Vertical Vegetable Gardens Offer Health Benefits and Increased Self-Sufficiency to City Dwellers

Do you live in the city and would love to have a vegetable garden, but are constrained by a small garden space? If you really want to grow your own fresh vegetables, then there is an answer for you. You may want to plant a vertical vegetable garden right there in your small area. A vertical vegetable gardening can easily produce as much vegetables as a normal garden.Remember, you don’t need to limit yourself to only growing outdoor vertical gardens. While caring for a vegetable garden in your apartment or other confined area could be a little tricky, it’s not impossible and very rewarding. Gardening indoors will allow you to grow vegetables that aren’t found in your region’s climate, offer you better variety to choose from when planting. It has also been demonstrated that live plants can improve the air quality in small spaces. While it maybe necessary to have proper ventilation to prevent any possible odors, others felt that they can breathe better and are generally calmer because of the refreshing oxygen emitted by your plants.Vertical vegetables gardens are not a new ideal however at times they are mistaken with a living wall. Since both living walls and vertical vegetable gardens could be used for producing vegetables and fruits, living walls are more focused on beauty than production of food. This form of gardening could be done either in your apartment or in your small backyard garden.In vertical gardening you train the vegetable plants to grow upwards. They have designed specific structures that contain the entire garden within a small area. With the proper frames and cross shelving setups, you will find it’s rather simple to train your plants to grow vertically.There are ready-made vertical gardening kits you can buy that will eliminate the guess-work in constructing your setup, however if you want to you can do-it-yourself route. If you decide on a DIY method, be sure that the design structure you”re using to build your vertical vegetable garden is capable of holding the materials, soil, water, and the plants you want to grow in your garden as well as the vegetables it will produce. While you can find detail information online as to the weights of the different parts to your new garden. We have found that such ready-made kits can often save a lot of time – not only with setup, but also they prevented lost “growing” time that you may encounter with wilted plants that did not get the proper amounts of water or soil.If you decided to build an indoor vertical vegetable garden, spend some time looking for the ideal location, as your plants will need enough sunlight to thrive. If you are in the city area where large buildings block most of the natural light coming from your patio or windowsills, you will need to buy lamps that produced specific light to help in growing plants and vegetables.If you want a true organic garden, you will want to research how you can apply composting ways to the soil used in your vertical gardens. A proper drainage system is important, as well as good air circulation (whether indoors or out). NASA scientists have researched a variety of vertical gardening methods, which suggest that the supplies and processes of how to grow vegetables and herbs vertically will continue to get better with advance technology. While large grid systems and advanced hydroponic watering techniques may not offer possible solutions for your cement porch, we can use the concepts and the ideas they create and can scale them down to fit our own needs.It would be good to stick to some simple steps to make sure your success as you begin to learn how to work with your space and your climate restrictions when you grow your first garden. For starters, consider growing peas, green beans, cucumber, squash, lima plants, and tomatoes, as they are great climbing plants in nature. As you become more comfortable you can grow other types of vegetables in your vertical garden.Also, be sure you have the supplies you’ll need before planting your garden. This is important for plants that need vertical support, because seeds begin germinating almost immediately and it is best not to disturb the dirt by adding supports at a later time. Also make sure that your vertical vegetable garden is not entwined with shrubs or other plants that may divert water away from your plants or block out their sunlight. Once again, after some time, these issues may not be of a primary concern, as a beginner looking to start their first vertical garden you should keep these issues in mind.Vegetable and herb gardening has always been known to offer “green” ways to lower environmental footprint, but those opportunities has been limited by space and region. Fortunately, with the new fun trend of vertical vegetable gardening, those who live in urban area can enjoy a similar level of increased self-sufficiency as they raise their own, healthy, fresh grown vegetables.

How to Travel and Places to Go

Traveling is an absolutely beautiful activity that a person or a group of people can do. To travel, is to explore not only different places, but different cultures, different foods, different people, new and exciting languages and accents, enjoy the great and vibrant sites and scenery, and smell the fresh fragrant air of another place, not of your own. You will able to venture and explore different lands and paths leading to new and fun adventures that you will remember for the rest of your life.Travel is great in so many ways, it would be almost impossible to name them all. Some of the awesome benefits of traveling are: It is a chance for you to get away and escape your life for a while, you can learn a lot of new things and do a ton of activities that you probably would never had been able to do back home, you meet new people – possibly even life long friends and you will have great memories for a life time.Some of the places that I would recommend enjoying a getaway in would be Italy, London, Mexico, the Amazon rain forest, Thailand and numerous other beautiful scenic areas. Or better yet, visit the place that you’ve always wanted to go to and make that your priority. I’ve listed some tips of how to travel and make your trip the best as possible:Bring ample money with you – Mostly, this refers to credit or debit cards, so that you can have enough money to shop, pick up souvenirs, to pay for your hotel and food and to have just in case of an emergencyBring cameras – Take a video and a still camera with you so that you can make a photo book of the trip when you get back home.Make arrangements early – Make arrangements for your hotel, flight, transportation, tour group (if any), transportation, etc. weeks, if not months ahead of time. You want everything to go as smoothly as possible.Take a close friend or family member – Why not that a friend or a loved one to double the enjoyment and fun of the trip!

S&P 500 Biotech Giant Vertex Leads 5 Stocks Showing Strength

Your stocks to watch for the week ahead are Cheniere Energy (LNG), S&P 500 biotech giant Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX), Cardinal Health (CAH), Steel Dynamics (STLD) and Genuine Parts (GPC).

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While the market remains in correction, with analysts and investors wary of an economic downturn, these five stocks are worth adding to watchlists. S&P 500 medical giants Vertex and Cardinal Health have been holding up, as health-care related plays tend to do well in down markets.

Steel Dynamics and Genuine Parts are both coming off strong earnings as both the steel and auto parts industries report optimistic outlooks. Meanwhile, Cheniere Energy saw sales boom in the second quarter as demand in Europe for natural gas continues to grow.

Major indexes have been making rally attempts with the Dow Jones and S&P 500 testing weekly support on Friday. With market uncertainty, investors should be ready for follow-through day breakouts and keep an eye on these stocks.

Cheniere Energy, Cardinal Health and VRTX stock are all on IBD Leaderboard.

Cheniere Energy Stock
LNG shares rose 1.1% to 175.79 during Friday’s market trading. On the week, the stock advanced 3.1%, not from highs, bouncing from its 21-day and 10-week lines earlier in the week.

Cheniere Energy has been consolidating since mid-September, but needs another week to forge a proper base, with a potential 182.72 buy point formed on Aug. 10.

Houston-based Cheniere Energy was IBD Stock Of The Day on Thursday, as the largest U.S. producer of liquefied natural gas eyes strong demand in Europe.

Even though natural gas prices are plunging in the U.S. and Europe, investors still see strong LNG demand for Cheniere and others.

The U.K. government confirmed last week that it is in talks for an LNG purchase agreement with a number of companies, including Cheniere.

In the first half of 2021, less than 40% of Cheniere’s cargoes of LNG landed in Europe. That jumped to more than 70% through this year’s second quarter, even as the company ramped up new export capacity. The urgency of Europe’s natural gas shortage only intensified last month. That is when an explosion disabled the Nord Stream 1 pipeline from Russia that had once supplied 40% of the European Union’s natural gas.

In Q2, sales increased 165% to $8 billion and LNG earned $2.90 per share, up from a net loss of $1.30 per share in Q2 2021. The company will report Q3 earnings Nov. 3, with investors seeing booming profits for the next few quarters.

Cheniere Energy has a Composite Rating of 84. It has a 98 Relative Strength Rating, an exclusive IBD Stock Checkup gauge for share price movement with a 1 to 99 score. The rating shows how a stock’s performance over the last 52 weeks holds up against all the other stocks in IBD’s database. The EPS rating is 41.

Vertex Stock
VRTX stock jumped 3.4% to 300 on Friday, rebounding from a test of its 50-day moving average. Shares climbed 2.2% for the week. Vertex stock has formed a tight flat base with an official buy point of 306.05, according to MarketSmith analysis.

The stock has remained consistent over recent weeks, while the relative strength line has trended higher. The RS line tracks a stock’s performance vs. the S&P 500 index.

Vertex Q3 earnings are on due Oct. 27. Analysts see EPS edging up 1% to $3.61 per share with sales increasing 16% to $2.2 billion, according to FactSet.

The Boston-based global biotech company dominates the cystic fibrosis treatment market. Vertex also has other products in late-stage clinical development that target sickle cell disease, Type 1 diabetes and certain genetically caused kidney diseases. That includes a gene-editing partnership with Crispr Therapeutics (CRSP).

In early August, Vertex reported better-than-expected second-quarter results and raised full-year sales targets.

S&P 500 stock Vertex ranks second in the Medical-Biomed/Biotech industry group. VRTX has a 99 Composite Rating. Its Relative Strength Rating is 94 and its EPS Rating is 99.

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Cardinal Health Stock
CAH stock advanced 3.2% to 73.03 Friday, clearing a 71.22 buy point from a shallow cup-with-handle base and hitting a record high. But volume was light on the breakout. CAH stock leapt 7.3% for the week.

Cardinal Health stock’s relative strength line has also been trending up for months.

The cup-with-handle base is part of a base-on-base pattern, forming just above a cup base cleared on Aug. 11.

Cardinal Health, based in Dublin, Ohio, offers a wide assortment of health care services and medical supplies to hospitals, labs, pharmacies and long-term care facilities. The company reports that it serves around 90% of hospitals and 60,000 pharmacies in the U.S.

S&P 500 stock Cardinal Health will report Q1 2023 earnings on Nov. 4. Analysts forecast earnings falling 26% to 96 cents per share. Sales are expected to increase 10% to $48.3 billion, according to FactSet.

Cardinal Health stock ranks first in the Medical-Wholesale Drug/Supplies industry group, ahead of McKesson (MCK), which is also showing positive action. CAH stock has a 94 Composite Rating out of 99. It has a 97 Relative Strength Rating and an EPS rating of 73.

Steel Dynamics Stock
STLD shares shot up 8.5% to 92.92 on Friday and soared 19% on the week, coming off a Steel Dynamics earnings beat Wednesday night.

Shares blasted above an 88.72 consolidation buy point Friday after clearing a trendline Thursday. STLD stock is 17% above its 50-day line, definitely extended from that key average.

Steel Dynamics’ latest consolidation could be seen as part of a larger base going back six months.

Steel Dynamics topped Q3 earnings views with EPS rising 10% to $5.46 while revenue grew 11% to $5.65 billion. The steel producer’s outlook is optimistic despite weaker flat rolled steel pricing. STLD reports its order activity and backlogs remain solid.

The Fort Wayne, Indiana-based company is among the largest producers of carbon steel products in the U.S. It engages in metal recycling operations along with steel fabrication and produces myriad steel products.

How Millett Grew Steel Dynamics From A Three Employee Business

STLD stock ranks first in the Steel-Producers industry group. STLD stock has a 96 Composite Rating out of 99. It has a 90 Relative Strength Rating, an exclusive IBD Stock Checkup gauge for share-price movement that tops at 99. The rating shows how a stock’s performance over the last 52 weeks holds up against all the other stocks in IBD’s database. The EPS rating is 98.

Genuine Parts Stock
GPC stock gained 2.8% to 162.35 Friday after the company topped earnings views with its Q3 results on Thursday. For the week GPC advanced 5.1% as the stock held its 50-day line and is in a flat base.

GPC has an official 165.09 flat-base buy point after a three-week rally, according to MarketSmith analysis.

The relative strength line for Genuine Parts stock has rallied sharply to highs over the past several months.

On Thursday, the Atlanta-based auto parts company raised its full-year guidance on growth across its automotive and industrial sales.

Genuine Parts earnings per share advanced 19% to $2.23 and revenue grew 18% to $5.675 billion in Q3. GPC’s full-year guidance is now calling for EPS of $8.05-$8.15, up from $7.80-$7.95. The company now forecasts revenue growth of 15%-16%, up from the earlier 12%-14%.

During the Covid pandemic, supply chain constraints caused a major upheaval in the auto industry, sending prices for new and used cars to record levels. This has made consumers more likely to hang on to their existing vehicles for longer, driving mileage higher and boosting demand for auto replacement parts.

Fellow auto stocks O’Reilly Auto Parts (ORLY) and AutoZone (AZO) have also rallied near buy points amid the struggling market. O’Reilly reports on Oct. 26.

IBD ranks Genuine Parts first in the Retail/Wholesale-Auto Parts industry group. GPC stock has a 96 Composite Rating. Its Relative Strength Rating is 94 and it has an EPS Rating of 89.