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

Day 3: Fun with Fecal Matter

Day 3: Fun with Fecal Matter

On Tuesday in class, we had a guest speaker who informed us on the topics of plant genetics and breeding and also the importance of being educated on the foods we eat on an everyday basis. Matt, the speaker, was very informative and did a swell job in his role as guest speaker.

We then headed out into the real world of farming in order to embark on our next vegetable-related activity. To many of our classmates' dismay, we were informed by our teacher, Carlos, that we are going to be applying animal feces to our plants. The purpose of the manure was to add organic matter to the soil so it may retain all the micronutrients my plot needs in order to become the best and most bountiful garden it could possibly be.

To make it worse, UF's too cheap to buy us gloves so we manipulated the ever-so-smelly poo(yes, thats one big pile o'poo :o) with our hands as you can see below.





Upon arriving at my plot, I was pleasantly surprised at what I saw; my garden was thriving. The three bean types have sprouted nicely. The tomatoes have shot up very nicely and are showing great promise for the salad I will eventually make with them. And Lastly, the black Beauty Eggplant and Georgia Collared greens also showed nice growth and actually the yellowing in each of the leaves has subsided most likely due to the flawless execution of the application of fertilizer last week


Take a look at the growth progress:

I am very pleased to say the least.

Well, once again I am out of time, see you next week.

Stay golden,
Mitch

Day 2: The Bounty Begins

Day 2: The Bounty Begins

Today, we learned how to the calculate and apply the right quantities and types of fertilizer and irrigation volumes to plots of land depending on the acreage itself. This information itself proved to be very helpful in the application of fertilizer to my own plot of land.

Upon seeing my plot of land for the first time in two weeks, I was very surprised to see the results! My plants had grown significantly. Specifically, the Roma tomatoes, Black Beauty Eggplant and Georgia Collared greens all sprouted up out of the ground and were well on their way to making my garden a bountiful one.

These pictures, as seen below, highlight the growth of the three species I planted.

    

The work we did today consisted of a variety of farming tasks. First, we weeded our existing plants and documented their growth as seen above. Then I planted three different species of the ever-so  magical fruit, beans, in each row of my plot. I then watered those and the rest of the plants as seen below.

After this, I applied fertilizers and pesticides to that of my plot to foster further development into what, will one day, be a very bountiful garden. I dug small trenches around all my crops and applied the fertilizer as directed earlier in lecture and then sprayed a small amount of pesticides on each plant to prevent pesky bugs from the tragedy of ruining my potential harvest. The amount of fertilizer as as seen below was spread between all 9 of my plants.

That is about the extent of my update for this week. I will keep all my loyal subscribers updated on the progress of my plot.

Well, I'm out of time for the week so...

Until next time!
-Mitch

Day 1: The Planting

Day 1: The Planting

My first vegetable gardening class was a very learning-filled experience for me and my classmates overall. We prepped the land using basic gardening tools such as hoes and rakes to make our 10x15ft plots of land adequate for farming.

On 9/1, I planted a few varieties of veggies. Specifically, I planted Roma tomatoes, Black Beauty Eggplant and Georgia Collared greens. I will continue to monitor their growth deep into this semester and report back my findings.

I will be keeping a weekly blog on my plants growth and progress along with some progress pictures to come.

Looking forward into the class, I am eager to learn some new methods and plant new, exciting species of plant-life. I hope that my garden, upon completion at the end of the semester, can truly be described as bountiful.

Until next time,
Mitch