Improving Your Health & Quality of Life with FlowersWritten by Burgundy Shank
Most people can appreciate flowers for their extreme beauty and wonderful scents. We have such a strong connection with them, responding very positively to their ability to bring joy, as well as their use at gatherings such as weddings, funerals and like celebrations. Flowers also posses an even deeper ability to help heal our bodies when we are not at our best, and prevent illnesses from returning. Many flowers posses an essence, or life’s energy, within their petals that can greatly enhance different aspects of our lives. While list is great, I’d like to talk about some commonly available ones that are simple to introduce into daily life, returning extreme benefits with minimal effort. Lavender flowers are recognized by many for their relaxing properties. What many people aren’t aware of is that they’re also very handy for cooking! While essential oil is unsafe to digest, fresh flowers can provide significant flavor to sugar by placing a spring into a jar and allowing it to sit for a couple of weeks. Those who are handy in kitchen will enjoy lavender to make most delicious cookies and ice cream. Even in its dried form, lavender can be steeped to produce a flowery tasting tea, or cooled for an incredibly moisturizing facial rinse.
| | When to Plant VegetablesWritten by Chip Phelan
If you’re planting a vegetable garden you’ll want to pay close attention to frost and freeze dates to determine when to plant. This article gives an overview of how to determine when to plant and offers links to additional online resources for determining your frost and freeze dates.Planting times for vegetables and other annual plants vary from species to species. In much of United States prime consideration is date of last spring frost/freeze. Many vegetables can be planted up to four weeks before last frost, while others need to wait until a couple of weeks after frost. Another consideration is date of first fall frost/freeze. In northern latitudes, where summers can be short, length of time some vegetable species take to reach maturity (most notably tomatoes and peppers) make it necessary to plant vegetable seeds indoors and then transplant seedlings outside at appropriate time. Other vegetables and fruits, such as winter squashes and some melon varieties, seem to do better when planted as seeds directly where they are going to stay. With maturation times up to twelve weeks, it may be critical to get vegetable seeds planted as early as it is safe to do. If you have a short growing season, and wish to grow these crops, choose vegetable varieties that will reach maturity within a safe time period for your area. My personal observation has been that vegetable seed crops planted at their earliest safe date are less likely to fall victim to insects than later plantings. If you have a small vegetable garden it’s not too difficult to reseed if a surprise late frost damages a particular crop.
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