How To Grow Avocado Trees From Seeds On The First Try!

 

 

Did you know that, you can actually grow your own avocado tree at home? Even though trees rooted like this rarely bear fruit without help, it’s still a ton of fun to plant your own tree and watch it grow. And if you have kids, this is a great project. Here are instructions for how to root and plant a tree from an avocado pit. All you need is an avocado, a little water and a few toothpicks, a sunny window, and a whole lot of patience.

Avocado trees grow best in warm, sunny places, but you can keep one quite successfully for many years in the right indoor environment. They can grow to between 20 and 40 feet, but are quite happy if you keep them pruned indoors.

What you will need:

1 avocado pit

4 toothpicks

1 small glass or ceramic dish

How to remove the avocado pit:

Cut a full circle longways around the avocado. Twist it apart.

The two halves should separate neatly.

Whack the pit with a sharp, heavy knife so that the blade bites into the pit just a little bit.

Twist the blade and the pit will come right out. Then clean off your pit. Scrape off any avocado that’s still stuck to the pit.

Rinse it off under cold water, then wipe it off. You want to be sure you’ve removed all the avocado.

When you root the pit, you want to do it pointy side up. The stem and leaves will sprout out the top. And the root will push its way out the bottom.

Push one toothpick into the side of the avocado pit. You want to get it in far enough so that you can pick the pit up by the toothpick.

Do this with the other 3 toothpicks. Place the avocado pit over your dish, so the toothpicks are resting on the rim of the dish and the pit is suspended over the center.

Fill the dish with water so that the avocado pit is about halfway submersed.

Change the water every day or two, so that the pit is constantly sitting in water.

Set the dish on a sunny windowsill. Keep an eye on it, and replenish the water frequently.For the first few weeks, your pit won’t really do much. It will just sit there, looking very much the same as the day that you first propped it up. You may start to despair.

Then, after about three weeks or so, the top of the pit should begin to split open. (Nature is also kind of imprecise…this can take up to six weeks to happen.)

Over the next few weeks, a stem will shoot up, the first leaves will begin to grow, and roots will begin to force their way out of the bottom. In a few more weeks, you should see more leaves.

The whole process will generally take about 3 months, give or take.

When your tree is maybe 7-8 inches tall, nip off the top few leaves. Pinch them off. It will encourage growth and help.

Grab a 10-inch pot with a saucer and at least one drainage hole in the bottom. Fill it about an inch from the top with potting soil.

Dig a shallow hole in the center of the soil (just deep enough so half the pit is covered). Nestle the bottom of your avocado sapling in it, root-side down.

Cover the pit halfway with soil, so half the pit is still exposed. Press down firmly on the soil to secure it. It should be standing up straight, at attention.

Pour a little water into the pot gently, set your tree in a sunny window. Keep it watered, and watch it grow! Avocado trees like warm, sunny spots. If your tree doesn’t get enough light, it will get leggy (i.e. all stem, few leaves). Depending on where you live, you should be able to keep your tree outside in a sunny spot. If the temperature ever drops below about 45 degrees F, bring it back inside. Water it enough to keep the soil moist, but not muddy. You never want your tree sitting in a puddle of water once you’ve potted it.

If your leaves start to turn yellow, it’s a sure sign it’s getting too much water. If this happens, stop watering it for a few days until the soil dries out a little.

Happy gardening!

Come See Victoria for the Blooms!

Victoria enjoys the mildest winters in Canada and has the lowest rainfall anywhere along the province's west coast. Through the year temperatures in Victoria rarely rise above 30ºc or fall below 0ºc. The winters tend to be mild and rainy while summers are relatively dry. Snow is a somewhat uncommon occurrence, instead the city enjoys plenty of sunshine all year round.

Such an appealing climate has earned Victoria the nickname of "The Garden City." Not only do gardens bloom early and long here, they also contain many plant species rarely found elsewhere in Canada, these includes palms, eucalyptus, and even some bananas.

As you can see in this video, spring arrives early here with hundreds of thousands of blossoms and bulbs blooming by late February. Many of the golf courses in the Victoria are open all year.

If you're thinking of visiting Victoria, spring is always a wonderful time. Temperatures range from 11-15 ºC and the flowers are in full bloom throughout the city.

Summer starts from June and the warm weather continues throughout the end of September, it's typically sunny and mild.

In autumn, the temperature averages highs of 12ºc and come November, the rainy season arrives.

In winter, Victorians enjoy the most temperate winter climate in British Columbia. This allows for year-round outdoor pursuits such as cycling, hiking and golfing, even in January.

Victoria is surrounded by ocean – if you are visiting in summer, pack your bathing suit and beach shoes for wading near rocky shores. A wind jacket will also come in handy and if you're visiting in winter, a raincoat or medium-weight waterproof jacket is a must, preferably worn over a sweater; wear warm pants and consider an umbrella. No matter what the season, I will advise to bring wet-weather gear.

Here’s Why Walmart’s Ice Cream Sandwiches Won’t Melt?

Checkout the ingredients in Walmart ice cream bar:

Ice Cream (Milk, Cream, Buttermilk, Sugar, Whey, Corn Syrup, Contains 1% Or Less of Mono-And Diglycerides, Vanilla Extract, Guar Gum, Calcium Sulfate, Carob Bean Gum, Cellulose Gum, Carrageenan, Artificial Flavor, Annatto For Color)

Wafers (Wheat Flour, Sugar, Soybean Oil, Palm Oil, Cocoa, Dextrose, Caramel Color, Corn Syrup, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Corn Flour, Food Starch-Modified, Salt Soy Lecithin, Baking Soda, Artificial Flavor).

Basic ice cream at most should contain about 5 key ingredients, including milk, cream, sugar, eggs, and other ‘real’ food ingredients such vanilla bean, nuts, etc.

Should you be surprised about the ingredients list in Walmart’s ice cream sandwiches? Perhaps not, considering almost all food products sold at Walmart are heavily processed and loaded with artificial colours, flavours, preservatives, and texturants.

Refined sugars and other carbohydrates are another issue. Overloading our bodies with these ingredients is a recipe for insulin resistance, which is related to a plethora of chronic illnesses as well as weight gain. Processed foods are also robbed of their nutrients, fiber, water and natural enzymes, making them more difficult to digest.

Your body processes whole foods much differently than it does refined, processed, and heavily-modified "junk" foods. Processed foods tend to overstimulate the production of dopamine, also known as the "pleasure" neurotransmitter, which makes you crave them constantly. Your body ends up not being able to resist the temptation to continue eating junk foods in excess, which can lead to obesity and other health problems.

Finally, there’s the stimulant response associated with processed foods and refined carbs, which releases dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure, that substantiates junk food cravings, a recipe for addictive and non-nutritious eating habits.

People with junk food addictions often claim that fresh, healthy foods are too expensive. But according to numerous studies and assessments, whole foods made from scratch end up costing less per serving than their unhealthy, processed foods.

Real foods will actually rot or grow mold, for instance, while fake, processed foods remain largely the same in appearance and shape no matter what their age. As we reported recently, processed food is essentially synthetic, and the industry that produces it admits that heavy tampering and crafty modifications are necessary to make it taste real, even though it is not.

Cherry Blossoms in February, Victoria. B.C.

Here are some winter cherry blossoms in beautiful Victoria, Canada! #YYJ

How to Separate an Egg Yolk with a Plastic Bottle

Here's a handy tip to separate egg yolks using a plastic bottle.

Amazing 900 lb leg press!

Amazing!

Hopping on an exercise ball!

Thoughts?

How To Peel a Head of Garlic in Less Than 10 Seconds

Executive Food Editor Todd Coleman shows us an amazing trick for peeling an entire head of garlic in less than 10 seconds -- no acrid fingernails, no knife required.