blog 6 week 3

  We started prepping the soil at the garden to actually begin planting many of the flowers, vegetables, and other plants that we transplanted at Glenville Gateway 105 earlier in the project. Veronica and Mike have a plot of land in the green space behind Michael R. White Elementary School where we were building the hoop house where we are going to plant. We started by clearing off their plot of land because dead grass, weeds, and sticks were covering up the soil because they haven’t tended to the garden since last fall. When we were clearing the weeds with hoes and shovels, we had to make sure we avoided the garlic plants that Veronica planted last fall. It was so cool to see how big the garlic got over the winter. We also learned that Veronica classifies weeds as anything you can’t eat. She told us that different growers have different definitions of what weeds are which I found interesting. We then used a tilling machine which dug up the ground and loosened all of the soil which makes it easier to create rows for the plants and improves water percolation. When the soil was all tossed up, we used a hoe to create a hill in the garden. Veronica said we can plant things on the top like tomatoes which grow very wide, and then we can plant smaller things in the channels. The channels are good for irrigation because the water falls of the hill and gets into the roots. After we created the hills, we covered the hills in fresh soil compost mixture which maximizes plant growth. Veronica was worried because the person who owns the plot of land right next to her just planted a bunch of corn which will limit air and wind when it gets taller which can affect the growth of her plants. It was interesting to see how growers can become competitive with each other and also collaborate with one another. We are now ready to plant the transplanted stuff which is awesome because we have seen the plants grow from tiny sprouts to much bigger leafy plants in just a few weeks.