Exceptional Drought Tolerant Winter Bloomers For Southern California Part 2

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Article by CHRISTIANE HOLMQUIST

WINTER-BLOOMING SUCCULENTS
Aloe Aloe arborescens
Aloe-arborescensThe Aloes are primarily South African natives that range in size from 6 inch to tree-like, but all form rosettes of fleshy, pointed leaves. To me, this is the most striking and imposing Aloe as it forms a large, rounded shrub-colony that over the years can reach 10 ft high and wide. Branching stems carry big clumps of grey-green, spiny-edged leaves. Is is easy to grow in well-drained soil, can take full sun or shade and salt spray, needs little water but can take more. This makes them nice companions to perennials that have similar water- and drainage needs. Its foliage can be damaged at 27 F but will in most cases rebound. In winter, this plant produces spiky torch-like clusters of bright brick-red flowers. A variegated form is also available.

Cotyledon Cotyledon orbiculata
Cotyledon-orbiculataThis south African native can quickly reach 2 ft tall, about 2 ft wide. It has fleshy paddle leaves that may be green edged with red or whitish-gray, depending on variety, and carries drooping orange-red bell-shaped flowers from late fall into spring. It is quite drought tolerant and needs excellent drainage and reduced irrigation in summer to prevent roots from rotting. Although my garden is in Zone 20, it has survived many light frosts, and another factor makes this one a great plant in the garden: It is easy to propagate from cuttings, and it also makes a great container plant.

WINTER-BLOOMING TREES

Pearl-Acacia-Acacia-podarilyfoliaPearl Acacia (also called Queensland Silver Wattle) Acacia podalyriifolia. Native to Australia, Mexico or the southwestern US, many attractive, winter-blooming and fragrant Acacias are available to us. The evergreen Pearl Acacia grows to 10-20 ft tall and 12-15’ wide with roundish, 1 1/2 inch long silvery gray satiny leaves. It is a shrubby plant that can be trained into a small tree. Brilliant bright yellow puffy and sweetly fragrant flowers are produced in late winter/early spring. It is tolerant of our soils and needs full sun little or no water. The Sunset Western Garden Book recommends to prune the Acacias that are grown as tree form to open up their interiors which will reduce dieback of shaded branches.

Sky Flower Duranta erecta (D. repens, D. plumieri)
This is a fast growing evergreen shrub that can be easily be trained into a small tree. It grows 10-25 ft tall and 6-10 ft wide. Especially as a multi-trunked plant it can make a beautiful specimen for the landscape. Its glossy green leaves are about 2 inch long on broadly arching branches that may or may not have spines. Pretty ½ inch sized violet-blue flowers in fragrant clusters are produced nearly all year and attract people, butterflies and hummingbirds. They are followed by pretty yellow berries (toxic if ingested). It grows easily in most soils in full sun or partial shade, needs only average watering and tolerates temperatures down to around 20 F.

There are also light-blue and dark-blue flowered selections of this shrub available, as well as a white one called ‘Alba’. ‘Sweet Memory’ is thornless, with flower petals edged in white. ‘Gold Mound’ is a small one, only 1 ½ ft wide and high, has brilliant gold leaves and flowers rarely, but it is excellent for adding color to container plantings.

SUPPLIERS & RESOURCES
Nurseries and growers:
Daylily Hill, also called Designed II, located just a few miles north of Escondido, grow exceptional repeat-flowering daylilies as well as drought tolerant perennials, shrubs, succulents, cacti and roses. Their availability list with photos and descriptions is online at www.daylilyhill.com ;
Briggs Tree Company in Vista carries a wide variety of landscape plants, and their list is available online at www.briggstree.com ;
Barrels & Branches in Encinitas at www.barrelsandbranches.com sell unusual perennials, shrubs, succulents and trees.
www.debraleebaldwin.com : Great photos, ideas and tips for designing with succulents are presented by Debra Lee Baldwin, author and photo journalist. Her book ‘Designing with Succulents’ has been a wonderful resource in my design work, and I look forward to her next book, ‘Succulent Container Gardens’ that will appear shortly.

Evergreen Nursery – San Diego’s Largest Garden Center

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Evergreen Nursery
Main Location
13650 Carmel Valley Rd
San Diego CA 92130
phone: 858-481-0622
fax: 858-481-5649

Business office
P.O. Box 503130
San Diego CA 92150 3130
phone: 858-481-1434
fax: 858-792-1831

North County Coastal
3231 Oceanside Blvd
Oceanside CA 92054
phone 760-754-0340
fax 760-754-0342

Website: EvergreenNursery.com
If your shopping excursions in search of nursery and garden supplies are focused primarily on your nearest big box retailer or discount house, you might want to reconsider your choice. With big box retailers, you are missing out on the experience of local nurseries; nurseries offer the complete range of possibilities to develop your landscape or garden to its fullest potential. Evergreen Nursery isn’t your every day, garden-variety nursery center. Those discount wholesale locations might have half an acre of growing grounds or an outdoor extension displaying their collection of gardening supplies that were trucked in from other regions. At Evergreen, San Diego’s Largest Wholesale Nursery open to the public, you have up to 80 acres of actual growing grounds to peruse, your car is your shopping cart, and you’ll shop amid professional as well as hobbyist landscapers and gardeners seeking the right Palm Tree, Rose Bush, Top Soil, Fruit Tree, Shade Tree,Groundcovers,Mulches, Bedding Plants, Flowers, and Drought Tolerant Plants for their projects.

Welcome to Evergeeen Nursery
Before heading our way, feel free to peruse our website to see some of our in-season plants, or take a look at the nursery’s extensive map. On our property you do have the option of walking around, driving through, as well as receiving home delivery. It is encouraged that you make an event of it by walking through our palm tree nursery center, or simply observing the best garden center in San Diego. With dozens of full-grown palm trees, as well as small shrubs and ornamental grasses, you are sure to find what you need.

At Evergreen, the plants you see have been grown and raised on site, assuring you that it will acclimate just as readily and thrive in your landscape as well as it has at the nursery. While the nursery specializes in palm trees, it also features a broad spectrum of trees, landscape plants and shrubs along with ground cover and beautiful blooming flowers that thrive in sunny Southern California.

If you are interested in getting away from those big box retailers for your San Diego nursery, we really are the way to go. We have a complete green waste recycling program where we give you store credit for returning recyclable items. Check out our schedule for various seminars at one of our locations to learn about some of the best ways to take care of your plants. Additionally, take a look at some examples of our involvement in community events such as, most recently, the Salute to The Firefighters Fair.

With three locations in San Diego, our business has grown to 400 total acres, including growing grounds, over the past thirty years. Buy directly from the grower and you are sure to save on quality products. If you are looking for a retail supplier combined with a wholesale nursery in San Diego with an inviting feel, check out the best southern California nursery today.

“If it works for Southern California and the Southwest, we’ve got it, and you can see more varieties of items here than anywhere else,” says Evergreen Nursery owner Mark Collins, a lifetime resident of San Diego County who grew up in the nursery business working for his father, who founded what would become California’s largest nursery chain, Nurseryland. Collins opened his first store in the Del Mar/Carmel Valley area in 1976, followed by a Spring Valley store in the mid-1980s, and stores in Oceanside and Rancho Bernardo opened in 2002. He also established two growing grounds, in North Escondido and the San Pasqual Valley, to accommodate a thriving export operation to Japan, Spain, Canada, Chile, Mexico and the Caribbean.

Beyond the vast expanse of selection available, Evergreen customers will also notice significant savings in product pricing, thanks to the nursery’s on-site growing and selling grounds, which removes the middlemen and handling services that drive prices up.

“We sell the same products as other nursery retailers but for half as much money because we grow it where we sell it,” Collins says simply. “When a regular nursery or discount house has a plant for sale, that plant has a number of ‘touches’ for the number of times it has been handled, from growing it to loading it, shipping it, then selling it. Every ‘touch’ costs money. By cutting down on those ‘touches’ as well as deliveries to stores, we can sell our products for a better price.”

Evergreen’s pricing system is also designed for ease of use. Plants are priced by container size, with color-coded signs that correspond to price points shown on a map given out when entering the nursery. While driving through the nursery, look for the color coding to find your price range. A detailed list of specific Evergreen products and their prices are also available on the nursery’s Web site at www.evergreennursery.com. Customers can return the black plastic plant containers and receive shopping credits from Evergreen’s active recycling program.

When you visit the nursery, you’re sure to shop longer than you think you will, so don’t forget to bring your wide-brimmed garden hat and plenty of room in your car for your selections! Kids and dogs welcome too!

Exceptional Drought Tolerant Winter Bloomers For Southern California Part 1

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Article by CHRISTIANE HOLMQUIST
Our first winter rains have blown through and and brought a welcome refreshment after the long and hot months. As our summer bloomers are going into their winter rest, our gardens are beginning to look a bit drab (unless you have one of those ever-bloomers such as Bougainvillea). The approaching holidays are creating an atmosphere of hope and expectation, and when we add to this the notion that this is an ideal time for planting, we find ourselves searching the garden centers for the colorful plants that can cheer up our winter gardens. However, you’ll notice that most nurseries reserve the bulk of their space for the big sellers: Poinsettias, green wreaths, Camellias and Azaleas of course, and many winter blooming annuals. If you are more interested in the exceptional plant that doesn’t have to be replaced at every change of the season, that will flower through the winter months and that will add color to your garden for many years to come, read on. From the many that come to mind I have chosen a few that are un-demanding in maintenance, low in watering needs, and just outstanding plants. This list is just a first selection, and I’ll be happy to share many more with you if you contact me.

THE SHORT STUFF / Perennials

Santa-Barbara-Daisy-Erigeron-karvinskianusSanta Barbara Daisy Erigeron karvinskianus, is a free-blooming perennial with dainty, white/pink daisy-like flowers to ¼ inch wide and narrow leaves to 1 inch long, that gracefully trails and slowly spreads to about 3 ft with a height of 10 to 20 inches. It’s not really a winter bloomer as it has already been in bloom all summer long, but the flowers never stop coming. It likes full sun but can tolerate partial shade and is very drought tolerant. It can be a bit invasive but is not overwhelming. Use it for edgings, as groundcover, in containers and in rock gardens, in naturalized beds, hanging baskets or in dry laid walls, especially to offset plants with a coarser texture, such as fleshy succulents (f.e. Ghost Plant Graptopetalum paraguayense, as described in my post ‘The “work horses” in my garden’).

Sundrops and Trailing Buttercups Calylophus drummondii and C. hartwegii
Trailing-Buttercups-Calylophus-hartwegiiThese perennials are look-alikes that grow to 1 to 1 1/2 ft high by 2 ft wide. Although not true winter bloomers, they will, if planted in a sheltered spot, continue their bloom from summer to winter, although a little more sparsely. They are among my favorites (see my post on ‘The “work horses” in my drought tolerant garden’) because they are so undemanding in water or maintenance. Sheer them down to a few inches in mid spring to give them a rest and tidy them up for the next flowering season. Both love sun but tolerate dappled shade and are very drought tolerant. Their brightly yellow flowers will cheer up many drab spots in your garden, and their fine textured foliage is an excellent companion to coarser textured succulents.

WINTER-BLOOMING SHRUBS

Baja-Fairy-Duster-Calliandra-californicaBaja Fairy Duster Calliandra californica: This native to Baja California and Sonora, Mexico, is an evergreen shrub with an open growth that can reach 5 ft to 5-6 f wide. This species is sometimes compared to Fairy Duster Calliandra eriopylla, which is smaller (to 3 ft x 3-4 ft wide), summer deciduous to evergreen, with less luxuriant foliage. There is also a hybrid available called ‘Maricopa Red’. These sturdy yet fine-textured shrubs like hot dry situations, although the Fairy Duster C. eriophylla can also tolerate the warmer coastal environments. They all like the full sun and need good drainage. With little to moderate water the Baja Fairy Duster C. californica and its cousin ‘Maricopa Red’ bloom year round; Fairy Duster C. eriophylla starts in late winter and goes into early summer, but leaves and bloom last longer if some summer water is given (the Fairy Duster is summer-deciduous). All produce the characteristic exotic duster-like flowers that are puff balls of deep red or light to deep pink stamens (C. Eriophylla) ½ to ¾ inch in size that are irresistible to hummingbirds.

Baja Fairy Dusters C. californica produce flattened seed pods 2-3 inches long and dark brown; those of Fairy Duster C. eriophylla are quite attractive: to about 2 inches long, brown with red margins and a fuzzy coating that catches the sunlight. This one can be used for erosion control as it spreads by rhizomes.

These shrubs work well in the garden as accent or massed as groundcover (especially the smaller C. eriophylla). Try setting off their fine textured foliage next to more sturdy succulents or cacti to lend them a softening effect; The Fairy Duster C. eriophylla also makes a great specimen in a glazed container.

Feathery-Cassia-Senna-artemisioidesFeathery Cassia (also called “Old Man Senna”) Senna artemisioides (sometimes sold as Cassia artemisoides). This Native to Australia has silvery-grey, needle-like foliage and is 3 to 5 ft tall and wide with an airy open structure. It can take full sun or partial shade and likes well draining soil. Beginning in late fall, it covers itself with a profusion of yellow ¾ inch clusters of 5 to 8 flowers puff balls of flowers that can continue into early summer when the shrub takes a rest, to start again in late fall. Its reddish-brown flattened, 1½ inch long narrow seedpods hang on for a long period of time, but in the heat of summer this provides an attractive contrast to the silvery foliage. It is very drought tolerant but looks best with moderate to regular water.

Grevillea ‘Poorinda Constance’
Grevillea-Poorinda-ConstanceGrevilleas are evergreen shrubs and trees most of which come to us from Australia. Of the many that we can grow in our County this one displays an open, graceful growth and can reach 8 ft tall by 12 ft wide. Its needle-like, deep green 1 inch long leaves are almost white beneath. The shrub produces clusters of orange-red flowers in winter and spring and intermittently at other times. It needs full sun or partial shade and little or no water. As a spectacular screening or specimen shrub it will mask unsightly views or provide privacy.

Foods That Can Help Save Your Life

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Ingredients_Healthy_FoodArticle by Anthony Gucciardi
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. If you eat junk food, live in a polluted city, drink alcohol, smoke, or take pharmaceutical drugs, you could be unintentionally loading your body with toxic substances. Thankfully, a mixture of great tasting and powerful food products can help heal this damage in addition to boosting your overall health condition.

Turmeric & Cayenne Pepper Nutrient Drink

For starters, Turmeric is one nutritional powerhouse that you should be consuming on a daily basis. Before purchasing any old Turmeric spice product, however, it is important that you buy the right kind. Look for pure Turmeric powder, as opposed to commercial curry powders that contain less concentrations of pure Turmeric. It is also highly preferable that you purchase 100% organic Turmeric to avoid fillers and lower quality ingredients. One great recipe involves Cayenne Pepper and Turmeric combined together in a health-enhancing recipe.

Take 1 teaspoon Turmeric & the smallest pinch of Cayenne Pepper and mix them with some olive oil in a glass shooter. This makes for a great start to the day, nourishing your body with vital nutrients. Alternatively, you can powder your breakfast meal choice with high quality Turmeric or purchase a whole food Turmeric supplement if that is not an option. Next up, it is time to discover the benefits of green superfoods.

Chlorophyll, The Green Nutrient Powerhouse

As you may know, Chlorophyll is actually responsible for the green pigmentation in plants. The biomolecule is what absorbs energy from the sun to facilitate photosynthesis in plants. Vital to metabolic functions such as growth and respiration, chlorophyll acts as the ‘blood’ of the plant, and it also provides powerful benefits to human health. Amazingly, research has found that chlorophyll can actually help to expel toxic mercury from your body — a truly potent quality in modern society, where mercury has run rampant. Even high-fructose corn syrup, a ubiquitous ingredient that populates supermarkets worldwide, has been found to contain mercury.

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:

  • Help prevent cancer: Studies published in the journals Carcinogenesis and Food and Chemical Toxicology highlight the ability of chlorophyll to actually inhibit carcinogenesis.
  • Provide antioxidants & anti-inflammatory benefits: Carrying high levels of the vitamins A, C and E, chlorophyll has strong antioxidant capacity and has also been found to help reduce inflammation.
  • Rapid delivery of magnesium: A highly alkalizing effect, chlorophyll is a powerful source of readily available magnesium.
  • Contain protein, calcium, and folic acid: These nutrients are essential in red blood cells and boosting your immune system.

Altogether, this powerful string of healing foods will be reinforcing your immune system, removing waste, and much more — but where’s the true flavor? You may be pleased to learn that chocolate is the next top food, though it is important to choose the right kind.

Consume Dark Chocolate with 70-80% Cacao Content

Chocolate is full of nutrients, such as vitamins A, B1, B2, D, and E. Of course it is important to first look at the quality of the chocolate before biting in. It is important that the chocolate is organic, and contains at least 70% cacao content. The higher percentage of cacao, the better the chocolate is. This means that the chocolate will be darker, but not dark to the point of bitterness.

Oftentimes brand name chocolate found in grocery stores contains high fructose corn syrup and other harmful additives, making it a poor decision to eat or feed to your children. Make sure to check the ingredients list of your chocolate product to ensure it is free of these additives.

Epidemiologic investigations have found through numerous studies that chocolate consumption reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease. This is due to flavonoids that are present in cacao, which promote heart health. The April, 2008 Journal of Nutrition published a double-blind controlled study that evaluated the effects of flavanol-containing dark chocolate. 49 adults participated in the study, who ate a diet set by the American Heart Association.

Participants consumed 1 cocoa dark chocolate bars 2 times daily, while keeping activity levels the same. The results were very interesting. Chocolate consumption reduced systolic blood pressure after 8 weeks, and reduced bad cholesterol by 5.3%. You can stay healthy and enjoy a treat at the same time with high quality organic chocolate. Organic dark chocolate can often be found at your local grocery store for a reasonable price. Reward yourself and your children with a treat that both tastes great and improves overall health.

Green Tea

Drinking green tea can slash your risk of illness, as it contains powerful antiviral components that a new study has associated with a lower risk of flu infection. Researchers examined more than 2,000 elementary school students who were given questionnaires about their green tea consumption and illness during influenza season. What they found was those who consumed green tea daily were sick less often.

The research concluded that drinking between 1-5 cups per day slashed flu rates, though the benefits stopped after 5 cups. The abstract of the study states:

However, there was no significant association with the consumption of [more than] 5 cups [per day]. Our findings thus suggest that the consumption of 1-5 cups [per day] of green tea may prevent influenza infection in children.

Green tea has been used for centuries by many cultures as a medicinal tea.

Seaweed: Kelp, Dulse

Various forms of seaweed, particularly kelp, are beneficial to your overall health as well as protecting you from harmful radiation. A natural source of iodine, kelp is a great food to consume and stockpile in the event of a nuclear catastrophe such as the Fukushima disaster. Choked full of vital minerals, these ocean superfoods will help to regain optimum levels of essential minerals within your body. It is important to ensure that you are purchasing these products from a high quality source, as ocean life is particularly prone to mercury contamination.

Mushrooms

Shiitake, Matsutake, Chantrel — mushrooms are a great source of riboflavin, niacin, and selenium. Selenium, of course, is an antioxidant that works with vitamin E to protect cells from the damaging effects of free radicals. Oftentimes, many individuals may not be taking full advantage of selenium, or other nutrients that mushrooms often contain such as potassium. In the Baltimore study on Aging, men with the lowest blood selenium levels were 4 to 5 times more likely to have prostate cancer compared to those with the highest selenium levels. One medium portabella mushroom has even more potassium than a banana or a glass of orange juice (remember to always juice your own oranges, don’t buy the chemical filled commercial junk).

Utilizing these powerful healing feeds in your diet can not only boost your overall health and mental clarity, but it can help defend against potentially life-threatening diseases. Remember to always purchase 100% high quality organic whenever possible, and avoid toxic additives like high-fructose corn syrup.

About the author:
Anthony Gucciardi is an accomplished investigative journalist with a passion for natural health. Anthony’s articles have been featured on top alternative news websites such as Infowars, NaturalNews, Rense, and many others. Anthony is the co-founder of NaturalSociety, a website dedicated to sharing life-saving natural health techniques. Stay in touch with Natural Society via the following sites Facebook – Twitter – Web

Gardening To do List – December in the Garden

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December
Article by Marie Iannotti
Many of us do more shopping and planning for our gardens during the winter months than actual gardening but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to do. In the warmer zones, December is the start of pleasant weather and a chance to enjoy planting cool season vegetables and flowers that don’t tolerate your summers. Northern gardeners should use this period without leaves to scout for egg masses and other signs of trouble on trees and shrubs. Here are some more regional gardening tips for the beginning of winter.

In General

  • Keep watering your holiday plants and give them plenty of light.
  • Check houseplants and any plants you brought indoors for the winter, for insects that may have hitched a ride. With the heat on, they can multiply quickly.
  • Also check any for dessication or rot.
  • Start eating those stored vegetables and think about planting more winter squash next year.
  • Feed the birds.

Southern California

  • Stop pruning and let your roses harden off for winter. It’s also a good time to plant bare root roses.
  • Cut back ornamental grasses to get ready for new growth.
  • You should be able to find seedlings of cool season vegetables and annual flowers.
  • Plant pre-chilled bulbs right after Christmas.

Zones 6 and Lower

  • Keep an eye out for bark damage from ice rabbits, deer….
  • Spray broadleaf evergreens with anti-desiccant, to prevent dehydration.
  • Use the branches from your Christmas tree as protective mulch.
  • Keep watering newly planted trees and shrubs.

Southwest

  • Be prepared for sudden swings in temperature and protect tender plants with row covers, newspaper or blankets.
  • Start seeds of cool season vegetables and flowers.
  • Cut back asparagus, as soon as it dies back or the ground freezes.
  • More desert southwest gardening tips.

Northern California

  • Watch out for snails during wet season.
  • Feed winter-flowering shrubs.
  • Be prepared for sudden cold snaps with row covers or make shift cloches (soda bottles and milk jugs).
  • Protect young citrus trees and small fruits from frost damage by draping row covers.

Pacific Northwest

  • Wet soil makes weeds grow, but it also makes them easier to pull. Start pulling.
  • Begin pruning dead branches from trees and shrubs, as they go dormant.

Hawaii

  • Focus on your soil during the wet season. Add a layer of compost or organic mulch.
  • Plant cool season vegetables like: kale, chard, peas, cole crops and root crops.
  • Pot up some indoor blooms, like: amaryllis, gladioli and paperwhites.

Gardening Allotments Lead to “Staggering” 51% Fall in Anti-social Behavior

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Gardening AllotmentsArticle by Landshare News
In 2009, the early days of Landshare, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall visited a community allotment for local residents in Leigh, Greater Manchester, as part of a River Cottage programme. Two years on, the allotments are thriving, and local police are amazed to find that anti-social behaviour has fallen by over 50% in the area.

The community allotment is a joint venture between the Leigh Neighbourhood Policing Team and Wigan Council, and was spearheaded by two very determined ladies – Doreen and Marg. It was set up to encourage young people to take an interest in growing their own fruit and veg. Visiting the site, Hugh said:

I am absolutely certain that it will make a real difference to the lives of dozens of kids. You can’t ask for more than that.

He was right. Residents are able to take on individual allotment plots at the site, and the site is well used by young people. But local police are astounded by the massive drop in the amount of anti-social behaviour on the estate since the allotments were established, and believe that the allotments have had a significant impact on that fall in social problems.

Local police who helped set up the allotments have reported an incredible fall in the amount of anti-social behavior in the last two years since, the allotments were established, and Police Community Support Officer Wendy Walters said,

In the past year there has been a staggering 51% reduction in Anti-Social behaviour on the estate.

Locals agree that the allotments have had a positive effect on reducing anti-social behavior. One of the local residents commented,

Over the past two years the estate has seen a great improvement in Anti-Social behaviour since the allotment started, I’m sure that this has had an effect giving children somewhere to go and something to do.

Growing your own food is well known to have a positive effect on health, and recent research by the Food for Life Partnership also found that growing and eating healthy food in schools also improved the behaviour and performance of school pupils. The massive reduction in anti-social behaviour seen at Leigh Allotments is further evidence of the personal and social benefits of growing and eating healthy, fresh food with our families and local communities.

How to Grow The Top 10 Most Nutritious Vegetables in Your Garden (Part 2)

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Article by Colleen Vanderlinden (Continued from part 1)

Red Bell Pepper6. Red Bell Peppers

Red bell peppers are high in potassium, riboflavin, and Vitamins A, B6, and C – in fact, one cup of red bell pepper packs an amazing 317% of the recommended daily allowance of Vitamin C and 93% of the recommended Vitamin A.

How to Grow Peppers
Grow Peppers in Containers: Plant one pepper plant per each 8 to 12 inch deep pot.
What to Watch Out For: Aphids and flea beetles are the two most common insect pests when growing peppers. While both can be controlled with insecticidal soap, which is a common organic option, you can also make all-natural, homemade sprays to deter these pests. A tomato leaf spray will get rid of aphids, and garlic/hot pepper spray works very well on a flea beetle infestation.

Beets7. Beets

Beets are a great “two-fer” crop – you can harvest the beet roots, of course, but you can also harvest and eat the greens. Young beet greens are delicious when added raw to a salad, and larger beet greens can be sauteed as a quick side dish or used the way you’d use other greens such as spinach. Beet roots are very high in iron, potassium, and vitamin C. Beet greens are even better, as they are high in iron, calcium, magnesium, potassium, zinc, and Vitamins A, B6, and C.

How to Grow Beets
Grow Beets in Containers: Plant beet seeds three inches apart in a container that is twelve inches deep. Because each beet seed is actually a cluster of seeds, be sure to thin the seedlings to one per cluster. Thinnings can be added to salads or sandwiches.
What to Watch Out For: Knowing when to harvest. Beet roots are at their best when they are harvested small – between one and two inches across. At this size, they are sweet and tender. Larger beets tend to be kind of woody and less flavorful.

Leaf Amaranth8. Leaf Amaranth

Leaf amaranth is a less-common vegetable that is well worth a try in your own garden. The leaves have a sweet and slightly tangy flavor that works well in a variety of dishes, from stir-fries and soups to simply steaming it all by itself. As a bonus, leaf amaranth is one of the few heat-tolerant greens. It won’t bolt in the heat of summer the way spinach and kale are prone to. Nutritionally, leaf amaranth is very high in calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorous, potassium, riboflavin, zinc, and Vitamins A, B6, and C. Everyone should be growing this!

How to Grow Leaf Amaranth
Growing Leaf Amaranth in Containers: Scatter the tiny seeds over the soil’s surface in a pot that is at least 8 inches deep. Harvest the leaves when they are two to four inches tall. You will be able to get at least two or three harvest before you’ll have to sow more seeds.
What to Watch Out For: Leaf amaranth is fairly easy to grow, and relatively problem-free. Rarely, leaf miners can become a problem.

Carrots9. Carrots

Carrots are at their sweetest, crunchiest best when freshly harvested from the garden. These icons of healthy eating deserve their “good-for-you” rep – they’re very high in fiber, manganese, niacin, potassium, and Vitamins A, B6, and C. Their only drawback is that they do tend to be high in sugar, so if you’re watching your carb intake, you’ll want to limit the amount of carrots you eat.

How to Grow Carrots
Grow Carrots in Containers: Sow carrot seeds two to three inches apart in a pot that is at least twelve inches deep. Look for shorter varieties, such as ‘Thumbelina,’ or ‘Danver’s Half Long.’
What to Watch Out For: Harvesting at the perfect size. Carrots are at their tastiest when harvested small. Leaving them in the ground too long can result in overly large, woody carrots. You’ll also want to make sure to keep your carrots evenly moist, as letting the soil dry out too often can also result in somewhat bitter, fibrous carrots.

Leaf Amaranth10. Leafy Greens

OK, I cheated here. I can’t recommend just ONE leafy green, because they are all incredibly good for us, as well as delicious — kale, collards, spinach, turnip or dandelion greens — how can you possibly choose just one? In general, the “green leafies” contain high amounts of calcium, iron, potassium, and Vitamins A, B6, and C.

How to Grow Kale and Other Leafy Greens
Grow Greens in Containers: Grow one kale or collard plant per ten inch deep pot. Other greens can be grown a few plants to a pot — they should be planted at least 4 inches apart and harvested small.
What to Watch Out For: Heat and cabbage worms. Most leafy greens are cool-weather crops, so they’re best grown in spring and fall in most areas – hot weather will cause them to bolt. In addition, many of these greens are members of the Brassicas family, which means they are prone to cabbage worm infestations. Control them with the same methods outlined in the “Broccoli” section, above.

Try growing one or two (or all!) of these nutrient-dense, delicious vegetables in your own garden, and you’ll get double the health benefits: healthy food and time spent outdoors,
nurturing your plants.

How to Grow The Top 10 Most Nutritious Vegetables in Your Garden (Part 1)

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Article by Colleen Vanderlinden

A perfectly ripe, juicy tomato, still warm from the sun. Sweet carrots, pulled from the garden minutes (or even seconds!) before they’re eaten. Growing your own vegetables is one of those activities that balances practicality and indulgence. In addition to the convenience of having the fixings for a salad or light supper right outside your door (or on your windowsill), when you grow your own vegetables, you’re getting the most nutritional bang for your buck as well. Vegetables start losing nutrients as soon as they’re harvested, and quality diminishes as sugars are turned into starches. For the tastiest veggies with the best nutrition, try growing a few of these nutrient-dense foods in your own garden.

And don’t let the lack of a yard stop you – all of them can be grown in containers as well.

broccoli1. Broccoli

Broccoli is high in calcium, iron, and magnesium, as well as Vitamin A, B6, and C. In fact, one cup of raw broccoli florets provides 130% of your daily Vitamin C requirement.

How to Grow Broccoli
Grow Broccoli in Containers: One broccoli plant per pot, pots should be 12 to 16 inches deep.
What to Watch Out For: Cabbage worm. If you start seeing pretty white butterflies fluttering around your broccoli, you’re guaranteed to start seeing little green worms all over your broccoli plants. To avoid this, cover your broccoli plants with floating row cover or lightweight bed sheets. If you start seeing cabbage worms, simply pick them off by hand.

Peas2. Peas

There is nothing like peas grown right in your own garden – the tender sweetness of a snap pea just plucked from the vine is unlike anything you can buy in at a store. Aside from being absolutely delicious, peas are high in fiber, iron, magnesium, potassium, and Vitamin A, B6, and C.

How to Grow Peas
Grow Peas in Containers: Sow peas approximately 2 inches apart in a pot that is at least 10 inches deep. Provide support for peas to climb up.
What to Watch Out For: Hot weather. Once the weather turns hot, pea production will pretty much shut down. Grow peas in early spring and late summer/autumn, or any time of year when temperatures are consistently between 40 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit.

Beans3. Beans (especially navy beans, great northern beans, kidney beans)

While snap beans (green beans/wax beans) are a great addition to any garden, it’s the beans we grow as dried beans that are real nutritional powerhouses. Dry beans, in general, are high in iron, fiber, manganese, and phosphorous.

How to Grow Beans
Grow Beans in Containers: Bush beans are your best option for growing in containers. Plant beans four inches apart in a container that is at least 12 inches deep.
What to Watch Out For: Harvest at the right time. Harvest dry beans when the pods have completely dried on the vine. The pods should be light brown, and you should be able to feel the hard beans inside. Shell the beans, and let them sit out a few days to ensure that they’re completely dry before storing them in jars in a cool, dark, dry place.

Brussel Sprouts4. Brussels Sprouts

The bane of many a childhood, Brussels sprouts get a bad wrap mostly due to overcooking. When prepared right, Brussels sprouts are sweet, tender, and delicious. They also provide tons of fiber, magnesium, potassium, and riboflavin, as well as high levels of Vitamins A, B6, and C.

How to Grow Brussels Sprouts
Grow Brussels Sprouts in Containers: Grow one plant per 16-inch deep container.
What to Watch Out For: Cabbage worms (see “Broccoli, above.)

Tomatoes5. Tomatoes

Fresh, homegrown tomatoes are the reason many gardeners get into vegetable gardening in the first place. There’s just nothing that compares to eating a perfectly ripe tomato, still warm from the sun. Tomatoes are also incredibly good for us, packing plenty of fiber, iron, magnesium, niacin, potassium, and Vitamin A, B6, and C. They’re also a great source of the antioxidant lycopene.

How to Grow Tomatoes
Grow Tomatoes in Containers: Container sizes will vary depending on the variety you’re growing. If you’re growing an indeterminate variety, your container will need to be at least 18 inches deep. For determinate varieties, 12 inches is a good depth, and for dwarf or “patio” type tomatoes, 8 inches is perfect. One tomato plant per pot.
What to Watch Out For: Tomato horn worm can be a problem in many areas – these large caterpillars should be removed by hand whenever you see them. Also watch out for signs of blight, which is a real problem in many parts of the U.S.

Reduce The Risk Of Lung Cancer by 50% With Gardening

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Article by NaturalNews
Not only is having a green thumb a great way to stay healthier and happier, but new research shows it can actually protect you from cancer.

Noted cancer treatment and research center M.D. Anderson, at the University of Texas, found in a study that time spent gardening once or twice a week can reduce the risk of cancer by 50 percent in lifelong nonsmokers. Moreover, researchers found, the same level of gardening activity by former smokers can reduce cancer risk by as much as 40 percent.

And while researchers said they weren’t exactly sure if gardening reduced the incidence of cancer more than other physical activities, they did find that it was the most commonly shared trait among the study’s participants.

gardening-tipsThe cancer-prevention benefits of gardening are also echoed by the American Institute of Cancer Research, which said that gardening is a physical activity that not only helps prevent cancer but also contributes to overall health and endurance.

People who garden tend to eat better food – food that is untainted by chemicals and poisons and food that is much tastier than what you’re used to buying in a supermarket.

Along those lines, gardening means exposure to the sun and its known vitamin D-supplying qualities that have been linked to the prevention of some cancers and a wide variety of other illnesses and diseases.

In fact, along the lines of exposure to the sun, scientists now believe that exposure can actually help prevent skin cancer because sunlight exposure helps in the body’s manufacture of vitamin D, a cancer-stunting agent in its own right.

“Melanoma (skin cancer) patients tend to avoid the sun as sunburn is known to increase the risk of melanoma. We use sunshine to make vitamin D in the skin, so melanoma patients’ levels of vitamin D may be especially low,” said Prof. Julia Newton Bishop of the Leeds Institute of Molecular Medicine, and lead author of a recent study which found that higher levels of vitamin D were linked with better skin cancer survival odds.

Another reason why gardening may contain some anti-cancer, better health qualities, is because contact with soil, and the nutrients it supplies our garden-grown fruits and vegetables, tends to be good for us as well.

Finally, home-grown vegetables also contain anti-cancer nutrients and flavonols that can decrease certain cancers, like pancreatic cancer.

You may have thought you didn’t have a thumb that was green enough to be able to grow your own food, but based on continuing research that verifies the healthy, cancer-busting qualities of such a wonderful, self-fulfilling activity, doesn’t learning how sound like a fantastic opportunity to stay healthy?

Seeds Are The Key to a GMO-Free Food Future

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No GMOLisa Marshall – NewHope360.com
A single food seed can be as tiny as a grain of sand. Yet many say the fate of the entire organic industry rests upon our efforts to protect the integrity of these small, but vital agricultural inputs.

“Seed is the first resource in our food production chain, so its integrity is vital to the success of organic farmers. Yet little has been done to address the issue of genetic contamination,” says Kristina Hubbard, director of advocacy for the Organic Seed Alliance. “I don’t think seed is getting enough attention.”

As the natural foods industry gears up for an unprecedented assault on genetically modified organisms (GMOs), much emphasis has been placed on convincing government to label foods containing GMOs and on swaying grocers and manufacturers to rid them from the retail shelf. But Hubbard and others say those actions will mean little if farmers can’t find clean, GMO-free seed to plant in the first place.

Thanks to floating pollen, stowaway seeds on delivery trucks, and the fact that even organic farmers must turn to conventional seed due to a shortage of organic varieties, seed experts say the vast majority of corn growing in the United States already contains some degree of genetically modified (GM) material. Soy, canola and alfalfa are also high on the list for possible contamination.

Even non-GM seed breeders—forced to buy their genetic material from biotech companies in an age of increased seed company consolidation—can’t guarantee that their seeds are genetically pure anymore, says OSA founder and consultant Matt Dillon. Furthermore, because funding for university research into natural, non-GM alternatives is a fraction of what it once was, Dillon says that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find innovative solutions to protect the non-GM seed that still exists.

Meanwhile, organic consumers are growing outraged that even when they buy “organic” or “non-GMO” products, they may still be eating genetically altered food.

So what’s the answer?
“We have to create our own seed system,” says Dillon, who will join stakeholders from industry and nonprofits to roll out a host of seed-preservation initiatives in the coming months. “If we just say ‘stop GMOs’ and we don’t protect and develop the seeds we really need, we haven’t succeeded at anything.”

How did GMOs alter the seed landscape?
Dillon points to the 1980 Diamond v. Chakrabarty Supreme Court ruling as the beginning of the end of seed purity. In that case, the court ruled that “a live, human-made micro-organism is patentable,” and by the mid-1990s, it was evident that this applied to plants too. Soon a handful of agrichemical companies including DuPont, Syngenta and Monsanto—which previously had showed no interest in seeds—owned more than 65 percent of the world’s proprietary seed.

“It was kind of like a land grab, only it was genes they were interested in,” says Dillon. Today, according to the Independent Professional Seed Association, only 100 independent seed companies remain (compared to 300, 13 years ago), serving an organic industry that has grown exponentially. The result: Many organic farmers are forced to use conventional seed that originates from the very companies that spawned the GM revolution. In fact, according to the OSA’s 2011 State of Organic Seed Report, just 20 percent of organic farmers surveyed used strictly organic seed over the past three years.

“There simply isn’t enough certified organic seed to meet the demands of the growing organic food industry,” says Hubbard.

Although organic seed is a good start, there’s no guarantee that it’s GMO-free either.

Even organic seed companies trying in good faith to develop non-GMO varieties are often forced to turn to biotech, rather than the universities they once relied on, for their genetic material. Over the last 16 years, just $9.4 million federal dollars have been spent on sustainable plant breeding and education at land grant universities, Dillon says.

“If I am an organic seed company and I lease those lines from one of the big GM companies, that parent line is very likely contaminated to some degree already,” Dillon explains. “From the start, at the foundation level, the seed may already be contaminated.”

GMOs proliferate in seed supply
In recent years, dozens of highly publicized cases have spotlighted the problem of contamination.

For instance, in 2007, Straus Family Creamery made Time magazine under a damning headline that read, “When Organic Isn’t Really Organic,” after Albert Straus discovered that 6 percent of the organic corn feed he was dishing up for his cattle was contaminated with GMOs.

That same year, Nevada Soy Products, a producer of organic soybean oil and meal, lost $100,000 in revenues and had to shut down for a month after discovering organic soybeans it had received were as much as 20 percent contaminated. Fedco Seeds has dropped corn seed offerings twice after realizing they contained GMOs.

The frightening thing about contamination is that it can occur even when growers do everything they can to prevent it. For example, Wisconsin dairy and soy farmer Keith Wilson appeared to do everything right at his farm: He used only organic seed from a trusted source, and he created crop buffer zones to minimize pollen drift. Still in June, Wilson ended up taking a $4,500 hit after one of his loads of soybeans tested positive for genetically engineered material.

“This thing is just out of hand,” he says. “We are known and trusted here as one of the top organic producers. It hit me hard.”

Taking back clean seed
Organic Valley Co-Operative CEO George Siemon says that, although he has no hard numbers, he estimates that roughly 80 percent to 90 percent of the crop contamination his farmers see is not from pollen-drift (as many assume), but rather from the seed the farmers plant themselves.

“It is becoming a bigger and bigger problem,” Siemon says. To address it, Organic Valley will roll out an initiative next spring that will ultimately require all of its 1,600 farms in 33 states to use organic seed and test it for GMO contamination. “We need to provide an economic incentive for clean seed,” Siemon adds. “If we don’t start working on it, we will lose the opportunity forever.”

Other companies are stepping up as well. The Clif Bar Family Foundation, through its Seed Matters program, has donated $1 million to the Organic Farming Research Foundation, the OSA and the Center for Food Safety to promote clean seed preservation.

The OSA is already at work on the problem. The nonprofit has launched a “seeds and breeds initiative” aiming at inserting language into the next Farm Bill to increase funding for public, sustainable plant breeding initiatives. The OSA is also putting pressure on the U.S. Department of Justice to take a closer look at what it sees as anti-competitive conduct in the seed industry. In addition, it launched a new working group this year focused on helping farmers earn compensation when their crops are contaminated.

“We will have three or four more major initiatives coming out this fall,” says Dillon, who plans to make an announcement on those new initiatives at Natural Products Expo East in Baltimore, Md., in September.

In the meantime, Dillon says he’ll be busy rallying support for an issue that he believes has been under the radar too long.

“People tend to forget that the reason we are in the bad place we are in is because we have lost control of what was once an important public resource,” he says. “Just like we have a responsibility to invest in healthy management of water or soil, we have a responsibility to invest in the healthy management of seed.”

Lisa Marshall is a health writer in Lyons, Colo.