Kylie, Manuel, and Yu Xin planted potatoes in buckets. First they created a nutrient rich soil by combining compost, peat moss, and a planting mix. The compost is rich in nutrients, the peat moss retains water very well, and the planting mix also contains fertilizer. They put one large bucket of each type into a wheelbarrow and mixed it all together using a shovel. They then drilled six holes into the bottoms of three buckets so that water would be able to drain from them. Then, they used a shovel to fill each bucket with the soil mix about a quarter of the way up. They used a knife to cut the potatoes in half (being mindful of the eyes where the plant will sprout), and placed 3 halves in each bucket. They filled the bucket up more and put bone meal at the very top. We then used a hose to water each bucket of to-be potato plants. Potatoes like to have a very nutrient rich soil, so by mixing compost, peat moss, and planting mix, they gave the potatoes a good place to grow. The potatoes are planted fairly far down in the bucket to allow for the new potatoes to have space to grow where they won’t be exposed to any sunlight. If they are exposed to sunlight, they will turn green and toxic. It was fun for them to shovel the soil from the wheelbarrow into their buckets where we planted potatoes. It was also interesting to learn that potatoes have to be cut in half and that the placement of the potato matters once you plant it. Something hard about making the potatoes pot for them was mixing the 3 types of soil in the wheelbarrow. They also flipped their compost piles. For a few weeks now they've been in charge of flipping the piles every week at the garden. The only tool that they used were some garden forks to mix around the compost. They mix the compost to make it easier for the decomposers to get to the compost and so that everything decomposes faster. It was fun for them to always get a little workout when doing this activity. It was also interesting for them to see all of the little creatures in the compost. It was annoying for them to get a little dirty, but overall it was a great experience for them.
Leslie and Luke raked debris off of plant beds using metal rakes and disposed of the debris in the compost. They cleared the debris to allow for an unobstructed area for planting and plant growth. Clearing the debris for them was good because the tomato beds looked messy. Something fun for them was being able to use new garden tools. Clearing all the debris was annoying for them because small bits would be left behind. They also made salad using carrots, a variety of lettuces, tomatoes, dressing, chopped basil, cilantro, and mint with a knife. Chopping the herbs helped with adding ingredients to the salad dressing. It was nice for them to enjoy the salad after creating it with the class. They found it interesting learning how to make dressing. It was difficult for them to thoroughly wash the carrots and it was annoying to use a hose to clean them.