Seth's Garden

Intern Profile

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

Two of my goals are to become a better gardener, and gain work experience in the agricultural fields.

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

I hope to learn to become a better leader, and learn more about gardening by working in the Garden.

I think my biggest challenge will be:

My biggest challenge is keeping up with the online updates.

My favorite vegetable is: The Russet Potato

My least favorite garden task is: Weeding/Tilling

My most favorite garden task is: Harvesting

I think a leader is: somebody who can be put in a position of control and be professional. A leader is level-headed, and can manage people respectfully and effectively.

My worst leadership skill or trait is: Tending to give myself more work than others, instead of spreading it evenly.

My best leadership skill or trait is: I am very confident, and can delegate people into positions they can fill based on their skills and preferences.

Garden Plan:

My favorite plant to plant was: Tomato

My lease favorite plan to plant was: Chard

I think my plan worked because: I stuck to my plan as best I could

Garden Log:

May 14-28: Everything has been successfully planted, watered, and fertilized.

June 2: Started mulching with hay to prevent weed growth and preserve water, and replaced a row of seeds that didn't sprout with beans.

June 9: Radishes are coming close to picking size. Excited to see if anything else is going to be ready for harvesting.

June 16: Replaced another row of seeds that did not sprout with onions, and then tomato & onion.

June 23: Radishes got picked, along with some broccoli and chard! Lots of good harvesting.

June 30: Even more picking with chard and broccoli. Replacing the old radish area with onions.

July 7: Got started doing some heavy weeding, hands finally got pretty dirty.

July 14: Watered and harvested, have my onions planted now, everything is making exceeding progress.

July 21: Began doing some extremely necessary weeding, and covering some plants with Lime.

July 28: The plants have been needing lots more water. I also got to experience working a booth at Summerfest.

August 4: We've begun preparing for the fair, and a lot of my chard is beginning to bolt.

August 11: I entered my chard in the county fair.

August 18: We harvested our squash, and those of us that got to work with the bees were given some honey from our bee-man.

August 25: We picked and watered, and are getting ready to provide drainage to the garden.

September 1: We will pick everything in the garden.

September 8: We are getting ready for work to end.

Leadership Projects:

Bees and Pollination

Bees. They buzz, they make honey, and they’re great at pollinating our flowers. But how do they do it? Bees land on the flower of a fruit, vegetable, herb, or plant to collect pollen and nectar, as food for the hive. They then get pollen stuck to themselves on their body or feet. As they travel from plant to plant, they collect and leave pollen, pollinating the plants the bees land on. This allows the plants to create seeds, so they can reproduce. It’s thanks to bees and other pollinators that we can have beautiful flower gardens. It’s truly astounding that such a tiny creature has such a big job.

How in the world are beehives made?

Beehives are the structure in which bees reside. The hexagonal combs that make up the places they put their honey and their young, along with the walls and other structures found inside the hive are made up of wax. This wax is secreted by worker bees, like flakes of sweat. The wax is made by glands in the bees that converts sugar into the aforementioned material. When time for building or expanding the hive comes, it is removed from the worker's abdomens, and then chewed by said worker until it becomes soft and malleable. It is then placed down, to solidify.

My experience at Summerfest

While standing in the Master Gardeners' booth, I got to meet some Master Gardeners and experience what it's like to sit and wait for people to come and take a look at what we're displaying. It's not unlike fishing, only there's nothing to cook once we're back home. I enjoyed getting to talk to people about our gardens, and what I've learned during my time as an intern. It was definitely a great time.

Photosynthesis

It's not commonly known exactly how plants photosynthesize. What exactly do they do to turn photons into literal food? The first step to understanding how they do it is knowing what the plants do with said sunlight. The stuff that makes the leaves and stem of a plant green, or "chlorophyll", absorbs the sun's radiation. It then uses the energy absorbed to convert carbon dioxide and water to glucose. This sugar, naturally metabolized by both plants and humans, is either stored, or used in respiration. The only bi-product of this process of respiration is oxygen, which is a necessary chemical for life.