Week 7

This week thankfully was not my first experience with plant food. As I had mentioned in one of my earlier blog posts, I had received an alligator alley plant from the CPI plant drop last October and took care of it for a few months after in this same apartment. Once it was showing signs of getting ready to bloom, I decided to buy some miracle gro fertilizer that dissolves into water. Since I still had a good deal of it left, I went ahead and mixed some into the water that I used to water the onions and some other plants. I ended up using more fertilizer than I initially expected since I used it on all of the plants that have been showing growth thus far. I used a much larger portion of the bag than when I was fertilizing just one plant! Hopefully, this will help further some of the growth that my garden has seen and stimulate some of the smaller plants that haven't been growing as big,
like the zinnia and basil.

Week 6

Growing a vegetable garden has definitely been a fun experience with, as with most things, came with a handful of challenges. One of those biggest challenges was trying to do so in a college apartment. Thankfully having a balcony made things slightly easier, but the lack of open land and direct sunlight are definitely factors as to the slow start to my garden. Naturally, this garden is growing a little slower than I expected, and though I am very proud of it, I am sure there is plenty more room for growth, no pun intended. But while o  the topic of growth I am glad to document that all of my onion starts have germinated. marking a first in terms of all of one crop making it to daylight! Onion is probably my favorite vegetable so I can't wait until they are ready to harvest. I was also able to transplant my basil plant into soil since it has graduated from my germination station, and though I don't believe its quite ready for the pinching techniques we learned about this week, I'm sure it will soon be growing into a healthy herb that's will add another splash of flavor to my garden!

week 5

 I've been quite excited to tell people about taking a vegetable gardening class, and the reactions have been a bit of a mixed bag. Those in my closer circle we're mostly excited, as a good deal of my friends have a green thumb and already somewhat have gardens of their own. I've even been able to learn a couple things about propagation for the regrow project from a friend who is growing some romaine lettuce out of a bottle! Others were surprised that such a class exists, which is understandable as vegetable gardening isn't a skill most would expect to get from your general selection of college courses. My germination station has been moving along quite nicely as I show in the picture, I've been watering a make-shift tray that I folded up using aluminum foil, and it has yielded some good results. I'm hoping to use some more advanced irrigation techniques that I learned this week to make some of my larger plants already in the soil start growing as well. Hopefully, I'll be transplanting and growing plenty of fresh basil soon!

Week 4

I've helped out in gardens and very light landscaping in the past, so I had a basic understanding of the difficulty of the work that goes into outdoor endeavors like a garden. It did end up being slightly more difficult than I expected however for a few reasons. The specific measurements I had to take into account when planting my seeds definitely made the process a little more involved. Also, germination has proven a bit difficult as my germination station has yet to yield any sprouts. Using the peat pellets was a completely new concept to me, they were fascinating to watch inflate, and get used to watering from the bottom up. I am still hopeful however due to the first sprouts coming from my sunflower seeds, which I hope will keep going and soon be followed by the rest of the garden!

Week 2

 I'm not exactly a first-time gardener, I have had quite a few plants in the past, from Turlington plants to succulents from the nursery plant sale, to even a seedling from one of the live oaks that are scattered across all corners of campus. Unfortunately, none of these green endeavors have ever been successful for me as they all died at one point or another. I have never been one to have much of a green thumb. I always joke around with my friends that "every plant I touch dies". I feel like I'm missing something in terms of what it takes to have a vibrant garden full of delicious foods I can harvest for meals and gorgeous flowers that I can look at all day. That's what I'm hoping to get out of this class this semester. I'm hoping not only to deepen my knowledge of various plants and what it takes to keep a garden healthy and growing, but be able to tell those same friends that I have "Turned over a new leaf" so to speak, and can not just keep my Turlington plant alive for more than a few months but one day cook them a meal that I grew myself. Here's to a new green beginning!

My Soupa Salad

Hello! My name is Brandon McKay and I'm a 3rd-year biotech major here. I'm hoping to help build my green thumb throughout this course, since I've never been great in the garden but enjoy the satisfaction of growing your own food. My last salad consisted of:

- Romaine lettuce, which is a leaf

- Tomato which is a flower

- Carrots which are roots

- Cucumbers which are flowers

- Garlic which is a root

I look forward to growing with you all!