Adding Transplants and Learning from Mistakes

The quote "gardening is the art of maximizing photosynthesis in our plants"
holds a lot of truth for aspiring gardeners. Because plants primarily use the photosynthetic process to store energy, by maximizing this process, we can grow the best possible plants. This statement summarizes many different factors necessary to have a healthy garden into a single phrase for Gardeners to always be thinking about. Every time we are working in our garden it is important to remember that all small improvements we make should be oriented towards this larger goal.

Garden Update: This week I replanted some pole beans, because of some improper planting procedure last time. I planted them in a line along the Eastern border of the garden so they could have a proper structure built to support them.  I also fertilized my existing plants and added 2 eggplants and another bell pepper plant. I felt that my garden was a bit empty and wanted to fill at least half of it by the time of our 7 week garden assessment. This was not a requirement, but I hated to see so much of it empty.

On week 7 we will have an opportunity replant some crops from the beginning of the course. It appears that only a single one of my onions survived, So I would like to replant those. My goal is to successfully make a salsa with only ingredients from my garden by the end of th

e course.

Fixing My Transplants

The first person I told about my gardening class was my mother. After moving to New York, she has started growing a number of plants (mostly peppers and tomatoes) outside their rented apartment. She expressed interest in my class and hoped that I would be able to share some helpful tips with her.

Everybody else that I told about my class thought that it sounded like fun, especially when I told them that it focused a lot more on getting your hands dirty, and less assignments on platforms such as Canvas. Most of my classes are online because of my college, this class gave me an opportunity to go outside and get my hands dirty, while still growing some awesome produce I could use and share with friends.

My tomato plant was struggling when I arrived at class. It was being blown over by the wind, and was covered in dirt! I promptly staked it and I hope that next week, after receiving support, it will be much healthier. Sadly, It looks like most of my onions did not survive, I only saw a single recognizable plant. I haven't completely given up hope, but if I do not see a seedling within the next week, I will likely reuse the soil for a different plant.

A Healthy Waldo Seedling

(Day 15)

The Transplanting Process

This week at the Teaching Gardens, we spent our class time transplanting a number of plants aged around 8 weeks old into each of our gardens. I chose 2 jalapeno plants, 2 bell peppers, a Roma tomato plant and a Black Beauty eggplant.

The transplanting process was relatively straightforward. To ensure the future of my transplants, I placed each one in a small mound of compost. This is a much more nutrient-rich medium than Florida soil. Before placing each into a small hole within the mount, I massaged the root ball to help them grow into the soil more easily. I tried being as delicate as possible while transplanting to ensure that no roots were harmed. After that I watered my plants and left class for the day. Because of a meeting I had with IFC at the Reitz at 6PM on Thursday, I was forced to leave class a bit early. I hope that in my rush, I did not miss anything and that I was able to properly complete the transplanting process.

The process was not particularly difficult, but then again, I am only a beginner. I will not know how successful I was until next week, but I hope that by this time next week, I will be writing about healthy transplants.

Zinnia Seedling

Excited to Grow My Own Food!

Since I first witnessed a homestead at a summer camp in middle school, I have been fascinated by the concept of self-sustainability. Because of this, I am excited about the concept of learning how to grow my own food.


I do have some worries about the best ways in which to structure my garden. I understand that it is supposed to be open-ended to let students have full control, but the possibility of not having a successful garden, no matter how small it is, still looms in the back of my mind. I am excited to be growing flowers (Zinnias) in my garden as well as a number of other vegetables. I chose radishes because I thought it would be a great confidence booster to have something fully grown in only the 4-5th week in the class. I also planted onions. My understanding is that they are can be harvested at 6 weeks, but can grow for longer to get larger sized onions. I chose to plant these even though I do not particularly enjoy onions. I am hoping that growing them might give me a better appreciation and allow me to enjoy them more. Overall I am excited to grow my own food for the first time.

Gardening Experience

In terms of starting a garden, I am a complete beginner. I have never had my own garden, only helped others, and worked on a homestead. I have very little experience with caring for my own garden, but I am enjoying everything so far in this class. I spent a number of years at summer camp and I would always take a "homesteading" elective. The camp had a small homestead and seeing them grow their own food, process, and store it had adolescent-me in awe. I thought it was the coolest thing, and I believe this is what helped me develop a desire to start my own garden.

In particular, I would love to feel confident in growing my own food on a small scale. This has always been an interest of mine, but it's something I never saw myself having enough time to learn. Every time a friend, or neighbor has shown me something that they grew in their own yard, I thought it was awesome. It was something that I always had a desire to replicate. When I saw the availability of this class, I knew it was a class I would look forward to each time I had an assignment. I'm looking forward to the next class, where I believe we will start working on our own gardens.