Garlic is a spice many people enjoy putting in their recipes. It adds that unique flavor to tomato sauces, salads, gravies, soups and breads. Hence it is only rational that you could be growing organic garlic in your own vegetable garden.

Before growing your own garlic, it is always best to have an idea on how garlic is planted and maintained. Here is a quick look on how to grow garlic.

Loamy soil improved with organic material gives a suitable environment for planting garlic. If you’re familiar with growing onions, then you won’t get lost in growing organic garlic since their cultivation are alike. Sometimes, three pounds of 10-10-10 fertilizer is recommended for every 100 sq. feet.

You may use fertilizer or compost every year to keep the soils nutritive in balance for growing organic garlic. Likewise, the soil should hold enough moisture to avoid getting bulbs of strange shapes. Be advised that clay soil also produces irregular bulbs.

The time of planting garlic cloves is also vital to the expansion of garlic. This crop grows best on long days and warm temperatures. In addition, you should also plant the cloves early to make allowance for the development of the leaves and the stems while the days are short and cool. Growing garlic during this period guarantees a good harvest at the end of the growing season.

When planting garlic cloves, they should be placed three to five inches away from one another and a half to an in. deep. Make sure that they’re in an upright position in the row. Keep in mind a reduced yield will occur when the bulbs are divided into cloves long before they’re planted. This will cause the cloves to dry up and become unsuitable for planting.

Being aware of when to harvest this pleasant vegetable is easy. You simply need to determine if the pinnacle of the bulb is starting to dry. This reveals that the garlic is ready for cropping. In harvesting, don’t pull the garlic to avoid hurting the stem. Rather, dig them up and let them dry.

Garlic is an essential ingredient in the kitchen so it’s highly recommended to include them in your garden. In growing this flavorful crop, these are fundamental things that you need to understand. It involves soil necessities, time of planting, spatial requirements, and methodology of cropping. After getting a birds eye view on these issues, you are now ready to start planting and growing organic garlic in your own garden.

If you are serious about preserving the environment, it is up to you to only purchase goods that are environmentally safe. However, determining what goods are environmentally safe can be difficult, especially if you have no experience in doing so. There is more to being environmentally safe than whether or not an item is biodegradable.

The first step in determining if a product is environmentally safe is to find out how it is manufactured. Does the item require materials from the rain forest? Will it take away habitat from endangered species? Does the manufacturing plants used in creating the item have a large environmental footprint? Environmentally safe products minimize the amount of damage done to the environment when it is produced. This can be difficult to find out, but there are companies that are featured in green lists that strive to be an example for other businesses. Purchasing from one of these companies is a good start to using environmentally safe merchandise.

The second step in determining if a product is environmentally safe is whether or not it is biodegradable or recyclable. If you are using a product that is neither biodegradable or recyclable, you will be adding to the amount of trash going into the dumps. Recycling is a good alternative for materials that are not biodegradable, as the recycled materials are returned to companies to be made into new objects.

Finally, does using the product cause damage to the environment? If it is a spray, does it use materials that pollute the air? Environmentally safe products do no damage to the environment when they are used. If it is a cleaning product, exposure to waterways should result in the product breaking down or otherwise being harmless for the plants and animals that drink from the water. Take the time to consider your lifestyle and how the products you use harm the environment.

It is very difficult to purchase only products that are environmentally safe. However, the more you do purchase, the more of an impact you will have. Supporting companies that strive to protect the environment is what will lead to a sustainable future for everyone to enjoy.

Environmentally safe products can be purchased at a range of places. They can be ordered online and delivered directly to the comforts of your home. They can also be bought in specialty retail stores. Some of the leading brands in organic foods can be purchased in your regular grocery store. If you take the time to look around, you will be able to find environmentally safe alternatives to the goods that you typically purchase.

Timothy Greensland

If you have your own fresh herb garden, then sooner or later you will be faced with the problem how to store and preserve that abundance. It doesn’t require too much job to harvest and store your herbs, but will be a great addition to your cooking experience and diversity. So, don’t delay harvesting and storing your herbs.

You can harvest your herbs from your garden all summer long and store them as you go. If you harvest your plants successfully, then it is able to recover and give your more herbs to preserve for winter. As for the perennials, don’t harvest them too late during the season, as they need some time to recover before cold weather.

It is important not to cut any herb too close to the ground as you need to leave some leaves sets so that the plant could start growing again. Such annuals like basil and borage should be pulled up as a whole plant and used at the end of the season. The leaves of the most herbs are harvested before the flowers appear, but you could still harvest leaves after the blooming. But you should watch out for old and bitter taste. It is better to harvest quantities of herbs early in the morning, just as the dew dried off the leaves. You could get the strongest essential oils content in this time. It is better to harvest leaves on a clear day, but you shouldn’t be afraid of cutting some leaves any time to add to your dinner.

After harvesting wash your herbs quickly in cold water. Then, shake off the excess water. As for the large leaved plants like basil and borage, it is better to remove leaves from stems to shorten the time of drying. And such small leaved herbs as thyme, oregano, parsley and marjoram can be left whole.

Some of the herbs are better to be stored frozen, as others can be dried. As for the fresh herbs stored for a few days or hours, you should wrap them in paper towels and place them in the vegetable crisper in your fridge. If you want to store your herbs for a longer time than a couple of hours then you shouldn’t wash them and wash directly before using. Don’t use plastic bags for storing fresh herbs. They go bad very fast this way.

For dried herbs storing use air tight containers such as dark glass jars. Watch your containers for moisture and keep them in dark places which will preserve color and flavor better. And don’t forget to label every container. It is also good to keep leaves and flowers whole and then crumble only before using. Most of your dried herbs will keep their flavor for about half a year.

Do you know that food storage can save you from lots of troubles during all sorts of emergency issues. Read more about food storage on this food storage site.