Gainesville welcomes Trader Joe's!

Trader Joe's opened a Gainesville location this past Wednesday, December 12th, at 8 AM. My manager at my work gave out cool reusable grocery bags from the store to all the employees yesterday as little Christmas presents. Look how cute!

I decided to call them and get a feeling for what they were about before I shopped there; I had never heard of this chain before! I actually got to speak with Store Manager Jodi McCollough, who explained to me that TJ's is known for its healthy food options at affordable prices (apparently notably cheaper than Fresh Market's prices). Trader Joe's offers basic foods that one would find at any grocery store, as well as unique gourmet and/or organic food options. The store's slogan is "a neighborhood grocery store"; the wall decor of TJ's is unique to Gainesville, representing Gainesville "landmarks" such as the UF bat house and Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Safe to say I can't wait to visit during my day off tomorrow!

garden maintenance pt. 5

Alas, my final blog post! This semester has flown by. I have throughly come to enjoy gardening and I have actually signed up for FRC1010 in the spring, a fruit gardening class! This week in the garden I harvested the rest of my zinnias (they appear to have already "peaked" this season), another cucumber, and the last of my eggplants. I don't like cucumbers, so I bought some pickling supplies and I'm going to attempt to pickle my cucumber. The first cucumber I picked I cut into slices and put the slices over my eyes for a few minutes to unwind 8) (that's a smiley with cucumber slices over its eyes). I'm also waiting for one of my bell peppers, which is HUGE, to change colors before I harvest it. I'll probably cut it up and include it in a salad. I really wanted to pick one of my sunflowers this week, but there were several bees pollinating on it, so I just let it bee (pun intended!). Aside from harvesting, I just did some general weeding and raked between my beds.

garden maintenance pt. 4

This week, gardening class was cancelled due to Veteran's Day. However I went and visited my garden Wednesday afternoon to do some general garden maintenance: weeding, building up the beds, raking. I unfortunately had to compost one of my eggplants because caterpillars had begun to burrow into it (nasty!). I picked about one dozen zinnias and some of my beans as well. I am going to visit my garden again this afternoon to pick some hot peppers, my other eggplant, my zucchini, one of my bell peppers, and the rest of my beans so that I can bring these fresh goodies back home to Pensacola, Florida with me on Saturday and prepare some yummy pre-Thanksgiving meals to eat with my family.

Here is a link to link to one of the recipes my mom and I have agreed to try:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/grilled-vegetables-with-balsamic-vinegar/detail.aspx

It incorporates my eggplant, my zucchini, and my bell peppers! My mom and I are obsessed with balsamic dressing so I'm sure it will be delicious. These grilled veggies will be a good side to some pasta and garlic bread! :)

The second recipe my mom and I are planning to prepare the day I come home:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/moms-zucchini-bread/detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Title&e11=zucchini&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Recipe%20Search%20Results

ZUCCHINI BREAD! I remember having a version of it a long time ago and I can't wait to make it using the fresh zucchini from my garden!

garden maintenance pt. 3

This week in my garden I got to harvest a few of my vegetables! I picked some zinnias for the second week in a row and I also picked a green bell pepper, one of my hot peppers, all of my lettuce plants, and some of my beans. Luckily for me there were not a ton of weeds to pull and my beds didn't need much reshaping. I sprayed BT and Neem (aphids are attacking my okra plants!) on various plants and fertilized as necessary.

This week our discussion topic was organic/sustainable agriculture. I personally eat whatever is cheapest/most convenient, and as a consequence I rarely buy organic. Stores such as WARDS or the farmer's market are inconveniently located across town, so I am not able to shop at those locations for my produce. I instead shop at the Publix, located a short, 2-minute drive from my apartment. If the price of organic produce is too high (my rule for buying organic is it must be no more than twice as much as non-organic produce), then I will not purchase it. I am more concerned with buying locally rather than buying organic, so I do visit the farmer's market on occasion. When I buy locally I can usually notice a fresher taste when compared to outsourced fruits or vegetables. Contrastingly, I do not think that organic produce tastes better than non-organic produce.
To me, sustainable agriculture includes agricultural practices that benefit or otherwise do not cause harm to the environment. A good example of sustainable agriculture, in my opinion, is the use of biological pest control, rather than spraying harmful chemical pesticides on crops to kill pests. Although these chemicals may not affect the crop's toxicity, making it safe for human consumption, these pesticides may be detrimental to the environment. This EDIS article states that UF is developing an Integrated Pest Management program for strawberry production. Some common garden pests, including  Thrips, Aphids, and Spider Mites, are to be biologically controlled using Minute pirate bugs, Aphidius wasps, and Persimillis, respectively. These natural predators do not harm the environment, like chemical pesticides might.

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/hs180

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garden scavenger hunt!

I made a collage in word, but for some reason I was unable to upload it to my blog! So I took a picture of my collage with my phone (two pictures, to account for scrolling) and tried to fuse them together as best as I could. The above photos picture items I had to find in my garden. 

Starting from top left: photo of (3.) caterpillar, photo of (4.) eggplant flower, photo of (6.) squash flower, photo of (1.) aphid and (2.) whiteflies, photo of (5.) tomato flower, photo of (10.) simple leaf, photo of (7.) weed flower, photo of (8.) bean flower, photo of (9.) tendril, photo of (11.) compound leaf, photo of (12.) red plant tissue, photo of (14.) purple plant tissue, photo of (13.) green plant tissue, photo of (20.) plant you would eat the fruit, photo of (21.) plant you would eat the root, photo of (23.) plant with a virus, photo of (18.) plant you would eat the leaf

prepping for garden check #2

This week in the garden I prepared for my second graded garden check. Since I wasn't able to do much to my plot last week, this week I had twice as much weeding to do. Also this week I had to do my least favorite gardening tasks: building up the beds with a hoe and evening out the walkways in-between beds with a rake. I'm happy to say I've noted some flowers as well as vegetables on some of my plants!

hopefully this zinnia flower will bloom by next week!

a purple flower on my eggplant plant!

the first sign of a red knight pepper!

Other plants that began to flower include zucchini, squash, and both types of tomato. I fertilized all the plants on my plot that looked stunted and need a little boost. Lastly, I sprayed both insecticides. I was especially sure to spray my bean plants with BT because they are getting demolished by tons of caterpillars! The caterpillars munch on the leaves and then cover themselves with the leaf edge (like a blanket) to conceal themselves.

In lecture this week we learned about various garden pests. A pest is essentially an organism that can cause injury or loss to a garden. The main pests I encounter in my garden are caterpillars and whiteflies. Caterpillars are chewing pests (refer back to my bean anecdote) while whiteflies are sucking pests. Whiteflies are so detrimental to plants because they are vectors for diseases. As I explained in previous posts, BT is used to kill chewing pests, namely caterpillars. BT is a digestive insecticide; when caterpillar larvae digest the insecticide, BT crystals become toxic specifically within the larvae's gut. Contrastingly, Neem is sprayed to kill whiteflies. It is a systematic insecticide, meaning the plant absorbs the insecticide and the pest intakes the insecticide when sucking on the plant. Neem messes with the whiteflies' lifestyle, producing hormonal changes that ultimately kill the pests. These two insecticides gradually kill insects. This weekend, my gardening teacher applied an insecticide called Admire Pro to my plot. This is a soil-applied insecticide that paralyzes the muscles of insects, killing them very quickly.

garden maintenance pt. 2

Unfortunately this week it began to rain during our gardening time, so I didn't accomplish as much as I normally do during gardening hours. Due to several midterms this week, I wasn't able to return to the garden and tend to my plot, so this upcoming Monday I'll have to weed twice as many weeds and give my plants/beds some extra attention and TLC! This week was exciting, however brief, because I noticed several yellow flowers sprouting on my tomato plants! I didn't spray my plot with any pesticides because the rain would have washed away the pesticides before they could protect my plants from insects.

Looking through the vegetable crisper in my fridge in my apartment, I tried to figure out exactly where my produce came from. A bag of lettuce that I bought at Publix was stamped, "Distributed by Publix Super Markets, Inc. Lakeland, Fl 33802".

A pepper mix I have actually had an address label on the underside of the container: "Product of USA 4206 Mercantile Ave. Naples, Fl". I googled the address and discovered that the pepper mix was actually distributed by FreshPoint, North America's largest fresh produce distributor. Upon researching the distribution company a little, I learned that they buy from local companies that support local family farmers.

http://www.freshpoint.com/services/environment.html

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prepping for garden check #1

This week was dedicated to preparing for my first graded garden check. A few of the things that my garden would be graded on included bed formation, fertilizer application, and how well my bed was weeded, among other criteria. None of my plants have flowered yet, although since I planted/transplanted a few plants the second week of class I hope to see some flowers on Monday! This week I weeded, hoed the walkways between my beds, and built up by beds. I built up my beds by packing the loosened dirt from hoeing the walkways on both sides of each of my four beds. Building up my beds was extremely exhausting, but doing so prevents bed erosion and gives plant roots plenty of space to grow. Climate conditions were finally favorable here in Gainesville to transplant lettuce plants into my garden this week :)

on a side note, my sunflowers finally sprouted!

After transplanting, I added fertilizer to both my lettuce transplants and my puniest plants. Finally, I sprayed two types of pesticides. The first, thuricide, I sprayed last week. This pesticide helps kill caterpillars and keeps them from munching on the leaves of my young plants. The second, neem, is a murky yellowish color and helps kill aphids and flies. Luckily this week I saw no aphids hiding out on the underside of the leaves of my cucumber plants!

my cucumbers are healthy and aphid-free!

Essential plant nutrients are needed by a plant in order to grow to maturation. Some, such as carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen are present in a plant's environment (air), and comprise 95% of a dried plant's mass. Macronutrients are required by a plant in larger quantities than micronutrients, although both are equally important to a plant's overall health. Macronutrients include nitrogen (1.5% of dried plant's mass), phosphorous, and potassium, to name a few. Several micronutrients include iron, zinc, and manganese. On most of my tomato plants the lower leaves of the plant are yellow in color, while the top leaves are green. This symptom suggests that the older (lower) leaves are deprived of vital nutrients, such as nitrogen from the soil, due to the newer (upper) leaves "hogging" the nutrients.

garden maintenance

Luckily for me, weeding was a very quick process this week! I pulled weeds from the beds and hoed the walkways as per usual. As I was weeding near my cucumber plants in bed 2 I noticed white, disk-shapped eggs and small green bugs on the underside of one of my cucumber leaves. My instructor identified the critters as aphids, who have a reputation to "suck the life out of plants". :( After weeding, I planted my peas, which were finally ready to be seeded. I applied fertilizer to my pea plants as well as to the ladybug pepper plants I had to replant due to an invasive pathogen. Finally, I sprayed thuricide, the organic pesticide that only kills caterpillars to all of my sprouted plants.

My squash plants are thriving in the garden!

Zinnias sprouted this week!

As well as beans!

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

An area's climate determines where a plant can grow. A zone map shows the climactic conditions of certain regions and helps gardeners and growers alike decide what to plant in their local area.

http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/

Gainesville, Florida belongs to zones 8 and 9 on the plant hardiness zone map.

Gainesville's first frost occurs around November 5th and the city's last frost falls around March 29th. Gainesville's rainy season extends from May through November. Florida's climate generally limits a growing season to cooler months, since the summers in Florida are too humid and hot for most crops to thrive. My garden is watered using a sprinkler irrigation system for two hours a day (one inch per hour) three days a week, which is more than crops in other parts of the U.S. receive.

planting (pt. 2)

This week in the garden was a busy one! Here is a quick overview of what I did:

• Pulled weeds from all four beds; hoed the walkways between the beds

It's amazing how quickly weeds can take root! A few weeds that developed throughout the week already had extremely developed root systems. This week I hoed the walkways between the beds to rid the walkways of weeds as well. What I thought was an ant infestation (orange dirt commonly associated with an ant bed surrounded one of my ladybug pepper plants) turned out to be a parasitic infestation! The leaves of my pepper plants were shrunken and shriveled. :( I had to pull out both transplants and toss them, they were unsalvageable! Luckily since it's still fairly early in the game I transplanted two new, healthy pepper plants in the open spaces. :)

• Seeded the remaining two beds of my garden. All beds are seeded now! 

• Fertilized my garden

In order to jumpstart growth, I  added fertilizer to my beds. To give the fertilizer a place to sit in the soil,  I dug shallow circles around transplants and shallow trenches on each side of seeds with my finger. 

shallow trenches dug on either side of buried seeds

Only one small cup of fertilizer was needed to fertilize the entire garden. Fertilizer was sprinkled into the shallow crevices and then covered with soil.

• Sprayed organic pesticides on plants

This week we sprayed a specific pesticide intended to only kill caterpillars onto our plants using a spray bottle. It was important to essentially cover the plants with the pesticide, as caterpillars will only be killed by the pesticide if they ingest it. 

In lecture this week we learned about the genetic modification of plants. I was surprised to learn that I probably eat a GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) on a daily basis. Contrary to common public misconception, GMOs have never caused negative side effects in humans. GMOs enable farmers to produce higher crop yields each season and in general produce larger, fuller, heartier vegetables! 

planting

Aside from an ant ambush on my right foot, the first day of planting my garden went rather smoothly! I still need to label and seed beds 3 and 4 as well as fertilize my entire garden, which I will do on Monday. When I first arrived at my plot, I pulled out all the visible small weeds. Surprisingly some had remarkably long, developed roots! The majority of class this week was spent making sure the spacing between plants was consistent among beds; this ultimately helped make my plot look neater and cleaner. Transplanted plants included Juliet tomatoes, New Girl tomatoes, Anaheim Joe Parker peppers, Gourmet Orange peppers, Red Knight peppers, Lady Bug hot peppers, and eggplant. The rest of the vegetables/flowers needed to be seeded. My lettuce and pea plants were not seeded due to the fact that it is still extremely hot and humid in Gainesville, climatic conditions unfavorable to both plants. Pictured below are a couple pictures of my garden as well as a chart comparing the advantages and disadvantages to both seeding and transplanting!

a close-up of one of my three transplanted Juliet tomato plants
 (the shallow ring dug around the transplant indicates where a small amount of fertilizer will be sprinkled)

beds 1 & 2 of my garden

seeds vs. transplants: a few upsides and downsides to each planting method

garden plot plan

lettuce begin with a garden plot plan