One Bed Crop Plan and Calculations

As we get closer and closer to finishing our preparation for our one bed projects, one of our final prep jobs is to decide what crops we want to grow over the course of the fall season. This week students were given the opportunity to choose any five crops they wanted to grow this fall season. Choices ranged from a head of lettuce, to bunches of bell beans. With these choices, came requirements and expectations. On top of choosing what crops we wanted to grow this season, we were also asked to complete a empty table full of listed calculations and data values. The data table included things from the total square feet you needed from your bed to actually grow the crops, to how many pounds of the crops your expected to grow during the season. Although the calculations took a bit to complete and fully understand, the actual numbers we get from these calculations are important because they help guide us what we're going to grow this season as well as what we need to do in order to meet these data expectations. These calculations aren't only just used exclusively for the fall season, they're also used for all the other seasons we grow in class, including both winter and spring. We not only use these numbers to help gauge how much were going to grow of each crop, but are also used to check back upon the end of each season in order to see whether or not our designated group for the one bed project actually met the required amount of pounds of both calorie and compost, calorie being 30 lbs and compost being 18-20 lbs. Without these calculations, we wouldn't be able to determine whether or not our group actually would meet the given requirements of the actual one bed project as well as how much of each crop we needed to grow in order to meet those given requirements.   

- Matthew Pollock

*below is a picture of a student working on the one bed calculations for plant bed A1 for the fall planting season