners, and they store well.

You can grow potatoes in a garden bed, or in a container. You’ll need to properly prepare the soil, and do a little research on companion planting before you get started. Proper cultivation is essential when growing potatoes to prevent them going green – green potatoes are poisonous. Potatoes are very sensitive to the sun, so work well as a winter crop in warm climates.

There are many varieties of potatoes you can grow, including sweet potatoes. Try out a range of colourful varieties, which are packed with nutrients.

3. Bush beans

Beans come in two main varieties, bush beans and pole beans. Pole beans require a trellis, so they aren’t a low-maintenance plant. Bush beans, however, are very easy to grow.

Bush beans do not require the same level of soil fertility that other plants need. In fact, overly rich soil can leave plants vulnerable to pests and diseases. So, if you don’t have your own compost heap, no worries.

Bush beans do require well-drained soil and plenty of sunlight. They are best grown during warm summer months, and you can sow seeds every few weeks to ensure a continuous supply of delicious beans.

Provider, Blue Lake and Tendercrop are good varieties of green bush beans that are widely available.

The post 3 Easy Vegetables to Grow as a Beginner appeared first on Growing Veggies.

We received this helpful tip from our customer Ernest Barkes of North Saanich, BC, Canada. His knowledge of ethylene, the gas released from apples that helps ripen other fruits and vegetables, comes from southern Ontario over 70 years ago when the gas was not available.

What is Ethylene?

Ethylene is a naturally occurring plant hormone that assists the growth, ripening and deterioration of fruits, vegetables, and all other plants.

While all plants produce ethylene, some produce much more than others, and can be used as an external source of ethylene for other plants. This is the basis of Ernest’s great tip.

Different fruits, vegetables, plants and flowers have different reactions to ethylene. Some respond by ripening evenly, and others become damaged as their aging process is accelerated.

Fruits and veggies that produce large amounts of ethylene include:

Those fruits should be kept away from plants that are sensitive to ethylene, which include:

The Effect of Ethylene on Ripening

External sources of ethylene can help trigger ripening in a range of fruits and vegetables, such as tomatoes, mangos, apples and avocadoes.

Ripening is the last stage of growth, and is initiated by many chemical changes, particularly an increase in ethylene. Once the fruit’s quantity of ethylene rises to a certain amount, the ripening stage begins. Once a fruit or vegetable begins to ripen, it cannot stop, though cold temperatures can slow the process.

External sources of ethylene, such as an apple in a bowl of tomatoes, can hasten the initiation of the ripening process. And it’s still natural!

If you have any interesting tips about growing vegetables, we’d love to hear them! Send us an email, or contact us on Facebook or Twitter.

The post How to Ripen Fruits and Vegetables Using Ethylene? appeared first on Growing Veggies.

Peanuts

Image credit: Jojonicdao

There are several misconceptions about the peanut. Some are unaware that the peanut is a legume, and others believe peanuts grow in trees (like walnuts), or as a part of the plants root (like potatoes).

The peanut is a unique plant as it flowers above ground and fruits below ground. Peanuts are therefore grown in loose, well-drained soil, and do well in dry climates.

After pollination, the peanut flower’s stem elongates, causing the stem to bend and the flower to touch the ground. The stem continues to grow, pushing the flower underground where the fruit matures and produces a legume pod. The pod (the peanut) contains between one and four seeds (or ‘nuts’).

After harvesting, peanuts must be ‘cured’ or dried for about a week. This reduces the moisture level by about 40 per cent, making the peanuts safe to eat.

Raw peanuts with the red skin intact can be used to grow a peanut plant. Simply soak the nut in water for 24 hours, and bury in loose, moist soil. The plant is unlikely to produce peanuts if grown in a pot.

Vanilla

Image credit: Kevin Harber

The delicious vanilla bean grows on an orchid plant native to the wet jungles of Mexico. The orchid family is one of the largest groups of flowering plant species, prized for their beautiful, exotic flowers. The vanilla plant (vanilla planifolia) is the only orchid traded as a food source.

The vanilla plant is a thick vine, which climbs up to 15 metres (50ft) on a host plant. Vanilla requires the partial shade produced by the host plant in order to produce the valuable vanilla beans and the intricate, white flowers.

Black Pepper

Image credit: Scot Nelson

Black, white and green peppercorns all grow on the same flowering vine. The colour of the peppercorns depends on when the fruit is harvested, and whether or not the black shell is removed.

The black peppercorn is native to India, where it has been used as seasoning for thousands of years.

The vine requires a host plant or trellis for support. After harvesting, the peppercorns are dried for up to a week, and then left whole or ground.

If you have tips or experience in growing unusual everyday foods like these, or others, please add your comments below. We’d love to hear about them!

Also visit our Facebook page for more tips.

The post You Probably Had No Clue How These Everyday Foods Grow appeared first on Growing Veggies.

Broccoli sprouts

The Research

Researchers at the University of East Anglia have found that including lots of broccoli in your diet can help slow down the progression of arthritis. It’s the compound, sulforaphane that is effective, because it blocks a destructive enzyme that is known to damage cartilage. Sulforaphane is an anti-inflammatory and it is said to be beneficial in fighting cancer. According to these researchers, sulforaphene also has antimicrobial and anti-diabetic qualities.

American scientists from the John Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, doing cancer prevention research in Japan several years ago, found that the sulforaphane in broccoli sprouts act as a potent antibiotic against a certain very harmful bacterium that causes gastritis, ulcers and even stomach cancer. While the study showed that broccoli sprouts won’t destroy the bacteria, they found that eating them every day for two months will control it.

Another study found that just four helpings of broccoli every week can protect men against prostate cancer, while others have found that sulforaphane kills colon cancer and breast cancer cells.

Sulforaphane has also been shown to kill cancer stem cells, slowing the growth of tumours. Since there is a growing reservoir of evidence that eliminating cancer stem cells may be a vital key to controlling cancer, this is a particularly important finding.

Broccoli sprouts versus broccoli heads

Broccoli heads

According to osteopathic physician and alternative medicine guru, Dr. Joseph Mercola, broccoli sprouts contain as much as 20-100 times more chemoprotective compounds than those found in the heads we normally eat. He has been proudly touting the cancer-busting power of broccoli since the mid-1990s when he discovered that glucoraphanin (which was discovered before sulforaphane) boosted cell enzymes and protected against molecular damager from chemicals that caused cancer.

The John Hopkins research study found that three-day-old broccoli sprouts had up to 50 times (and never less than 20 times) the quantity of chemoprotective compounds found in mature broccoli heads. They also found that they contain up to 100 (and not less than 10) times higher levels of glucoraphanin compared to mature heads.

“The interesting aspect of chemoprotection strategies is that they’re almost never organ-specific,” says Dr. Mercola. Instead they block the multiple steps that are common to any form of cancer formation. This, he believes is probably a major reason why broccoli appears to work so potently against different types of cancers, and other diseases.

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Artichoke, celery and parsley salad

But the good news is that some vegetables can help you fight cancer and protect yourself from its potential onslaught. Three of the best are parsley, celery and artichokes.

Prevention and Treatment of Cancer

According to research, the key is something called apigenin, a common plant flavone (a colourless crystalline compound) found in lots of fruit and veg.

In a study undertaken by scientists in Cleveland, Ohio, USA in 2007, it was reported that, “Apigenin has been shown to possess remarkable anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and anti-carcinogenic properties”. They found that cancer rates are strongly influenced by environmental factors, including one’s diet, a factor that is “largely preventable”.

Cancer prevention, as well as steps taken to reverse the initial phases of carcinogenesis and/or action aimed at stopping cancer from progressing further, commonly includes a number of different strategies. This particular study examined chemoprevention and cancer prevention through diet, and found that fruits and vegetables containing apigenin were in themselves “promising chemopreventives”.

It has been known for some time that apigenin possesses remarkable antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-carcinogenic properties, but it is only relatively recently that scientists have begun to study the biological effects of this flavone at cellular molecular levels.

In addition to artichokes, celery and parsley, the Ohio researchers found that onions, oranges, chamomile, tea, wheat sprouts and some seasonings contain a high concentration of apigenin.

Other studies have found that apples, grapes (and wine), as well as a number of herbs including tarragon, spearmint, basil, cilantro (or coriander), and oregano also contain apigenin.

But parsley, celery and artichokes remain top of the list because in addition to apigenin, some studies indicate they also produce paclitaxel, a powerful component of drugs that are used to treat breast cancer.

Eating Celery, Artichokes and Parsley

Celery is delicious raw and cooked. Parsley adds flavour to dishes and is a brilliant garnish. Artichokes are considered by some people to be an acquired taste, but delicious nonetheless. Here’s a recipe to inspire your tastebuds using all three.

Artichoke, Celery and Parsley Salad

You will need about six artichokes, steamed, outer leaves and hairy choke removed. Alternatively you can use a couple of tins of artichoke hearts (though fresh is better). Leave to cool while you slice two red onions, about four stalks of celery, and about a cup of parsley (ideally fresh out of your garden). For an extra bite you can add a heaped tablespoon of capers, coarsely chopped.

Mix together about 60 ml of extra-virgin olive oil, juice of two lemons and add salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. If you want a bit of heat, add a dash of pepper sauce (Tabasco is good). Splash over the veggies and leave to stand for about 10 to 15 minutes before serving.

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Portobello mushroom stuffed with yellow onion, red pepper, spinach and cheese.

It’s not just fashion, hairstyles and interior design that have changing trends, even vegetables can be trend setters.

The online Canadian foodie magazine, bon appétit traced vegetable trends over a period of more than four decades, and published there top ten list of trend-setting vegetables this week.

Top Ten Trend-Setting Vegetables

Avocado Pears were the greatest trend setters in 1969; they even inspired a decade of avo-green appliances.

Beets made their culinary mark in 1982, and have stayed majorly trendy ever since.

Sun-Dried Tomatoes began trending in 1985, adding a distinctive punchy flavour to all kinds of dishes. They are still trendy.

Rocket, that tangy herb the Americans call arugula, hit the vegetable top ten in 1990, paired with everything Mediterranean, from sun-dried tomatoes to olives and thinly sliced Parmesan cheese.

Asparagus made its mark in 1993, steamed until limp but still a little crunchy.

Portobello mushrooms, served as the “meaty” part of a vegetarian meal, trended in 1995.

Heirloom tomatoes were the vegetable of 2006, heralded by food critics and a new foodie elite for their taste and varied colours.

Brussels sprouts, still dreaded by some, were trendy in 2010, particularly when roasted with bacon or sprinkled with good farm butter and slivered almonds.

Heirloom carrots came into their own in 2011, like tomatoes, featuring sweet tastes and colours other than orange.

Kale was the major trend setter in 2012, served raw in salads, sautéed, or roasted to make flavoursome, ultra-wholesome “chips”.

Vegetable Trend Predictions for 2013

Food industry market research firm, Technomic, predicted vegetables en masse would take centre stage in 2013. They singled out former veggie heroes, carrots, Brussels sprouts and kale as likely favourites.

The New York Times predicted raw or lightly cooked root vegetables would be king.

Sysco, a global leader in selling, marketing and distributing food to restaurants and other facilities in the US, Canada and UK, in their TrendSpotter, 2013: Flavors of the Future predicted that veggies would be “on center stage”. Ingredients they singled out from top dishes at three top restaurants were:

• Squash
• Beet
• Carrots

Asked to suggest which vegetables they thought would trend next, members of an international culinary forum were quick to say they’d seen enough of Brussels sprouts and kale. Instead, their bets were on:

• Baby green Lima beans
• Cabbage, particularly the Nappa cabbage
• Celery root
• Chard
• Kohlrabi (try it pureed in soup)
• Parsley
• Romanesco
• Rutabaga – one of the favourites

 Mollie Katzen, seen as something of a pioneer in the world of vegetarian cookbooks thinks cauliflower could be one of the future trend-setting vegetables.

Whatever the pundits say, one thing is clear, nowadays it’s trendy to be eating veggies. Fullstop. Not surprising since research has proved that eating more vegetables is key to a healthier, longer life.  And it’s not just the trend setters you should be eating; concentrate on what’s fresh and seasonal, or what you can grow easily in your own home veggie patch, like lettuce, peppers or tomatoes.

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Small red and large green cabbages

A recent scientific study published in Current Biology reveals that vegetables continue to “live” for some time after they have been harvested, showing that the life of a vegetable does not end when it is picked.

Two of the benefits of this for cabbages and other brassicas are that:

1. anti-cancer properties form after the brassica has been picked; and
2. its ability to resist pests is enhanced.

More simply stated, vegetables may continue to respond to the environment even when they have been removed from the plant. It does though depend on how they are stored.

So unless you have access to a constant supply of fresh veg, you’re likely to want to know more about the life of a vegetable after harvest.

The Study That Tells the Story of the Life of a Vegetable

The study, Postharvest Circadian Entrainment Enhances Crop Pest Resistance and Phytochemical Cycling, was carried out by researchers of biochemistry and cell biology at Rice University in Houston, Texas, and the Department of Plant Biology at the University of California, and was published in late June 2013.

Having initially studied Arabidopsis (a common plant “model” for biologists that is part of the Brassicaceae family), what they did was to purchase cabbages from supermarkets and either,

1. Expose them to periods of light and dark (as in normal daytime and night time)
2. Keep them in constant light
3. Keep them in constant darkness

All the cabbages were subjected to “insect attack”, in the form of caterpillars, in their various environments.

The cabbages that were kept in a “normal” light-dark (day-night) environment continued to “live”, developing three times as much glucosinolates as the cabbages kept in the light or in the dark.  Glucosinolates are organic, anti-carcinogenic compounds that help to get rid of pests when the veggies are growing.

And this, say the researchers, all has to do with biological circadian rhythms. A circadian rhythm is a process that repetitively takes about 24 hours, and it happens in plants, animals, fungi and even very basic cyanobacteria… which is why the light-dark environment has such significance.

After studying cabbages, researchers also tested (in alphabetical order) blueberries, carrots, lettuce, sweet potatoes and zucchini. The results were the same.

How the Nutritional Value of Food is Affected

Having discovered that some veggies will continue to metabolize on the supermarket shelves and in our homes (largely depending on how they are stored), the researchers now want to find out more about the possible impact on our diets.

According to Professor Janet Braam from Rice University, “We’ve uncovered some very basic stimuli, but we haven’t yet figured out how to amplify that for human nutrition”.

Once they do this, we are likely to have to reconsider how we store fresh veggies before we cook them, just to be sure we get the best nutritional value possible.

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