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Foods To Combat Radiation
Over the last couple of weeks I have received an increasing number of emails basically asking the same question “What can I grow to protect myself from radiation from Japan?” To answer that question I must state that:
1 I am no nutritional expert and
2 even though I studied nuclear physics as part of my degree I did not study the effects of radiation.
Personally I believe that the only people who should be worried about this are those living in Japan and possibly their very close neighbours. I base this statement on the fact that all the experts, by that I mean those who work in the nuclear industry and not those TV and newspaper pundits who are paid to create headlines, are saying that this will not be a major disaster like Chernobyl, and that the levels of radiation are predicted to be so much lower than at Chernobyl. I am not saying that those people who live in Japan should not be concerned, they should. But the emails I am getting are from people living here in the UK and the USA. We are so far away that the chances of large scale problems are so miniscule I don not think they could be calculated.
OK rant over.
The following is based on research I have done .
There are some foods that can help over come mild radiation exposure, and would be beneficial to those who are exposed to radiation as part of their jobs, i.e. nurse and doctors in an x-ray department.
Most of these foods can be found in our supermarkets, whilst others can only bought in Asian food markets or health food stores. One of them is seaweed. Seaweed contains iodine and other chemicals that fight radiation poisoning. If you are not fond of seaweed there are other foods that can help.
Eating apples can help. Apples have high levels of pectin which can bind to radioactive particles and sweep them out of the body. If you don't like apples, there are also citrus fruits like lemons, oranges and grapefruit that have high pectin levels. And also beans, peaches, peas, oatmeal and pears have high amounts of pectin in them.
Other foods such and green foods can also help, Bok choy, spinach, broccoli, collard greens and mustard greens are a few. Cruciferous vegetables like broccoli help because they contain sulphur which helps the body to repair itself. Overall, eating more fruits and vegetables will help the body repair cell damage and assist in getting radioactive substances out of your body.
Date Published: Mar 22, 2011 - 4:51 am
Organic Gardening - Benefits of Planting Cover Crops
I don't normally add article's from other sources but I though that this one was worth making an exception for.
The planting of cover crops is very beneficial to organic gardening, but it is often one of those tasks that we just never find time to do. Cover crops have a variety of benefits, like protecting the soil from erosion caused by wind and rains, they can attract beneficial pollinating insects to your yard and garden, aid in breaking up compacted soils like clay, improve a soils fertility, improve a soils structure, and are an excellent choice of mulch for preventing weed growth that compete with your crops.
Cover crops and green manures are both terms that are commonly used interchangeably, but are slightly difference. Cover crops are primarily planted for erosion control and as a mulch to suppress weed growth. While green manures are planted primarily to replenish nutrients back into the soil that a previous crop has depleted, predominately nitrogen. Both types of crops are turned under to add organic material to the soil, and improve a soils structure.
Most gardeners know that adding organic matter to their gardens will improve the soils structure. Commonly this is done by adding compost, and manures annually to the garden. For some, these forms of soil amendments can be difficult to find, or they may not have enough resources to compost the quantity that they need for there gardens. Growing cover crops can eliminate the problem of having to import these organic soil amendments needed to benefit your garden soils structure.
The adding of organic matter to your garden soil, improves the soils structure, increases water retention, improves drainage, and improves aeration. It also provides a food sources for the vast community of life that naturally lives in soil, like earthworms, other organisms and microorganisms. Increasing the soils biological activity helps to keep the soil healthy by enhancing decomposition. Keeping the beneficial microorganisms in the soil well nourished also allow them to compete better against other organisms that cause diseases.
Growing cover crops is a natural method of improving the fertility of your garden soil by supplying a food source for the life forms that exist in soil naturally, and work hard for you to keep the soil healthy. The soils biology is a very important part of organic gardening, and the local ecosystem. Helping nature to keep this ecosystem in balance will provide you with a healthier and more productive crop, while at the same time improve the quality of the environment you live in.
A environment friendly and healthy way of gardening. Organic Gardening is away of gardening in harmony with nature. Growing a healthy and productive crop in a way that is healthier for both you and the environment.
John Yazo
http://www.organicheirloomgardening.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Yazo
Date Published: Feb 17, 2011 - 1:02 pm
Signs of insect and pest problems part 2
Distorted or puckered leaves are generally a sign of aphids attacking the plant, trouble is they are masters of camouflage, with their green bodies blending with the green of the leaves. They are normally found on the underside of the leaf or at the junction of the leaf and the stem.
Quite often aphids are accompanied by ants who use them in some way to produce food for their young, so if you cannot see the aphids themselves but there is plenty of ant activity on the plant that has affected leaves then you most certainly have an aphid problem. Give the plant a blast of water from the hosepipe to knock the aphids off.
Have you ever had this situation one day you have a tray full of strong healthy seedlings and everything looks rosie, then the next morning they are all lying on their sides. And you wonder what the heck is going on, the most likely cause is cutworms, who hide just below the soil surface during the day and then at night come out and chew through the seedling at the base. Either surround the seedlings with a cardboard collar, or place thin wire in a vertical position near each seedling, this prevents the cutworms from curling round the stems of the seedlings.
Your new young tree that had been doing so well suddenly loses all it leaves, at the wrong time of year and this is the first time you notice that there is a problem. The cause is most likely to be a boring insect grub and they can be an insidious problem as the first the gardener notices is all the leaves falling from the tree. One grub can completely eat its way around the trunk of the young tree in one season causing death to the tree.
Preventions is the best solution, when you plant the sapling place a collar around the base until the tree is well established. Also by looking out for leaking sap at the base of the trunk, which will indicate the entry hole for the larvae of the beetle, wasp, moth or fly that has attacked the tree. Another giveaway is a small amount of sawdust at the base of the tree. At this point place pheromone traps near the tree in question, and insert a thin wire into the entry hole to impale the grub.
Date Published: Feb 16, 2011 - 3:43 am
Signs of insect and pest problems part 1
I have seen many a apparently healthy garden destroyed almost over night by pests and disease, I say apparently healthy because if the garden owner had know what to look for they would have seen that the garden was indeed unhealthy. There are a number of signals that gardeners, especially organic gardeners should watch out for, that are early indicators of insects and pest attacking the garden. Knowing these signs will give the organic gardener a much better chance of control over the insects and pests before they become established in the garden.
When most gardeners see a plant that has deformed leaves with a mottling effect they immediately go for a fungicide, when in fact the problem is cause by any number of plant viruses and the fungicide will have no effect on the virus. Now many of these viruses are spread by insects via their mouth pieces as they bite into the plant to feed. Such insects include but not limited to; leafhoppers, aphids and mites.
So to prevent the spread of these plant viruses it is necessary to prevent the spread of the insects, by using floating row covers (in the vegetable garden) or organic insecticides in the formal garden, or even the introduction of predatory insects that feed on the leafhoppers etc.
If you do find a leaf that is showing signs of deformity and or mottling have a good look round to see which insect has introduce the problem and remove them if possible along with the damaged leaf.
White flies and mites are tiny insects that are quite hard to spots as individuals but can be clearly seen with the aid of a magnifying glass. Wherever possible rinse leaves regularly to remove mites. Regularly disturb the leaves of your plants and if there are any white flies they will fly off and trap them by using sticky traps.
Another area where mistaken problem diagnosis make take place is with wilted plants, most gardeners will assume that the plant is thirst and will provide additional water, when the problem is being caused by wire worms, eating into the roots. In the flower garden these wire worms are easy enough to catch with having to resort to chemicals, as much to the dismay of vegetable gardeners the favourite food of wire worms is raw potato. So to trap them bury chunks of raw potato near the affected plant, removing and replacing every two days until either the plant shows signs of full recovery or the weather warms up sufficiently to prevent the wireworms being active.
Date Published: Feb 15, 2011 - 6:51 am
The dangers of relying on others to grow your food
In Northern America the weather is causing problems with the harvest and it looks as though the prices for a large number of fruit and vegetables will increase as the supply is not there. The heavy rains in California have water logged the leafy greens making them more perishable the soft fruit from that area have also been affected. Meanwhile in Florida the recent freeze has taken a heavy toll on the green beans, corn and peppers. The good news coming out of Florida is that the tomato crop has survived better than expected .
The shortage caused by this goes to show that where you can growing your own vegetables has its advantages, ok you might not be able to grow corn in your area at this time of year but there are vegetables that can be grown at all times of the year in most places. So if you grow what will be in season for you part of the world you should have a plentiful supply of fresh vegetables throughout the year. Yes you may not have you favourite vegetable all the year round but that is a small price to pay for having fresh vegetables available to you.
If you cannot grow you own then look for local grown in season fruit and vegetables as these will be cheaper to buy than those harvest 1000’s of miles away.
Date Published: Jan 05, 2011 - 4:31 am
2010 A year in review (Maybe)
I was going to review the year that has just gone but having spent the last hour trying to remember what has happened and then and not being able to come up with anything concrete, I must conclude that either I live a very boring life or I have a C!!! memory. And I am not certain which I those reasons I prefer!
What I do remember is that the really cold start to the year with the heavy snow caused absolute havoc with the country’s transport, and more than a little consternation for me as over 30% of the shrubs in my garden were killed off in that cold snap.
We then had very warm and dry Spring and Early Summer most of which I missed due to frequent visits to various doctors, hospitals etc. This was followed by a wet late summer and Autumn which was bad for all the parents as this was the time the kids were off school and need entertaining (or so my friends tell me, not having the joys of children myself).
And now we have just had another period of traffic chaos caused by bad snow and icy conditions with many people having had their Christmas holiday plans left in tatters. ( I haven’t yet ventured in to the garden to see what damage had been caused)
So maybe for next year I will try have even more of a bad memory if it is going to be anything like this one.
To be fair though the year in reality wasn’t all that bad, it just goes to show that it is easier for us humans to remember the bad stuff while the good is hardly remembered. Maybe that is because we more attention to the bad than the good, just look at the way the news was filled with the travel chaos over the last few weeks, reinforcing the image of how bad it was, and yet for the vast majority of people it was no more than a slight inconvenience.
Which brings me onto what I aim to do next year which is too look for the good and the positive and eliminate the negative. So here’s to a positive and fruitful 2011,
Wishing you all the very best for next year, full of many happy gardening days and memories
Simon
Date Published: Dec 31, 2010 - 7:40 am
Yet more snow and more on the way
Well looking out of the window at the snow covered garden I am wondering how many of my shrubs I am going to lose this year. Last year due to the what was then an unusual cold and long period of snow I lost several well established mature bushes. This year this sudden cold spell has caught me out and I was not able to get the protective fleece around the less hardy shrubs. Nor was I able to get the 3 to 4 inch layer of mulch I normally put around the garden. The mulch I use is my own home made compost, made from all the garden debris from last year.
Date Published: Dec 19, 2010 - 12:34 pm
Growing Vegetables
Nothing beats garden-fresh vegetables. Any sunny spot, even a pot, can produce a few favourites.
Where to plant. Your site must get full sun all day, so choose a spot clear of trees. An area of 4m x 4m is a good size for beginners.
What sort of soil?. Fertile, free-draining soil is essential. To improve your soil, dig over your vegie patch, breaking up any clods, and work in plenty of well-rotted manure and compost and one handful of complete plant food per square metre. The dug-over soil should end up dark, fine and crumbly. Leave it undisturbed for a week or two before planting your crop.
Problem soils. Clay: If your soil is sticky, heavy clay, don't bother digging. Build a 25cm-high retaining wall around the site and fill it with good-quality soil.
Sandy: If your soil is very sandy, it will drain well but you'll need to add lots of organic matter to give it fertility and some body. A raised bed will help ensure good drainage. Rake over to level it, then water the area deeply.
What to plant. Select varieties you like to eat. Remember, vegetables planted at the same time mature at the same time, so it's a good idea to plant small batches two or three weeks apart. Choose varieties that are right for the season.
Seeds: They're reasonably cheap and it's easy to plant a few seeds now and save the rest for later. Sow according to the directions on the pack. Never let the soil dry out while the seeds are germinating (which may take two weeks) and, when seedlings appear, thin them so the spacing between each is even.Seedlings:
Bought seedlings are already several weeks old, so they're ready to eat sooner and can be spaced correctly at the outset. But they have to be planted all at once and you may not want so many ready to eat at the same time.
Single or wide rows? Vegetables are usually grown in rows. Single rows are the traditional choice but some garden experts are now recommending three to five rows closely spaced to form one wide row. This increases the yield per square metre.
Source: Gardening: A Commonsense Guide'' (Murdoch Books) via Better Homes and Gardens
Date Published: Dec 16, 2010 - 3:51 am
To cultivate or not to cultivate that is the question
I have just read an excellent article on the pros and cons of cultivating your vegetable plot. The one thing that I particularly picked up on was that autumn (fall) cultivation can actually do more harm than good to the soil. In general I would agree with this statement but here in the UK it is possible to do some winter cultivation provided that the soil is not too wet, this is especially useful if you are just starting out and have heavy clay based soil as the frosts etc will help to break the soil down into more manageble chunks. But once you have got your plot estabilished I woul not even do that and wait until later winter early spring to cultivate. The full article can be found here at growveg.
Date Published: Dec 14, 2010 - 6:36 am
The Snow has gone and how to save money growing vegetables
Well at least in the part of the UK where I live the snow has gone and there are already some keen vegetables growers working on their plots. I won’t be doing much on mine at the moment as the soil is almost solid clay (even after years of work on it). I might just go and see if I can get some parsnips and leeks and possibly some sprouts but certainly won’t be doing any digging over, like the two gentlemen I can see from my window.
It is amazing how different the soil is less than 100 metres from my plot, I wouldn’t go so far as to sand it was sand based but it is certainly a lot lighter than mine has far superior drainage, which is why these gentlemen are able to work their soil today.
I have also been going through the emails again and a recurring question is “Can I save money growing my own vegetables?” Ok the general answer to that question is yes, but it is dependant on so many factors that saying yes is fraught with danger.
Some factors are how much space you have to grow your vegetables in, what type of vegetables you want to grow, what type of vegetables will grow in our garden etc. etc. The biggest obstacle to saving money is if you have to go out and buy the equipment to start with. However my general answer is probably not in the first year but from then onwards most likely yes. For more information see the article I wrote in March 2009 titled
Happy Gardening
Date Published: Dec 11, 2010 - 7:58 am
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