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Garden Box Groups
Square Foot Garden Planning Project
Sqaure Foot Gardening Planning Assignment - Links to handouts below.
For this assignment, you will begin by planning a square foot garden that is 3 ft wide by 9 ft long.
Certain varieties of plants required different amounts of space. Using the square foot gardening method, we can increase the productivity of our garden, and reduce the time we need to spend weeding and watering.
To begin, look at the garden box grid on the handout. You have 18 spaces to fill. You can decide to grow 18 different vegetables, or less if you want more of one specific variety. It is up to you, but you must…
Choose at a minimum 9 different vegetables to grow.
Next look at the list of vegetables on the Square Foot Gardening guide handout and underline or highlight the vegetables that you would want to grow.
Considering the number of plants that should be planted per square foot, on the garden box grid.
Draw a picture or write the name of each vegetable you will plant in each square foot.
In some way, indicate the number of plants you will plant in that square foot. Ex. 4 little picture of celery, or write the number four, or draw four circles evenly spaced out.
You will also need to consider the height of each plant so you don’t accidently shade out smaller plants. Indicate where SOUTH is on your grid.
On the back side of the grid, you will plan when you will plant the vegetable, and approximately when it will be ready for harvest. You might want to consider when/if you start the plant indoors, or direct sow outdoors, or if it needs cover. It will also be important to consider germination times, transplanting times (if grown indoors), and when to plant considering the last frost date.
Use pencil crayons and shade in the time frame from planting to harvest over the course of the semester.
Use the West Coast Seeds guide to plan the dates for seeding, indoor starting, or direct sow, etc.
If the harvest time is after June, extend the colour past the edge and write in the box an estimated harvest date. If the harvest date is before the end of june, plan what you would plant in succession (i.e., after you harvest).
Create a final draft on the 11”x17” sheet.
With your group, create one more plan based on the seeds we currently have using the SFQ Final - Partner Planner
Class Notes and Miscellaneous Info
Jan 30 Notes
Tour of the garden
Discussion of importance of gardening
TOC was present
Jan 31 Notes
Discussion of propagating through cuttings
Gardening jeopardy game
Feb 1 Notes
Recap on soil formation slides
Why is soil important?
Weathering: biological, chemical, physical
What determines soil type? Climate, vegetation, drainage, time, parent material
Soil is made of? Minerals (45%, 25% water, 25% air, 5% organic matter
Soil Horizons:
O horizon: leaf litter
A horizon: topsoil
B horizon: subsoil
C horizon: parent material, often bedrock
Soil Characteristics
Physical:
texture
porosity - the percentage of interconnected space in rock and soil that can contain water
permeability - the degree to which the pores in the rock or soil are connected together so that water can move freely
humus
Chemical: pH, N, P, K
Soil Types: Sandy, Silty, Clay-y
Issues with soil erosion
Soil Textural Triangle
Feb 2
Soil examination - Estimating soil texture
Journal set up, sharing and first entry:
Photo: Garden soil - identify what type of soil you think it is?
Feb 3
Outside, pulling weeds, cleaning, etc.
Add some stuff to our plants
Feb 4
Viewing slides - climatic zones - answer questions 5-9
Cardboard from home
Journal
Question: What should we be planting first, and what do we need to start them?
Visit this link to find out: https://www.almanac.com/gardening/planting-calendar/postalcode/V0R%202P0
shorter link: https://tinyurl.com/yc5bbmxc
Feb 6
Outcomes:
Identify which climactic zone we are currently in
Define hardiness
Explain the importance of frost dates and identify frost dates in a local context
Identify which plants and a date would like be the first to start planting based on the almanac
Resources:
Gardening Notes Qs 5-9
include Seed Starting Journal from gardening notes
Feb 7
Outcomes:
Define soil structure
Describe healthy garden soil
Make a qualitative observations of different soils using by conducting a sniff test.
Resources:
Feb 8
Outcomes:
Make observations and conclusions about soil health by conducting an earth worm survey
Make observations and conclusions about soil health by conducting a drainage test
Make observations and conclusions about soil health by examining a soil profile
Resources:
Feb 9
Outcomes:
Understand that soil is comprised of 4 unique layers that make up the soil profile.
Activites:
In class we dug a pit and examined the soil profile as best we could. We observed a thick A horizon, the B horizon and a tough C horizon that we couldn't dig into.
Feb 10
Outcomes:
Quick introduction to square foot gardening project next week.
Each student planted 1 pea seed after researching best method for germination
Worked out in the garden - sifting, weeding.
To Do Next Week:
focus on the over grown beds.
Feb 13-16
Outcomes:
Identify primary, secondary and trace nutrients
Produce a short PowerPoint slide on each of the nutrients (assignment 1)