Sophia's Garden

Intern Profile

I want to work at the garden because: Well, mostly because it's fun! I really enjoyed it last year, and so far this year It's pretty fun! i really like growing a garden, and i like the social aspect!

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

1. To have a good yield by the end of the season! i did pretty darn well last year, so I hope to do even better this year!!

2. Maybe learn to be a little more social, and a little less anxious haha! I think talking to the same people in a group is a good start :)

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

1. Learn more about gardening!

2. Maybe learn to be a little more confident in what I'm doing? I think I'm doing well so far :)

I think my biggest challenge will be: Working with a mask on haha..

My favorite vegetable or fruit is: Hmm..really hard to decide! In terms of what we grow, I like carrots, lettuce and pumpkin! Aside from that...I like pineapple and peach etc... Haha I'm so indecisive, sorry!

I hope to contribute this to the garden this year: Hmm...maybe helping my peers with some of their gardening, since I've been here before..and...I'm pretty darn responsible, so maybe i could try to set an example?

Garden Plan:

Vegetables and Flowers Planted (list in order):

Marigold

Zucchini

Yellow squash

Radish

Beet

Cabbage

Tomato

Carrot

Onion

Pepper

Dill

Lettuce

Pumpkin

Rows of vegetables planted: 15

Number of different kinds of vegetables planted: 12

Planned Garden Yield: 355 lbs

Total Biggest Producer: Zucchini? or maybe my tomatoes?

Time Sheet:

May Days Off: 0

Extra Days: 0

Days Late: 0

June Days Off: 4

Extra Days: 0

Days Late: 0

July Days Off: 3

Extra Days: 1

Days Late: 1

August Days Off: 0

Extra Days: 0

Days Late: 0

September Days Off: 0

Extra Days: 1

Days Late: 0

Total Days Off: 0

Final Thoughts:

My favorite vegetable was Peppers!

Because: Just cause they were fun to grow and pick :)

My most productive vegetable was zucchini and I harvested 99.1 Pounds.

My least productive vegetable was lettuce and I harvested 0 Pounds.

My total harvest for the year was 261 Pounds.

My favorite job was: Picking! its really fun and rewarding to pick the produce you've worked so hard to nurture and grow :)

My least favorite job was: Watering haha, its really boring.

I could have done better at: Weeding. I tried my best to weed when i could, but I missed quite a few days, and its pretty hard to come back from that haha.

I did the best I could doing: picking the right size of produce. Yep! I always tried to make sure my produce was the correct size for best quality :) not to big, nor to small.

The two things I learned most at the garden this year were:

1. Its ok to make mistakes sometimes, as long as you take that as an opportunity to learn and grow :)

2. Don't be afraid to ask questions, especially when you're unsure, its better to just ask then flounder around trying to figure something out with the chance of doing something wrong haha

Garden Log:

May 1-7: Zoom meetings and planned my garden.

May 8-14: Planted my garden

May 15-21: Finished planting my garden!

May 22-28 : We started laying straw!

May 29-June 4: Watering, thinning the radish rows, and laying straw :)

June 5-11: Finishing straw! watering and weeding.

June 12-18: Watering and weeding.

June 19-24: Watering and weeding :)

June 26-July 1: Fertilizing, watering, weeding, and laying bark-chips :)

July 3-8: watering, weeding, and picking!

July 10-15: Watering, weeding, and picking, as usual :)

July 17-22: Watering weeding and picking some more :) we also tried setting traps for the rodents eating up all my crops!

July 24-29: fertilized on Saturday, want there Tuesday or Thursday :(

July 31-August 5: weeded, watered and picked!

Aug 7-12: watering and picking! its been so hot lately haha

Aug 14-19: Watering weeding and picking :)

Aug 21-26: Picking and watering

Aug 28- Sept 2: Picking and watering. its the end of the season so its mostly just picking and tearing things down :)

sept 4-11: Mostly picking at this point, watering what's left. we've been tearing down some things too, all the plants that are done for the season, and today, is technically the last day of the season!! sad that its over, especially cause its my last year!! but happy that i got to do it for two years!! may all the best come to the future garden and its interns :)

Recipe:

Pepper Poppers!!

Ingredients:

Bell peppers (or jalapeños for more of a kick!)

cream cheese (you could use vegetable or garlic cream cheese here too.)

cheddar cheese (or any cheese of your choice! I used an Italian blend cause that's what I had on hand)

bacon, preferably something longer :)

black pepper

How to Cook It:

preheat your oven to 400 degrees

If you're using mini bell peppers, cut them in half, if your using regular bell peppers, try to cut them in thirds or fourths, but try cutting them where they dip in, as to create a boat shape to hold all the cheese!!

place your peppers on a foil covered pan and set them aside

you'll want to let your cream cheese soften. Scoop your cream cheese into the peppers, donk skimp!! fill em' up all the way!

Sprinkle your cheese of choice on top, be generous!

then finally, wrap the peppers in bacon, and crack some black pepper on top

then put the peppers in the oven for 20-40 minutes, depending how long you bacon takes to cook haha :)

you'll wanna let them cool for at least 10-20 minutes

then your peppers are done! enjoy!

Picture:

Food Assistance:

Date Attended: August 11th

What did you help with? Passing out the produce that we've grown to those in our community :)

What were people like? polite and somewhat talkative :)

What did you learn? People aren't all to scary, the intimidation comes from overthinking haha. but I'm still bad at talking to people haha

Garden Project/Problem Solved

Problem: A lot of my tomatoes have bottom rot. its to late in the season to correct this now, but I'd like to know how to prevent this for future reference.

Solution: Mulch the soil around your tomato plants! this helps with weed competition, keeping the soil moist, and keeping more consistent watering! You also want to balance the pH level of your soil. placing a generous sum of lime in the hole while planting your tomato and placing it atop the soil every now and then is a great way to do this. Lastly, dont over fertilize, and try using more natural fertilizers, rather than chemical fertilizers.

Test/Activity: I did mulch, use lime and, fertilize with a more natural fertilizer at the beginning of the season.

Results: The mulching worked great, preventing weeds. using fertilizer did boost my plants, but i may have used too much. I don't think I used enough lime, as my tomatoes currently have quite a bit of bottom rot on them. for future reference, I should probably use more lime, and keep more consistent watering :)

Communication : I communicated this to the group a little over a week ago, Aug 14th I think :)

Here's the website I used for reference: https://savvygardening.com/blossom-end-rot/

Booth participation:

Date: July 25th from 9-10 am :)

Organization: Breakfast in the park (art in the park/rotary breakfast)

People Encountered: I believe it was between 4-6 groups of people, with 2-4 people in each.

Presentation: Something along the lines of "hi I'm Sophia, I'm an intern at DYG. we manage large garden plots and grow a variety of vegetables that we donate to Polk county resource center. the garden has employed 85 interns and donated over 27,000 pounds of produce over the past 9 years, if you'd like to know more, here's a pamphlet :) "

How it went: It was way easier than i thought it'd be. The conversation flowed once got past the awkward introduction, after that i thought i did pretty good! After the initial nervousness, i felt much more comfortable engaging with others :)

Why was it important to do this: Its important to be able to talk to people whether its for work, or just everyday life.

What did you learn: that talking to people isn't as terrifying as it seems :)