Week 5: Weather

The weather in the last week has been great. It’s been sunny with temperatures from high 70’s to high 80’s. Although it was nice weather it felt kind of dry. It’s actually been so hot that even our lettuce in the garden is wilted. As of last week we didn't have any rain. Because of this heat, there has been water restrictions in Acton. This is including watering their gardens if they have any. It started on May 1st and will end on October 1st.  People have certain days they can use water outdoors. People with even numbered addresses can use the water outdoors on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. People with odd numbered addresses can use the water outdoors on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. They also say lawn watering can only occur between 7:00 AM and 7:00 PM and there is no outdoor usage allowed on Mondays. It’s crazy. But, lucky for us, we got rain, a lot of it. It lasted about 3 days. The upcoming weather is predicted to be a little better. Temperatures in the lower 70’s, pretty sunny.   

Weather in the last week

Week 6: Reflection

As our garden project draws to a close we have decided to reflect on what we have accomplished during this project. What follows are a few questions about the garden that we have asked ourselves.

1. What went well?: I think that the construction of the trellis's went well. I also thought that the yield and variety of vegetables that we have grown was a positive result of the garden. I think that the work we did in the garden went well, such as the weeding and observing. Tips for building a trellis

2. What was challenging?: I thought that transplanting the vegetables in the tray to the garden was the most challenging task. Some of the vegetables in the tray did not grow and some of the vegetables we transplanted into the garden were dug up and eaten by an unknown creature.

3. What would you do differently if you did this again?: I think I would plan out each garden plot more thoroughly and I would make a more detailed record of where everything was in the garden. I also think that a fair amount of the problems came from us not having enough people to work on the garden. I understand that I could not do anything about this issue and I am not blaming anyone but it would have been easier if we had more people. Tips for planning a garden

4. Do you see yourself starting your own garden someday?: I do not think I would start my own garden. I do not really have the time to manage and take care of a garden like the one we have. Another reason for why I would not start a garden is I simply do not find it very interesting, there are other recreational activities that I would rather do with my time.    

Week 5: Experiment

This has been a great week at the garden, we have transplanted some of the tomatoes, peppers and , cucumbers. We have also built a new trellis for the cucumbers. Unfortunately the cucumbers are not doing so well in the garden and are beginning to dry up. The ongoing experiment between the unturned and turned plots in the garden has been going well. As of right now the unturned plot has been growing better than the turned plot. From what I have observed from the two plots the turned plot has been growing a little bit slower than the unturned plot, however, the unturned plot is very crowded and does not give the plants very much room to grow. Whereas the plants in the turned plot have more room to grow and do not compete with each other as much as the plants in the unturned plot do. It will also be interesting to see if there will be a noticeable difference between the two plots after all the weeding and thinning.  

the unturned plot is on the left and the turned plot is on the right.

Tips for thinning: http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/seeds/thinning-seedlings.htm 

Tips for weeding: http://www.finegardening.com/six-tips-effective-weed-control

Week 4: Seeds

 Some of the plants have started to sprout in the tray, the cucumbers are growing very quickly as are the peppers. However we made a mistake and forgot to plant the broccoli, so we have been waiting for weeks not knowing why the broccoli hasn't started growing. luckily we discovered it fairly recently and were able to plant the broccoli before the other plants grew to much. The arugula in the garden has also been growing very well. The peas have also been growing very well and have begun to latch onto the trellis, they will hopefully grow to the top of it in the next couple of weeks. Unfortunately as we are doing this garden experiment, more and more repercussions to careless mistakes from when we started have surfaced, we are adapting to them as best as we can. We are a little confused as to why certain plots in the garden are growing faster than other plots, such as the cucumbers in the garden tray.  

Two more cucumbers are starting to sprout

The first Red Knight pepper sprout

     Links to all the vegetables in the tray: Red Knight Peppers, Ace Peppers, Pole Beans, Early Green Broccoli, Akito Cucumbers

Week 3: Work

Work in the garden has yet again been mostly weeding. But so far everything has been going to plan. However some of the carrots are growing very quickly and need to be thinned out. We have also added a pea trellis for, you guessed it, the peas. The trellis is in an A-frame design with strings hanging down from a horizontal support that the peas will grow up. There is also a secondary set of strings that are mounted to the same support and are tied to a lower support which will also support the peas as they grow. The trellis is made out of scrap wood taken from a wood shop class. The trellis itself is about three feet long, three feet tall, and about a foot wide. There are also strawberries coming up in the garden as well, they are being watered and tended to as needed.  

The completed trellis

Guest Blog: Experiment Weeks 3 & 4

Guest Blog Complete by Mr. Mathieu.

We are conducting an experiment to determine if there is a difference between tilling or not tilling (in class we called this turning over vs not-turning over) the soil in two otherwise identical garden plots.  We couldn't find a definitive answer to which method was better, though there is a fair amount of debate.  Hopefully our experiment will shed some light on the issue.

After nearly a month, we are starting to see lots of seeds sprouted in the garden.  In our "experiment plots" we turned over one of the 2 plots and then left the other one unturned and then planted the same seeds in each.  We planted 1 row of arugula, 1 row of Bull's Blood Beets, 1 row of Nelson Carrots, and one Row of YaYa Carrots.

At this point, only one row of the arugula has sprouted enough to compare data on the two plots.  Originally, this area was supposed to have carrots in it, but apparently our plots were not seeded as we had sketched them in our plan.  Taste testing of a plant confirmed the seedlings as arugula.  After 4 weeks, the turned over plot has 84 arugula seeds sprouts and the Un-turned plot has 124 sprouts.  At this point, it also appears that the unturned seedlings are larger than the seedlings in the turned over plot.

This is the turned-over plot.

This is the non-turned over plot.  There are more arugula seedlings in this plot overall.

This is an up-close view of arugula from the turned over plot.

This is an up-close view of the non-turned over plot.  The seedlings are a bit bigger in this plot.

Week 2: Work

Plants are starting to sprout in the garden, the carrots ,kale , peas , and beats have all started growing out of the ground now. Most of the work in the garden has been weeding and plant observation. Their are multiple reasons as to why you should remove weeds and why you shouldn't. Weeds can have both a positive and negative effect on your garden. A positive effect of weeds is they "distract" harmful insects from your plants by being eaten by said insects, this means that the harmful insects will eat the weeds instead of your plants. However one of the negative effects is that weeds will "steal" nutrients from the soil and from the moisture in the soil that your plants need to grow. My advice?, weed your plants regularly for one week, then don't weed your plants at all for one week. Record how your plants grew with and without weeds and see which method works best for you. The vegetables that are going to be transplanted have also gone in, they consist of peppers, cumbers, tomatoes, beans, and broccoli. They will grow in a special bed indoors until they are ready to be transplanted out into the garden.

                                                 

Week 2: Weather

The weather in the past couple weeks have been cloudy, average temperature was around 50 degrees. Some days were a bit sunny but still not hot. It rained for a couple days but nothing too bad. The nights have been chilly, some nights have been very cold. Weathers really crazy here, never really know how it's going to be. The prediction of last frost was the beginning of May. The upcoming forecast is going to be in the high 70’s to low 80’s, some sun, a little cloudy. Plants use chemicals and chemical reactions to grow and reproduce, most of those chemical reactions rely on the temperature. If a plant is too cold or too warm, some chemical processes do not work and the plant can’t grow. Hopefully this weeks weather will help even out the temperature for the plants and make them grow. In my opinion, I think we should fertilize the plants. All plants need fertilizer in some way or another to complete their life cycles. But I would like your opinion too. Do you think we should fertilize the plants?

Week 1: Experiment

Gardeners usually turn over the top layer of soil before planting to get rid of weeds, and make it easier to use fertilizers and plant crops. It also speeds up the decomposition of crop remains and weeds. So what we decided to experiment was the difference between the growth of turned over soil and unturned soil. What we did was plant the same seeds in both the turned over soil and unturned soil. What we planted was a row of Arugula, a row of Beets, a row of Nelson carrots and a row of Yaya carrots. I think that the turned over soil will grow better than the unturned soil. The biggest problem with weeds in the garden environment is that they compete with the plants that are trying to grow. Weeds compete with flowers, grasses, vegetable and fruit plants for water, sunlight and nutrients.

Week 1: Seeds

This week has been very eventful at the garden. A large space in the garden has already been taken up by a myriad of vegetables, some of which are Yaya carrots, Nabechan onions, Arugula, and Red Russian Kale. All of the vegetables that have been planted are outdoors, but we do have plans to start growing tomatoes and peppers indoors before transplanting them outside into the garden. Unfortunately, though, we have not had enough people to actually begin planting indoors. The reason we don't just plant the tomatoes and peppers in the garden right now is because they need to be grown in a more stable environment in order to grow, for more info on transplanting vegetables click here. We hope to start planting the tomatoes and peppers as soon as we have enough people to do it. We are also thinking about what else to plant in the remaining garden space, we were thinking about peas and beans. The soil in about a quarter of the garden has been turned, this means that we have churned up and mixed the soil around before planting in it. 

                  

               The first seeds going in

Week 1: Weather

The first week was mostly partially cloudy with few exceptions like Saturday when was sunny. But looking at the bright side ( got it? bright=sunny) partially cloudy isn't that bad, we still have some spots of sun during the day. What worries me is the temperature even though or plants are early season plants they still need some warmth to grow. Hopefully week 2 things are going to get warmer. Luckily we have an awesome soil we sent samples of our soil to be tested by Umass amherst and they sent us back good news, our soil is very rich on things like phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium what will help our plants grow strong and tall.

Welcom to Our Garden

Welcome to our blog! We are students from the ABRHS MAP program. Our biology teacher gave us an assignment to plant a garden and to write blog about the garden that we are planting. Right now, the garden is empty but the soil is in relatively good condition. Now that the snow has finally melted, we will start planting soon. The experiment will take place all the way through to the end of the year, and will consist of, getting the soil ready, making holes, planting seeds, watering, watching out for pests, and watching the plants grow. The vegetables should be fully grown by the end of the school year, once they are finished we will be using them to cook recipes. We will be updating this blog every friday up until the end of the year. We hope that you, our dear reader, find our blog to be helpful and entertaining, enjoy :).