Bed Prep and Compost

Best Practices- Double Digging


The group that I am in is bed prep and compost. Our group separated into two groups two on bed prep and two on compost.
I'm on the bed prep team, and so is Vanessa Alcaraz. The technique that we have started using for preparing the beds is called double digging.
Double digging is done too loosen the soil so that the roots could grow easier down in the soil.
Theses are the steps
Step 1:
The soil should've before hand been soaked with water for 2 hours and then dried partially for 2 days
Step 2:
Loosen the soil with a spading fork and remove weeds if there happens to be some.
Step 3:
Dig the first foot of soil and move to the top of the trench before that.
Step 4:
Take the spading fork and loosen the soil that was on the bottom of the soil that you just moved to the other trench
Step 5:
Starting from another trench did the first foot of soil and move on to the bed that you just loosened its soil for.
Step 6:
Spread a 3 inch layer of compost on top of the now finished bed.

For bed prep to get it done faster we think that it would be easier to have 4 people on digging 2 on one side and 2 on the other. One digging and the other loosening the soil with the spading fork. Also to have another person spreading out the compost on top of the done beds.

Stop Motion Plant

My partner, Daniel Ludolf, and I are planning to plant make our stop motion of a pumpkin. The way we plan on doing it is by leaving the plant at school maybe in the garden because I also plan on having the background change too i think that it would look cool. Also maybe we could at the end carve a face into the pumpkin.

Annotated Bibliographies

"Soil: How to prepare and improve before planting." index. 16 Sep. 2009 .

Take out grass and other existing vegetation

• Use a flat spade
• Make sure that all grass and weeds are out before anything else
• Spread the compost about two to three inches thick

Turn Soil over to a depth of eight inches

• Use a garden spade, fork or roto-tiller
• Break up heavy clods

Composting - a guide for making compost at home."Eartheasy - Sustainable Living. 18 Sep. 2009 .

• This is a list of things that you could put in compost and how to put them in the compost.
• Also says how to start it

"Vermicomposting: Journey to Forever organic garden."Journey to Forever: Hong Kong to Cape Town Overland - An adventure in environment and development, join us on the Internet, all welcome, participation, online education, school projects, free of charge. 18 Sep. 2009

• This is basically a how to on vermicompost including what to put in the vermicompost and what not to put in.

Novak, Sara. "How to Prep Your Garden for Fall : Planet Green." Planet Green : Sustainable Living, Energy Conservation, Earth Day. 18 Sep. 2009 .

• I choose this website because its something that could help us when we start prepping for thw garden beds.

"How to Use Compost in Your Yard and Garden." How to Compost: Composting Instructions — Everything you need to know about composting at home.. 18 Sep. 2009

• This is a website that can basically show how to compost.

Using Beneficial Insects in the Garden." The Garden Helper is here to help your garden grow. 18 Sep. 2009 .

• I was kind of interested in which bugs would be good for the garden and which ones wouldn't.

Senior Project Ideas

Going over the different topics that we went over in Environmental Science on Friday opened my eyes to the different topics that I could possibly base my senior project on.

Water

During the class discussion on water we discussed how limited water is in San Diego, considering we are in a water crisis, the discussion then floated to the different ways that people could save water. The most interesting that I found was the one where you take a half gallon milk container and fill it up with water and then put the jug in the toilet tank and which the jug then displaces the water. I thought that this was the most interesting one cause if you think about it half a gallon of water less each time adds up to a lot of water that your saving, possibly even 10 gallons a day. The weirdest one that I found was the "If its yellow let it mellow". I found this one the nastiest and one that I wouldn't even give a chance too. Hearing all the different ways that people save water got me really interested to want to learn more ways to save water. I know how Margaret doesn't want any boring documentaries this year but I think that I would want to possibly do a video on interviewing different people and finding out how they save water in there own way.

Waste

This was the topic that we didn't get to discuss in class due to the lack of time we had. But I was on the waste team and I found out some interesting facts from the landfill here in San Diego. What I got from "Miramar Landfill | Environmental Services ." were facts about our only active landfill here in San Diego, which is the Miramar Landfill. The most interesting ones I found was that recycling is what’s extending the life of the landfill and two-Thirds of our waste in San Diego can be recycled. These two I found the most interesting because they bought two more questions after I read them. One being

• Where does all the trash go when the landfill reaches its capacity?
• Recycling is extending the life of our landfills to what extent though?

So just overall researching about waste made me more interested in my original idea that I had for my senior project. The original idea was to make a song using the trash that we found kind of like STOMP but not necessarily with just trash can. The only problem that with this idea is that there's not enough environmental science being incorporated into this idea. So what I was thinking was maybe doing a video along with it that included facts that about recycling, the Miramar landfill, etc. So the idea could possibly be a music video.

September.8.2009 Homework

Assignment

Map out home resources

Connections to farming & agriculture, Parents Contacts, etc.

• My parents don't have any contacts with gardening. We do though have a few tools that we could donate to the garden.
• My mom is willing to be a driver to different locations.

Plant Proposal

Banana Tree

1. What sort of plant is it? Vegetable, Fruit, Root crop, tree, bush etc.

i. It is a banana tree.

2. What is the growing season for this plant?

i. Bananas usually form in the late summer and then winter.

3. Should it be grown from seed? If so how long does it take to germinate? Does it require any special preparation? (Ex. some seeds need to be frozen before they will germinate?

i. Well we have the banana tree already I’m interested in clearing up the dead leaves and I’m interested in being responsible for this plant.

4. How much space does it require to grow and harvest a reasonable amount?

i. I think that if we take better care of the banana tree that it could possibly grow more bananas enough for the people at exhibition.

5. What are the soil requirements for this plant? Is it a “heavy feeder” i.e. does it require really rich soil or the addition of specific soil additives?

i. The soil that they need to grow in should be rich, well-drained soul. An acid soil is good with a pH between 5.5 and 6.5. It’s not tolerant to salty soils. The N-P-K Ratios 8:10:8.

1. N-P-K: nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) in fertilizers.

6. Water is the watering requirements?

i. Does it need a lot of water or does it prefer our local arid climate?

1. The leaves require lots of water but not so much that we overwater it.

ii. Is it better to overhead water (by sprinkler) or use drip irrigation (water only at the base to avoid getting the leaves wet?

1. The leaves are what require the most amt. of water. An occasion deep watering does help.

Extra

The plant growing begins to slow down at about 80° F and stops when it reaches 100° F. High temperatures and bright sunlight scorches the leaves and bananas. Temperatures below 53° F cause it to stop growing too. Bananas require wind protection most of the time. Each stalk produces one huge flower cluster, which then dies (this may be the dark purple plant that we saw). The purple banana bud that we saw was the banana blooming stalk. It’s also called the male bud.

http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/banana.html

Calla lilies

a. What sort of plant is it? Vegetable, Fruit, Root crop, tree, bush etc.

i. Calla lilies are flowers.

b. What is the growing season for this plant…remember San Diego has a unique growing climate and some of the information on the internet might say that something won’t grow in the winter but that might not be true for here

i. I don’t know if it’s possible because the planting time is in early spring to early summer.

c. Should it be grown from seed? If so how long does it take to germinate? Does it require any special preparation? (Ex. some seeds need to be frozen before they will germinate?

i. You take the bulb and you plant it in the soil.

d. How long does this plant take to go from seed to harvest? Does it make sense for the time scale of this semester…does it matter? Maybe you would still like to think about how it might benefit the garden in the long term.

i. The blooming time is in late spring so it won’t grow this semester but it will possibly grow next semester.

e. How much space does it require to grow and harvest a reasonable amount? How far should they be planted from one another?

i. The height of the plant reaches from 18” to 24”. They need to be planted deeply, a depth of 4 inches is ideal. Each bulb should be 12 inches apart.

f. What are the soil requirements for this plant? Is it a “heavy feeder” i.e. does it require really rich soil or the addition of specific soil additives?

i. `It needs rich, moist well-drained soil. Tolerates moist soil.

g. What are the watering requirements?

i. They should be watered thoroughly after you have planted them. For the following weeks, until the plants are well established, get into a routine of watering the plants to keep the soil moist. If the soil gets too damp, the plant will rot.

http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf87862289.tip.html

http://www.doityourself.com/stry/planting-and-taking-care-of-calla-lilies

Extra:

There easy to grow. You grow them from the bulb. They also can be yellow. They were originally grown in South Africa. They bruise easily. Roses are popular partners for calla lilies.

What is one thing in the natural world that you are curious about?

What is one thing in the natural world that you are curious about?

I am curious about what it takes to grow certain plants. Why do certain plants need more than others. I am curious about what it takes to make certain plants grow faster and better. I am also curious as to which bugs are possibly good or bad for certain plants, if there are any. Which fertilizers can certain plants use that other plants can't so that we don't grow them near each other.
With the garden I am very curious about the history of it. I am curious about what it was before and why it the upkeep of it stopped. I would like to know about what plants were there before. This could possibly become a documentary of some kind for multimedia with interviewing past gardeners or some NTC people.