Starting mounds, seedlings pics so far :)

Our plot

A lot of weeds shown and hay

Shows where we will form our rows

Cover crop shown

Carrots and tatsoi seedlings

Group member Daphne using the hoe to gut out rows

Daphne Lepretre

Major: Sustainable food production

Hometown: Cagnes-sur-mer, France

Jessica Williams

Major: Sustainability

Hometown: Fort Myers, Florida

Dylan Kovach

Major: Horticultural Sciences

Hometown: Ocala, FL

Our overall goal in this project is to develop and refine already existing sustainable and organic measures that would improve future challenges in the agronomy department.

List of Crops:

Brassica juncea (Mustard Greens) Red Giant OG

Brassica rapa var. narinosa (Leafy Asian Greens) Tatsoi OG

Daucus carota var. sativus (Hybrid Early Carrot) Nelson F1 OG-Pellet

We are currently germinating 25-50 plants of each of our cultivars in transplant trays within the teaching greenhouse. We hope to plant the lettuce and greens at the end of the month, given the weather has cooled significantly and transplants are vigorous.

We will also be direct sowing within the next two weeks as a comparison

Our rows are heading South to North so that both sides of the mound receives the East and West side of the sun.

The mounds are 1 foot long and the valleys 2 feet. Each one is 20 feet long. Red Giant : 1 foot apart (does best in full sun but tolerates part shade) Tatsoi: 0.5 foot apart (does best in partial sun but tolerates full sun)

Since Tatsoi would do better with less sun and is a low crop compared to Red Giant, we will plant these on the west side of the land (will not get the east sun, and the west sun looks like it will be blocked by greenhouses).

Intercropping plants will include Herbs like Sweet Alyssum and the Tansy plant. The placement of these plants per distance will be the experiment and the dependent variable will be the overall health and growth the crops Red Giant Mustard and Tatsoi. They will be planted in the valleys on the far sides West and East so both Mustard and Tatsoi gets equal ratio of distance per row going inward. So the further crops (towards the centre) will have the least amount of “intercropping effect”, and the plants closer (towards the outer edges) will have the max effect. This way will be less of a hassle and easier to control for the experiment and distance can be easily measured.