Chloe's Garden
Intern Profile
I want to work at the garden because: I love gardening and the environment that this internship brings.
Two of my personal goals for working at the Dallas Youth Garden this summer are:
1. To not overwater my tomatoes.
2. Also to keep up with my weeding.
Two things I hope to learn from working at the Dallas Youth Garden are:
1. Learn how to grow dill
2. Learn how to grow cucumbers.
I think my biggest challenge will be: Growing cucumbers
My favorite vegetable or fruit is: peppers because they look cool.
I hope to contribute this to the garden this year: By taking initiative and asking questions when I'm confused.
Garden Plan:
Vegetables and Flowers Planted (list in order):
MARIGOLDS
ACORN SQUASH
BEANS
BEETS
BUTTERNUT SQUASH
DILL
CARROTS
RADISH
CUCUMBER
ZUCCHINI
BEANS
ONION
PEPPER
TOMATO
CABBAGE
ZUCCHINI
Rows of vegetables planted: 14
Number of different kinds of vegetables planted: 12
Planned Garden Yield: 325 Ib
Total Biggest Producer: ZUCCHINI
Time Sheet:
May Days Off: 2
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: Answer
August Days Off: 1
Extra Days: Answer
Days Late: Answer
September Days Off: Answer
Extra Days: Answer
Days Late: Answer
Total Days Off: Answer
Final Thoughts:
My favorite vegetable was : Carrots
Because: I actually had a lot this year even though I forgot to thin them.
My most productive vegetable was zucchini and I harvested _ 58.2__ Pounds.
My least productive vegetable was __ Dill_ and I harvested_ 1.4_ Pounds.
My total harvest for the year was _ 148_ Pounds. ( CONTEXT: my patty pans and general squash were gone after by cucumber bugs, causing no more patty pans, and very little zucchini which would be the bulk of my harvest)
My favorite job was: Weeding.
My least favorite job was: Watering.
I could have done better at: Weeding my garden as a whole.
I did the best I could doing: Watering, I tried my best not to overwater my tomatoes.
The two things I learned most at the garden this year were:
1. How cucumber bugs destroy my squash. (they not only eat the leaves and the squash but also the stem and roots)
2. That pole beans produce a lot more beans than I had expected. I expected to have no more than a pound per time I picked, but I was wrong.
Garden Log:
May 1-7: Zoom meetings and planned my garden.
May 8-14: Started to plant my garden and water.
May 15-21: Missed Saturday , and I continued to plant my garden, and water.
May 22-28 : Missed Tuesday, and I continued to plant my garden and water.
May 29-June 4: I finished planting my garden, helped to put down some straw, and continued to water my garden.
June 5-11: We out down a lot of straw and are almost finished, I watered my plants as usual, and now we are picking flowers off of the tomatoes and squash
June 12-18: Weeded, thinned, and watered my garden. I specifically picked/thinned my radishes.
June 19-25: I weeded, watered, picked off the flowers of my tomato and squash, and tried to pick the radishes in my row but they ended up being full of bugs.
June 26th - July 2nd: I watered my plants, continued to weed, I picked the flowers off my squash but stopped picking the flowers off my tomatoes. I also helped put the fence up for my pole beans and I helped put bark chips down for the path.
July 3rd - 9th: I continued to water my plants, weed them, and thin them. I also stopped picking the flowers off of some of my squash, and I did a lot of close weeding on some of my more weed-infested rows.
July 10th-16th: I watered, weeded, and picked my first couple of zucchinis. I also started to weed my other rows while thinning them.
July 17th-23rd: I have weeded, I have watered, but most importantly I have picked a good amount of zucchini from my one zucchini plant that produces zucchini.
July 24th- 30th: I secured my tomato plant branches, watered, and weeded my squash. More of my squashes are coming in and I also put some fish guts on my squash and tomatoes.
July 31st - August 6th: I weeded, watered, picked more zucchini, picked dill, and picked 3 cabbages. I also volunteered at the academy building and gave away our produce. I took a cabbage home on Thursday with the hope of making something from it.
August 7th-13th: I watered, and weeded my garden. I also am picking pole beans, bush beans, zucchini, and my tomatoes are getting a lot bigger (although they are not red yet).
August 14th-20th: I watered, and weeded a bit with the extra time. I picked: zucchini, pole beans, bush beans, a singular tomato, and cabbage.
August 21st-27th: I watered, and picked the following: pole beans, bush beans, zucchini, tomatoes, and carrots. I noticed that my patty pans were being eaten alive by cucumber bugs.
August 28th-September 3rd: I weeded, watered, and picked as usual. I also was able to pick some of my summer squash, and I surprisingly had a lot of acorn squash. I also started to mow down all the plants that didn't produce anything like my peppers, I was also able to weed a good amount of my garden in the process.
Recipe: Boiled Cabbage
Ingredients: Cabbage, water, butter, salt, and pepper.
How to Cook It: Rinse the cabbage and cut it into 6 wedges. Add about 1/2 inch of lightly salted water to a large skillet or Dutch oven, cover, and bring to a boil. Add cabbage wedges and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Simmer, covered, for 8 to 10 minutes. Turn cabbage carefully, and simmer an additional 8 minutes or until tender. Pour off the water and return the pan to low heat until the moisture has evaporated. Add the melted butter and mix to coat the boiled cabbage thoroughly. Sprinkle the cabbage with salt and pepper, seasoning to taste.
Picture: Up above, right by my header. I couldn't move it for some reason.
Food Assistance:
Date Attended: 08/11/2021, and all other times before that this year.
What did you help with? : I helped set up the workspace, give out the food, and advertise the produce.
What were people like? : They were nice, but a lot of people thought that we were selling the food. The only problem we had was getting people to stop for us and actually see what we were giving away.
What did you learn? : I learned that the way you phrase things can have a huge impact on how much produce someone is willing to take. Many people seemed to find our stand pretty sketchy at first, who wouldn't, we are giving out free food after all. So to ease their mind you quickly explain your purpose for giving out free food, it is important to seem cheerful but not overly enthusiastic as that can drive them off. Next, you be honest and say that you are trying to get rid of all the food on the table by a certain time (in this case by 4pm). Tell them to take as much as they'd like because not a lot of people have been stopping by. By telling them that there is a time limit and that not a lot of people have stopped by they are more likely to take some because it would also benefit us. Usually, people seem almost embarrassed to take free food, but when you phrase it in a way that makes it seem like you almost need them to then they are more likely to not only take some but take more than they originally had thought to. In conclusion, I learned that it was important to make sure the customer knew our intentions, felt obligated to take some because there is a deadline, and took more than originally planned because not a lot of people took any.
Garden Project/Problem Solved
Problem: There needed to be people that worked at the booth.
Solution: I decided to fill a position and work at the booth from 8-9 am.
Test/Activity: We prepared to talk to people that approached the booth and explain the details of the Dallas Youth Garden to them.
Results: During the time that I was present at the booth no one came up to talk to us, but I was able to learn about other people and get more information about the Dallas Youth Garden itself.
Communication: I was able to communicate and learn from other booths. I talked to both the Kindness Club booth and the Rotary booth.
Garden project: Bonus one:
Slide show link: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1GWM9QVVIHl_zOpbuOB-VwHJP4vVpwuXTzbF-oUO9P-Y/edit?usp=sharing
Problem: Cucumber beetles are eating and destroying my patty pans.
Solution: I will find solutions to how to either kill them now and prevent them from infesting my plants again in the future.
Activity: I did research and made a slideshow with information on how to come up with a solution, and I also added some background information as to how they are destroying my plants.
Results: I found many ways to prevent or just kill the cucumber bugs: such as planting marigolds, using pesticides, murdering them one by one with my bare hands, and so on.
Communication: I had to communicate and ask if I could do this particular project to begin with, and I had to exchange information with google so I could get the results I wanted.