One of my sources is the book "Growing Vegetables in Hawaii". It has given me some good tips of gardening, but it relates to my project because it specifies on Hawaii. This way, I can apply what I have learned in this book to my work.
The first section is on soil and fertilizers. If the soil lies on top of pahoehoe lava, there will be no drainage for the water. Whereas, if the soil lies on top of a'a, the water will have lots of space to drain. Remains of dead plants and animals are important parts of a soil's make up. When you water plants, the water distributes the nutrients, the soil becomes moist, and it retains these nutrients to last longer. Plants mainly need nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, salt, and calcium. These nutrients help with the growing of leaves, fruit production and healthy roots, and stem growth. Organic fertilizers are most important as well.
Some facts are based on things you need to consider when planting gardens in Hawaii. For example, humidity causes some problems to plants known to drier climates. Soil here is more acidic because of the volcanoes. The author recommends buying seeds or seedlings from local nurseries because they have plants that do well in Hawaii.(there is a list of local nurseries in the back).
From the list of vegetables included in this book, green onions and beans match up with my list. The author recommends to plant beans all year round, since Hawaii's climate doesnt change much. Green onions can be planted year round also.
This book has also provided me with some recipes for after growing the plants. I feel that because i have chosen herbs from this book, they have a good chance of growing well, and being successful.
sources: Growing Vegetables in Hawai'i=Kathy Oshiro
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
My first post
Hello,
This entry marks the first of my Am Lit Nature final project. I have decided to make a small garden/ potted plants to start with so that I can be a bit more sustainable, and use what I have grown. This garden will be very useful to my family because my mom loves to cook with basil, and various herbs. However, with the amount that we buy for cooking, I think that it would be a good idea to grow our own, that way we won't have to make trips to the store. Therefore, I am planning on growing basil, rosemary, green beans, marigolds, and roses.
I hope to learn from this project about the effort and care it takes to actually grow something that we eat. I want to explore each step, beginning with preparation and then maintaining it. This experiment will also hopefully reduce my carbon footprint. I have been studying in economics how much CO2 humans give out all the time. The effects are great, and are continuing to increase.
I will be exploring the difference between growing plants in general, and especially in Hawaii. Some of my resources revolve around this topic as well.
Like Thoreau, living off of the land will be something I am touching on. It is definetly hard work so start a garden from scratch. My plans are to start slow by planting the seeds in pots where the soil is richer than my yard's.
I am planning on using this blog like a journal like McCandless used. I hope to log my efforts like I will be doing in my CPB. This will help me keep track of how I feel or what I have realized while planting my garden.
This entry marks the first of my Am Lit Nature final project. I have decided to make a small garden/ potted plants to start with so that I can be a bit more sustainable, and use what I have grown. This garden will be very useful to my family because my mom loves to cook with basil, and various herbs. However, with the amount that we buy for cooking, I think that it would be a good idea to grow our own, that way we won't have to make trips to the store. Therefore, I am planning on growing basil, rosemary, green beans, marigolds, and roses.
I hope to learn from this project about the effort and care it takes to actually grow something that we eat. I want to explore each step, beginning with preparation and then maintaining it. This experiment will also hopefully reduce my carbon footprint. I have been studying in economics how much CO2 humans give out all the time. The effects are great, and are continuing to increase.
I will be exploring the difference between growing plants in general, and especially in Hawaii. Some of my resources revolve around this topic as well.
Like Thoreau, living off of the land will be something I am touching on. It is definetly hard work so start a garden from scratch. My plans are to start slow by planting the seeds in pots where the soil is richer than my yard's.
I am planning on using this blog like a journal like McCandless used. I hope to log my efforts like I will be doing in my CPB. This will help me keep track of how I feel or what I have realized while planting my garden.
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