CONNOR’S GARDEN

PROFILE

I want to work at the garden because:

Two of my personal goals for working at the Dallas Youth Garden this summer are:

  1. Gaining more experience and learning

  2. Working hard and becoming a more well-rounded person

Two things I hope to learn from working at the Dallas Youth Garden are:

  1. How to maintain a garden well.

  2. More about different bugs and their effects on plants/produce.

I think my biggest challenge will be: Weeding (I am very slow with it)

My favorite vegetable or fruit is: Overall watermelon, but out of the ones in my garden, I’d say tomatoes because they are so fun to see grow.

I hope to contribute this to the garden this year:

I want to both learn from and assist others around me in hopes of improving the overall environment as well as working hard to have successful produce.

 GARDEN PLAN

Vegetables and Flowers Planted (list in order):

  1. Zinnia

  2. Peppers

  3. Carrots

  4. Radish

  5. Zucchini

  6. Dill

  7. Butternut Squash

  8. Carrots

  9. Tomatos

  10. Cabbage

  11. Beets

  12. Zucchini

  13. Dill

  14. Onion

  15. Pumpkin

  16. Lettuce

  17. Marigold

Rows of vegetables planted: 17

Number of different kinds of vegetables planted: 15

Planned Garden Yield: — 315 lbs

Planned Biggest Producer:

Changes in my plan during planting: Planted one sunflower at the end of the marigolds.

GARDEN LOG

  • From Melini

  • May 2-4: Interductions, cleared tarps

  • May 7-11: Zoom on the 7th for garden planning, helped with clean up from plant sale at Polk County fair grounds

  • May 14-18: Started planting, watered.

  • May 21-25: Continued planting as well as kept up with plants that where already planted, painted the fence around the garden, watered.

  • May 28-1: Finished planting, weeded, layed down paper and hey around plants, watered.

  • June 4-8: Kept up with plants (weeded and watered)

  • June 11-15: Weeded and watered plants.

  • From Connor - who took over Melini’s Garden

  • June 24-29: Watered, weeded, and laid hay/straw.

  • July 2-6: Watered, weeded, and laid barkchips? (I’m not sure what it’s called)

  • July 9-13 Watered and weeded

  • July 16-20 Watered, weeded, and picked

  • July 23-27 Watered, weeded and picked

  • July 30-Aug 3 watered, weeded, picked, and open house

  • Aug 6-10 weeded, watered, and picked.

  • Aug 13-17 weeded, watered, and picked.

  • Aug 20-24 watered, weeded and picked.

  • Aug 27-31 watered, weeded, and picked.

  • Sep 3-7 watered and picked.

Final Thoughts:


My favorite garden vegetable was:
Because: Beans, they were satisfying to pick.
I harvested 98.15 pounds of produce from my garden.
My favorite job was: Watering, and picking beans, they are both relaxing and easy to do, mostly because picking beans provides shade.
My least favorite job was: Weeding because It’s prolonged exposure to the sun.
I could have done better at: Sharing My opinion
I did the best I could doing: staying on task
The two things I learned most at the garden this year were:
1. Different bugs and how they affect the plants.
2. The different variants of each plant like cherry tomatoes and regular tomatoes, or sugar pumpkins and carving pumpkins.

GARDEN PROJECTS

1.Project One

Question/Problem(s) Proposed: How to keep away harmful bugs?

Answer(s) I found: Marigolds seem to deter cucumber bugs, as well as planting flowers such as zinnias to attract bumble bees. Praying mantises are also a great way to keep other harmful insects under control, they kill things such as caterpillars, flies, and aphids. Which overall helps your plants stay healthy.

URL Reference: https://cedarcirclefarm.org/tips/entry/managing-cucumber-beetles#:~:text=Interplant%20susceptible%20crops%20with%20fragrant,soil%20to%20lay%20their%20eggs. https://www.insectlore.com/blogs/praying-mantis/best-host-plants-for-praying-mantis#:~:text=These%20predators%20help%20to%20keep,eco%2Dfriendly%20approach%20to%20gardening.

2. Resipe

Name: Honey-glazed carrots

Vegetable Used: carrots

Ingredients: carrots, butter, honey, garlic powder, salt, pepper

Steps to Make it: clean your carrots thoroughly, then set them aside, add butter, honey, garlic powder, salt, and pepper into a small pot, then mix and keep on low heat while you prepare the carrots. Cut your carrots into halves then lay them out on a sheet of parchment, turn the stove off and drizzle the sauce over the carrots and mix it all up. Then preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Once ready put your glazed carrots in the oven for 30-35 mins, then take them out and it’s good.

Opinion: Chloe said it tasted like barbecue chips, just not as good.

3. Another Project

Question: Cherry Tomatoes vs Regular Tomatoes.

Answer: Cherry tomatoes are usually more tart and juicy while regular tomatoes are sweet and tangy. Cherry tomatoes are also smaller and used often in things like salads, sandwiches, and wraps. Regular tomatoes have a significantly longer shelf life than cherry tomatoes, and regular tomatoes are used to make things like ketchup, marinara sauce, and salsa. So to simplify it, regular tomatoes are more commonly used for sauces and cherry tomatoes are more commonly used raw.

URL Reference: https://food.ndtv.com/food-drinks/cherry-tomatoes-vs-regular-tomatoes-whats-the-difference-2073998/amp/1

MONTHLY GARDEN SUMMARY

May: Days Worked 0 Days Off 0 Extra Days Worked 0 Days Late 0 Total Produce(Pounds):0 (Was not working at this time)

June: Days Worked 3 Days Off 0 Extra Days Worked 0 Days Late 0 Total Produce(Pounds): 0

July: Days Worked 9 Days Off 4 Extra Days Worked 0? Days Late 0 Total Produce(Pounds): 24.55

August: Days Worked 15 Days Off 0 Extra Days Worked 0? Days Late 0 Total Produce(Pounds): 31.3

September: Days Worked ____ Days Off ____ Extra Days Worked _____ Days Late______ Total Produce(Pounds): 42.3