How to Grow Worlds Healthiest Food Cucumbers?

Cucumbers have some a long way. If you grew them twenty years ago and gave because you got a lot scabby, pulpy, disease ridden fruits, or the fruit never set, or they turned out great but gave you indigestion, try again? But these days there are several good disease resistant varieties, seedless ones, less bitter ones, even burpless ones that you don't have to peel. There are also ones with new shapes, such as the skinny yard long cucumbers and the little yellow ones shaped like lemons. The sexual problem has been even solved, cucumber yields used to be diminished by the fact that each plant has separate male and female flowers. The males bloom first but near no fruit; the females bloom about a week later. New gynoecious varieties produce more predominantly female flowers than male for a bigger yield, but are sold with a few male bearing seeds to insure pollination. Some varieties do not even need to be pollinated at all. 

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Native to the tropics, cucumbers like warm weather but not intense, dry heat. They are not frost hardy, but since they grow and mature quickly 55 to 60 days usually. It is easy to get a crop even with a short season as long as you plant them in full sun. Well, before you decide where to put cucumbers, you need to think about how they are going to grow. The plants have long vines that take up a lot of room. They can be allowed to sprawl on the ground as they grow, but this way you will need to allow about 9 square feet per plant that's six foot by nine foot plot if you grow six plants an ample number unless you are doing a lot pickling; one cucumber plant can produce a lot of cucumbers.

Therefore, a nice way to grow them is to let them climb up the garden fence. Getting cucumbers off the ground not only saves space, but it gives me healthier, cleaner fruits. Also, with the fence method, normally do not have to erect a whole separate support structure. Some people grow them up stakes or up string or wire trellises, pinching the growing tip when it reaches the top and pruning side shoots to reduce the weight of the vine. Wire circular help up by metal stakes are a good method. Moreover, please be in mind that you will have big, heavy vine so whatever support you provide must be a very strong one. 

Select a Soil and Planting

Well, clay soils with plenty of humus in them give the highest cucumber yields, but sandy loam that warms up quickly will produce an earlier faster crop. You need to prepare the soil by adding plenty of organic matter, preferably a rich compost of well rotted manure, because cucumbers like fertile soil. The pH can be anywhere from 5.5 to 7.0 and add lime to raise the pH if it is lower that.

Therefore, cucumbers are often started indoors to extend the season, but don't bother unless you can keep your seeds at 70 to 80 degrees by day and no colder than 60 degrees at night. Otherwise it is better to wait until the soil has warmed up. If you do sow indoors, keep the planting medium moistened but well drained. It is suggested to use peat pots work best because i can later set them out in the garden without even having to disturb the roots something cucumbers particularly dislike. Sow a seeds to a pot without firming the soil and thin to the tallest seedling snipping, pot pulling the discards. They should be started about five weeks before planting time, which is usually the last average frost date. But if the ground and the air are still cold, harden them off for a while before you plant. Hence, presoaking the seeds will help them to germinate. 

If you sow directly in the garden, you can either plant in hills or rows. Therefore, rows work better if you're using a vertical support. Moreover, when the seedlings are a few inches tall thin to a foot apart in the row, or to three plants in a one foot hill. Make sure, you enrich the hill or row before you plant. A nice way to do this is to dig a trench, put a few inches of rotted manure in the bottom, and then cover the manure with an inch or two of soil so it cannot come in contact with the seeds. One other planting note, if the cucumber you are planting is a gynoecious variety, the seed packet will tell you so, and you will find that the seeds producing male flower plants are dyed a distinct color. Moreover, set aside 2 or 3 peat pots and plant them with only male seeds. Hence, then mark the pots containing them, and tie a colored string to the plants when you set them out. You need only one or two plants with male flowers for pollination, but yon don’t want to neglect to plant those or destroy them by mistake when thinning.  

Growing Cucumber

Well, you need to mulch is particularly worthwhile for cucumbers and for many reasons. Any that lie on the ground are better protected from disease and rot if there is mulch for them to lie on. Also since the fruits are mostly water the plants need an extra big water supply and mulch will support keep the soil evenly moist. Thus, mulch will also keep down the weeds. This is really an important because weeding can damage cucumber roots to the point where the whole plant dies. Moreover, you should be carefully weeding and cultivating are fine when the plant is small, but when it gets to the about a foot high give it a good top dressing of fertilizer of manure, and then mulch it.

You will still need to soak the plants in dry weather. If you have planted in hills, you might like to try the coffee method, putting a can in the center of each hill. For rows try a soaker hose along the row. But try not to brush against the plants when they are wet either from watering or from rain this is how disease spreads. And do not confuse steady moisture with standing water. The plants need good drainage. 

Pests and Disease

The worst cucumber pest is also the culprit behind some of the cucumber diseases. The cucumber beetle striped in the east, spotted in the west can damage the plants by chewing but does even more harm by spreading bacterial wilt and mosaic. Pick off any beetles you find, checking for them inside the flowers. You can also try hosing them off, covering plants with fine mesh netting, or spraying both sides of the leaves with a mixture of one handful of wood ashes, one handful or hydrated lime and two gallons of water. If this fails, dust with rotenone. Moreover, another safeguard is to make many plantings several weeks apart in case one whole planting is destroyed. If all the plants make it then you will just have an extra large harvest. Cucumbers are generally prone to certain fungus diseases such as anthracnose, downy mildew and powdery mildew. Fungicides will help but the best defense is to buy resistant varieties. However, do not use sulfur with cucumbers because it is toxic to this exclusive crop. 

Harvest

Well, cucumbers are one of those vegetables that have to be picked, whether you have so many of them or not. However, feed them to the animals or the neighbors or the compost pile, but don't stop picking. If they yellow on the vine the plant will stop producing altogether. Check the seed packet to see how big each variety is supposed to get, and harvest them when they reach that size. Twist them off the vines gently or snip them off with clippers, but use two hands, and be very careful not to break the fragile vines. 

Varieties

Most cucumbers are either slicing types for salads or cooking or pickling types. The pickling ones are smaller, faster producing and have little knobs all over them. Thus, good slicing varieties are open pollinated, Marketmore 70 and Burpee Hybrid. Supersett and Slicemaster are gynoecious, Sweet Success is said to be seedless, burpless, disease resistant and delicious as well, and it doesn't need pollinating. I haven't tried it but would like to. Moreover, some good pickling cucumbers are Wisconsin SMR 18, Ohio MR17 and West India Gherkin, Some bush cukes for small spaces are Bush Champion, Spacemaster and Bush Pickle, Patio Pik and Pot Luck are good for containers. Moreover, extra early express is a quick crop and a good producer. Victory is a disease resistant gynoecious variety that is good for northern climates. Thus, try the Armenian Yard Long and Lemon. And among the burpless, Burpless, Tastygreen Burpless and Sweet Slice Hybrid are good bets. 

Succession Planting

Well, planting crops in succession is a good way to make the most of your precious garden space. Sometimes it means planting several successions of the same crop. However, in the small plan there is a spring carrot crop planted together with radishes to shade the carrot seedlings, then a summer carrot crop planted in another spot to mature in fall. There are also early and late beet and lettuce crops in different locations. The early crop of bush beans is harvested, and then a second crop planted in the same spot. The longer the growing season in your area, the more successions of the same crop you can have. 

Therefore, on the other way to plan succession is to have late crop of one vegetable follow an early crop of another. Cool weather spring crops such as peas, lettuce or turnips can then be followed by crops that do well late in the season such as escarole, cabbage or broccoli. Several gardeners do not realize that there’s a whole group of vegetables that can be planted in late summer to mature in time for a fall harvest; Brussels sprouts, broccoli, Chinese cabbage, parsnips, carrots, peas, radishes, turnips, spinach, Swiss chard, bush beans and kale do name some. Sometimes you can find started plants in garden centers in summer, but for good variety you usually have to grow them from seed starting in June or July. Some gardeners even have luck sowing seeds of certain crops just before frost so that they will be ready to sprout when the ground thaws, even if it is too wet to be worked. Lettuce, radishes, beets, onions and spinach are some you might try this way.

In the large garden plan there are many such successions, and you will no doubt find good combinations of your own. You will notice that some crops do not succeed each other but stay in the same place all season, such as eggplant and peppers. But even these crops that take a long time to mature can be part of successions in a climate with a more extended growing season. You need to pay attention to the needs of each vegetable as outlined in the section on each and allow plenty of time for the crop to mature before frost if it is not frost hardy, or before hot weather if it is not heat tolerant. For example, if you live in a very warm climate, you will grow your cool weather crops such as lettuce, peas, radishes, spinach, Brussels, sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kale and Swiss chard right through the winter, then follow them with warm weather crops like okra, sweet potatoes, eggplant and tomatoes. Source: Charismatic Planet

Blueberries A Super Fruit, Everyone Like to Grow

Blueberries are so healthy, highly rich in nutrition, decrease the risk of colon cancer, and extremely good for brain power and decrease the belly fat. The antioxidants in the blue berry increase our energy levels and immune system this is really a world’s best healthy food. Blueberries seeds are inside the fruit, and it takes a very small work to separate them from the pulp. You can consume fruit from an existing bush or from those purchased at the grocers, but the results may be meager or non-existent. Blueberries do not self-pollinate, actually means they’re rather random and their offspring do not duplicate the parent. It is highly recommended to purchase viable blueberry seeds for planting from a nursery, but if you would like to experiment, here is how to prepare blueberry seeds for planting. Therefore, to prepare blueberry seeds for planting, the fruit will need to be macerated. This can be completed in a food processor, blender or with some old-fashioned elbow grease in a bowl. Moreover to add a small volume of water to the berries as you do this. Thus, once the fruit is mashed, take away the floating pulp, and then seeds will sink to the bottom. You may must to add water numerous times to remove the pulp totally. Hence, once you have gathered the blueberry bush seeds, they need to be scarified. You should place them in some damp sphagnum moss and put them in the freezer for at least 90 days. Moreover, scarification will break the seeds rest period so they are ready for planting.

Furthermore, once the 90 days have elapsed, the seeds can be used instantly or kept in the freezer until you are ready to plant them. Blueberry seed planting should begin in the fall in warm climates and in the spring in more northerly climes. However, you should plant the seed in dampened sphagnum peat moss in seed trays and cover them with ¼ inch of soil. You have to keep the medium consistently moist and have some patient in this regard; blueberry seed planting may take six to eight weeks to germinate, some not for three months. Once the blueberry bush seed plants are grow enough to transplant, move them into pots in a sunny, warm area and keep moist. The growing blueberry seed plants can be fertilized with a liquid fertilizer after two to three weeks in their pots. Thus, the resulting blueberry bush seed plants will bear fruit during two year when the plant is one to two feet tall. It may take quite a few years when growing blueberries from seed before the plant will yield any noteworthy amount of fruit. So, again, you should be have great patient, but once established, it will keep you supplied with this super food for decades to come.Source: charismaticplanet

Exotic Red Bananas

Number of peoples have heard or tried a red banana, which is sweeter than the regular yellow banana which is on your daily menu. Because many of us is eager to try and taste new fruit, so maybe it is time to make a change and choose and buy red bananas this time. Bananas are the world’s most consumed fruit which is an extremely fascinating fact. But did you know that the “banana tree” is not actually a tree? It’s the world’s largest herb. Well, very interesting Red bananas, is also recognized as “Red Dacca bananas” in Australia, and variety of banana with reddish-purple skin. Though, they’re smaller and plumper than the common Cavendish banana. 

When these bananas are ripe raw red bananas have a flesh that is cream to light pink in color. Moreover, they’re also softer and sweeter than the yellow Cavendish varieties, with a minor mango flavor. Though, several red bananas are imported from East Africa, Asia and South America. They’re favorite’s in Central America but are sold throughout the world. The Red banana is a triploid cultivar of the wild banana Musa acuminata, belonging to the Cavendish group. The potassium in red bananas is essential for proper function of the heart muscle and the digestive system. Red bananas reduce the risk of heart disease and diabetes type 2.

There’s no difference in eaten way of Red bananas, as in the same way as yellow bananas, by peeling the fruit before eating. They’re normally eaten raw, whole or chopped, and added to desserts and fruit salads, but can also be baked, fried and toasted. Red bananas are also commonly sold dried in stores. The history tells us, that first banana to appear on the market in Toronto somewhere in between 1870s and 1880s. These red bananas are available year round at specialty markets and larger supermarkets in the United States. However, its official designation is Musa acuminata (AAA Group) “Red Dacca”. And it is recognized in English as Red dacca, Red banana, Claret banana, Cavendish banana "Cuban Red", Jamaican red banana, and Red cavendish banana. It is also recognized under a different number of common names depending on its growing region. 

Red bananas should have a deep red or maroon rind when ripe, and are best eaten when unbruised and slightly soft. The red bananas are redder the fruit the more carotene and the higher the vitamin C level. The Red banana has more beta carotene and Vitamin C than Yellow banana varieties and contains three natural sources of sugar sucrose, fructose, and glucose, making them a source of instant and sustainable energy. The yellow bananas, red bananas will ripen in a few days at room temperature and are best stored outside refrigeration. So, I think it's good for us to look into different varieties of bananas. It's not like we're going to have the Cavendish forever.

Coriander or Coriandrum Sativum A Hardy Annual Herb

Well, this hardy annual herb has upper leaves that look like dill and lower ones that look like parsley, but it also has pungent flavor all its own. Thus, the seeds are also very flavorful. Coriander is widely used as a seasoning around the world, and is often called “cilantro” in Spanish speaking countries and “Dhania” in India, Pakistan. It figures in oriental cooking also and is sometimes known as “Chinese Parsley. There has been something of a coriander renaissance of late because there is so much interest in the cuisines of foreign countries and, chances are, if you scratch a foreign cuisine you will find coriander. Moreover, the flowers are flat umbels, usually white but sometimes pale pink or lavender. 

Well, if you want to grow Coriander, then grow coriander in full sun or part shade as well. However, in very well drained, moderately fertile soil. But you’ve to sow seeds after danger of frost in past, or in late summer or fall in warm climates. Thin to about a foot apart. Like all the “Umbelliferae” it has a long taproot and does not like to be transplanted. But unlike some members of this family it germinates fairly rapidly, and you can make successive sowings throughout the summer. To grow indoors, sow seed in deep pots that will accommodate the roots. 

Well to harvest the Coriander, you have to cut any time for seasoning. For drying cut them just before bloom. To dry the seeds cut the plants when the seeds pods start to turn brown and will crack if you pinch them, but before the seeds start to drop. Hang and bunches in paper bags to catch the falling seeds. Rub the pods between your fingers to get them all out. Source: Charismatic Planet