Friday 30 May 2014

Save The Heritage Seeds - What Are They And Why Should We Care?

Heritage seeds, where have they gone?

Koanga Institute in New Zealand needs our help to save the land where these seeds are grown. The United Nations has estimated that 94% of vegetable varieties has already been lost.

What are heritage seeds?  Why it's important to save them?  Why these seeds are under the thread?

To get these answered and more, watch this video from Koanga Institute New Zealand and spread the word.  We found this to be very important, how about you?

Click on the video below and enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xol2QLM8DSw



Allan & Heli    
www.MyVegetablePatch.com     
www.facebook.com/MyVegetablePatch  
www.twitter.com/GrowOwnFood 
 



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Thursday 22 May 2014

How To Do It In 8 Hours Per Year - Growing Your Own Food

Have you started your own vegetable garden yet?  Did you know that growing your own vegetables at home doesn't have to be time consuming and a lot of work.

Growing your food can be easy and enjoyable if you let nature to do the work for you.  Here is a great video from NaturesWealth titled with How To Do It in 8 hrs Per Year: Growing Your Own Food by Jonathan White.

Enjoy!

http://youtu.be/I-vYdejMCvY

Let's grow our own vegetables at home and enjoy healthy, green living!

Allan & Heli  


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Monday 5 May 2014

Worm Compost As An Effective Organic Manure To Improve Crop Yield


By

The use of chemical fertilizers in agriculture degrades soil quality and affects the environment adversely. Such fertilizers contain toxic elements that lower soil fertility. 

To prevent such degradation of soil and improve crop yield in an eco-friendly way, farmers are using non-toxic organic farming products. They are using worm compost instead of chemical fertilizers.

Worm compost is organic manure, which is rich in nutrients and serves as a soil conditioner. It enhances the growth of crops and raises soil quality. Worm composting is the process of making this manure.

In this process, worms develop a nutrient-rich fertilizer from organic waste. Commonly used worms for this process are earthworms, white worms and red wigglers. 

The resultant manure obtained from this process has greater content of nutrients than other types of fertilizers. It is a means of balanced nutrients for plants, unlike other types of fertilizers.

The key benefits of using worm compost in agriculture are:

Organic:
The compost is completely organic as earthworms produce it. It does not contain any harmful chemicals. You do not need to mix the manure with any other fertilizer.

Nutritious:
The nutrients in the manure promote plant growth. The roots of crops absorb the compost nutrients very easily. The worm mucus present in the compost prevents flushing of the compost from the soil. Hence, plants can get the manure nutrients for a long time. 

This is one of the benefits of the manure, over chemical fertilizers. In chemical fertilizers, the fertilizer flushes away quite easily from the soil.

Healthier Plants:
The compost makes plants healthy, thereby reducing pesticide need. The reduced use of pesticides helps soil to recover rapidly and initiates an improvement cycle in the soil. On the other hand, use of chemical fertilizers continuously, deteriorates soil quality. 

They do not cause any improvement in plant health. They result in build up of salts and ammonia, which decrease plants' resistance to diseases.

Crop Growth:
Earthworm compost consists of growth hormones for plants that promote plant growth. These hormones enhance seed germination and result in stronger plants. Chemical fertilizers have no such growth hormones. Use of the compost results in growth of healthy roots and improves yield of crops.

Water Retention:
The worm compost organic manure is a colloid and retains a large amount of water. This characteristic of the manure is quite helpful to plants in times of dry weather. As the water is present at the organic level, it evaporates quite slowly. This allows plants to use the water for a long time.

Slow Release of Nutrients:
Chemical fertilizers have a large amount of nutrients, but rain washes them away quite easily. Hence, the nutrients are not available to plants. In case of worm compost, the manure does not drain easily. 

It retains the nutrients and releases them slowly. This enables the crops to get the essential nutrients for a long time.

The earthworm compost is extremely beneficial for crop growth and soil fertility. Owing to the advantages of the manure, farmers are using it widely for agricultural purposes throughout the world.

Saurav Kr Mishra writes articles on agricultural techniques and products. In this article, he/she has written about worm compost organic manure, which is a great source of balanced nutrients for plants.
 

*****
It's all about soil!  Look after the soil in your garden and your plants will look after you.  Worm composting is one of the great methods to use in organic food growing.  
Have you tried worm composting yet?

Thursday 1 May 2014

Permaculture Paradise At Val's Garden

Hello there, I just have to share you this great video on permaculture garden I found.  It is absolutely mind blowing to me to see how we all can create a productive and easy to maintain food garden to enjoy.

This is definitely something that we want to create for our selves instead of having grass to mow.

So make a cup of your favourite drink for yourself and enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iSaRzjxL3E



 
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