OLIVIA’S GARDEN

PROFILE

I want to work at the garden because: I thought it would be really fun because I like gardening and was looking for a job anyway.

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

  1. Learn more about different plants and vegetables

  2. Meet new people

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

  1. How to grow a garden well

  2. Job experience

I think my biggest challenge will be: Doing my best on chores like weeding

My favorite vegetable or fruit is: Watermelon

I hope to contribute this to the garden this year: Help whenever others need it

 GARDEN PLAN

Vegetables and Flowers Planted (list in order):

  1. Zinnia

  2. Tomatoes

  3. Carrots

  4. Onion

  5. Cabbage

  6. Zinnia

  7. Cabbage

  8. Zucchini

  9. Dill

  10. Yellow squash

  11. Butternut squash

  12. Lettuce

  13. Pumpkin

  14. Acorn Squash

  15. Beets

  16. Cabbage

  17. Beans

  18. Pattypan squash

Rows of vegetables planted: 18

Number of different kinds of vegetables planted: 15

Planned Garden Yield: — 388 lbs

Planned Biggest Producer: Squash. I planted a ton of different varieties of it.

Changes in my plan during planting: We didn’t have peppers which I had originally planned to plant a couple times, so I changed that to squash and cabbage. I also ended up with extra room at the end to do another row, so I added pattypan squash.

GARDEN LOG

  • May 7-12: Planned out our gardens, cleaned up after the plant sale at the fairgrounds.

  • May 14-19: First day at the garden: planted rows 1-3

  • May 21-26: Planted rows 4-9

  • May 28-June 1: Planted rows 10-18, worked on weeding

  • June 4-8: Weeded, laid down straw in our gardens, replanted some cabbages that had died

  • June 11-15 Weeded, laid down more straw, put a fence up for the green beans

  • June 18-22 Weeded, laid down more straw

  • June 25-30 Weeded and watered

  • July 1-6 I was gone this week

  • July 9-13 Weeded, watered, started harvesting summer squash and lettuce

  • July 16-20 Weeded, watered, and harvested lettuce, zinnias, and summer squash

  • July 23-27 Weeded, watered, and harvested lettuce, zinnias, and summer squash. We've grown 300 lbs of food so far.

  • July 30-August 3 Watered, Weeded, and harvested lettuce, zinnias, and summer squash. We had our open house on Saturday, and it went really well

  • August 6-11 Weeded, watered, and harvested lettuce, zinnias, summer squash, cabbage, and beans. It was cool to learn how to harvest cabbage.

  • August 13-17 Weeded, watered, and harvested zinnias, summer squash, cabbage, beans, dill, and beets. It was the first time I've ever grown beets, so I was excited to pick them and see how they turned out.

  • August 20-24 Weeded, watered, and harvested zinnias, summer squash, cabbage, dill, beets, onions, and beans. It was cool to finally harvest the onions and see how big they had gotten.

  • August 27-31 Weeded, watered, and harvested zinnias, summer squash, cabbage, dill, beets, onions, beans, and carrots.

  • September 2-7 Weeded, watered, harvested zinnias, summer squash, cabbage, dill, beets, onions, beans, carrots, and pumpkins. Saturday is our end of the summer party

Final Thoughts:


My favorite garden vegetable was: zucchini
Because: there are so many different things you can make with them
I harvested 127 pounds of produce from my garden.
My favorite job was: Harvesting the produce I've grown
My least favorite job was: Watering, because it takes a long time.
I could have done better at: Watering. Sometimes I would rush and not water as well as I should have.
I did the best I could at: Weeding, because it was hard to keep up with.
The two things I learned most at the garden this year were:
1. The different types of squash
2. How to harvest different types of vegetables

GARDEN PROJECTS

1.Project One

Question: What hunger exists in Oregon?

Answer(s) I found: 1 in 6 children face hunger in Oregon. Ways to help are to donate food or volunteer at food banks.

URL Reference: https://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/oregon#:~:text=What Hunger Looks Like in,of them 144%2C210 are children.&text=face hunger.,in 6 children face hunger.

2. Recipe

Name: Lemon yellow squash bundt cake

Vegetable Used: Yellow squash

Ingredients: 1 1/3 cups sugar 1/2 cup oil

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Zest from 1 lemon

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

1 cup of grated yellow squash

Steps to Make it: Preheat oven to 350°. Mix sugar, eggs, and oil together. Add lemon juice, zest, and milk. Add in the flour, salt, and baking powder. Mix until everything is incorporated and smooth. Fold in the grated squash and pour into a bundt cake pan, then bake for 45-50 minutes.

Opinion: It was good! You can't taste the squash at all, it just tastes like a normal cake. I added a glaze on top which I just made by mixing powdered sugar, milk, and lemon juice together, but it would have been good even without it.

3. Another Project

Question: What are the benefits of growing your own food?

Answer: Growing your own food is very rewarding in many ways. Gardening supports your mental health by reducing anxiety and boosting mindfulness and self-esteem. It also saves you money, as well as guarantees that you know exactly what has been used to grow your food. It is also a lot better for the environment, because you are reducing your carbon footprint, conserving water, reducing waste, and promoting biodiversity.

URL Reference: https://aloha.com/blogs/articles/benefits-of-growing-your-own-food#:~:text=Growing%20your%20own%20food%20in,your%20community%2C%20and%20the%20environment.

MONTHLY GARDEN SUMMARY

May: Days Worked: 11 Days Off: 0 Extra Days Worked: 0 Days Late: 0

June: Days Worked 9 Days Off 3 Extra Days Worked 1 Days Late 0

July: Days Worked 9 Days Off 4 Extra Days Worked 0 Days Late 0 Total Produce: 16.93 lbs.

August: Days Worked 13 Days Off 1 Extra Days Worked 0 Days Late 0 Total Produce: 85.4 lbs

September: Days Worked 3 Days Off 0 Extra Days Worked 0 Days Late 0 Total Produce: 25 lbs