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Growing Green VegetablesHome growing of vegetables can play an important part in our way of life. Whether purchasing your green vegetables from the supermarket or growing green vegetables in your own garden, these are an important part of our diet. They are low in calories, low in fat, but high in protein and dietary fiber. Adding a teaspoon of dietary fat, such as butter, olive or canola oil, cheese or salad dressing, will make sure your body absorbs all of the vitamins you eat. The performance of growing green vegetables of different types, will differ depending on soil types, fertility, moisture, climate, temperature and other anomialies encountered while Growing green vegetables. Lets look at some types we grow, such as cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, brussel sprouts, lettuce, spinach, silver beet or chard, peas and beans.
In growing green vegetables we first consider the ever popular cabbage,which in most climates can be grown virtually all year round. They can be eaten raw chopped up as coleslaw salad, blanched or heated through sparingly as a hot serving. These can be grown from seed, propagated in a seed bed or tray for subsequent transplanting. Work into the ground fertilizer, and plant seedlings spacing them 40-50cm apart. Protect seedlings from slugs and snails with Blitzem pellets and during the developing period protect the cabbage from aphids and white butterfly caterpillars with derris dust by sprinkling over the plants from time to time. There are a number of types to choose from, some being the Drumhead, Flower of Spring, Succession, the Savoy which has a crinkly leaf, to the chinese cabbage of Pak Choi to name some of them. The cauliflour has similar growing factors to the cabbage except instead of forming a green ball shaped head, it develops a white flower type curd within its base of green leaves. So growing green vegetables of this sort needs a longer maturing period and we have found it favours cooler climates to develop the curds, making them a valuable winter crop. As the curd develops, Break the outer leaves and fold inwards to protect the head from any hot weather, avoiding discoloration. Keep even growth, so water frequently during dry season. Also in this family is the Broccoli, becoming increasingly popular by those growing green vegetables. It has a quicker maturing period, highly productive, giving a continuous supply of greens for some weeks. As it matures, cut out the central cluster and then small cluster like sprouts will form around the centre and along the upper stem. Brussels sprouts will do well in most garden soils, providing ground is deeply cultivated and prepared with organic matter and fertilized.This goes for all sorts when growing green vegetables. The plants grow with a spiral type stem, with the sprouts maturing in sequence from the bottom upwards, of a small ball shaped structure about 3-5cm round. Protect from aphids and caterpillars, as we do with the other kinds in this family. They are an excellent source of Vitamin C and folic acid and are better steamed rather than boiled. |