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.

Gardening is Natural

—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.”

—Geoff Lawton

“You can solve all the

world’s problems in a garden.”

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 Texture Experiment!3

You can tell much about a soil’s

composition by feel.

Soil Under the Microscope! 4

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

Make a Self-

Watering Earth Box!

Using hands to make something useful. Working as a team

8

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

Build a Composting Planter! 10

$399!!

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)

Build a Puddling Station!

Lifecycle of butterflies and other insects Importance of pollinators

13

Feed the Birds! 14

• Sunflowers

• Millet

• Safflower

• Fruit trees and bushes

• Elderberry

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

Make a Rain Barrel!

• Discover why we need to conserve water

• Water storage

• Recycle materials

22

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)

Plant Diversity!

Just to be aware of what’s there.

29

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.

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

THANK YOU!