12/1/15

After a long Thanksgiving break, I finally return to my plot to find quite a few things ready to harvest, and some worryingly far off.

Today we simply watered, weeded, and harvested. The collar was ready to take as usual, as well as another patch of beans. The Cilantro also needed to be cut down, but I don't really use that stuff.

Unfortunately no more eggplants have emerged, and my tomatoes are still green. The new lettuce and broccoli are also very small, and will not be ready by next week. I am however, looking forward to harvesting my beats, and will uproot anything still viable for transplant at my condo (Such as the Sunflowers, which I plan eat if I can keep them alive!)

It'll be a tight squeeze, but I hope to save as many as i can.

Check back next week for the grand finale!

11/17/15

Welcome back, this week we added fertilizer and made sure the plots were good on weeds and water, because we will not have class next week.

Personally I fixed my trellis, moved the tomatoes around for more room, and harvested some collar, beans, eggplants, and cilantro. I'm still not sure what to do with the cilantro, but my mother will be thrilled for the eggplants on Thanksgiving.

Hopefully everything will be fine in two weeks, as we've been getting a bit more rain lately. The harvest should be very nice, and include bell peppers.

I also cut one of the sunflowers and put it in a vase for my girlfriend, but I really wanted to grow some seeds to eat. Anyways, see you in two weeks!

11/10/15

--Welcome back! It's been a couple weeks, but I finally got back to my plot, and it's pretty crazy.--

Due to light restraints, I am now struggling to get everything done before dark, and had to move quickly to catch up today. Luckily today was really easy for everyone, so I could find time to get previous chores done, but unfortunately this meant lecture at 5 instead of 6. I managed to get another thirty minutes after class, but it was close. Carlos also didn't have string, so my trellis is looking pretty sloppy and I can't fix it.

I had to move fast, so first of all I put in the broccoli and lettuce I should have done last week. The red lettuce had bolted, so I replaced them with another broccoli, because I love broccoli. This marks my plot as being completely full, and we will not be adding anything new from now on.

I then weeded and watered everything before harvesting what I could, which was the cilantro, red lettuce, collar, and radishes. I also found out that my very first pepper plant was actually a BELL PEPPER! My girlfriend is going to be very happy, and everyone else is super jealous. My mother will also be thrilled to see a picture of my very eggplant next week, which will probably end up in her fridge.

--Check back next week!--

11/3/15

  Unfortunately, I could not make it to class due to a couple exams I had back to back this week. I am a bit discouraged that I missed the last planting, but Carlos assured me he would help find some next class. I'm going to have a lot of work to do next Tuesday, because it rained last week, so hopefully I can find time to visit for basic weeding and watering between Thursday and Monday.

  I can't remember when the field is open for individual use, but I asked Carlos, and hopefully it will work into my schedule when he responds. With the recent exams, I've barely had time to water my plants at home! Anyways... I'll try to remember to take a picture of my crazy plot when I see it next.

-Check back for any updates, as I may still add to this post!-

10/27/15

Outside work was cancelled for today due to wonderful RAIN! The plants will appreciate this consistent supply of water, and so will my back.

11/20/15

Today I had a hard time getting everything done, and couldn't leave until 8. Next week we are going to switch to gardening in the beginning, because it started to get dark around 6:30. Thankfully Carlos was okay getting bit by mosquitoes while finished.

We weeded, planted radish & broccoli, applied manure, and watered. This took really long because of the straw in the way. As you can see below, I lost some of the straw to animals or wind:

Below, you can see the lone collar getting quite large, and could even be harvested a bit:

 This Pepper is ripe and ready to harvest. I don't like peppers, but my girlfriend might, and I'm growing four of them.

 Finally, another overview shot. You can see the red lettuce is getting ready to harvest some, too:

-Check back next week-

10/13/15

Welcome back to Week 6!

Today we performed the typical chores of weeding, watering, and fixing up the supports. I can start to see how the weeds become a very serious problem if left for more than a week. You wont see them in any of the pictures, because I don't miss a week!

We also planted sun flowers and applied more pesticide, with the help of Carlos' personal glove stash =)

Finally, I used my extra hour to grab a wheelbarrow and put on plenty of straw. This should help keep the ground moist, as we don't have much use of the overheads. The weather has been good for farming, and I hope some more rain falls over the weekend.

Of course, here's the picture for this week: Look at how big that collar has gotten! And maybe I should've given the eggplant more room. I also replaced the dead collar with a sunflower, even though they get HUGE.

-Check back next week to see how it's going!

10/6/15

  Welcome back!

  We learned more about GMOs in class today, which even included an interesting video about a discredited study against a certain corn GMO. They accused it of causing tumors in rats, but the results could not be duplicated with other species,  did not include a large enough test size, and may have been attributed to insufficient diet variation.

  We did some basic maintenance by weeding, fertilizing, and watering in the plots. I also had to add more support string to my trellis. Today was very easy, and i was done by 6:00. Everything seems to be doing well, as I've only lost one collar and a couple eggplants so far. Everything is cooling down, and making it much easier to work outside. I appreciate what little rain we've gotten recently, since we actually don't get any water from the overheads.

  One of my numerous pepper plants is already producing fruit, which may be a bad sign at such an early age. Here's a picture of the tiny thing:

  We used more granulated organic fertilizer today, which we poured into trenches like before and then watered. We did not add any to the beans for some reason. In the following picture you can see a second layer of string on the trellis which was put up just in time to save a falling tomato plant:

  Everything is looking great from diligent weeding, watering, fertilizing, and composting. I've been taking pride in those activities, often staying later than most, and I'm hoping it will soon show!


--Check back next week and see.

9/29/15

Welcome to post number 4!

  Today we did the typical chores of watering and weeding our plots, but with one exception. Like last week, we dug trenches near the plants, but filled them with compost rather than factory fertilizers. Most students were done fairly quickly, but I wanted to do a very good job as you'll see below:

  I then filled the trenches, and added a half inch of top soil . Unlike with the fertilizer, we had an unlimited supply of manure, and I used over 3 buckets of it. Hopefully this will make all the difference.

  I had to replace a tomato pant that was dead with a fresh pepper plant, making it now four in my plot, oops. At least they're all supported! I'm also hoping we apply pesticides again, as half of my plants are new. I would have replaced that dying collar in the picture, but I do not want 5 peppers.

Check back next week!

9/22/15

Welcome to Post #3 of HOS1014

For today's activities we replaced dead plants, applied pesticides, added fertilizer to our plots, and watered them all, of course. Specifically, I replaced my Dwont Taylor beans, which had not even begun to sprout, with some Kentucky blue pole. I also had to replace two of my eggplants, but may have somehow grabbed peppers... again.

It looks like the weather is being very forgiving on our young plants, and hopefully continues. Also, due to the tilling, we now have many many fire ant hives popping up, which can be quite annoying.

*Anyways, here's a picture of me next to my plants!

-Check back next week!

9/15/15

  Today we built supports and planted beans. So far the weeds have not begun to show, and hopefully will stay that way for a little while longer. I am excited to begin seeing some growth, but am worried some of the plants may die. I was last to get many of the seedlings, and thus have the least healthy. We are now past the point of replacing dead plants, so I will have to make due.

  Here are pictures of the bean varieties:

-Check back next week for more!

First Day Impressions & Plot Type

Hello and welcome to my blog. My name is Brendan Niles, ID 58404154.

  This blog will consist of my daily experiences and inevitable struggles as I attempt to wrestle life from a bunch of dirt in the class HOS 1014 - Vegetable Gardening at UF. Let's begin..

  My first impressions of the class are good, as I have scooter parking nearby and multiple TAs. I'm very excited to begin planting, as I'm been maintaining the smallest garden in the world, and this will be a great opportunity to gain some land!

  Our teacher, Zambrano, stated this week's assignment will be to simply choose a plot style. As I plan on changing many of the given vegetables, I may get into trouble using Plot A, but I feel it's the easiest to edit to my purposes.

  Here is a picture of my first plants: tomato, collar, and eggplant!

  Anyways, check back here for my weekly updates lasting 'til December
-ENJOY