Harvest #2

Organic Agriculture

This week, the first fruits of all my labors this semester were harvested! I was able to pick a variety of vegetables that were plump, juicy, and ready for consumption. Take a look below to see my plunder!

As you can see from the picture above, I picked two heads of red lettuce, one head of green lettuce, two squash, an eggplant, a zucchini, and lots of beans.

After spending most of my time in the garden collecting my goods, we came together for a class discussion about organic agriculture. Here were some questions posed during the discussion:

1. Why (or why not) do you choose to eat organic foods?
2. Does the Organic label suit your needs?
3. What do you think sustainable agriculture means or should mean?

In regards to the first question, I would have to say my decision of whether or not to eat organic foods usually comes down to price. If the difference in price between organic and non-organic food is reasonable (I can't say I have a hard figure for the acceptable markup), I might choose to buy organic. However, more often than not my shallow, college-student pocket dictates my purchases.

We uncovered some information about the labeling that is associated with organic products.There are four categories of which food can be assigned based on its organic content:

• 100% Organic
• Organic (95% or more organic ingredients)
• Made with Organic Ingredients (At least 70% organic ingredients)
• Less than 70% Organic Ingredients

If a product falls within the first two categories, it may employ the use of the Organic Seal shown below.

I think this is a suitable labeling system once someone understands what each label means, but I have a feeling most people probably aren't familiar with these formal definitions (at least I wasn't).

Lastly, we touched on possible meanings of sustainable agriculture. I've always thought of this in the sense that the types of foods that we are growing and the techniques by which we are growing them must satisfy the population, enhance the growing environment, and limit the use of non-renewable resources. Libby brought up a valid addition to this definition, which is that sustainable agriculture needs to be cost effective for the grower and consumer. Otherwise, no matter how beneficial our practices may be to the population and environment around us, we won't be able to consistently afford them.

I'll leave you with an interesting link about Compost Tips for the Homes Gardener. This is a link from EDIS, a single-source repository of all current UF/IFAS numbered peer-reviewed publications. This site has lots of information about topics regarding (as quoted by the website): profitable and sustainable agriculture, our environment and natural resources, 4-H and other youth programs, Florida-friendly landscapes, communities that are vibrant and prosperous, and economic well-being and life quality for individuals and families.

Check it out!

Garden Scavenger Hunt

Plant Anatomy

Another week has passed, and the weather in Florida is becoming less and less miserable. It's actually somewhat pleasant in the evenings, which makes gardening far more enjoyable. In class this week, we discussed the anatomy of plants by breaking them down into basic plant parts. First, there are the roots, which are underground and are responsible for anchoring the plant, absorbing water and nutrients, and storing food. The stems support the leaves and flowers, and also transport water and nutrients. Leaves are tasked with the all-important job of photosynthesizing in order to provide power to the plant. The fruit of plants house and disseminate seeds, which are the reproductive units of plant.

Using this information, the table below shows which part(s) of our plants that we are using/eating:

Out in the garden this week, I saw major growth in several of my plants. Unfortunately, since the pesticides used in our gardens restrict us from eating anything until November, I was forced to throw away many of the vegetables that were close or ready to harvest. The pictures below show a large zucchini and many beans that suffered the fate of the compost bin.

I also noticed some Anaheim peppers starting to emerge!

My remaining time in the garden was spent weeding, fertilizing (with our new, weaker 6-6-6 fertilizer that allows us to use more at a time), and setting up stakes and trellis for my tomato plants. I will have pictures and more details about the stakes and trellis next week!

Garden Pests

This week was all about pests! In class we covered several varieties of insect pests and how these pest affect the health and quality of plants. Garden pests can be divided into two categories, as shown in the table below:

As the names indicate, chewing pests bite into the leaves and fruit of plants, either cutting it away or eating the plant matter, while sucking insects suck the nutrients from the leaves and can spread disease. Some pests that are notably present in our gardens are aphids, caterpillars, grasshoppers, and whiteflies.

As mentioned before, we use organic insecticides in our gardens to ward off pests. In, there are also beneficial insects that hep control pest populations. They can be split into predators, which eat the pests, and parasitoids, which lay their larvae inside the pest insects to feed on as they develop.

In other exciting news, I have long-overdue pictures of my garden to share. In the garden this week, we did the usual weeding and fertilizing, and next week I plan on staking my tomatoes to provide them with more support--but more on that in my next post. Enjoy the pics below!

Large zucchini developing

Several Ladybug peppers

Eggplant beginning to appear

Squash plants getting very large

Lots of new lettuce

Newly planted cauliflower

Carrots finally sprouted

Tightly packed bean plants

This week was a bit of an off-week in lecture, as we had our first quiz. So while there's not much information to cover regarding plant growth topics, I'm going to instead talk a little bit about my personal food buying habits.

I primarily buy my food at Publix Super Markets...their weekly BOGO deals are impossible to pass up! As far as fresh versus processed foods, I would probably say that the bulk of my food is in some manner processed. In college, on a tight budget and with little free time, this is almost inevitable. I do try to supplement these foods with a mix of fresh fruits and vegetables from Publix and elsewhere.

One of these other places that I occasionally shop at is locally owned and operated supermarket called Ward's. While I primarily just buy produce from Ward's, I also can't pass up their delicious, freshly ground, natural honey roasted peanut butter and almond butter. If you ever find yourself at this establishment, don't pass these up.

Shifting gears, we had a somewhat soggy day in the gardens this week, with a steady light shower persisting for most of the time outside. An unfortunate outcome of the poor weather is that I again did not get to take pictures of my garden! As sad as this news is, I'll try my best to give a descriptive update of my garden and wait until next week to end the pictorial drought.

ATTENTION: From here on out, it can be assumed that I start every day in the garden weeding. I don't feel the need to constantly mention this exciting phenomena, and frankly I get quite bored at its mentioning.

We received more transplants this week, and thus I added two cauliflower plants to my garden. There seemed to be a big improvement in many of my plants this week. My beans, squash, and zucchini all appeared to explode in size. My peppers are looking healthier and not quite as yellow as before. My tomatoes are also looking greener and improved, but most are severely struggling to stand up straight. I added extra soil to the base of each tomato plant and packed it against the leaning side to add support. I'm hoping the wind and the rain don't undo all of this work.

As a whole, my garden seemed to be less affected by pests this week compared to weeks past. An interesting contradiction to this point is that a strange silvery coating appeared on the leaves of my squash. Apparently, I was not alone in this affliction, as many other students in the class noticed the same behavior in their own plants. Our instructor Libby tracked down an explanation, and passed along the information that this is caused by feeding of immature whiteflies. To control these whitefly populations, I'll need to make sure I spray the leaves of my squash (and other plants) with the neem spray pesticide, taking special care to spray both the top and the bottom of the leaves.

That's it for this weeks longer than usual rant. I'll be sure to add plenty of pictures next week to break the recent stream of tiresome text.

Plant Growth Environment 2

In class this week, we covered topics regarding nutrients in plants: where plants get nutrients, which nutrients are essential, what happens if plants are deficient of nutrients, and methods to correct these deficiencies. An essential plant nutrient is a chemical element that is important to a plant's growth and survival. There are 16 chemical elements in total that fulfill the nutritional needs of plants. I've organized these elements into the table below, which shows where they belong categorically.

To account for any nutrient deficiencies in plants, fertilizer is often used to feed the plants and enrich the soil in which they grow. The main ingredients of most fertilizers are the primary macronutrients: nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.

In the garden this week, everyone had to be on top of their game, as we were going to get graded on our garden maintenance. As usual, I started the day weeding. After eradicating countless weeds, I checked my existing plants for any visual signs of nutrient deficiency. Many of my peppers had yellowing leaves near their base, which is a sign of nitrogen deficiency, so I fertilized my peppers to help correct this issue.

In other exciting news, we received our lettuce transplants this week. I planted eight lettuce plants, each six inches apart, and fertilized. Unfortunately, I didn't have a camera on hand this week, but I will update with pictures at a later date!

To finish up my day in the garden, I again applied Thuricide and Neem to my plants to ward off pests. Many of my plants are showing signs of pest activity, so I am hoping this treatment will help to reduce the damage in the future.

Plant Growth Environment

Another week has passed, and my garden is clinging to life. My vegetables aren't looking particularly strong at the moment, but I'll get back to that in a moment. First, an update on what we discussed in lecture this week.

In class, we primarily focused on climate factors that affect crop growth. These factors include temperature, precipitation, humidity, light, and wind. Here in Florida, the extreme conditions impact the types of plants we can grow and how we grow them. North Florida is part of climate zone's 8 and 9, which designates that the average annual minimum temperature is between 10 and 30 degrees F. Gainesville in particular has a frost free period of 221 days. These facts all point to the fact that Florida is hot. Really hot. Really, uncomfortably, unbearably hot (not to mention, humid). These conditions dictate when our planting season occurs in Florida, which is quite different from much of the country. To protect crops from the heat, we avoid growing in the hot season and use other techniques such as shade cloths to control the temperature around them.

So this week in the garden, we started as we always do: weeding. As always, this is an incredibly enjoyable weekly experience. Hunched over and crouched in the dirt, tearing out invasive plant species in the stunningly beautiful Florida sunshine (those of you failing to detect my facetious tone, see the underlined text above).

After weeding, I reseeded one of my zucchini plants that failed to sprout. It is still to hot to plant some of our vegetables such as the lettuce, so most of the remaining time was spent fertilizing my existing plants and treating them with pesticides. To fertilize, I dug out a shallow channel surrounding each plant and sprinkled in some fertilizer. The image below shows one of my tomato plants getting the treatment.

Tomato plant being fertilized

As you can see from my next picture, my young tomato plants are in need of some nutrients. They aren't looking great right now, but I'm hoping I'll be able to help them make a comeback.

Wilting tomato plants

As I mentioned, I've been treating my plants with pesticides to combat the various insects attempting to destroy my garden. Among the culprits are caterpillars and whiteflies, the latter of which seem to be swarming around all of my plants. The images below show some evidence of of these pests on my plants, and what I'm using to keep them away.

Bean leaf showing insect damage

Thuricide, to combat caterpillars

Plant Improvement

This week in class, we discussed the history of plants and plant improvement. One of the topics that was largely discussed was hybrid plants. A hybrid plant is the genetic crossing of two pure plant lines that each exhibit uniquely favorable characteristics with the goal of creating a plant that has all or most of the combined characteristics. While this may require a lot of work and extra funds to accomplish, the quality of the resulting plant and its yield are often worth the effort. An important point is that the seeds of these hybrids can not be saved for the following season, because they will not grow plants true to the qualities of the hybrid.

Now for an update on my garden! This week was spent mostly weeding, but I was able to plant a few more vegetables, including basil, cucumber,  and scallions. All of these vegetables were planted by seed, so there's not much to show yet, but here is a little cucumber plant just breaking through the soil:

Cucumber sprouting

The cucumbers were planted each a foot apart, while the basil was planted about two seeds per foot, and the scallions were crammed in every few inches.

As for my vegetables planted two weeks ago, the bean varieties have all broken ground and are coming in nicely!

Bean varieties

I also sprayed all of my visible plants with an organic pesticide designed to keep caterpillars away. This should help protect my tomato and pepper plants as they continue to take root. Take a look at how they are progressing:

Tomatoes

Anaheim Joe Parker Peppers

Seeds vs. Transplants

This week I started my vegetable garden by planting some seeds and transplants in my beds. Before I get to which plants I added, I want to discuss the pros and cons of seeding and direct sowing. The table below shows some advantages and disadvantages to each method.

In my garden this week, I used transplants for my tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant. I also planted seeds for my beans, carrots, squash, and zucchini. There will be more to come next week!

Check out the pictures below of my (very premature) garden.

Tomato transplants

Carrot and bean plant bed

Peppers (near) and tomatoes (far)

Garden Plot Plan

Here is the basic layout of my garden!