How to Plant and Grow Spinach!

Welcome to my Second Post of the week! The second post of the week is the growing and planting segment of the Plant itself.

This week we have Spinach, so let's get started!



















Spinach after 7 Days

Seeding Process:

1. Before planting the seed, soak the seed in warm water for 5-10 minutes, then cool down the seed itself for 5-10 minutes again.

2. Also soak the seed with Organic Pesticides.

3. Soak the seed again with Tricoderma, PGPR() and an organic mixture for 10-12 hours. The composition of all three solutions should be in a 1: 1: 1 ratio.

4. Then proceed to cool down until a white liquid is gone.

Seedling Process:

1. Two weeks before Seedling, prepare the seedling media which is a combination of sand, compost, dirt and charcoal husks.

Mix the mixture until it is homogeneous in a 1:1:1:1 ratio.

Spray the media with Organic Pesticides for 3 days.

Put the Tricoderma, PGPR and organic mixture together with the mixture above for two weeks.

2. Prepare the tray and put the homogeneus media.

Plant the seeds in the tray with preferably one or two seeds for a five centimetre diameter.

Close the tray with a soft media.

Be sure to water the plants routinely but not excessively.

Protect the seedling tray with a screen.





















Spinach after 14 Days

Ground Treatment:

Ground Treatment is also done two weeks before planting.

1. The ground dirt is mixed with a rotary tractor.

2. Then create a 120 centimetre square to lay it out on.

3. Also spread the composite using 10 kilograms of compost for every meter.

4. Spray the pesor on the mixture, let it stay for three days, then mix it with the Tricoderma mixture.

Planting:

1. The seed is planted when the seed already has one or two leaves coming out or after 14 days of seedling.

2. The optimal range for planting one seed is 20 centimetres x 20 centimetres.

3. After that spray the plants with a Vegetative POC.





















Spinach Ready to Harvest!

Growth of Plant:

1. Water the plants daily when small. Although when it is larger it should be watered two or three times daily. it is recommended to use a hose for planting.

2. Spray the plants weekly with the Vegetative POC with a ratio of 10cc for every litre of water. This is to get rid of the pests.

3. If the plant is near the seedbed already has weeds, clean the weeds by taking out the grass so that no roots grow further.

Harvest:

1. Between twenty-five and thirty-five days the plant can be harvested. The more days it stays in the ground the larger the plant itself.

2. Harvesting is simple, just take the roots out of the ground and it is done!

3. After the Plant, has been harvested, carefully use a knife to remove all of the old leaves.

Well, that is my first planting  article done! I hope you guys enjoyed!

Week 1: Spinach

Welcome back everybody! This is the first week of the blog! Therefore we have our first ingredient which is Spinach!

Fun facts about Spinach:

1. During the 1930's Spinach growers experienced a 33% growth in sales due to the film Popeye.

2. Medieval Artist used to use Spinach for green ink and paint.

3. Spinach is at it's best when it is eaten fresh, as with every passing day, there would be less and less nutrients.

4. China produces the most Spinach with 85% of the world's Spinach.

5. Half a cup of Spinach fills 1/5 of the required amount of vegetables and fruits that humans are required to eat for a healthy lifestyle. (Which means that two and a half cups of Spinach every day would give you a healthy lifestyle.)

6. Spinach was originally found in Persia.

7. March 26 is National Spinach Day!

8. Spinach is a good source of Vitamin C, Vitamin A and minerals too!

Basic Information about Spinach:

As said above, Spinach is a vegetable very high in Vitamin C, Vitamin A and minerals. Spinach is also often divided into three common groups when related to production. The first is the Savoy Spinach, which is usually the fresh Spinach we find in supermarkets. The second type is the Flat Spinach which is mostly used for canned Spinach products. The last type is the Semi-Savoy Spinach which is a hybrid between the two types before. 

Resources:

1."Spinach Fun Facts | Mobile Cuisine." Mobile Cuisine Food Truck Pop Up Street Food Coverage. 26 Mar. 2013. Web. 12 Nov. 2015.

2. 2."10 Interesting Facts about Spinach." Top Food Facts. 30 Jan. 2013. Web. 12 Nov. 2015.

Why are Organic Ingredients so Expensive?

Now that most of you know I am promoting Organic Ingredients, you might wonder, If Organic Ingredients are so great, Why are they so expensive?

Organic ingredients are more expensive as they are grown in a stricter way compared to our average non-organic ingredients, therefore they need better conditions, and in some cases some organic ingredients can also be rejected if they do not meet the requirements. The rejection of organic ingredients makes organic ingredients very hard to obtain and lesser and lesser organic ingredients make the cut. Which is why it drives the price up.  Also organic ingredients are very hard to obtain, which is why farmers charge a premium for it.

There are so little farmers growing organic ingredients, as they do not want to risk planting organic products, as the public is more reliant on non-organic ingredients therefore most farmers tend to pick non-organic ingredients as they can sell more of it and create a larger profit. Also the climates of their farms are an issue. To grow organic ingredients we need clean air, water and a specific compost creation, therefore some farmers do not have the conditions available to plant the ingredients or in some cases farmers think it is not worth the hassle.

I hope you guys have learnt something today! Thank You! My ingredient posts shall start next week so stay tuned!

Why are the Differences between Organic and Non-Organic Ingredients?

Hi, This is my first "real" post. I'm just starting with this blog, therefore feel free to give feedback. Other than that enjoy my blog!

The main difference from a consumer point of view, is the price of the ingredients. Usually the price of non-organic ingredients will be substantially cheaper. Although what most consumers do not know is that non-organic ingredients are actually chemically developed.


Organic ingredients first and foremost, do not use any form of chemicals and  fertilisers, which are harmful for consumers. Organic ingredients also have tighter demands. The first is the location of the greenhouse or plantation. The greenhouse has to have clean air and have access to clean water to be deemed safe enough for organic ingredients. This creates a very tough standard to meet, and some farmers cannot cultivate their crops organically due to this. Which is why organic ingredients are more rare and expensive.

Secondly, due to the tight demands of organic rules, some organic crops are even thrown away, due to the specific crop not meeting the standard. Therefore lesser organic ingredients make it to our supermarkets and public markets, this is also a factor of the price of organic Ingredients. Also organic ingredients are more ethical to buy compared to non-organic ingredients, as organic ingredients are unharmed by pollution and carbon dioxide emissions, and organic ingredients do not contribute towards pollution and carbon dioxide emissions.

Due to the lack of demand, organic ingredients are also getting smaller in number. Therefore it is also more expensive. What the consumers fail to realise are that organic ingredients are absolutely healthy due to it being naturally grown.

Therefore the purpose of this blog is to help the cause of Organic Ingredients!

Welcome to the Blog!

Hi! My name is Richard Rahardja. I am a 10th Grader from Binus International School Simprug, an IB World School. As all IB Students would know, in 10th Grade there is a Personal Project. The Personal Project is the Students' way of giving back to the community in which their School exists in.



My Personal Project as you can see, is this Blog. This Blog as seen from the logo will be about Educating, Planting and Cooking Organic Ingredients. Every Week there will be a 'Theme Ingredient" which will be the topic of the Blog. With these theme Ingredients there will be three weekly articles about what they are first and foremost and the next two articles will be on how to plant and cook them.



Enjoy the Blog!