How to Grow Grapes for Excellent Wine
by: Brian Cook
I think it quite safe to say that more has been written about the cultivation of grapes than has - or ever will be - written about any other fruit. This is not surpris?ing, considering that the grape is probably the oldest of known fruits.
Surprisingly, grapes do not need loads of manures and fertilizers; they grow well on quite poor soils and need little after-attention. The roots will search out and find what they want; all we have to concern ourselves with is where to put the top-growth - the vine itself.
If one wall of your house faces south, south-west or even west, that problem is solved very easily. If you cannot plant the vine under that particular wall, plant it round the corner and train the vine round to the sunny side of the house. Grapes may be grown in the open garden in similar fashion to loganberries, or they may be trained over sheds, garages, out-houses and such-like.
Vines are not expensive, and if two are planted, the yield may be regarded as fantastic when considering the value of the wine that may be made for many years.
Planting is best carried out in autumn and in any case before Christmas. If planting against a wall, take out a hole about two feet each way and plant so that the stem of the vine is about fifteen inches away from the wall itself. Dig deeply and work in any compost that may be available and some builders' rubble if you can get some. A dusting of lime forked in will be helpful. Spread out the roots well and plant as recommended for fruit trees.
Having planted the vine, spread a little manure above the roots: this will not be necessary in subsequent seasons, but the vine will benefit from a mulch each spring if you can give it one.
Vines must not be allowed to fruit the first season; therefore they must be cut back to about four buds.
Having planted the vine and cut it back, we must decide how to train it to cover the wall.
The best plan is to use special wall nails, run wires to and from these and train the vine to the wires.
The four long growths that come from the four buds you left when cutting back are stopped at the bud nearest the growing point. These four leaders are the basis from which the vine will be built up to cover the wall. If flower buds form during the first season, they should be nipped off so that the vine uses its energy producing wood for subsequent fruiting. First-season fruiting often permanently weakens a vine.
When pruning, remem?ber that next year's fruit will be borne on the wood made this year. But we do not want masses of long, straggling growths hanging about all over the place, so during the summer it is best to cut some of them out. Those left to bear next year's fruit should be cut back to five or six buds in autumn or early winter. Only new growth should be cut during the summer; never cut old wood during summer - indeed old wood must never be cut after Christmas, as this can cause profuse bleeding which may be quite impossible to stop. By all means cut away some of the old growth to make way for new wood, but if this has not been done before Christmas leave it until the next winter.
Many varieties ripen in September - or earlier if the summer has been good. This is especially advantageous because the weather is still warm enough for a satisfactory fer?ment when you come to make the wine. This is not so important to those who carry out their fermentation in the house, but where it has to be carried on in a shed or outhouse the warm weather is a great help.
About The Author
Brian Cook is a freelance writer whose articles on home wine making have appeared in print and on many websites. You can find more of these at: www.makinggreatwine.com
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Cholesterol
Cholesterol
by: John Moore
Ways To Keep It Low
These days we hear a lot of warnings about cholesterol, but the funny thing is, cholesterol isn't all bad. Your body produces it naturally and it performs some pretty vital jobs - helping to build new cells, as well as produce hormones and insulate nerves. Only when you've got too much do you have a problem.
Unfortunately, there's a lot of confusion surrounding this substance because it's made up of both good and bad cholesterol, and is known as HDL and LDL. So which is the good guy, and which is the bad guy ?
HDL (high-density lipoprotein) cholesterol is the good guy (higher the better), and LDL (low-density lipoprotein) is the bad guy - the artery-clogging little devil.
Every Day Ways Of Keeping Your Cholesterol Low.
Watch your weight.
The more overweight you are, the more cholesterol your body produces. So if your weight is up, this is one more reason to bring it...
Cholesterol
Fruit > Cholesterol
The Benefits Of Juicers
The Benefits Of Juicers
by: Juliette Pickup
Juicers are a useful tool that can help you lose weight and become healthier on a day to day basis because they allow you to make smoothies and juices at home. This allows you to make a smoothie almost as quickly as you would pour yourself a soda and it is so much healthier to have a smoothie or a glass of juice. Smoothies and juices also help you to trick your stomach into thinking it is full and killing your cravings for unhealthy foods and drinks. Juicers allow you to create a wide array of sweet things to help you feed that sweet tooth of yours without having to resort to unhealthy snacks. You can also make sweet things for children that are healthy and will satisfy their craving for sweets without ruining their health.
Juicers help you to get a sufficient intake of nutrients and vitamins from both fruits and vegetables because they are concentrated in the juice produced. Juicers also allow you...
The Benefits Of Juicers
Fruit > The Benefits Of Juicers
Fasting: The ?Fastest? Way to Lose Weight
Fasting: The ?Fastest? Way to Lose Weight
by: Foras Aje
The author of the acclaimed ?Mucusless Diet Healing System?, Prof Arnold Ehret once said ?If one way is true...it is the way of Nature!? It will be an understatement to say he was and is so correct.
In this day and age when everyone desires to be slim or slimmer as the case may be, only very few people know that one sure-fire, all natural, method can lead to a slimmer and more importantly healthier person.
This method is as old as the mountains and is known as Fasting.
It is by far a greater cure of our ills-both physical and mental-than all of the drugs of the medical fraternity combined and when combined with an exclusive mucus-binding (alkaline forming) diet of mainly fruits, leafy and root vegetables (raw and cooked) and even basic exercises that involve the use of one?s own body weight for resistance such as Yoga, Calisthenics and Pilates, a well conducted fast can reap untold...
Fasting: The ?Fastest? Way to Lose Weight
Fruit > Fasting: The ?Fastest? Way to Lose Weight
Healthy Fruit Smoothie Recipe
Healthy Fruit Smoothie Recipe
by: Hans Dekker
Who doesn?t love a fruit smoothie? How about a healthy one that has a taste that cannot be beat? You can stop your search today because this smoothie recipe has it all.
This healthy fruit smoothie recipe is chopped full of wholesome fruit pieces and the sweet taste of honey. Blend one up today.
Ingredients:
1 cup plain flavored fat free yogurt
? cup crushed ice
1 cup unsweetened apple juice
? cup watermelon, cut into small cubes
? cup strawberries cut into halves
? cup mango, cut into small cubes
? cup peaches, cut into small cubes
1 tsp. vanilla extract
? cup honey
? cup almonds, crushed
Toppings:
Fat free cool whip
Couple sprigs fresh mint
To Make:
Frozen fruit may be substituted for this recipe, however fresh fruit will provide the best taste for these smoothies.
Fruit > Healthy Fruit Smoothie Recipe
Wanna Look 10 Years Younger? Have More Fruits
Wanna Look 10 Years Younger? Have More Fruits
by: Rajesh Shetty
Fruit calories are very healthy as compared to calories in fast foods or processed food.
So, don't avoid fruits.In fact have more of fruit calories if you want to get rid of that excess flab from your body.
Fruits require 20-25 minutes to digest and give us energy and vegetables take 4 hours to become nutrients for energy whereas meat takes upto 72 hours to completely break down and pass out from the body.
Unlike carnivorous animals,your intestines are too long for meat to pass out fast which leads to putrification of meat and accumulation of toxins in the body.
Meat produces Uric acid which your body is incapable of handling..this causes further tissue damage.
Further,fruits have anti oxidant properties and they take care of free radicals and reverse ageing.
Moreover fruits have enzymes essential for various bodily activities like metabolism, so difficult...
Wanna Look 10 Years Younger? Have More Fruits
Fruit > Wanna Look 10 Years Younger? Have More Fruits