My organic garden

In my “Food” course, we are learning how to create a garden and the different ways that soil is living or dead. For this project, we designed our own virtual organic garden. Creating my raised bed took a long time to figure out the dimensions. I am planting 10 different plants which are tomatoes, potatoes, peas, peppers, alfalfa, onions, carrots, lettuce, strawberries and radishes. These plants will be planted in my backyard garden where there are also other plants and plenty of soil to grow these beautiful plants.

The length for my bed is 48 inches which I converted to 4 feet. The width is exactly the same as the length. The height is 24 inches which I then converted to 2 feet by dividing my inches by 12. The volume is 55,296 cubic inches. This is how much soil I need in my garden. I have also recorded the process of plants pH levels in order to know my plant will develop complete and be healthy. Also, I learned that plants have to have 5.5-7.0 of pH level to keep itself in good condition.The soil that I collected from my backyard has  pH level of 7.0. Nitrogen is N3 sufficient, Phosphorus is P2 adequate and Potassium is K4 surplus. The reason why I conducted a soil sample test was to know if the quality of my soil was good enough for my plants. I learned that I needed to add 0.32 pounds of soft rock phosphate and I don’t need to add potassium and nitrogen fertilizers to my soil. From my soil observation that I collected from my backyard the soil had compost, insects and was very moist and that’s how I knew that my soil was living because worms like to live in good soil.

The 10 plants that I will plant are tomatoes, carrots, onions, lettuce, radishes, peas, peppers, potatoes, strawberries, alfalfa. some are companion plants like lettuce and onion, because onions has a very strong smell and insects don’t like to eat it. By growing lettuce next to onions, onions will be helping lettuce from getting eaten by insects underground. Companion plants are plants that grow well together because they have a mutual relationship that help each other grow. Tomatoes helps carrots by providing them with good flavor. Alfalfa is a nitrogen fixer, which means that it collects nitrogen from the atmosphere and converts it to nitrates, nitrites and ammonia. This adds nitrogen in the soil. Companion planting is very helpful to plenty of plants here in the U.S and many other countries. Plants help each other from getting damage, by providing sunlight, shade, or repelling insects from getting eaten.

In conclusion I learned that not all gardens need fertilizers. I would be interested into planting this garden in my backyard.

By:  J.R (2014)  My Raising Bed 

Bobby the Banana

For this course I am taking a "Food For Thought" class. We are talking about ingredients that are put in foods in markets that we buy. Also, the major products that are put in products nowadays have ingredients that we are not familiar with or aware of.  For example, corn is a vegetable that is put in mostly everything. This is why we want to go deep into these ingredients and see how they developed and how and why they are how they look and taste. For this Project, we were assigned to design a family tree with the roots of our families and all types of favorite foods they liked. These favorite foods of my family all have background ingredients that I don't know. A famous thing that we eat at home is Plantain, "Plantano" in Spanish. I decided to research plantain and learn the interesting characteristics about bananas and different ways they can be cooked. Here is a autobiography of plantains.

"Family Tree". 2014 By. J.R.

Hi I’m Bobby the Banana, I am also known as Plantain. I am a very well known product from all around the world. I originated from Southeast Asia to the South Pacific around 8,000 to 5,000 BCE. In early 3,000 BCE Bananas were dispersed far and wide across the tropics, in all directions. Therefore, plantains may have been growing in Eastern Africa in the early years of 3,000 BCE. As you may know “Banana” is the typical name that we call plantains nowadays. “Banana” is the name given to those plants that produce a sweeter form of fruit. There are about fifty recognized brothers and sisters of mine, which is pretty awesome.

In many cultures I am put in their foods like rice, which goes perfect. I love being sweet. There’s so many ways to cook me and eat me! I can be fried, cooked, smashed and also baked for banana bread as well. I have traveled all around to many countries. They just love me too much. I love to be shipped to other countries, it's a very amazing ride. Sometimes when people buy me, they leave me in their kitchen for so long that I start to rot and get nasty, but sometimes I still get eaten. It's very easy to peel me when I am ripped because I get softer and a little bit weak. After I am ripped, my outer skin usually is dark brown or black.

I grow well in non-tropical climates. My temperature has to be around 50 degrees Fahrenheit. My siblings and I have been cultivated in nearly all tropical regions of the world. Africa is the home of the African highland banana. After I am disseminated all around the world, I get brought to food markets that buy me and my family in boxes. We get put in baskets and bags after we are shipped to these markets. When we're all settled, we get bought by people that shop and buy products from the food market or grocery store. People usually put us in bags in dozens. It gets very hot in there sometimes. Then, we travel to the person's house who bought us. When we are there we are set on counters or in pantries.

Sometimes me and my family just sit there for so many days without being cooked, which is good, but then we start to rot and smell extremely bad. We bananas don't use deodorant. You have to cook us quick that way you can enjoy the tasty flavor we have. "Plantains are so good" I heard this girl's mom say, but when we are put in a kitchen with my other fruit friends, I get peeled and cut into slices, which hurts but not that bad. I get fried for about 6-7 minutes on one side, then flipped so that way I am fully cooked and ready to be set in a plate. We are usually always combined with lots of rice. After I am put in a plate I get eaten and then more of my siblings are grown and grown again.

Sincerely, "Bobby The Banana" Age 34

Born In 1822 Died In 1856.

Sources

Custom Home | Promusa - Mobilizing Banana Science for Sustainable Livelihoods." Custom Home | Promusa - Mobilizing Banana Science for Sustainable Livelihoods. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.

Agricultural Biodiversity." Researching Agricultural and Forest Biodiversity. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2014

MUSALAC." MUSALAC. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.