Have you ever seen anybody suggesting someone having turmeric to prevent; even cure cancer? Yes, turmeric has tons of medicinal benefits, including preventing cancer cells from spreading in your body! It goes even farther; it works as an anti-aging agent in your body. This is why turmeric is known as a superfood as it helps you prevent deadly diseases without any side effects.
Of course, you can buy turmeric powder from any super shop with a spice department in it. However, growing your food in the backyard or a pot in the balcony has an extra appeal to it. You're getting the freshest ingredient in your food that comes in cheap, not so costly as the shop offers.
Health benefits of turmeric
Curcuma Longa or Turmeric has been used as a medicine for hundreds of years, especially in traditional Indian medical technology. Here are the most popular health benefits of turmeric that are scientifically proven by modern medical science:
Preventing Cancer
Turmeric contains curcumin that effects common forms and types of cancer and potentially recovers the affected cells. This herb prevents the cancer cells from spreading around, slowly reverse the process, and eliminates the cancer cells. Curcumin supplements are proven to be positively effective in different cases of cancer.
Depression
Previously in Indian traditional medical terms, turmeric was used as a medicine of anti-depression. With the support of modern science and research, PubMed central also found that turmeric contains the anti-depression agent. It effectively boosts up your BDNF and works for brain dysfunction.
Type 2 Diabetes
turmeric contains an anti-inflammatory agent, and it keeps your blood sugar level normal. Both combined help you prevent type 2 diabetes and help you keep out of diabetes. A study on 240 people proved the medical facts behind the anti-diabetes ingredients in turmeric.
Works for heart disease
Heart disease being the biggest reason for death in the world, has tons of things in our body to develop. Almost anything we eat or do in our lives has a contribution to developing heart diseases. The turmeric has ingredients that improve the endothelium function in your blood vessel and helps your cardiac health.
Anti-aging medicine
Turmeric prevents your aging syndromes in your body and keeps you out of major health problems. When you don't have severe problems like heart diseases, Dementia, type 2 diabetes, cancer, you can imagine what it does! It will help you keep fit and live longer without major health problems.
Viral Infections
It's proven that getting a few sips from a turmeric tea can help you while under the weather, having a flue. However, turmeric contains only 3% of curcumin, which works as the cure for viral infections. Just having a single cup of turmeric tea may not help you to a great extent.
Alzheimer's Disease
Alzheimer's Disease is a severe health problem that causes Dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases. Amyloid causes Alzheimer's Disease, and turmeric is a great ingredient that prevents amyloid from developing in your brain.
Arthritis
Arthritis is a common health problem, especially in western countries. There are multiple types of arthritis with different problems, especially in the joints. The anti-inflammatory agent in turmeric helps you with arthritis, especially the severe version; Rheumatic arthritis. Study shows that it works as equivalent to anti-inflammatory drugs; only without the side effects.
Acne
People use a face mask, made with turmeric, to get rid of pimples and stubborn acne. Although there is no strong scientific evidence that it works as a medicine, in particular, turmeric has antibacterial agents! Once the bacteria is dead in the area, the healing process boosts up.
Cultivating turmeric in Pots or your backyard
Turmeric is one of the most prominent Ayurvedic medicine which is in action for hundreds of years. It's also one of the easiest herbs that you can grow even in a pot in your balcony. However, it's best to find an open space like your backyard to plant turmeric with the most yield.
Decide the time and place
The late winter is the perfect time for planting turmeric in most parts of the USA, both for indoor and outdoor planting. All you need is a place where you can have your plant enough sunlight and accommodation for a large pot. Turmeric usually takes about 7-10 months to harvest, so count back from the winter for that time. The time is not that critical if you have enough access to sunlight and if you can move the pot around. If you can plant and harvest your turmeric directly into the earth, that's the best way to go.
Get your rhizomes
To harvest turmeric, you need rhizomes from the turmeric plant, you can find them from the local farmers market or supermarket. The health food corners have fresh turmeric rhizomes in the winter for sale. The most appropriate source for it can be the Asian Indian stores where the Indians shop for their daily necessaries. While selecting the rhizomes, choose the once that have many bumps along the sides, as many bumps as possible.
Now for the planting process
If you are planning to go with Pot harvesting, you will need a pot with a diameter of at least 14 inches. That's the measurement for a single rhizome of 6 to 8 inches long. Fill up the pot with soil and make sure you are pouring it with healthy pooter.
Now put the rhizomes on the soil and spread a few more crumbly soil on the rhizome to give it a good mask. If you are planting it on open soil, you have to plow 2-3 inches deep on the ground and make it crumbly. After that, plant the rhizomes on the soil, pointing the bumps sideways to
grow turmeric well.
Harvesting
When your turmeric plant and the leaves start to dry, turning brown, that's the time you harvest the turmeric. It will take about ten months from planting to harvesting your turmeric. You can tip the whole plant out of the soil and rip off the stems after shaking the soil off the plant. And there you go, you have your fresh turmeric in your hand. Cut them off for drying up; don't forget to save some for the replanting!
Bottom line
Let me sum up with a great planting hack, If your rhizome is big enough to sprout 3-4 well-growing leaves, that's great. You can transplant the rhizome into a bigger pot, and It will be better for more harvesting. Cut the rhizome into pieces keeping the bumps with leave intact in the middle.
Then, transfer them into a bigger pot by planting them flat in the pot. Make sure the pots are in a warm place under the sunlight. Good luck with your turmeric harvest!