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
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
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
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
Thursday, October 15, 2015
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
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:
Well, that's about all the time I have today.
Stay Golden,
Mitch
Friday, October 2, 2015
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
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
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