Safer For Your Home And Self

Mulch
A thick layer of mulch keeps light from reaching weeds. “Without adequate light, the plants don’t produce enough chlorophyll to enable further growth. Most of these plants sicken and die before you even notice them,” writes Miranda Smith in Rodale’s Chemical Free Yard & Garden. “The few plants that do manage to stick their leaves into the light will be shallowly rooted and very easy to pull.”

Organic mulches—straw, grass clippings, leaves, shreddedbark—nourish the soil as they decompose. They are fairly effective weed barriers. For even better weed protection, use several sheets of newspaper, kraft paper (the paper used to make grocery bags) or cardboard under these mulches. In a 1992-93 study at the University of Vermont, a 6-inch layer of shredded newspaper applied at the beginning of one season allowed no more than 8 weeds per square yard to sprout for two summers. Without renewing the mulch layer, the newspaper controlled weeds for two seasons. Kraft paper and cardboard allow even less light to reach weeds and are even more impenetrable.

Hoeing
Annual weeds die when you sever the stems from the roots just below the soil surface. With a sharp hoe, you cut the weeds easily. Forget about the square-headed traditional garden hoe for this job—go for an oscillating or a swan neck hoe instead.

To hoe your garden without cultivating a backache, hold the hoe as you would a broom—that is, with your thumbs pointing up. Skim the sharp sides of the hoe blade through the top inch of the soil.

Solarization
You can let the sun help you get rid of persistent weeds, if you’re willing to leave the bed fallow for six weeks in the summer. Get started in late spring or early summer by pulling, hoeing or raking out as many weeds as you can from the garden bed. Then, moisten the soil and cover it with clear plastic, weighting or burying the edges. Leave the plastic in place for 6 weeks. When you remove the plastic, the sun will have cooked weeds that would otherwise have sprouted.

Corn Gluten Meal
You can suppress the growth of weed seeds early in the season by spreading corn gluten meal over the area where they’re growing. Corn gluten meal, a by-product of corn processing that’s often used to feed livestock, inhibits the germination of seeds— bear in mind, once the weeds have gone beyond the sprout stage, corn gluten will not affect them. Also, corn gluten doesn’t discriminate between seeds you want to sprout and those you don’t want, so avoid using corn gluten meal where and when you’ve sown seeds. It works best in established lawns and perennial beds.

Handpulling
Here’s the trick to comfortable, quick weed-pulling:
Put your hands in front of you, thumbs up and palms facing your body, one hand in front of the other. Now roll your hands, like kids do when singing “This old man goes rolling home.”

Pinch your forefinger and thumb together as you reach the outermost edge of the imaginary circle your hands are tracing and move your arms to the side as you roll your hands.

With practice, you will be surprised by how quickly you clean up a row in the garden with this movement.

Persistence
This is your most important long-range weapon against weeds. Mulch well, pull what you can, hoe where you have to and use a handy tool or two for a few minutes whenever you visit your garden. Do these things consistently for a few seasons, and you will slowly, but surely expel the invaders for good.

http://www.organicgardening.com

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Substances That May Lower Cholesterol
Antioxidants
While most cholesterol-fighting drugs are designed to lower cholesterol levels, another approach might be to limit the damage LDL can do once it is in the artery wall. Some researchers suggest preventing the conversion of circulating LDL to oxidized LDL. Drugs and vitamins called antioxidants have been able to do this — at least in test tubes — but whether they have a similar effect inside the body is still under investigation.

While some studies have shown that vitamins with antioxidant properties (such as beta carotene and vitamins C and E) can lower the risk for heart disease, the evidence is conflicting. One of the randomized studies found lower rates of heart attack and death from heart disease among people given 400 IU (the equivalent of 268 mg of vitamin E from food or 180 mg of synthetic E) or 800 IU of vitamin E rather than a placebo. However, in three other large-scale randomized studies, various doses of vitamin E didn’t significantly reduce cardiovascular events. Because many of these studies involved high-risk populations or had other limitations, it’s still possible that vitamin E could have protective effects, but hope has faded considerably in the past few years.

A large study known as the Heart Protection Study also dampened hope about vitamin C and beta carotene. This study involved more than 20,000 adults with diabetes, coronary artery disease, or other artery disease. Half the people were randomly assigned to receive high-dose supplements of vitamins E, C, and beta carotene, the other half a placebo. At the end of five years, a similar number of people in each group had had coronary events, stroke, or death.

Green tea has been shown to lower cholesterol in animals, and with its high level of antioxidants known as flavonoids, it would be logical to assume that green tea might help decrease LDL’s damage. Human trials have had mixed results. However, a recent trial published in the Archives of Internal Medicine fueled hope for this traditional Asian drink. In this study, 114 Chinese adults who took a pill extract of green tea in addition to following a low-fat diet improved their cholesterol profile more than 106 adults who ate similarly but took a placebo.

Even though moderate amounts of vitamin supplements seem reasonably safe for most people, the data don’t support a blanket recommendation that everyone take antioxidants to prevent heart disease. The best advice is simply to eat a diet rich in the fruits and vegetables that provide these vitamins, such as citrus fruits, broccoli, and tomatoes.

Safer For Your Home and Self