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Esteban's Garden

I have a renewed sense of purpose when I cook now that I have the knowledge and materials to grow my own produce. I’m looking forward to using fresh tomatoes and peppers to make my own salsa and pickle my own cucumbers for delicious sandwich toppings. I am very proud of my sunflowers and how they turned out. They are tall, beautiful, and vibrant. I want to grow more sunflowers and tomatoes in the fall so I can continue to harvest lovely vegetables. My new garden-fresh lifestyle makes my family very happy to see grow and produce for us. We are all participating now and finding new seeds to grow and consume together. Looking back, I think the class is one of the best structured classes I’ve taken online. The slow release of information throughout the 12 weeks of the course kept me engaged and looking forward to every week of new material. I think the volume on lectures could be a little higher as I was having trouble hearing the material at times, and perhaps organized visits t...
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Recent posts

Organic Gardening/Flooding disaster

Organic gardening is defined as an integrated farming system that strives for sustainability, the enhancement of soil fertility and biological diversity whilst, with rare exceptions, prohibiting synthetic pesticides, antibiotics, synthetic fertilizers, genetically modified organisms, and growth hormones. This is in line with the popular definition of “organic” as it is sustainable and ecological in practice but the allowance for chemicals and controls does go against what most believe to be the purest form of agriculture. And it makes sense to use controls and pesticides as we have been modifying our crops for so long there is no such thing as a completely “organic” untouched plant.   This week disaster struck my garden, as it was overloaded with water and began to rot. I drained it the best I could, but it is still oversaturated with water and needs more time in the sun before it can rebound. I’m very disappointed I did not catch on quicker as this would’ve saved s...
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Bug Busting and Propagules

Using cayenne pepper and dish soap, we made an insecticide for our garden. My garden has been having a hard time fighting gardening bugs so using this mixture I hope to be able to remove a good portion of them. I feel more comfortable using this insecticide as it is natural and less harmful to my plants and fruits since it doesn't include many of the harsh chemicals used by industrial agriculture. My regrow project exploded with so much growth this week I wanted to highlight it on my blog with the picture. Its roots grew to a whopping 6 inches doubling its total length. My lettuce seeds didn't germinate so I started regrowing lettuce in the hydroponic system and it actually started growing! My garden will hopefully really benefit from the insecticide but I think it would benefit more from a total replanting. I hope to find some new pots to move the plants to in order for them all to have plenty of space. I think the lack of space is contributing to the delay of my fruit...
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Gardening in The Summer

The summer is here and in Gainesville that means a lot of rain, a lot of sun, and a lot of bugs. Pests start to creep up in the hot humid Summer season and wreak havoc on my plants that already struggle in the heat for water. Snails especially, eat away at my hardworking leaves and stems. This week we learned about disease control as well as pest control. To combat the increase in critter life my family have utilized general pest control around the house to keep the bugs outside. While my brother and I use other methods such as the mixture used in class to keep bugs and ailments away from our garden. We didn’t expect disease to be a problem in our garden as making remedies is easy. Other than that, I’ve been keeping my celery propagate healthy and growing, while my lettuce seedlings have yet to germinate. I might need to get more peat pellets and grow them in there. In the meantime, I hope my garden continues to grow as I get closer to the end of the semester. And that slugs and bu...
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Hydroponic Gardening? The future

I have not tried hydroponic gardening before, I’m very excited to try though! My father based his master’s thesis on hydroponic gardening and was very interested in starting our own hydroponic system in our backyard. We’re interested in developing a home gardening kit that incorporates indoor hydroponic systems in order to grow healthy fruits and vegetables in consumers’ kitchens. Beyond hydroponics my garden is exploding with growth every day, however I haven’t been able to water some day and as a result one of my sunflowers wilted away. Surprisingly my radishes are still growing strong even if the stems are having trouble finding the sunlight. The alysum plants are having a hard time getting sunlight as well as the wax beans have become a bit overgrown and have taken over most of my space. This week we also began germinating lettuce seeds to plant in our very own hydroponic system. It’s a simple DIY recycled setup that took a few minutes to setup. We ...
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Extra extra read all about it! Esteban loves gardening!!

I have been meeting a lot of new people this summer because I joined the Innovation Academy’s Ambassador program. When I tell people I’ve recently picked up gardening is a hobby they are immediately curious as to what I find enjoyable about gardening. I tell people about my vegetables growing, my seeds germinating, and learning through this class about the wonderful process of vegetable gardening. I think gardening is thought of as a big commitment which contributes to the wonder and surprise when people learn I am gardening. But really with a bit of effort everyone can have a green thumb. Just this week we learned about the science of plant food, fertilizers. We were able to spread fertilizers provided by the class on our plants and feed them nutrients they will use to produce food for us. I spent some time away form my garden for the holiday weekend, I had a lot of fun visiting my family. It was very nice to come home and see my plants were healthy and still growing. I was w...
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OHHHH we're halfway there! OHHHH LEMON AND A PEAR

It's officially the halfway mark in the semester! Gardening is fun! I took this class to fulfill a credit requirement for the semester, and it has been the greatest decision of the semester. Gardening has actually helped me stay ahead in my other courses because of the time frame gardening requires. Watering my plants daily and planting new seeds in my garden week after week have not only given me more purpose and structure, but something to look forward to every time I see my garden. To update on the garden: I went to Lowe's and bought a wooden plant box for my seedlings as they ran out of space in my first box. I was able to fit them into the box but I'm worried I might not have given them enough space. I also moved the location of the garden boxes because I think they might not have been getting enough sunlight. Independently I also bought some flowers that I plan on planting around my house as I have really wanted to try landscaping more since taking this class. I...
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