I learned how to garden

Gardening is a lot of work. But hard work and effort pays off in the end, usually. 

I have learned the importance of fertilizer. Before this class I thought that you fertilize one time in the beginning and then all you have to worry about it making sure your garden is watered. WRONG! In Florida, the soil lacks essential nutrients that fertilizer provides. 

Also, I just thought that weeds were annoying before this class. I had no idea that they steal your plant's water and nutrients. 

I really enjoyed learning about gardening, even though some of my plants died. I plan on having a small garden in my backyard next year. 

November 27th

Today was basically the last day in the garden. It was bittersweet. All I did was harvest a zucchini and my carrots. It was harder than I thought it would be to pull the carrots out of the ground. I kinda fell over when I pulled out the first one haha. I gave Marissa my zucchini. I felt bad because someone stole hers. Now it's time to start my exam!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

In the garden this week I weeded, sprayed for pests, fixed my beds and harvested zucchini, peppers, and cucumbers. I made zucchini bread with my zucchini for Thanksgiving.

yummyyyyyy

November 13th

Happy Veteran's Day! Due to the holiday we didn't have class. I went to my garden on Tuesday and weeded, fertilized and picked stuff. All that was ready to be harvested was cucumbers. I now have 7. I don't really know of recipes to use them in. I plan on just cutting them up and eating them like chips. 

My garden...super yellow cucumber leaves but they yield a lot 

so pretty

I did, however, find a recipe for a cucumber salsa to put on top of grilled fish that I might try: 

1 cup peeled and diced cucumber

1/2 cup diced red onion

1/2 cup  diced tomatoes

1 tablespoon minced fresh jalapeno chile 

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon chopped cilantro leaves

Salt and pepper

November 6th

Today was an important day in history with elections, Halo 4 was released, and I got to pick my vegetables for the first time. I picked peppers, cucumbers and beans. It was super exciting. I forgot to take a picture of them and when I got home I made a salad with my pepper and cucumbers:

I also weeded, fertilized everything in my garden, sprayed for pests and I had to remove my squash plant because it had a virus :(

When we were talking about organic food today in class I started to think about why anyone would want to buy organic food. I don't buy it because it is expensive. But even if it was the same price as locally grown food I still wouldn't buy it. There is something about fresh, local grown food that just tastes so much better. My dad has a farm and all of the vegetables I eat when I visit are from the garden. Nothing is better than homegrown and canned green beans. As for organic labels, I think that they are fine but people should be more informed about what the labels mean if they are spending so much money on organic food. I think sustainable agriculture means agriculture that is not only economically good but also environmentally friendly.

Collage!!

October 23rd

This week I did the usual weeding, fertilizing and spraying pesticides. I also made trellises for my tomato plants. I will probably have to do it for my peas next week, but we'll see. I was surprised that I really didn't have too many weeds since I missed last week. When I got out to the garden this week I was a little disappointed at first because my plants looked super small compared to everyone else's. However, I had a bunch of beans, cute little cucumbers, a decent sized green bell pepper and a bunch of little green tomatoes. It was sad having to compost all of it because of the pesticides. I also thought a weed was a sunflower and accidently fertilized it, so we'll see how big it is next week haha. 

As for the lecture, I actually learned a lot. I didn't realize that there's a difference between vegetables. Like, some are flowers, fruits, buds etc. 

My carrots and radishes are roots.

My tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, eggplants, peppers and okra (or so it says online) are fruits.

My peas, beans and sunflower are seeds.

My cilantro and basil are leafs. 

My squash and cauliflower are flowers. 

My plot

Zinnia-hope it blooms soon

cilantro yay! 

lonely basil

beans 

carrots

cauliflower

eggplant

zucchini

squash

okra

peas

giant fertilized weed 

cucumber

baby cucumber :)

little bell pepper

new trellises

little green tomatoes