Houseplants Vegetables And Spices In Your Kitchen Garden

SUMMARY: Keeping a garden blooming and fresh needs lot of effort. The fruits of the labor are well worth it. Garden plants, houseplants, herbs, water plants and vegetables grow well with a little care. Here are some tips to start you off on your kitchen garden odyssey.

Choose your garden plants

All kitchen gardens have their special fruit, houseplants or vegetable plants. The most popular kitchen garden plants comprise those that grow easily without needing too much care. In this review, we see which ones you can grow if you do not have much idea of what will fit into your kitchen garden.

Vegetables, houseplants and water plants

a)    Radish: Radishes are easy to grow because they grow so quickly. They grow well in sun. The plant is not more than 6 –8 inches in height. The growing time is only 30 – 40 days.

b)  Watermelon: This  creeper bears sweet and refreshing fruits 2 –3 feet in diameter. The plant requires good sunlight. It does not stand cold. Wait for summer to get your fill of this delicious fruit.

c)    Pea: The favorite for the home garden enthusiast, peas are spring crops. They grow well in sun. They grow up to a height of 10 feet or more.

d)    Tomato: This small plant requires plenty of sun. It can grow up to 18 feet in height. They need fertile soil and plenty of water. This plant is also susceptible to frost. Best to plant tomatoes in summer.

e)    Spinach: Spinach is nutrient rich vegetable salad plant that you can easily grow in your kitchen garden. They grow best in sun. the size of the plant will  be between 1 — 2½ feet.

Spices and tanginess

a)    Spice up your garden with basil. Mix it with salads or any dish. It gives a tangy and spicy flavor. It grows well in the sun. This annual herb grows up to 2½ feet in height. The do not do so well in cold weather. So plant them after winter has passed.

b)    Another classic spicy shrub is the bay plant. It is the chef’s favorite for stews, soups and meat dishes. It requires sun to grow. It can grow up to 16 feet in height. This perennial shrub or tree does not like the cold at all.

source: http://pixabay.com/static/uploads/photo/2012/11/11/02/59/tomatoes-65651_640.jpg

Good care is essential for your garden and houseplants

Like all kitchen gardens, one has to be on one’s toes for insects and pests. 

One usually finds them when new leaves begin to sprout or fruits begin to appear on your houseplants. Prepare a compost heap in one corner of your garden. You can use this compost to manure the garden soil. You can spray them out with a water hose. Weeding and watering are essentials for a home garden. You can use shelves if you do not have too much space in your garden. Keep the soil well drained to avoid rotting of the roots.

Action for the last day: Australian Opens 2015

Prize money at stake

The only Grand Slam held Down Under, the Australian Opens is coming to a close. It is the middle of the Australian summer at this point of time there. Prize money amounts to Aus. $40 million, roughly amounts to $32 million in American dollars. First prize winners take home $2.5 million American dollars each. First round losers receive Aus$34,500.

Seeds make it through

Stan Wawrinka stumbled on his way to his title defense in the Australian Opens 2015, on Friday January 30. His nemesis was the terrible Djoker who won in 5 sets at the Rod Laver Arena. He will meet the winner of the other semifinals, Andy Murray who beat Berdych. Tomas Berdych hired former coach of Murray., Vallverdu and this seemed to have sparked off some tension during the match.

Murray beat the Czech 6-7, 6-0, 6-3, 7-5 to reach the final where he will meet Djokovic. Djokovic won 7-6, 3-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 to reach the final. This will be Djokovic’s id to win the fifth crown at the Australian Open, something no one else has done so far.

History of Australian tennis tournament

In the women’s final, Sharapova will clash with Serena Williams. Sharapova is trying the end the dominance of the Williams sisters. Australian Open opened its doors to professional tennis players from 1969 a year after the other 3 Grand Slam tournaments become Open tournaments. Australian tournament was first conducted in 1905. It lost popularity because players had to travel over the sea and this consumed enormous amounts of time and effort.

Protected Areas: Government Effort In India To Conserve Its Forest

Forests need conservation, which is a large responsibility. Various Government agencies carry out this work. Here we see some of these institutions and learn more about the forests of India.

Forests of India

In India, there are 16 major forest types and a further 221 minor subtypes¹. Other than those on the islands of Andaman and Nicobar, the main chunk of Indian forests occur in Western Ghats in South India, greater Assam region in the North Eastern India and Orissa in Northern India. The nodal agency for coordinating, promoting, overseeing and planning of programmes and policies regarding forests and environment is Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF)³.

Protected areas in India

Protected areas in India include the following areas:

a)    Biosphere reserves

b)    Animal sanctuaries

c)    Conservation and community reserves

d)    Reserved and protected forests

e)    Private protected areas

f)     Village and panchayat forests

g)    Conservation areas

h)   National parks

Regarding National Parks

India has over 120 National Parks. They cover an area of 39,876 square kilometers. First among these, today called Jim Corbett National Park came into existence in 1935². Reserved and protected forests could fall between IV to VI categories depending on the level of protection that exists. In reserved forests, grazing, hunting or logging activities require permission, without which they cannot enter the land.

Important trees and research institutes

Main trees having commercial viability include Malabar Kino Pterocarpus marsupium, Terminalia crenulata, and Indian rosewood among others. Forest resources undertake surveys and assessments by the Forest Survey of India (FSI)³. They give real time information regarding forest fires, forest inventories, mapping and training and access Geo portal they can interact with regularly. Institute of Wood Science and Technology conducts training programmes in forestry research and wood sciences. They have extensive timber plants for preservation and seasoning, machinery for processing wood, modern laboratories, clonal propagation mist chamber, insect museum and Xylarium.  Students and interested entrepreneurs enroll in courses under categories such as Wood Protection, Important Timbers – Field Identification and Phytochemical Analysis involving Instrumental Techniques.

History of conservation

Scientific forest management bodies undertook massive afforestation programmes between 1926 and 1947 in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. In 1952, the Forest Policy aimed at bringing one-third of the land area under forests. The main focus of afforestation lies in these main objectives:

a)    Preserving biodiversity

b)    Conserving forest resources

c)    Preventing soil erosion

d)    Increasing economic viability of forests

e)    Identifying areas where afforestation has maximum impact

Forests help by fixing the excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This decreases the greenhouse effect vastly. They bind the soil especially along the coasts of seas and rivers. This length of coastline is 7517 km⁵. Length of all major rivers sum up to 12,763 km⁴.

India is the land of the tiger. It has many species of birds and animals that are unique to the area. So also with trees and the plants that now lie within the focus of the Governmental agencies that seek to implement the policies through most economic means. 

References:

1. http://www.wild-india.com/Habitates/forest.html

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protected_areas_of_India

3. http://india.gov.in/topics/environment-forest/forest

4. http://www.winentrance.com/General_Knowledge/Geography/Lengths-Important-Indian-Rivers.html

5. http://www.thecolorsofindia.com/interesting-facts/geography/length-of-coastline-of-india.html

Republic Day Celebrations Underway in India

It is raining in the capital. The 66th Republic Day is being celebrated here in India. There is a bit of excitement seeing the American President around the place.

The Padma awards are being handed out to many people and many others are being ignored. That always happens, they never get the list right!

Here is wishing you all a Happy and Joyous Republic Day!

Review of body systems: Exercise and Metabolism

Need for Nutritious food

Every person needs minimum of 2000 Calories of energy intake by way of food. Where does it all go? The body uses the energy to keep the body mechanism ticking. It takes care of things like breathing, blood circulation, digestion and growth of new cells. 

Exercise is of two types. In this review, we will examine the passive exercise regime. This consists of simple exercises that anyone can and should do to keep fit. Simple stretches could be supplemented by light walks or jogging. This might seem too much for the couch potato who only needs to sit around and gawk at the TV all day long.

Impacting metabolic activity

The metabolism slows down so much that it stops doing normal work. This leads to a variety of diseases such as apnea that causes further deterioration of the health. Is is possible for that person to get stroke or diabetes because of the improper function of the metabolism.

Exercise helps restore good metabolic activity

Exercise augments regular metabolic function. It increases the rate at which things happen within the body. It thus improves the level of health. Body systems remain healthy and metabolism functions better. Exercise is essential for normal body functioning. 

Moving into the new year: A review

In this review, we see the new year and how it is suddenly turning colours. There were 52 weeks at the start of the race and now there are only 50.

Deliberating on the things we ought to do, happens to some of us...all year round. Here is to finishing another year in style!

Why Sleep At All? A Review of Sleep

What happens when you sleep?

Sleep is very important to us. It is the time when the body undergoes repair. New ones replace all damaged cells and the body sends out old cells as wastes.

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Nutritious food intake

For proper growth to take place within the body, there has to be regular replenishment of vitamins, minerals and essential items like carbohydrates, proteins and fats that help metabolism survive.

Sleep time rate

When you sleep, the body undergoes a change in the rate of metabolic activity. This means the activity slows down and there is no new work for the central nervous system. However, what happens is that digestion takes place. The slow metabolic rate augments digestive process.

If you interrupt the sleep, digestion and synthesis stops and the waste products build up within the body. When there is excess build up, the person develops diseases like congestive heart diseases, stroke and diabetes mellitus. The person becomes irritable, loses concentration on the things he has to do, and will begin to make stupid remarks during his or her speech.

Sleep quantity

A person needs minimum of 7 – 9 hours sleep depending on the amount of work one does per day. For people leading a sedentary life, the amount of sleep would be less. It also depends on the Basal Metabolic Rate. This depends on the build and things like sex, age and weight.