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.