Sowing, Harvesting and Weeds

Sowing, Harvesting and Weeds

Sowing is the scatter of seeds over an open land on earth. It can also be defined as being dispersed with a purpose of growth.

Harvesting is to handle and grow crops. It can also mean storing and keeping something that was grown and nurtured by the planet.

A weed is a plant considered undesirable in a particular situation, "a plant in the wrong place". Examples commonly are plants unwanted in human-controlled settings, such as farm fields, gardens, lawns, and parks.

Seed Planting

As Professor Segal said, gardening has more to do with preparing nutrient rich soil clear of any harmful substances, such as weeds or harmful organisms, than it does with actually growing the plants themselves.  The idea of planting seeds in trays is very beneficial for many reasons.  The soil in the trays consists of what the planter puts in it while the ground soil cannot be fully controlled.  This gives the seed the best chance to grow and develop in those vital first steps of growth.   Keeping the small plants in the trays also helps keep the plants away from anything that could be harmful to it that is in the ground soil.  Basically the trays provide perfect conditions for the seeds to begin growth.  Once the seed is too large to be in the tray any longer, it is strong enough to survive in the less perfect ground soil.  It is very simple to remove the small plant from the tray and place it in the ground where you have prepared the best soil possible.

Local Sources for Seeds

Learning about seeds and local seed sources in this weeks presentation, gives options and the ability to be able to get local and country wide exposure to other plants and crops. A local seed source such as ECHO here in South West Florida, where they hold over 6,332 seeds from all over the world for trial. With the exposure to native and wild seeds to make local and wild edible crops has lead ECHO to donating more than 1,557 pounds of goods just this past year alone. Us customers can also be able to buy seeds from ECHO and other food supply stores to build our own gardens and explore varieties of crops.

Local Plant Sources

What I enjoyed about this weeks class and from the readings about seed planting and harvesting is how to plant seeds to make them the best products and outcomes for harvesting. It was overall important information for us to know, learn and understand how to plant seeds and which seeds are appropriate to plant when/where so we can make and build our own gardens. Being able to plant our own vegetables, fruits and other harvests can benefit us from having to rely on grocery stores for fresh foods. It is also important to learn how to plant seeds for plants and flowers.

Harvesting

One of the things that we learned about in class today were weeds, which is just a plant that's growing in an inappropriate place. They talked about different types of weeds and how to get rid of them. One of the more interesting ways I thought was to use a blowtorch. I never knew that was a legitimate method to eliminate weeds. They also went over cover crops which essentially just does the same thing as mulch (protection) except it's a living barrier. 

Irrigation methods were also covered in class.  Some of the methods I was already familiar with, like manual irrigation, rain water, and drip methods. I still think that the computer controlled irrigation sprayer system is pretty cool. The professor gave a bunch of gardening tips and talked about composting for a little bit as well.