STEM-H in the Garden
A presentation of the Southside Virginia Master Gardeners Association, Halifax County, VA
KathyConnerCornell
BenCapozzi
“30 Garden Projects (or So) in 60 Minutes (or Less)”
William McCalebCoordinator
Carol NelsonPresident
What we say is that gardening can be a means of entry into the totality of the Life Sciences.
It brings people directly into the business of life and living
systems.
From genes and heredity to climatic factors and deep geologic
cycles, health management and intervention, mathematics,
modeling, predictive behavior, hypotheses, experimentation and improvisation, thinking on your
feet and deep research.
It gets people out of classrooms and cubicles and into the larger
laboratories we all study in—the Earth and the universe itself.
—Richard Louv
Nature Deficit Disorder“…not a formal diagnosis, but a way to describe the psychological, physical and cognitive costs of human alienation from nature, particularly for children in their vulnerable developing years.”
SCIENCE in the Garden
• Botany—know the plants
• Horticulture—care for plants
• Biology—pests, diseases and allies
• Ecology—working with Nature, sustainable systems
• Geology and Meteorology—Earth cycles, soil health
• Trial & error, skepticism, recordkeeping, experimentation and a place for curiosity
• Multi-level thinking
• Research
TECHNOLOGY in the Garden
• Genetics—developing local plant landraces for traits like yield, pest and disease resistance, season extension, bolt resistance, drought tolerance, and taste
• Propagation tools and techniques
• Aquaponics
• Business—profitable harvesting, designer ingredients
• Research
ENGINEERING in the Garden
• Materials science—structures for trellises, raised beds and fences
• Hydrology—irrigation systems
• Carbon cycle—zero waste systems
• Manufacturing & Business—harvest, profitability, tool improvement
• Systems Thinking—working with living systems, perhaps the most challenging!
• Research
MATH in the Garden• Calculating bed sizes and
spacing
• Geometry in building raised beds, hardscaping features, and plotting the arc of the Sun
• Fibonacci sequence abounds
• Calculating harvest dates and planting schedules
HEALTH in the Garden• Health, Wellness, and Therapy
• Medicinal plants—historic and contemporary
• Calories, Vitamins, and Nutrients—anthrocyanins, antioxidants, carrots!
• Cultivating beauty
• Independence and self-sufficiency
• Patience, delayed gratification and work
• Social time—sharing the harvest, working together, being in a community
• Alone time—thinking and thought-less
Start with the SoilSoil is everything to the plant.
Any discussion about gardening should start with the soil.
1 Soil Particle Sizes!
Rice Grain
Tennis Ball
Beach Ball
ClaySiltSand
Different soil types are composed of different size particles.
2Soil Health Card!
Simple checklist for soil health using minimal tools: coat hanger, shovel, tube, gallon of water.
1. Soil Diversity—variety 2. Ground cover—proportion of
bare soil 3. Penetrometer—compaction 4. Infiltrometer—absorption 5. Earth worms—quantity
Soil Sediment Test!5
Most soils are composed of a combination
of sand, silt, and clay and healthy
soil will have organic matter.
Settled SAND
Settled SILT
CLAY left in suspension
Make 18 Day Compost! 6
MIX:
1/3 Greens 1/3 Browns 1/3 Manure
• Cubic Meter of Material (armpit high)
• Activator - Comfrey, Nettles, Dead Animal(!), Innoculum from other compost
• Need a compost thermometer
• Good, long-handled, 3-5 tine pitchfork
• Water until it leaks
• Cover with branches, then a tarp
• Mix, and then turn on Days 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, and 16
• It’s done when it no longer looks like the stuff that went into it and more like soil
Vermicompost! 7
• These can be in the ground or in a lined box
• Dispose of daily kitchen waste
• Harvest worm castings every 3 months for excellent compost
Heat with Compost! 9
Jean Pain Technique Wood chips & horse manure
Heat exchanger buried inside mound Well water from 40º to 145º
18 months of use Grows soil to boot!
www.WholeSystemDesigns.com • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3Z003uBn9Q
Plant the Earth Box!
Plant radishes, peas and dill seeds. Learn sowing and germination skills, and learn to harvest. With any luck a Swallowtail caterpillar will show up and feast on the dill!
11
Plant a Plot for
Pollinators!12
• Milkweed
• Goldenrod
• Bee Balm
• Asters
• Perennial wildflowers
• Research bloom times and correlate with butterfly life cycles to provide a constant supply of nectar (sugar) and pollen (protein)
Make a Nesting Boxor Bird House!
• Discover the life cycle of birds
• Different species’ needs and preferences
• The value that birds bring to the landscape
15
Build a Native Bee House!
• Discover life cycle of native bees
• Discuss Colony Collapse Disorder in Honey Bees and how we can help
16
Build a Biotope! 17
• “It’s kind of a one stop shop for wildlife.”
• Still to add: 6 nest boxes, 6 nest shelves, chimney swift tower, bat boxes, battic (Bat Attic), underground tunnels for snake hibernaculum, wasp nests (in roof), bumble bee nest boxes, ladybug wintering shelters, and more.
• “I studied wildlife behaviour, specifically predation for my masters. One thing I noticed is the principle of safety in numbers. Not Just in their own species but among species. So when 2 kinds of birds are nesting close to each other they are likely to attract a 3rd species because there is a mobbing effect when a predator comes close. I have seen that effect many times at the farm, now that so many species are nesting there. When a predator is spotted an alarm call goes out and all the different birds harass the predator together. The result is very low predation to nesting birds and their young.
Plan Perennial Plotsfor School!
• Support diversity of plant life
• Decrease maintenance
• Add interest
• Support birds and pollinators
• Grow edibles for students!
18
Build an Aquaponics System! 19
• Engineering and construction of system
• Explore animal-driven ecology
• Nitrogen cycle
• Systems as small as 3.5 sq ft
Grow an Amaryllis!
Enjoy the process of planting
a bulb and watching
it grow, plus easy to see male and
female flower parts on
the bloom.
20
Grow Virginia Exotics!
• Research pitcher plants and other carnivorous plants
• Research VA wetlands, bogs, and swamps
• Tough to do, requires attention
21
Dividing Perennials!
Plant propagation, planting the divisions, and discussion about plant cultural needs.
23
Dye Carnations!
• Learn how plants take up water and nutrients through the roots
• How nutrients travel through the phloem and xylem
24
Read the Weeds! 25
• Weeds as pioneers
• Plants out of place
• Different weeds germinate under different conditions, and their roots give clues to the health the soil
• Taproot, Hairnet, Nitrogen fixing; compacted soil, acidic soil, burned soil, et al
• Note the weeds and then do your soil tests
Design a Garden! 26
• You wanna do some math?
• Calculate spacing
• Sun angles
• Research climate, weather, and local popularity
• Companion and inhospitable plants
• Beans, Roots, Greens, Fruits
Look at the Sun! 27
• But don’t stare!
• Research light needs of plants
• Understand Earth’s seasonal cycles, axial tilt, and the Sun’s arc in the sky
• There’s an app for that!
Save Scion Wood & Graft! 28
• Immensely satisfying; delayed gratification
• Get up close with the cambium
• Design multi-graft trees!
• Research harvest dates and varieties, plant families (apple, stone, mulberry, et al)
Develop a UniqueLandrace! 30
• For serious student scientists
• Multiyear/season project
• Unique
• Book by Tychonievich as guide
Grow Pet Food 31
Design a garden system to provide X% of Your Animal Feed
32 Speak the Language
Explore Latin roots of plant names—multi, flora, macro, recumbens, prostrata, macro, poly, virginiana, canadensis, rubra, virens, et al
Native, Exotic, Invasive
33
Explore these terms, their history, and curent perspectives34 All in the Family
Explore the history of these plant species and contemporary perspectives.
Design a polyculture dominated by a single plant family —Rosacea, e.g.