Blog 2

This week, I thinned and transplanted my callaloo seeds, did some aphid removal on individual white velvet and clemson spineless okra plants, and learned about bolting and similarities in flower structures between radishes and cabbages. Before diving into the greenhouse, we took a quick trip to the last high tunnel, where cabbage, kale, and radishes are being grown. We were given a brief explanation of bolting, which is when cabbages sprout a stem through the center of its head. There is a difference in how heirloom and commercial or modern varieties have more compacted heads, which requires you to have to make an ‘X’-shaped incision into the head in order for bolting to occur. Other brassicas like kale don’t have heads, as their leaves grow loosely. Once a cabbage has bolted, the stem will eventually develop flowers, which once fertilized will become seeds. We also got a quick comparison of radish flowers to that of cabbage, as they have a similar structure to other brassicas. I was admiring how quickly my Clemson Spineless okra has grown and has now almost entirely been transplanted to the first high tunnel, where it stands adjacent to a variety of an heirloom variety of pigeon peas native to South America that have been acclimated to temperate climate characteristic to here. The few of both the Clemson spineless and white velvet okra plants that haven’t made it to the high tunnel yet are experiencing some assault from aphids. Aphids are like small round yellowish vampires that defoliate a plant - basically suck them dry of their nutrients, and impact later stages of their life cycle, like nutrient absorption, germination and dormancy. Amirah has been excellent about staying on top of treating our seeds with neem oil weekly. What I and my peers did was dunk each plant in a bucket of water to get rid of aphids. While also in the greenhouse, I seeded an heirloom variety of black eyed peas. This variety had been generously given from a family in Louisiana, that can trace their roots directly to what is present-day Ghana, in West Africa. I felt humbled and was a little nervous about handling them myself, but planted them in a 72-square tray successfully. As for the callaloo, which are in smaller trays, I gave them a final thinning out (instead down to two plants per cell, now I have to get them down to one). After completing this, we went to the Lutheran site where I transplanted them into one of the garden beds, and also helped with some general maintenance like weeding, laying compost and expanding two front beds. We haven’t gotten much rain lately so the soil was expectedly dry, and made sure to water the beds well before heading back to the farm. After our walkthrough of the first high tunnel, I feel like I can associate with the seeds growing their more than the second. I noticed that two of the main cultures represented there are West Africa and Turtle Island, with the exception of a row of Korean peppers growing there. My ancestral roots are in the Bahamas, West Africa and Eastern Europe and Wales/British Isles, but feel more drawn to explore the latter two. There is also a variety of pigeon peas being grown in this high tunnel, and I am hoping to see that, along with my callaloo and treated okra plants,will fare in the next week and onward! It’s incredible how fast everything has grown despite so much working against them! my clemson spineless okra grew so quickly and is now almost entirely been transplanted to the first high tunnel, where it is adjacent to a variety of pigeon peas grown acclimated to temperate climate characteristic to here. it's experiencing some assault from aphids, but Greensgrow is doing a great staying on top of treating our seeds weekly. i helped douse the few plants of both varieties of okra- clemson and white velvet- still in the greenhouse in a bucket of water to get rid of aphids.