Starting The New Season Fresh

During the final week before Ski Week our class had a couple days to go out to the farm. 

Each group had there management jobs to work on during this time but the main goal was to figure out what we wanted to harvest from our bed and what we wanted to plant, considering the new season. Many groups were harvested plants that they felt they got what they wanted out of them but many plants were kept because the vegetable is not grown to it's maximum capacity and still produce more CALS. 

Mr. Stewart reminded my group especially but as well as everyone else that you don't want to harvest a plant to early because we have but in all this effort to grow these plants organically so why not wait until it has reached it's maximum growing size. When groups decided which plants they wanted to harvest, they took the stem out of the soil but left the root in there because it provides essential nutrients for the soil. Groups were also using the stems as green manure, which they put into their as a source of compost. This is an example of mimicking nature because we are giving back what our farm has produced for us. 

While classmates were deciding what they wanted to plant for this spring, they were referring to the "How To Grow More Vegetables" textbooks because it tells us what plants are good to plant for the spring and which ones aren't. Most groups during this week already have their indoor starter plants that are almost ready to transplant but for the most part not until after break. Groups still have not planted anything directly into their beds but thats what they are working on at the moments. 

Finally, I noticed that the compost group has been very busy lately because our beds need a lot of compost especially since we are about to plant new seeds, which need all the nutrients it can get. 

By: Hugo Dalzell-Piper