Starting Seedlings

The original PV Produce group started seedlings indoors by the window in Mr. Craven’s room. We tried starting seedlings at our houses, but starting all of the seedlings at home was simply too difficult for individuals to handle. Based on our experiences, the following is our recommendations for starting seedlings for the garden.

 

Starting Seedlings

1) Many seed packets, nursery owners, websites, etc., seem to recommend starting seedlings 4-6 weeks before the last frost.

We know. How are you supposed to know when the last frost will be? This comes with some variability, but according to http://davesgarden.com,

“Each winter, on average, your risk of frost is from October 15 through April 23.

Almost certainly, however, you will receive frost from November 1 through April 7.

You are almost guaranteed that you will not get frost from May 10 through September 28.

Your frost-free growing season is around 175 days.”

 

2) Start the seedlings in seedling trays at school. We recommend using a paper, compostable tray because once the seedlings grow roots, it will be difficult to disentangle the roots and remove them from a plastic tray without ripping the roots. By using a compostable/paper tray, you can simply tear the tray apart and plant the seedlings in the ground when you are ready to do so without the fear of completely destroying the roots.

(A compostable seedling tray)

Try to get a seed tray that can be filled with water at the bottom so that the seedlings always have water available to them and watering is less messy.

(However, it seems as though the only ones that can be watered from the bottom are plastic containers. Perhaps a compostable seedling tray could sit in a tray of water?)

You can buy soil at the store made for starting seedlings sometimes known as Germinating Mix. Fill the tray with this mix and sow seeds 2 or 3 times deep as they are wide. Allow the seeds to germinate. This will take several days to 2 weeks.

 

3) Once the seeds have germinated, place the tray under a fluorescent light or a grow light. The light should be about 12 inches above the soil so that it doesn’t overheat the soil. You may want to plug the light into a timer and leave the light on for 14 to 16 hours per day and turn the light off at night to ensure the seedlings receive consistent light. If this isn’t possible, make sure that the light is on as soon as possible in the morning and remains on as late as possible before everyone leaves. You may also want to use a thermometer to ensure that the soil is not heating over 75 degrees F. Using a light rather than natural sunlight to start the seedlings is preferable because the sunlight in early spring will not be as intense as the summer sunlight. As a result, the seedlings will stretch towards the window to receive sunlight, resulting in weak, tall, leggy plants. Using a light will insure that all seeds receive consistent light and grow straight and strong.

(Tomato Seedlings under lights)

4) You may want to transplant your seedlings to a bigger pot 4 weeks after sowing them. About a week before planting the seedlings outside, begin “hardening” them off, or acclimating them to outside conditions. Put them in a window rather than under the light or put them outside for a couple of hours each day. Monitor them closely. When the last frost has occurred and the plants seem acclimated to outdoor conditions, plant them outside in the garden. Continue to monitor them closely.

 

Information for this post was gathered at the following websites:

https://www.almanac.com/content/starting-seeds-indoors

http://davesgarden.com/guides/freeze-frost-dates/index.php?q=19426&submit=Go

https://www.gardeners.com/how-to/how-to-start-seeds/5062.html

http://homeguides.sfgate.com/grow-seed-inside-regular-light-bulb-96796.html

http://www.gardeners.com/how-to/seed-starting-faq/7882.html

Hoses

It’s crucial that the garden receives consistent watering each day. To do this, we did what PV Produce initially did and buried a soaker hose about 4 to 8 inches deep underneath the soil where we predicted our plants would be planted. PV produce buried the hose so that the water would go directly to the roots, to ensure minimal evaporation would occur (especially because there are many hours in the day in which the garden is in full sun), and to prevent any risk of fungus developing from leaves getting sprayed with water and not completely drying overnight.

The best time for watering is early morning when it is still a bit cooler. This allows the water to be available to the plants in the morning so that they can better withstand the heat in midday. However, it is not crucial that they be watered in early morning, so they can be watered at another time.

The soaker hoses were then hooked up to a garden hose connected to the spigot outside of the doors next to the staircase.

(The garden hose can be seen running from the garden across the street to the spigot on the wall)

Make sure to keep the garden hose in the grass or snug against the curb to prevent it from being run over by cars or punctured by debris. We used a timer so that the garden was watered for the same amount of time (30 to 60 minutes) at the same time every day.

You may want to run the soaker hose before planting your seedlings so that you can see where the soaker hoses are planted based on wet spots that will appear in the soil.

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(Wet soil from the buried hose can be seen in these pictures)

We ended up having some spots of the garden that the soaker hose did not completely reach, so to ensure that all plants were receiving consistent watering, we ran another soaker hose on top of the soil in the places that needed to be watered. Burying a looping long soaker hose up and down the garden with another shorter hose on the surface to ensure that the whole garden was watered seemed to work the best. However, this may need to be adjusted depending on the plants planted, how well the buried soaker hose reaches all of the plants, etc.

(The soaker hose on the surface can be seen in these photos)

In soils that are mostly made of clay, soaker hoses may not work very well when buried due to the compaction of the soil. The soil around this area consists mostly of clay, but being a raised bed prepared with compost, we haven’t experienced any difficulty with this.

Pt. 3: Benefits of No-Till Gardening

This article is not my work. I am reposting this information, which was originally written by Greg Seaman on his blog “Easy Earth.” The original article: http://learn.eartheasy.com/2009/01/no-till-gardening/

Benefits of no-till gardening

Promotes natural aeration and drainage.

Worms and other soil life are important to healthy soil structure, their tunnels providing aeration and drainage, and their excretions bind together soil crumbs. No-till systems are said to be freer of pests and disease, possibly due to a more balanced soil population being allowed to build up in this comparatively undisturbed environment, and by encouraging the buildup of beneficial soil fungi.

Saves water.

Thick layers of mulch allow water to pass through easily while shading the soil. This reduces water lost to evaporation while maintaining a moist growing environment beneficial for root growth.

Reduces or eliminates the need to weed.

Most garden soils contain weed seeds which lay dormant until the soil is disturbed and the seeds become exposed to light. With no-till gardening, these seeds will remain dormant indefinitely. Of course, some weeds will appear in the beds, borne by wind or birds. These weeds are easy to remove by hand if you pull them early in the morning or shortly after watering, while the soil is damp.

Saves time and energy.

Whether you turn your garden beds by hand or use a gas-powered rototiller, you’ll save energy by using the no-till method. Although some effort is required in gathering materials for mulching, and applying the mulch during the growing season, no digging or turning of the soil is required.

No-till gardening helps soil retain carbon.

Healthy topsoil contains carbon-enriched humus and decaying organic matter that provides nutrients to plants. Soils low in humus can’t maintain the carbon-dependent nutrients essential to healthy crop production, resulting in the need to use more fertilizers. Tilling the soil speeds the breakdown or organic matter, which releases nutrients too quickly. A steady, slow release of nutrients is more beneficial to plant growth.

Builds earthworm population.

The moist conditions of the soil beneath mulch creates the ideal environment for earthworms, whose activity aerates the soil and stimulates root growth.

Helps reduce soil erosion.

A lack of carbon in soil may promote erosion, as topsoil and fertilizers are often washed or blown away from garden beds.

Pt. 2: Creating a No-Till Garden

Step 1: Prepare the soil

Before one commits to trying a no-till gardening method, the soil has to be prepared first to establish a sound, fertile soil structure.

Gardner Greg Seaman writes:

“The soil should be ‘double-dug’ at least the depth of two shovel blades, and large rocks, roots and other obstructions removed. Be sure to remove any perennial weed roots. Amendments such as peat, lime, vermiculite, compost or other organic material can then be worked into the soil.”

This was mainly what last year was about. We spent much of our time preparing the soil with vermiculite, compost, and alpaca manure. The vegetables seemed to do much better, likely for a variety of reasons, but we think that the preparation of the soil was crucial.

This seems like this means that you don’t have to start with this step. Yay!

 

 

Step 2: Once the soil is prepared, add the mulch.

Experiment and research and attempt and see how a no-till garden works out. This is how you find out what works and what doesn’t for this particular garden (and in some cases gardening in general).

Once a good soil is established, the next step in creating a no-till garden is covering the top soil in a “mulch.”

It seems like a proper mulch is what makes a no-till garden a no-till garden.

The mulch can just be spread across the top of the soil. This will keep the soil from drying out, crusting over, and compacting. Any weeds that grow in this mulch can be turned over. This small bit of tilling here and there seems to be fine for keeping away little weeds that grow according to some people; one just wants to avoid frequent deep tilling.

This mulch is not necessarily the straight wood chips that might come to mind, but is often made of several different materials, like a compost, but a little less focused on nutrition and a little more on structure maybe.

The following lists common materials used for mulches:

• Grass Clippings – Cut grass before it goes to seed. Fresh ‘green’ clippings will add nitrogen to the soil, which helps plants grow. If you let the clippings turn brown, you will get the mulch effect without adding nitrogen. (As plants begin to fruit, nitrogen should not be added.)
• Newspaper – Avoid using paper with colored inks; can blow away in the wind.
• Yard waste – Cut up any branches or woody material.
• Compost – Needs to be ‘finished’ compost so as not to attract pests. Compost is a good early season mulch, but as the plant begins fruiting, you should withhold sources of nitrogen.
• Hay – Good mulching material but beware – weed seeds may be introduced.
• Straw – Good source of carbon; excellent mulching material.
• Seaweed – Adds trace minerals, deters slugs. Should be applied liberally because seaweed shrinks considerably when dry.
• Fine bark – Can be acidic. You may need to add lime at the same time.
• Wood Shavings – Avoid shavings from chain saws or tools that leave oil residues.
• Leaves – A valuable source of carbon, leaves make excellent mulch. Apply in thin layers, or intersperse with other materials to prevent matting. Sprinkle soil on top if needed to prevent leaves from blowing away in a strong wind.
• Forest duff – Pine needles, twigs, woody bits are useful, but can be acidic.
  • from http://learn.eartheasy.com/2009/01/no-till-gardening/

 

After reading about this, it seems like last year we made a mulch several inches deep when we were trying to add more nutrition to the soil. This mulch helped to prepare the soil but was never continually replaced as we didn’t think it needed to be kept at a certain level at the time. It consisted of shredded leaves, store bought garden soil, alpaca manure, old plants and grass clippings, wood dust, and vermiculite.  

* The mulch may not be visibly extremely distinct in color from the soil – this is completely fine. The mulch and soil do not have to be thought of as so distinct from each other that they are separate animals entirely. The mulch may just look like regular soil. Our mulch seemed to be softer, richer, and darker than the soil.*

 

Step 3: Planting in the mulch

“When planting seedlings, pull the mulch back and dig into the surface soil just enough to set the plant. The depth of mulch can be only a few inches when seedlings are first planted, then added in layers as the plant grows. Pull mulch away from the stems of tomatoes, peppers and long-stemmed plants. Beds left over winter can benefit from mulch 12″ – 24″ in depth.” (eartheasy.com)

Last year when we made compost/mulch when we were just trying to add a compost to the soil very little weeds popped up through this and it seems to hold in moisture, so it seems like this does work.

“Over time, as the mulch degenerates and settles into the soil, new mulch needs to be added. This should be done in a timely way, because if the soil surface is exposed to direct watering, and heavy rain, it compacts. You may need to break up (till) the soil before planting the next crop, and this defeats the purpose of the no-till method” (easy earth.com).

This is what we did not do last year (because we did not know about no-till gardening at the time). We began with our several inch layer of mulch. Over time though, we didn’t add to it and replaced what broke down. Over time, it degenerated, exposed the surface soil, and compacted. In order to combat this compaction, we would frequently vigorously till the soil to get the same fluffed look as the mulch, but without the added benefits; it looked kind of like sound mulch, but was just old (but still sound) base soil that was turned over. It just needed some extra material added to it to keep in moisture, keep away weeds, and foster an environment for worms and microorganisms to thrive.

 

Step 4: Cut Back on Watering

The mulch will retain moisture, so less watering is needed. Less watering also helps minimize soil compaction and the germination of unwanted weeds.

To water the garden we also recommend a “drip method” of watering, which is really anything that does not spray water like a hose or sprinkler, but drips or seeps it into the soil. This allows the water to get directly to the roots and prevents some water from being wasted by being sprayed on the sidewalk.

VS

We have found that soaker hoses laid on top of the soil and buried 4 to 8 inches into the soil connected to a timer worked best for us. We were in a particularly sunny spot so we watered for one hour at the same time everyday. How you decide to water, how much you decide, and at what time of day will always depend on the plants you are planting, how much sun they receive, and what the soil is like.

 

Pt. 1: Considering a No-Till Garden

As we spent more time in the garden, we began to realize a secret that we had not fully realized upon initially embarking on our gardening journey…………

GARDENING IS HARD WORK!

Over time, we found that the task that seemed to be the most time consuming and laborious was keeping the garden free of weeds. All of us had always heard that weeds were green, leafy, grassy, occasionally spiny, sometimes slightly flowery plants whose purpose in life was to latch on to all other plants and snuff out their life.

Weeds seemed to be in their own separate category of killer plant; a plant against all plants.

(It seems like weeds might be a little more complex than this, and in some cases could even be good? But this is for another blog post.)

 

We would spend hours pulling weeds out by hand and trowel, and then tilling, or turning over, the soil to break up the roots in preparation for planting, and later to keep away the weeds from the growing plants. Tilling accelerates decomposition of old crops, weeds, and any other “undesirable” organic matter.

Before Tilling – notice how much darker the soil is where it has been tilled. The tilling reveals how much moisture is underneath. The dryness and compaction on top is not good for allowing nutrients to seep into the soil. It also decreases aeration and drainage.

The soil has been dried and compacted without the mulch being replaced

4 or 5 hours in 94 degree F. weather became second nature. Sunscreen became a second skin.

There had to be another way….

 

Eventually we made our own form of weed block by covering the parts of the garden we were leaving fallow for the time being with cut open trash bags.

This cut down our weeding dramatically and allowed us to focus more time on the fruits and veggies and their weeds and less on aesthetics of the overall area surrounding the garden. It became too easy.  Suddenly every time we saw a weed starting to pop up, it was no problem; our be all end all solution was trash bags and tilling.

Not only was it easy; it looked nice, picturesque.

The garden after tilling. Notice how dark, rich, and healthy the soil looks as compared to before. 

Fluffy brown soil surrounding growing green plants.Tilling fluffed up the soil, made it look groomed and well maintained.

If tilling looked this healthy, it must be that healthy. Right?

 

A Twist

In our geoscience class senior year we came across an article promoting the benefits of no till gardening.

The article claimed that not only will a no-till garden save a gardner plenty of time, but also foster a much healthier soil as well.

It turns out, soil is a little ecoysystem all it’s own, and routine tilling can disrupt and harm this ecosystem, resulting in opposite than desired effects, including more weeds!

 

As gardener Greg Seaman writes:

“A complex, symbiotic relationship exists between the soil surface and the underlying micro-organisms, which contributes to a natural, healthy soil structure. Digging into the bed can interfere with this process and disturb the natural growing environment. It can also cause soil compaction and erosion, and bring dormant weed seeds to the surface where they will sprout.”

• http://learn.eartheasy.com/2009/01/no-till-gardening/

 

For this reason, when we winterized the garden this fall, we decided that that would be the last time we till the garden. We thought this year we might try a no till garden. Unfortunately, we were all away much of this summer and did not get the chance to try it.

Perhaps you current Take Action gardeners will want to try it now!

 

Compost

Composting is an essential part of gardening and creating healthy, fertile soil in which plants can thrive.

Compost has four main elements: Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxygen, and Water.

 

Carbon

Carbon will come from dry, brown materials such as dead leaves, bark, or dried grass clippings. Carbon materials will help produce heat due to microbial oxidation which will help “cook” the compost .

Nitrogen

Nitrogen materials are usually green/colorful and wet. These include vegetable and fruit scraps and animal manure. Nitrogen materials feed the microorganisms which are oxidizing the carbon materials.

Oxygen

Compost needs to be aerated so that the carbon materials can be oxidized and so the decomposition process can take place.

Water

Water is needed so that the microbial activity taking place can continue so the microbes don’t die and the compost doesn’t dry up and become stagnant.
The ratio of carbon to nitrogen should be about 25 parts carbon to 1 part nitrogen. This balance should be maintained: high C:N ratios can be lowered by adding nitrogenous materials like food scraps, low C:N ratios can be raised by adding carbon materials like dry leaves or wood chips.

Compost Ingredients

Carbon (Brown, Dry Ingredients)

• Leaves (try to shred them, avoid waxy leaves)
• Bark, Wood (shredded)
• Dried grass, weeds
• Newspaper, cardboard (shredded)
• Sawdust
• Dryer Lint (moisten first)

 

Nitrogen (Greens)

• Fresh grass, weed clippings
• Coffee grounds, unbleached filters
• Dead plants, pieces of plants picked from pruning
• Manure
• Diseased plants (compost needs to reach 130 degrees F or more, if it doesn’t, play it safe and throw diseased plants away to avoid spreading plant diseases)
• Algae
• Aquarium Water (fresh water)
• Vegetable scraps

 

Other Things That Can Be Added

• Ashes (very small amounts)
• Dish water (without soap)
• Eggshells (crushed)
• Dairy products (mix well to avoid attracting animals)

Never, Ever Compost

• Plastic
• Styrofoam
• Treated wood
• Anything with heavy metals
• Coal ashes
• Bird droppings
• Meat, grease (sometimes used commercially)
• Animal feces (shouldn’t be used for soil that will be producing food)

 

Sometimes Can Compost/Sometimes Not a Good Idea

• Pine needles (pine needles break down super slowly and can be acidic if they are still green)
• Bones (takes a super long time to break down)

When building a compost pile, start with about 12 inches of carbon material, then add about 6 inches of nitrogen material, then add 2 inches of soil, then shower the pile with a little water. Every month or two, turn the pile and mix it up. Make sure that ingredients are shredded and chopped up so they will decompose more quickly.

(Composter Example)

Compost is ready to use when it is soft, crumbly, moist (not wet). It should also not have a foul odor if everything is decomposed and thoroughly mixed.

(Compost that is ready to use)

After taking steps to make the soil a little more neutral, compost can be added and mixed in with the top 4 to 8 inches of natural soil to make the soil nutrient rich and to help improve its texture. The best times to apply compost are in late fall and early spring.

Compost can also be added at the bases of plants to improve growth.

PV Produce originally made their compost in the trashcans outside of the garden. We also continued to use these trash cans. However, these trash cans are not big enough to make enough compost for the garden (people often brought shredded leaves from home in the fall and other various compostable items which we just poured straight in the garden because the trashcans were too small).

It may be a good idea to replace the trashcans with something bigger that will be enclosed so that the compost won’t attract animals and will be able to heat up to “cook” but will also have small holes to allow air to flow through it.

 

The information from this blog post was gathered from Daron “Farmer D” Joffe’s super helpful book, Citizen Farmer.

Plant Companions

When choosing which plants you want to grow in the garden, you may also want to consider what plants  grow well together. Plants that grow well together are called “companion plants”. Companion plants may improve the soil, provide shelter (taller plants shading plants which require less direct sunlight) and  growth and flavor of the fruit of other plants or may act as a natural insect repellant. For example, we planted basil and tomatoes together because basil improves the flavor and growth of tomatoes. We also planted celery near the cabbage because they grow well together and Celery helps to repel cabbage worms.

When companion planting, you may also want to consider the location of where you are planting plants as some areas of the garden may be better suited for certain plants (factors such as how much shade certain areas of the garden receive for example).

Location of plants can also be important in how some plants affect the soil. For example, one may not want to plant strawberries in the same location that tomatoes were planted the previous season as the two do not grow well together (Verticillium susceptible species such as tomatoes are more likely to infect and kill Strawberries if the two plants are planted in the same spot or near the same spot within 5 years).

Extensive and comprehensible lists of plant companions:

http://www.vegetablegardeninglife.com/companion-planting-charts.html

http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/companion-planting-guide-zmaz81mjzraw

Soil

Having healthy soil is crucial for successfully growing plants. Using sustainable and smart practices to make the soil nutrient rich and to give it a desired texture are crucial in ensuring the soil will stay healthy (not be overtilled, have an overly acidic or alkaline composition, etc.) for a long time. Soil will be the foundation for the gardens success. There is a Chinese proverb that says “a bad farmer grows weeds, a good farmer grows crops, and a great farmer grows soil”.

There are four components of healthy soil: Structure, Texture, pH, and fertility.
1) Structure

Soil structure refers to the manner in which soil clumps together. The structure of soil can be determined by squeezing damp soil between your fingers. If it sticks together in a clump but crumbles when touched, it may be a loamy silt. If it falls apart very easily and doesn’t stay together well, it may be sandy. If it sticks together and doesn’t crumble when touched, it may be clay.

A healthy structure would ideally be crumbly because it allows for roots to easily grow through the soil, for water to be easily retained and drained, and for the soil to be aerated.

Adding organic matter to the soil helps to add nutrients and improve the structure. Soil structure can also be loosened (the soil at school can be pretty clay-like) with tilling, but this should be used cautiously as regular tilling can make the soil too loose and can kill microbes and insects living in the soil which help provide nutrients.

2) Texture

Texture refers to the size of the particles of the soil. Depending on the size and shape of soil particles, the soil can  be sand, silt, clay, or sandy loam. Knowing soil texture can help you make more informed decisions when choosing which plants to grow in the garden.

3) pH

The PH levels of soil are crucial for the success of plants in the garden. Some plants prefer more acidic soil while others prefer more alkaline soil.

We never had a soil test done, but we recommend testing the soil as it will give you a sense of the PH levels of the garden which will then guide you in choosing which plants to plant and next steps towards making the soil more neutral. Knowing the PH levels of the garden will help you in making more informed decisions rather than simply taking a stab in the dark when it comes to choosing plants, composting, etc.

Many garden and home centers (like Lowe’s) carry soil testing kits that can be quite accurate for around $10.00. There are also various do-it-yourself soil testing methods described online.

4) Fertility

Soil Fertility refers to the nutrients in the soil. Healthy soil is nutrient rich so that it can feed plants.  Nutrients can be added to the soil with various organic fertilizers.

 

More on soil: https://www.thespruce.com/the-dirt-on-soil-1403122?utm_term=how+to+test+soil+for+ph&utm_content=p1-main-1-title&utm_medium=sem&utm_source=gemini_s&utm_campaign=adid-c24da089-5e9f-4f53-9345-19bfac7e0934-0-ab_tse_ocode-33116&ad=semD&an=gemini_s&am=exact&q=how+to+test+soil+for+ph&o=33116&qsrc=999&l=sem&askid=c24da089-5e9f-4f53-9345-19bfac7e0934-0-ab_tse

https://www.thespruce.com/easy-diy-soil-tests-2539856

On Making Mistakes

When you first start gardening you might be confused why plants that grow really well at home don’t grow very well at school, or why a certain plant always dies, or why you can’t seem to get your seedlings to live, or you might have trouble figuring out where to plant your plants, or you might become frustrated with trying to understand the ph levels of the garden. Don’t give up.

Gardening is a process that takes a lot of work and can be really confusing at times but is also very rewarding.

You would think it would be pretty simple. How hard can it be to plant some seeds in the ground and get them to grow? It turns out, it can sometimes feel inexplicably hard.

One time Mr. Tornambe said to us “Have you ever noticed that older people are always great gardeners? It’s because they’ve had so much experience with gardening and learning from trial and error.”

Hopefully the information on this blog can help you by giving you the information we wished we would have known when we were first starting out.

A Brief History of the Take Action Garden (Inception – 2017)

The Take Action Garden began as a graduation project with many enthusiastic, helping hands. The group worked hard to make a large rectangle of school property into a flourishing garden full of fruits and vegetables which the group used to sell at a local farmer’s market, thus giving the group it’s name, PV Produce.

Unfortunately, after everyone in the group graduated, overtime new members struggled to keep the large garden going in such a prosperous state.

When our “generation” of the garden group began working on the garden about 4 years ago, the team consisted of three members (which later grew into four members: Casilda Fleurant, Mary and Cali Ragland, and Emma Roberto).

With limited experience from gardening at home, we were unsure where to start.

 

The Garden 2014-2015

We began by doing what we were told the original PV Produce team did and prepared the soil for the coming spring. That fall, we pulled out dead plants and mixed compost and dead leaves into the soil from the school compost bins and covered the soil with trash bags.  Throughout the winter, we made a list of what plants we wanted to plant in the garden that spring. We chose only to use half of the garden as the garden was enormous and we weren’t sure how to handle taking care of such a large space.

Once spring came, we determined where we thought we were going to plant our plants and then placed a soaker hose in the ground around the area. We hooked this soaker hose up to a timer in order to insure that the garden would receive consistent watering every day even when we wouldn’t be able to visit the garden.

That Spring, we also received a donation of 21 tomato plants from Mr. Tornambe. We planted the seedlings along the side of the fence away from the wall. We learned that there are different types of tomato plants ((Determinate Varieties: grow to be about 2 or 3 feet high, bear fruit, and then growth focuses on ripening that fruit) and Indeterminate Varieties: which will continue to grow to an unspecified height and bear fruit until frost) and how to prune a tomato plant.

In addition to tomato plants, we also planted a small variety of other plants from seed as well. However, only a small portion of these plants survived because once summer started, we ended up not being able to visit the garden for about 2 to 3 weeks. Just because a garden is getting consistent watering everyday does not mean it shouldn’t be tended to for this long. Ideally, a garden should be checked on every day. However, this might not be possible and it can be visited every 2 or 3 days to make sure it is well pruned, that the hose hasn’t been unplugged, that everything seems to be doing well, etc.

Due to our lack of tending, when we finally visited the garden it was a jungle. The unpruned indeterminate tomato plants had taken off; they were higher than the fence and pretty much had taken up the entire garden, towering over and crowding out the determinate tomato plants and all of the other plants. And, the tomato plants weren’t the only thing that grew. Long grass and weeds on the fallow side of the garden grew knee high. We now knew why PV Produce used to cover the garden in tarps over the winter: to avoid weeds growing in the prepared soil in the spring.

Shocked with the overgrowth, we (and a helpful group of other members of Take Action, including parents, who saved the day) cut down all of the long grass and weeds and thoroughly pruned the tomato plants (and discovered some growing zucchini in the process).

 

The Garden 2015-2016

Now having had one season of garden preparation and growing under our belts, we knew that we would be able to learn from our initial mistakes and use our experiences to make the next season’s garden better.

Before garden preparations could begin, we needed to take care of the family of mice that were living under the garden box (as we were told they had been coming into the school). The Garden group and much of Take Action caught the mice and released them away from the garden.

We began the same way we began the previous season. We mixed compost, dead leaves, and now Alpaca waste (from Emma’s neighbors with pet Alpacas) into the soil and covered it with tarps and trash bags. We did this several times.

Then, throughout the winter we researched what plants we wanted to grow in the garden (including when certain plants should be planted, the amount of sunlight and water each plant should receive, the type of soil our garden has (although we never got a soil test done!), the levels of acid required in the soil by each plant, the best spot of the garden to plant them in, what plants should be planted near each other, etc.).

In the past, we had heard that PV Produce used to grow seedlings inside by the window in Mr. Craven’s room and different members of PV Produce would come up and check on the seedlings each morning. This is likely the best option when starting seedlings for the garden considering that all members get to monitor the growth of the seedlings and ensures that the seedlings receive constant care.

Mr. Tornambe had told us that he starts his tomato seedlings at home under a lamp to ensure that the seedlings receive constant and consistent sunlight. If one is growing seedlings for a home garden and is growing a lot of one type of plant, this is probably the best option because then you can monitor your own seedlings yourself and you know they are getting consistent sunlight.

Around April, we began trying to start our own seedlings. However, some members of the group took seedlings home to start them  under a lamp and planned to bring them in when they were old enough to be planted in the garden (which should only take about a week or two and should be planted after the last frost has occurred). However, managing tons of little seedlings with a busy high school schedule is difficult and too much responsibility for one or two members of the group. Due to the difficulty of managing the seedlings (which need daily care), many of the seedlings died or once they were planted in the ground they died soon after.

After the seedlings died and school ended, young plants were purchased from a local nursery (Miller’s Greenhouse) and were planted in the garden by mid to late June. This is very late for seedlings, but a little more acceptable for young plants.

With constant attention throughout the summer, the plants did flourish and produced fruit. Tomatoes, celery, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, Swiss Chard, Zucchini, Cucumbers, Cabbage, Green Peppers, Brussel Sprouts, Purple and White Eggplant, a cantaloupe, Rosemary, and Basil grew.

 

We’re not quite sure why but Zucchini and Swiss Chard seem to grow really well (perhaps because they both like full sun?). The Broccoli, Cauliflower, and Cantaloupe never bared fruit (the Broccoli and Cauliflower were eaten by insects and the cantaloupe did not seem to grow very well).

 

 

(A map of the 2015-2016 Garden)

We did not cover the entire garden with trash bags and tarps. When the warm weather came, this resulted in many weeds growing in the fertilized dirt. To prevent having to do a back breaking amount of weeding, make sure to cover all areas of the garden that are not being planted in to ensure that the soil does not receive sunlight to grow weeds.

 

Garden 2016-2017

Once the fall came, many of the greens (cabbage, swiss chard, celery) continued to grow as many greens like cooler weather. Because these plants were still producing, we let the garden continue into late October or early November. Then we pulled everything out and put it in the composter.

Mr. Tornambe advised us that we didn’t really need to put a whole lot of fertilizer in the garden in the fall as this would really only help fertilize weeds in the Spring. So, we added minimal fertilizer (compost, etc.) and waited to add more fertilizer in the Spring for the plants that would be planted.

Unfortunately, due to the busy schedules of the graduating members of the group, the garden was left fallow this season.