Day 10: Big Ole Bounty

This week in vegetable gardening was a very fruitful one for me and my fellow classmates. It truly was a pleasure to see how many people had successful crop harvests that resulted from the long hours we put in all semester.

 It was also very funny to see that the one kid who liked eggplant in the class hauled in about 10 for himself just because word of his estranged food preferences traveled through the class grapevine.

My plot, after weeding and watering,  took in a very nice harvest. As you can see below, my roommates and I will be eating like kings tonight.

I was very pleased to see that my sunflower was perhaps one of the highest in the class. I am going to take this home to display on my kitchen table in a solution of water, sugar and lime that Carlos has suggested.

Well, that's about all the time i have for today. As always...

Stay Golden,
Mitch

Day 9: The Roommates were pleased

Today, in class, we continued our harvest of all of the crops we have planted thus far. I was very pleased to see that more collared green leaves, a very sizable eggplant, some tomatoes and bean sprouts were all ready to be harvested.

Here is my plot as of 11/17/15:

Under Carlos's direction, I harvested these crops and started thinking about all the great recipes I could incorporate these tasty veggies into. The crops just after their harvesting can be seen below.



                                           


I brought my harvest home for the roommates and they were pleased to say the least. After cooking up some fried vegetables with the pasta we had that night, we couldn't help notice the significant difference between fresh picked vegetables taste versus non-fresh.

After this, we headed into the class to learn about some more vegetable knowledge with Carlos.
We learned some very knowledgeable things and then parted our separate ways until after turkey day.

Well that's about all the time I have for today.

As always, Stay golden,
Mitch

Day 8: The Bounty Begins

Today, in class, I had about 2 weeks worth of weeds to pull and some basic garden maintenance  to do before I could evaluate any of the plants for harvesting.

Here is my plot as it looks today. I am very pleased with the progress that has been made over the past few weeks.

After about 30 minutes of weeding and watering, I started to examine some of my plants and, to my surprise, many were ready for some harvesting.

This eggplant, perhaps my biggest crop made so far, is almost ready to be harvested. Hopefully next week it will be ready to take home.

Then, as a class, we started to harvest some of the crops we have been taking care of for so long. It was nice to see some real reward out of the hard work we have been putting in week after week. My harvest specifically consisted of some collared greens, a tomato and a few radishes. I plan to prepare and eat them very soon and see the deliciousness that are fresh, home-grown vegetables at work.

These are pictures of the bountiful feast which I took home from class on tuesday:

 

Overall, I have many plants on the cusp of being harvested and this excites me greatly. I look forward to the day where I can harvest all of my tomatoes and bring them home to my roommates to show them I am not a failure at gardening like they think i am.

Well that's about all the time I have for today.

As always, Stay golden,
Mitch

Day 7: Feeling a little ill

This week, during class, I, unfortunately, was feeling very ill and also, to my own dismay, had a business finance test that night and could not attend class. I contacted Carlos, my teacher, and told him of this predicament and decided to check on my plot later on in the week.

I stopped by the plot to see everything was essentially in order and did a little bit of weeding in order to further facilitate my garden's quest to be truly a bountiful one.

I noticed all my plants were sprouting but it was a little too dark to update this weeks progress with pictures. There will be more pictures and descriptions of the activities we do coming up this Tuesday after class.

Well, that's about all the time we have today,

As always, Stay Golden,
Mitch

Day 6: Called on Account of Rain

Today, upon driving my car to class because it was raining, I learned something very interesting after I parked. Immediately after I pulled in to my spot, another car pulls up next to me that put mine to shame; a fresh, clean new 2015, gray mustang. I was rather surprised to see none other than Carlos, my teacher, step out of the car and approach me with a smile. We then talked about how fresh his car was then we headed inside to class to get down to business.

We then ran over some practice problems involving fertilizer and water irrigation application in order to determine the quantities of each that needed to be applied. I was rather surprised that a lot of the class did not understand the concepts at hand, but I suppose that was why we were reviewing it again.

After the class seemed to have a grasp on the two concepts, we saw something interesting; the camera above the white board, which I am not sure anyone even noticed before, started moving creepily back and forth. Someone, somewhere was watching us learn about the intricacies of vegetable gardening and it, for whatever reason, was unsettling. Nevertheless, it was probably just another teacher or TA watching, but who knows? Not me, but I digress.

Beyond that creepy incident, we then learned about some of the basic planting specifications and biologic characteristics of lettuce, cabbage and broccoli. I did not know that broccoli and cabbage were just mutated forms of each other and I found this rather interesting that they descended from the exact same plant. We discussed these two in depth and learned some very useful information about the three aforementioned crops.

As I did not get to check the progress of my plot due to the unfortunate circumstances of it raining all day, I will update my progress again next week. I hope the weeks absence of me not being able to do basic maintenance and nutritional upkeep doesn't jeopardize the bountifulness that is my plot.

Well that's about all the time I have for today once again.

As always, Stay Golden,
Mitch

Day 5: The Plot Thrives

Today, in class, we learned about many of the different hand selection processes of tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. It was quite a surprise to see that the Netherlands was the best at growing tomatoes in the world with their technologically-based agriculture.

We then headed out into the field to check the progress of our vegetables.
Everything has grown significantly and the coloration of all the leaves seems to be healthy.

My Roma tomato plants have shown excellent growth so I had to make another row on the support with twine. A few tomatoes have even started to sprout on the plant itself.

See the progress highlighted below:

We then weeded our plots and prepared to plant three new species of vegetables in our plots; Broccoli,      , and   . We planted the seedlings and watered them in as seen below.

                                                     

We then re-applied cow manure to ensure the soil could retain the nutrients we need in order to foster the development of our healthy plants.

With the semester essentially being half-over, it has been interesting to see the progress from planting, fertilizing and then growth. I look forward to the day when my precious plants spawn vegetables that will truly make my garden a bountiful one.

Well that's about all the time I have for today.

Stay golden,
Mitch

Day 4: A Sad, Sad Day

Day 4: A Sad, Sad Day

We had an unfortunate loss in the plot today. We lost the middle tomato plant of the three due to the inhumane smothering of it by tomato plant 1. It was a sad day and the plant will be missed.

*Cue Sara McLaughlin music*

 

On a positive note, the rest of the plants had great progress. The three species of beans, 2 of the Roma tomatoes, Black Beauty Eggplant and Georgia Collared greens all had good growth progress. My plot is truly becoming a bountiful one.

Today in vegetable gardening we diversified our plots even further. We planted sunflowers in the last section of our plots. We planted them 18 inches apart to insure the correct nutrient intake for each plant. I will keep you updated on the progress of these plants in the future.

The sunflower seedlings as planted are seen below:

 

After that, we watered our plants and then sprayed them with a pesticide and herbicide to assure no pests and weeds get on our crops. We learned today that weeds are defined as anything that gets in the way of human crop growing.

Well, that's about all the time I have today.

Stay Golden,
Mitch