Nic's Garden
Intern Profile
I want to work at the garden because:
I want to have some work experience.
Two of my personal goals for working at the Dallas Youth Garden this summer are:
1. To gain work experience.
2. To work well with others.
Two things I hope to learn for working at the Dallas Youth Garden are:
1. How to grow a healthy garden on my own.
2. How to grow different types of plants.
I think my biggest challenge will be:
working while maintaining the social distancing rules.
My favorite vegetable or fruit is:
The potato because of the many ways it can be cooked.
I think a leader is:
A person that is patient and easy to talk to who is there to help others.
I hope to contribute this leadership skill to the garden this season:
By using patients because it is one of my best quality.
Garden Plan:
Vegetables and Flowers Planted:
Marigolds
Tomatoes
Carrots
Onion
Cabbage
Beans
Beets
Squash Butternut
Radish
Beans
Squash acorn
Radish
Squash yellow
Zinnia
Unknown squash with zucchini
Leek
Cucumber
Zinnia
Rows of vegetables planted: 15
Number of different kinds of vegetables planted: 13
Planned Garden Yield: 325
Planned Biggest Producer: zucchini
Time Sheet:
May Days Off:0
Extra Days: 0
Days Late:0
June Days Off: 0
Extra Days: 0
Days Late: 0
July Days Off: 0
Extra Days: 1
Days Late: 0
August Days Off:1
Extra Days: 0
Days Late: 0
September Days Off:
Extra Days:
Days Late:
Total Days Off:
Final Thoughts:
My favorite vegetable was the acorn squash.
Because: They don't poke you as much as the other squash plant and are easy to pick.
My most productive vegetable was zucchini and I harvested 276.3 Pounds.
My least productive vegetable was leeks and I harvested 0 Pounds.
My total harvest for the year was 500.6 Pounds.
My favorite job was: picking squash
My least favorite job was: weeding
I could have done better at: weeding
I did the best I could doing: watering
The two things I learned most at the garden this year were:
1. How to plant and grow different types of vegetables.
2. How to fix different problems that could be found in a garden.
Garden Log:
May 9: I made a garden plan and planted a row of marigolds and carrots.
May 16:I planted tomato's and half a row of onions.
May 23:I planted a little over half of my garden.
May 30: I finished planting the garden with a few changes to the garden plan.
June 6: I watered the garden and took out some of the weeds.
June 13: I weeded between the rows and took some weeds out of the row of carrots.
June 20: I did more weeding and laid down some straw in between some of my rows.
June 27: I laid down straw in the rest of the rows and picked radishes for the first time.
July 4: I helped lay straw between the gardens and harvested some of the zucchini.
July 11: I've been doing a lot more weeding in the garden and started to thin out the beets.
July 18: I gave my tomatoes and squash some fertilizer and finished thinning out the beets.
July 25: I've been watering my plants more because of the heat and started to thin out the carrots.
August 1: I'm still giving the plants extra water and weeded around the carrots.
August 8: I harvested some of the cucumbers and started to weed out the onions.
August 15: I had a tomato plant fall over and learned how to deal with it and harvested some acorn squash.
August 22: I picked some tomatoes for the first time and learned how to trim the plants to help it ripen.
August 29: I'm starting to pick the rest of my winter squash and finished my leadership project.
June Leadership Project:
The two most common pests that have been eating plants in the garden are the cucumber bugs and the flea beetles. The cucumber bugs are yellow with black spots or lengthwise stripes on their body. These bugs like to eat the foliage from a squash plant. Because of this it will cause there to be many small holes in the leaves making it harder for the plant to get the energy it needs to grow and produce. Cucumber bugs will lay eggs in small holes near the base of the plant so the larva can eat the roots and the underground portion of the stem, however this is not very harmful to the plant. A cheap way to deal with them without using pesticides is by handpicking the bugs and dropping them in a bucket of soapy water. The flea beetles are black or brown with large legs used for jumping. These bugs like to eat the foliage and stems on beets, cabbage and radishes which will affect the amount of energy the plant needs to grow. Just like the cucumber bugs the flea beetle lays eggs in the ground for the larva that also does not do a lot of damage to the plant. To get rid of them spray a organic soap directly onto them or use a yellow sticky trap.
Got this information from https://extension.umn.edu/yard-and-garden-insects/flea-beetles and https://extension.umn.edu/yard-and-garden-insects/cucumber-beetles
Problem: Cucumber bugs and flea beetles
Solution: To hand pick the cucumber bugs and to lay traps and use organic soap spray on the flea beetles.
Test/Activity: The garden was sprayed with pyrethrin.
Results: I have seen less bugs in the garden.
Communication: I shared my results on June 30 with the group.
July Leadership Project:
Problem: people don't know how to cook crookneck squash.
Solution: Stuff them like you would with zucchini boat.
Test/Activity: Scoop out the insides of the squash and fill it with tomato sauce, ground beef, seasonings and some other veggies of your choice (mushrooms, onions etc.) bake them, and your done.
Results: they were quite delicious!
Communication:
August Leadership Project:
Problem: Bottom rot on the crookneck squash
Solution: To have even and consistent watering around the plant or to add calcium
Test/Activity: There was a few crookneck squash plants I had a hard time watering
Results: Those crookneck squash on the plant had bottom rot
Communication: I shared what I did on August 29
Bonus Leadership Project:
Problem: Some zucchini would not fully develop and turn yellow at the end because of a lack of pollination.
Solution: To have some flowers that would attract pollinators or to hand pollinate the flowers on the zucchini.
Test/Activity: i have flowers in my garden that attract bees.
Results: very few of my zucchinis have been underdeveloped compared to others.
Communication: I shared my results on Saturday.
I used https://www.growveg.com/guides/the-secret-to-success-with-zucchini/ for this project.