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.

Fertilizing Plants, and Planting

The amount of fertilizer used for each plant was a bit shocking to me. I did not expect one of those scoops to be used for a single plant. In my mind, that would cause nutrient burn, but my plants still appeared healthy after a week of absorbing the additional nutrients now present in the soil. Even without signs of nutrient burn, I would choose to apply my fertilizer over a period significantly longer than a single day.

If the garden was in my backyard, I would try to add nutrients to the soil over a longer period. Because this class only meets once a week, we put a rather significant amount of fertilizer into the soil at one time. This can lead to nutrient runoff into nearby bodies of water. By spreading out our nutrients we make sure the plant and soil absorb as much as possible to reduce runoff. In my own garden, rather than applying all the fertilizer at once, I would spread around a fourth of the fertilizer every couple days. I think this longer-term schedule would prevent stress or burning of any kind on my plants. Because I can regularly tend to a home garden, I would have the luxury of creating my own nutrient schedule.

Cooling Off in the Shade