Gardening through the Winter

In Florida, temperatures rarely reach a freezing point where plants will completely die. However, certain plants still struggle to grow, and can even die at temperatures above freezing. The best way to prevent plants in your personal garden from dying is by using protected agriculture methods. While greenhouses are rather expensive for hobbyist gardeners, there are numerous other methods that are much more affordable. One of these is the low tunnel. By bending either metal or another flexible material to form a semi circle structure above the garden, and by stretching a plastic covering on top, a protected area can be formed in which plants can thrive.

Low tunnels are a temporary structure and because of this, the plastic on top can be removed to allow daily access to plants. Low tunnels are perfect for home gardeners because of their affordability. A large number of low tunnels can be created with few resources.

To garden through the winter, even in Florida, protective structures are necessary. These structures are especially necessary if the gardener wants to grow tropical fruits. These fruits grow in regions that are hot year-round. Because of this, structures such as a greenhouse or high tunnel, that increase the internal temperature are necessary to grow tropical fruits.



Example of a Low Tunnel

Composting and Succulents

The food scraps I produce on a daily basis should be composted instead of being tossed into the trash and eventually making its way into a landfill. When food rots in a landfill it goes through anaerobic decomposition. During this process it releases methane into the air. Methane is the leading cause for the smell prevalent at landfills, and also in garbage cans. It is also a greenhouse gas contributing to the warming of our planet. When food scraps are broken down in soil, and in compost, this decomposition is aerobic. In aerobic decomposition, CO2 is produced instead of methane. This gas is much less harmful to the environment and can even be used by plants during photosynthesis.

Unfortunately, I do not have a garden in my apartment, or adequate time necessary to break down my food scraps in a compost heap before I have to move. You need land to be able to keep a compost pile well away from anywhere it might cause a bad smell. I feel that starting a compost pile is not very realistic for most college students but it is something that I have a strong interest in. It makes perfect sense for somebody with the time, land, and means to turn kitchen scraps into compost instead of letting them rot in a landfill.

Propagating Succulents

City Gardening

If I were to have my vegetable garden in a city such as New York, as opposed to Gainesville I would have to change many aspects of my current garden. For starters, all of my plants would be placed into containers with a growing medium as opposed to soil.

When living in the city, many people don't have the time to perform all the maintenance necessary in a garden, the right pot and growing medium can help lighten the daily load. This medium will have a much higher water retention rate and thus can be watered less often. The pot chosen should have adequate drainage as well as the ability to keep the root systems moist even on hot days.

Because of the expensive prices in New York City, I would also want to have an indoor hydroponic garden for tomatoes, peppers, onions, and some leafy greens. This would help me get through the coldest months of winter when all plants outside will freeze. Indoor hydroponic systems are used to help fight weather and supply nutrients to the plant roots directly through water. Because of this they take up relatively small spaces and can even be boosted with artificial light if sunlight is not an option.

Some Jalapeno Poppers I Made

Organic Gardening

After watching lectures this week, I feel like I have good understanding of the history of organic gardening. I found the classifications of organic grades, and the requirements for them to be very interesting.

In order to be an organic gardener, you have to be less concerned with profits than you are about sustainability and safe crop production. By planting a diverse assortment of species you can ensure that your garden is full of different kinds of life all benefiting from each other in symbiotic relationships. Pests are naturally attracted to a glut of produce. This is why large scale crop productions often need to use pesticides directly applied to plants in order to control disease and pest problems. By diversifying what we put in our gardens we can prevent nature from trying to counteract the large amount of produce with pests and other harmful things.

By reducing the need for pest control, we also reduce the need to apply chemicals to our plants. When we apply chemical treatments harmful to pests, trace components often get into the fruits that we consume. These components can be harmful in various ways, thus we need to be careful with what makes its into our garden soil.

I honestly can't remember

 the exact plant this is, maybe Bok Choy?

Bee-Friendly Spaces

In general, bee friendly spaces can be created by paying careful attention to products used on plants, and the plants chosen for your Garden. While some chemicals can be very effective in eliminating fungus and disease, bees can also be damaged in the crossfire. In general, bees are attracted to flowers and will visit a Garden with more flowers. This can be used to a gardener's advantage by carefully mixing various sweet-smelling flowers among the the different beds.

In order to not harm bees, a gardener must be very careful about the chemicals applied to plants. In particular, fungicides have chemicals within them that are very toxic to bees. Any flowers with a particular fungicide on it will actually kill bees that try to pollinate it. Some studies have actually shown bees avoiding flowers that have been sprayed with fungicide. Because flowers and bees have a symbiotic relationship this is also harmful to the flower because it has fewer pollinators to help it spread.

This week we released lady bugs into our garden as a natural way to help reduce the pest population. First we wet our garden, in particular the leaves before releasing a large number of the red and black bugs onto them. It was a great experience, and I am excited to hopefully try the practice one day in my own garden.

I attended class

 but couldn't take a picture without my phone. These ladybugs are available

 for home gardeners to purchase here.

Plant Diseases

Some of the plants in my garden appeared to have some disease. In particular, my tomato plant was looking very sickly. It has had trouble staying up, even after numerous tie attempts and I believe this made it weak and susceptible to disease. While it was hanging down in the dirt, it was more susceptible to fungi and pathogens. Other students in the class seem to have struggling tomato plants as well, but my structural support issues have certainly not helped my particular plant. It seems that maybe the tomato seedlings we transplanted were diseased or the soil is particularly harmful to tomato plants. I made sure to prune the browning leaves, specifically the lower leaves were the most stressed.

I applied fungicide to my plants this week in class and it was an interesting experience. I thought that once plants had a disease of some kind it would be very difficult to control it. Once I watched the lecture I learned that it was as easy as applying a fungicide. I hope that my fungicide is helpful in protecting my plants. I will be able to see the results in the coming weeks. I fear that my tomato plant is beyond the help of any fungicide.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of my hydroponic system, 

this is a similar system I found online

Hopefully I Harvest Soon

I am excited for whenever my first harvest will occur. While many of my classmates were harvesting radishes this week in class, I did not have any radishes survive in my garden. This could be due to my mistakes when planting, or I might have accidentally pulled them thinking they were weeds in their early stages.

I have seen a number of small peppers present on classmates' plants. My jalapeno and bell pepper plants still are not showing any fruit, but I believe I am very close to having harvestable produce. I noticed that my tomato plants did not have any yellow flowers, my tomato plant was struggling to stand upright and even after multiple tie attempts, I would notice it on the ground when I returned to class. This week I believe I have reinforced it enough, and I hope it begins to flower and produce tomatoes soon.

I believe I could harvest my single onion this week, it should be a decent size because it has been in the ground for a number of weeks. I plan on waiting until I can harvest at least a few items together, before removing my solitary onion. I feel a sense of pride in my single onion, so I want to make sure it gets the harvest it deserves.