Garlic

Garlic is a shallow-rooted plant with the bulbs forming close to the soils surface. The plant responds favorably to short-day lights,particularly during the growing stage. Growing stops when long day lights any high temperature set in followed by the rapid maturity of the bulbs.

Medicinal Value of Garlic

* It lowers the blood pressure.

* It can reduce fever.

* It rids the stomach and intestines of intestinal worms and parasites.

* It eliminates gas formed in alimentary canal.

* It eliminates excess mucus.

* It eliminates excess water in the body flow of urine.

* A preparation of garlic cloves cures backaches.

Economic and Nutritive Value of Garlic

* It is the most popular and often used of all the species.

* It is used for flavoring many kinds of dishes.

* It contains all the major vitamins except Vitamin D.

* It is high in potassium and phosphorus.

Before planting, garlic cloves are prepared with extra care so as not to injure or damage them. Cloves are prepared in the afternoon before the day of planting and are so asked in a solution of Malathion ( 3 table spoon for every 5 gallons of water) for 2 minutes to kill the microscopic mites that cause " Tangle Top." Plant garlic at the end of the rainy season, from October to November. If you plant on time, you will be able to harvest more and bigger bulbs.

Eggplant

The eggplant is one of the most popular vegetable crops in the Philippines. It is grown in almost all backyards and school gardens in the country.

The native eggplants bear small, round or elongated fruits. Among the widely grown native varieties are Negros Purple. Pampanga Purple and Simmeda. Among the foreign varieties are Black Beauty and Golden Gate. They bear longer and more fleshy fruits.

The fruits are fairly good sources of calcium,phosphorus and iron. The fruits are also a good source of vitamin B.

The leaves are employed to cure piles. The ashes of the fruit are prescribed for use in a dry, hot poultice on hemonorrhoids.

Malunggay

The malunggay is a small vegetable tree which grows to height of about 8 meters, more or less. The leaves which are pinnate in form, the white flowers and the long pendulous young pods and seeds are edible.

Nutrient Contents of Malunggay:

Just 1/3 cup of cooked malunggay leaves gives children their daily requirements for:

Iron - to build maintain the blood supply and prevent anemia;

Calcium - for healthy bones and teeth;

Vitamin A - to give good vision, healthy skin,proper growth and resistance to infections;

Vitamin B - to stimulate growth and appetite; to prevent skin troubles, beri-beri and anemia;

Vitamin C - to help develop health tissues, teeth and gums.

Malunggay tree may be propagated by stem cuttings or by seeds. Propagation by mature stem cuttings is preferable to propagation by seeds because the planted stems grow much faster.

Duhat

The duhat fruit is small, oval or elliptic in shape. It is about two centimeters long, dark purple or nearly black in color. Duhat tree is grown for its edible fruits.

The fruit is often made into jelly. The beverage made from duhat juice offers commercial possibilities. The trunk yield a soft timber of good quality which is used for interior decoction. The leaves are pounded and heated and applied on skin irritations.

Varieties of Duhat

There are only two known varieties of duhat grown in the country. They are the seeded “Kinalabao” and the seedless type. Kinalabao is commonly grown in most parts of the country, while the seedless type is rarely grown because it produces small fruits.

Propagation and Harvesting

Duhat can be propagated sexually by seeds and asexually by budding, grafting, inarching and marcotting.

Duhat fruits can be harvested seven to eight years from planting time. Its fruiting season is from April to June. The fruit is fully ripe when the purplish-red color changes to dark purple or black

Cassava

Cassava is an erect, shrubby plant growing to height of about i meter to 3 meters. It bears stout,elongated, fleshy edible roots. This plant is classified under root crop. Its small fruits are in the form of ovoid capsules.

Medicinal Value of Cassava

* For relief of headache or fever apply a head compress of pounded cassava leaves.

* Solution formed by boiling the bark of the stem of the cassava plant will help expel intestinal worms and will also serves as medicine of rheumatism.

Economic and Nutritive Values of Cassava

* The cassava tuber is boiled and eaten, with or without sugar.

* The tuber is a good source of gapleck and sago. From gapleck, starch is manufactures which is them made into flour and used in the preparation of biscuits, cookies and bread. Sago is used in the preparation of "guinta-an," a native delicacy.

There are two varieties of cassava- the sweet and the bitter.Both varieties contain a certain percentage of hydrocyanic compound, a kind of poison in the bark and flesh of the plant. Sweet cassava has a low percentage of the poison. The better kind has 1.012 to 0.37 percent in the edible portion. This hydrocyanic compound disappears or is eliminated during the boiling process.

In harvesting, dig the soil carefully around the roots of the plants with a crowbar or pointed bamboo stick when the soil is soft.Cut the top parts of the cassava stems first, leaving the stumps which should them the pulled to haul the storage roots from the soil.