As you gear up for the harvest season, you are no doubt getting excited to taste the fruits of your labor, especially if you are new to organic gardening. But you need to start thinking about what you are going to do with all that produce. It just isn’t feasible to plan on eating it all the first week, and letting it all go to waste is a waste of your time. You need to start thinking about preservation. Knowing how to make your fruits and vegetables last is a crucial skill for any home gardener.

But where to start? Well, you have quite a few options and many gardeners find ways to make their harvest last throughout the year.

One of the simplest ways to stretch out your harvest is to know how long you can wait to harvest particular crops. Root vegetables are really resistant to a frost and some can be left in the ground all the way to the following spring and dug up as they are needed. Some, such as carrots, brussel sprouts, and cabbage, will even taste better after some exposure to the colder weather.

This is referred to as wintering over, and it is very location specific. In particularly cold climates where freezing occurs in the winter, you can apply thick layers of mulch to keep the crops from being damaged. Usually seed packets give some idea of when it is best to harvest, but by talking to more experienced organic gardeners in your area you can get a better idea about what is realistic for your climate.

Freezing is a great, simple method of preservation that takes very little know-how. Bag up fruits and berries and you can blend them with organic juices later to make delicious smoothies without the ice. Better for you and better tasting. Keep in mind what you will be doing with the items later. You might want to chop up bulkier vegetables and fruits first depending on what you need them for. Bigger fruits, for instance, are a lot easier to blend later if you chop them into smaller pieces.

Also, a lot of vegetables will need to undergo a quick process called blanching before you throw them in the freezer. Blanching is a cooking technique in which you scald the vegetables in a pot of boiling water and then put it in cold water immediately after. This stops the production of enzymes which might otherwise cause the produce to continue growing and develop a strange taste in the freezer. The National Center for Home Food Preservation has a list of blanching times for different vegetables of different sizes.

Canning is perhaps the most well known method of preservation, but many amateur gardeners are overwhelmed by what they see as a very complicated process. It really is not too complex, and people have been doing this for years so it is easy to find information.

Canned produce can last for years. This is particularly a great idea for prepared products, such as pasta sauces or jams. It is nice to just grab a jar of sauce out of the pantry when you want to make some dinner rather than running to the store or preparing something from scratch. The HomeCanning.com offers some great advice for getting started. (homecanning.com)

Drying, or dehydration, is another well known form of preservation that works especially well for herbs and fruits. Dried fruits make an excellent snack. The process of dehydration, whether using a fancy dehydrating machine or more traditional methods, removes the moisture from fruits and vegetables so bacteria can?t grow and cause the produce to spoil. It is usually best to use special recipes on the fruits to preserve a more high quality product and add more flavor. Click here for a simple guide to drying and dehydrating foods.

Another effective preservation tool is a root cellar. These have been used for a long time as well, and you don?t necessarily have to have a big elaborate cellar built for the purpose. You just need to create a similar environment with high humidity and very cool temperatures. Earth-House.com has a great list of resources about root cellaring.

We all know fruits and veggies are best when you pluck them straight from the vine and dice them up, but unfortunately we have no say about what is in season and when. So make the most of your harvest. Stretch it out and turn it into the resource it is supposed to be. The information is out there, you just have to put in a little effort and put it all to use.

It is common knowledge that a dog makes not only a great pet but a great contribution to your overall mental and emotional well-being. But could plants have the power to do the same? The truth is, plants play many roles in the natural environment, and by removing them from our homes we deprive ourselves. Not only do plants contribute to our lives in the ways already mentioned, but they are key in maintaining the healthy environment of any home.

Plants have always been used to create a relaxing, beautiful environment, and humans seem to have a natural connection with them, which makes sense as they were once a dominant part of our world before we built our own world. Big businesses purposefully use them to keep workers at work and working harder as well as draw in customers.

It is best to get an indoor environment as close to an outdoor environment as possible. Having plants well-positioned throughout the living quarters has long been known to reduce stress and greatly improve indoor aesthetics. Various studies reveal that working with plants, whether in the home or in the garden, is one of the best things for you physical and mental health, and even being around plants in a sedentary state helps you to relax.

But our veggie friends don’t stop there. Though great for improving your state, plants also greatly improve the quality of indoor air. NASA has proven plants are natural cleaning machines, using complicated natural processes to clean the earth?s water, soil, and air by culturing microbes which biodegradable molds and mildew. When they are placed in an indoor environment they even learn to biodegrade many of the toxic chemicals often found inside human structures.

Experts suggest trying to have 2 or more 14-16 inch containers per every 100 square feet of living space, but the more the merrier. To further back up the recommendation, ouses with plants have been shown to have more than 50 percent less bacteria and mold than houses barren of organic life, regardless of humidity levels. And their transpiration processes adjust humidity levels by letting off or taking in moisture. In the winter, when humidity is often low, we can be more likely to get colds and viruses because our respiratory systems dry out, but plants maintain a proper balance.

Thus, while most people are afraid to go near houseplants when they have allergies, it may actually be a great idea. Just be sure to not over-water or leave wet carpet to mold if you have issues with allergies. Using soiless gardening methods is another way to reduce harmful microbe exposure.

Using better building materials eliminates many toxins before they ever make it into the air, but plants will clean it up and keep it fresh indoors. For all the benefits our carbon friends bring to our home, it is safe to say they can do as much for our well-being as owning a dog. So before you lock yourself in the house to wait out the cold season, make sure you lock a bit of the outdoors up with you.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Grow Greener: Start a Sustainable Garden (howto.wired.com)
• Soil Free Plants (slideshare.net)

One of the best ways to save money and eat healthy is to have a garden. Even a small garden on a roof or balcony can give you a bounty of fresh fruits and vegetables for very little effort. But any good gardener will tell you that keeping the garden watered is key to success. Using a hose or water can works very well but there are more efficient ways of watering that can save you money.

Drip Irrigation is a system of pipes that is worked through a garden and is designed to drip water directly on the roots of a plant instead of misting the top of a plant and hoping the water reaches the roots. The advantage of this type of system is you can use a significantly smaller amount of water directly to where the plant needs it. Water savings of up to 70% versus traditional watering are not unheard of.

One thing that deters people from this type of system is cost. It has been relatively expensive to buy all of the valves, hoses, lines and tapping the system into your existing house pipes to make it a viable alternative. That is not the case anymore. Orbit Irrigation Products now sells a low cost irrigation system that connect to your existing hose faucets at places like WalMart, Lowes, and Home Depot. For $30 you can get a Starter Drip Irrigation Kit for gardens and a 50 ft supply hose which will allow you to install a drip irrigation system for a garden as large as 50 square feet.

There are several advantages to this type of system over traditional irrigation systems which are usually installed underground. First, you don’t need to have a plumber or irrigation specialist install it for you. Just connect it to your hose faucet, lay the lines, and go. Second, since the lines are not buried it is easy to move and expand the system. If you are a renter, you can install and remove this system as needed. Or say you start with the garden and decide you want to add on sprinklers for your flowers or drip watering for your potted plants. With this system all you need to do is buy the hoses and parts to do that then just extend it to what you already have.

Finally, this type of system allows for all the features of a normal irrigation system with the flexibility to change. If you need a smaller system as time goes on, just reduce the number of pipes used. If you want to totally automate your watering, you can easily add a timer to the system. If you live in an apartment with only potted plants, you can connect the system to your washer connection and run the lines to your plants.

Drip Irrigation in a low cost form has finally come home in a way that everyone can enjoy. It makes your gardening life easier, saves you money on water bills, and won’t break the bank to install.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Making Drip Irrigation Systems for Your Garden: An Easy Method (backyardgardeningtips.com)
• Drip Irrigation System: Why Drip Emitters are Important? (backyardgardeningtips.com)
• Recession Gardening: A Defense (takepart.com)