On The "usefulness" Of Vegetables As A Derivative Of Soil Quality

How to grow and get a "healthy" harvest of vegetables

The modern summer resident has already become entangled in the multitude of various miraculous drugs, fertilizers and other goods for the garden that have appeared on sale. All producers promise an unprecedented harvest, complete ecology, in general, a Garden of Eden on earth.

The question arises: what does the earth need in order for it to bear fruit? Maybe this soil is not needed, maybe it can be replaced with hydroponics or aeroponics, chemoponics, aggregatoponics, ionitoponics, drip feeding of plants.

Now you can run your dacha farm in the Mittlider garden of narrow ridges, where they occupy only 1/3 of the area, and 2/3 of it is allocated for the aisles. Anthroposophical agriculture, based on the teachings of Rudolf Steiner, can be adopted.

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Of course, if we discard the elements of mysticism, alchemy, cosmic influence in the theory of organic farming, then the care of the soil with carefully prepared organic fertilizers, the diverse use of legumes, the shelter and mulching of the soil, the use of green fertilizer and clover-herbal mixtures, the use of dressings from herbs and foliage - all these activities do not at all contradict classical soil science.

However, like various microbiological fertilizers of EM technologies. But to assert that the use of mineral fertilizers does nothing but harm the soil, I would not categorically assert either. Especially in our "manured" summer cottages, often in a place unsuitable for farming, in our climatic zone of risky farming.

In 1834 N. V. Gogol, Adjunct Professor of the Department of History of St. Petersburg University, wrote a very interesting scientific work. No, not "Dead Souls", not "Inspector General", which, I think, is very relevant even now for our numerous officials. Nikolai Vasilyevich wrote the work "Thoughts on Geography", in which the writer reproduced the geographical image of our Motherland, whose wealth depends on "underground geography".

In particular, he wrote: “It would not hurt to touch upon a few underground geography. Here all phenomena and forms breathe greatness and colossality. " The fact is that already in those days it was noticed that the “underground properties” of the soil somehow affect a person, ethnography as a whole. At that time, such concepts as trace elements were not yet introduced, and even more so, it was not known that microdoses of various elements are the basis of enzymes.

Now, natural ecological and geochemical provinces have been identified, where the peculiarities of the natural geochemical field determine the incidence of living organisms from a lack or excess in the soil of one or another trace element. In these areas, where vegetable plants suffer from short stature, chlorosis, people are more likely to get sick - diseases of the nervous system, impaired purine metabolism, anemia, hepatitis, vitamin B12 deficiency and thyroid disease. It would seem, what is the connection with vegetables, soil fertility?

But let's try to understand these "underground properties". Such ecological and geochemical provinces are usually deficient in manganese, zinc, copper, phosphorus. Hence, accordingly, the connection with the listed diseases. For example, on calcareous soils, grown vegetables may have a low iron content, on bog peat soils - a lack of copper, there are big problems with the accumulation of iodine, cobalt, selenium, and this, in turn, affects the health of people living on boggy soils or mastering them.

The development of our civilization has led to additional pollution of vegetables with radioactive isotopes and heavy metals. Probably, in this case, it makes sense to talk at least a little about trace elements. This will help us understand: what is it - really complete vegetables, from which there will be benefits? All microelements are conditionally divided into three groups: essential, (or essential nutritional factors are irreplaceable substances, that is, they are not synthesized in the human body; we get these substances only with food, they are vital), toxic and neutral.

Trace elements of the first group are extremely necessary and are considered indispensable components of food rations. These include copper, zinc, manganese, cobalt, molybdenum, chromium, nickel, tin, vanadium, iodine, fluorine, selenium, and silicon. Deficiency of essential trace elements causes the appearance of characteristic symptoms that disappear when they are used in diets.

Toxic trace elements cause severe toxic reactions. These are mercury, lead, cadmium and arsenic.

Well, neutral elements, or they are also called inert, do not lead to pronounced physiological and toxic signs. These are boron, lithium, aluminum, silver, rubidium and barium.

According to the Clark-Vernadsky law, any natural object contains all the chemical elements that are known in the earth's crust. There are no “harmful” and “useful” elements for the body, their concentration is important here. Which of these items is preferred? No one can say: they are all important and irreplaceable in their own way.

In terms of the quality of vegetables, iron may need to be put first. Iron carries oxygen from the lungs to all tissues and cells of the body. The blood hemoglobin molecule in the center contains an iron atom, it is similar to the chlorophyll of plants, with a magnesium atom in the center. Despite the wide distribution of iron in nature, every fifth inhabitant on the planet suffers from iron deficiency. Unbalanced diet is one of the reasons for this phenomenon. More organic iron is found in brewer's yeast - 17.3 mg / 100 g.

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The use of pumpkin seeds, squash and other pumpkin crops can bring great health benefits, which accumulate it up to 11.2 mg / 100 g. Soils with a high calcium content give vegetables poor in iron. This must be taken into account when we are fighting in an area with acidity. One of the characteristic signs of iron deficiency in plants is leaf chlorosis. Moreover, the deficit can be recognized not only on a vegetable plantation, but also in the nearest garden or in a forest belt.

The record holder in the series of iron accumulation is nettle - 41 mg / 100 g. At the same time, it is necessary to warn everyone who wants to completely switch to nettle. First, consult with your doctor about your body's tendency to hematogenous thrombophilia associated with blood clots. As you can see, nettles can be harmful in some cases.

As for iron as a trace element, it is not so much its content in vegetables that is important as its availability, and it does not exceed 5% of its content. This is very small. The only way to release iron from plant cells is by blanching the cell walls. Therefore, boil, chop the plants. Sometimes it helps. Iron is better absorbed when food is fortified with vitamin A.

Not everything is so simple with our body. For example, he also desperately needs zinc - for nerves it is the same as iron for blood. This is an important remedy for nervous and brain fatigue, which is especially important now in our difficult life. The highest concentration of organic zinc was found in semen, bones and hair. Its deficiency in humans can lead to dwarfism (Prasad's disease), delayed sexual development. A person's sense of taste, perhaps aesthetic, is deteriorating, perhaps for this very reason such programs are now on television, but this is my personal assumption, but wounds on the body are slowly healing due to zinc deficiency - this has been proven.

This element is absorbed in the upper intestine. The absorption rate is 20-40%, with the greatest absorption obtained from animal products, and much less from vegetables. The food organs of vegetable plants accumulate phytin, which, with an excess of calcium, forms insoluble compounds with zinc and removes it from the body.

This once again confirms the need for full-fledged mixed diets according to age, gender, area of residence, because vegetables with different contents of nutrients are obtained in different soils. As for vegetables rich in zinc, most of all it is in ginger root - 6.8 mg / 100 g. It is not without reason that ginger has been used to improve brain function since the time of Avicenna. And in the recipes of St. Hildegard, he occupied one of the important places.

It is interesting that even then they were treating them with just those symptoms that are characteristic of zinc deficiency diseases - old wounds. They improved their memory without knowing anything about the properties of zinc. Most vegetables contain it in the range of 0.1-0.5 mg / 100 g. An increased amount is noted in green peas (1.5 mg / 100 g), in parsley and potatoes (0.9), garlic and carrots (0, 6 mg / 100).

In 1957, the indispensability of selenium, its effect on living organisms, was discovered. Modern science has studied in detail many biological functions of selenium in humans and animals associated with Se-specific proteins that inhibit aging of cells and tissues. The concentration of selenium in blood and hair is characteristic for each region. The main factor influencing its accumulation in food is its level in the soil, strong acidity and high iron content.

It turns out that our Leningrad Region is not the best place for long-livers. The bioavailability of selenium decreases with an excess intake of heavy metals - lead, mercury, cadmium, nickel - with vegetables. As for plants with a high content of this element, broccoli cabbage is the leader in selenium.

Vegetables are a source of valuable homeopathic doses of organic iodine, the effectiveness of which for the body is much higher than inorganic (iodized salt). The benefits of iodine are probably known to many, it is a necessary element for the activity of the endocrine glands, and especially the thyroid gland.

Read the next part. Soil - its properties, composition, absorption capacity →