Tag Archives: green living

Amaranth, also called ramdhana, chua, bathua, pungikeerai or thotakura in India is a vegetable/herb that typically grows as an annual, which is defined as a plant that matures and completes its lifecycle over the course of a single year. Amaranth comes in all sizes, shapes and colours. The leaves can be round or lance shaped, five to fifteen cm long or more, light green, dark green, reddish or variegated. Seeds maybe white, yellow, pink or black and the striking flowers can be huge tassles or tiny globes, red, pink, yellow or cream that produces a huge number of tiny seeds …

Safed Musli (Chlorophytum borivilianum), a divine herb, is a tuber crop that is partly an herb with sub-erect lanceolate leaves (Long and wide in the middle) and a tuberous root system. It can grow up to a maximum height of 1.5 ft. while the tubers can grow up to a depth of 10″. The plant is an important ingredient of CHYAWANPRASH, and is commonly found in some patches of the forest areas in India as well as in Maharashtra. The plant has reached rare status in nature due to overexploitation; and owing to its increased demand as a safe herbal …

Purslane, also known as Khulpha, Khursa in Hindi or Ghol in Marathi, is a water-retaining plant that can reach a height of 6″ – 12”. It’s smooth, reddish, thick leaves are wedge shaped. The leaves are alternately clustered at stem joints and are greenish on top and purplish on the underside. The very tiny yellow flowers are around 6 mm wide and depending upon rainfall, the flowers appear at anytime during the year. Purslane has a taproot with fibrous secondary roots and is able to tolerate poor, compacted soils and drought. All that purslane needs to grow is part to full …

In our previous article Air Filtering Plants, we covered few commonly found plants that help purify the air. So if you ever have experienced a burning sensation in your eye, irritation in your nose and a feeling of nauseating in an indoor environment, remember there is always help at hand. These common indoor plants may provide a natural way of helping combat “SICK BUILDING SYNDROME” that is triggered by the following chemicals: Formaldehyde is a ubiquitous chemical found in virtually all indoor environments. The major sources which have been reported and publicized include urea-formaldehyde foam insulation (UFFI) and particle board or …

While you are cleaning and tidying up your abode, how about using some help from our little green friends? This week we list down a few plants that will make your task all the more easier and comfortable. Plants that purify the air: Plants apart from absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen also eliminate significant amounts of benzene, formaldehyde and trichloroethylene. These chemical compounds are commonly found in the air of every household as it is emitted by oils, paints, rubber, plastic, detergents & synthetic fibres, etc. A quick Google of these chemicals will show you a list of ailments …

After the scorching heat and the messy rains, winter comes as a sweet disguise. The weather is pleasant, the mood in the air is eclectic, and there is a feeling of being outdoors more often than sitting indoors. A change in the weather also changes our daily lifestyle as longer nights give us ample periods of rest. But a drop in temperature can catch us unprepared and our bodies will succumb to these changes. The last week I have been in bed with a sore throat, running nose and a bad back pain. Well the weather caught me unprepared for …

In the last article we described how to grow tomatoes, carrots and cucumber. This article will take you through a few more do-it-yourself farming, on growing your own little salad garden. Salad is often considered as a healthy diet food, but the benefits of eating a salad go well beyond dieting and weight loss. Salads keep you hydrated, add fibre, increase the intake of vitamins and nutrients in your body, reduce calories and improve digestion. Here are a few important ingredients to making a sumptuous salad. Onions: How to Grow: Onions grow to a height of around a feet and …

Nature is a humongous assembly line where every being on the planet is playing an active role in the process of creation of food. Some help either pollinate or till the soil, while some eat the produce. It’s a perfectly harmonious system, where every being in the process benefits. Apart from Man, no other being alters the role that it plays. Astonishingly, when one changes its role, the entire system shakes. That is exactly what is happening now. Our intervention in this process of creation of food is leading to mass extinction of species. Man is suffering too. From never …