soil inro: nutrients/texture and PH

Healthy soil is the key to supporting healthy plants. Not many of us are lucky enough to have a rich loam to work with. Every soil can benefit from organic amendments to improve either the soil structure, nutrients, or pH. The difficulty is figuring out what the soil needs, how much, and how and when to incorporate it.

- Amending your soil can be fairly complicated if you are interested, but most of us want to improve the soil just well enough for ordinary planting. Those of us with extreme conditions, such as compacted clay or sand, may want to amend the soil enough to make it fertile

- The texture of your soil is one of the first things you need to address. How your soil feels tells you the size of the soil particles, which will indicate how your soil holds moisture and how much air is available to roots in the soil.

- There a many different amendments that can be considered for your soil. Some are best to improve the soil structure of sand, some for clay. Some are quick acting, some or long lasting. Some are good for maintenance.

- Plants need several different nutrients that can be derived from organic sources or chemica sources. Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (or potash) are the nutrients in standard chemical fertilizers, N-P-K. These, and calcium, magnesium and sulfur are necessary for your plants to thrive.

- Different plants need different pH levels or ranges to thrive. 5.5 to 7.5 is considered an optimal, neutral range for most plants, an environment that allows nutrients to be available to plants most readily. Micro-environments, specific planting areas for acid or alkaline loving plants, may need pH adjustments to provide the best environment. Likewise, soil in geographic areas may tend to be acidic or alkaline, in which case general adjustments may need to be made.

my tamatos and carots...

   

 tamatos - Absolutely nothing tastes better than a warm, home grown, vine-ripened tomato on fresh-baked bread! Easily raised in the home garden, or even on the patio, tomatoes produce heavy crops in small areas. With dozens of varieties of tomatoes available to the home gardener, your choice will depend on what you want from your plants, as well as on which varieties grow best in your region. In localities with a relatively early fall frost and short growing season, pick tomatoes developed for early maturation. If you love tomatoes, but find them acidic, there are now low-acid varieties available just for you.As well, there are special tomatoes suitable  for slicing, canning and freezing; small tomatoes for patio and container planting, late maturing tomatoes, and yet others which make good ketchups and sauces.

   carrots- Carrots are a taproot, a type of root which grows downwards into the soil and swells. Carrots come in many sizes and shapes: round, cylindrical, fat, very small, long or thin. Native to Afghanistan, carrots were known to both the Greeks and Romans. In fact, the Greeks called the carrot "Philtron" and used it as a love medicine--making men more ardent and women more yielding. The Roman emperor Caligula, believing these stories, forced the whole Roman Senate to eat carrots so he could see them "in rut like wild beasts."

India, China, and Japan had established carrots as a food crop by the 13th century. In Europe,

however, they were not well known until well into the Middle Ages. At that time, doctors prescribed them for everything from sexual maladies to snakebite--which some would argue, are biblically connected. In Holland, the original red, purple, black, yellow, and white varietals were hybridized to today's bright orange, with its potent dose of beta carotene.

From thence, carrots moved to England, during Elizabethan times. Some Elizabethans ate the roots as food; others used their feathery stalks to decorate their hair, their hats, their dresses, and their coats.

          Our carrots and tamatos are ver healthy and they are still growing... they are right

     next to each  other and they are both my favoret vachtables... i wanted to plant them when   we were choseing what we wanted to plant, the first time. i think we did a great job with them and they seam very health. we planted tamatos first and then carrots, and so far we had probems with tamatos bcouse it had pests, we had to clean them that was our job. this happend to other plants but they seam health now and we clean them so everything is good, but for carots we did not have any problem, they are still groing and i cants weit to eat them....

information about urban farming........

Urban agriculture is the practice of cultivating, processing and distributing food in, or around  a village, town or city. Urban agriculture in addition can also involve animal husbandry, agreculture agro-forestry and horticulture. These activities also occur in peri-urban areas as well.

Urban farming is generally practiced for income-earning or food-producing activities though in some communities the main impetus is recreation and relaxation. Urban agriculture contributes to food security and foof sefty in two ways: first, it increases the amount of food available to people living in cities, and, second, it allows fresh vegetables and fruits and meat products to be made available to urban consumers. A common and efficient form of urban agriculture is the biotencive method. Because urban agriculture promotes energy-saving local food production, urban and peri-urban agriculture are generally seen as susaneble practices.


some links:
http://www.urbanfarming.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_agriculture
http://www.urbanfarmonline.com/

farming techniques.

Long-established plow-based agricultural methods combined with the economic imperative to improve crop yields are rapidly depleting the Earth's soil supply, says a University of Washington (UW) scientist. According to UW professor David Montgomery, plowing increases soil erosion to the point that it is not offset by soil creation.

Rather than plowing, Montgomery suggests "no-till" agriculture (where crop stubble is mixed with the top layer of soil using a method called disking) as being far more sustainable. "Soil loss through conventional agriculture is in a range of 10 to 100 times greater than the rate at which soil is created. No-till agriculture brings it into the ballpark, surprisingly close to being balanced with soil creation," he said.

The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, took data from more than 1,650 measurements published in more than 200 studies examining various aspects of farming practices, soil creation and erosion. Montgomery found that plowed fields erode at about the same fast pace as the Himalayas, home to the highest mountain peaks - and natural erosion rates - in the world.                      by: Kate  Melville       

                                                                    

facts we had learned along the way...

farming at washington square park:

A very exited things we learned was that it was the 100th aneversity for the park :) around there (1870)
we also learned that the mounts are going to be build.
we had planted our stuff three weeks before the new park opened.
and also from that day, about three weeks ago, at the NYU  building they had a hawk who had a little one and there was something wrong with it and they both had to go together because it needed its mother.  
they are also have little dog run every year which i did not know about, i think its pretty cool.

the hanging tree

the first organic tulops planted at the park

                                        another nice things they do it, put new flowers every season.

they also finally got the first organic tulops planted in the U.S  
there was also a very interesting tree, it was called the hanging tree, it was about 300 years ago, it was said that many were hanged form that tree, but there was never any real profe of that.
there was also many green grasses and when ever people walk on it it would not grow, or when it was shaded, i found that very surprising because i really did not know that. so they tryed to plan more green grass.


another crazy thing that i have found out was that in 1775, 20 thousand people were found baried at the park.
they were baried, and some were found with headstones, but some were just baried, and they had to avoid the parts were they were baried. they had to remove alot because of the dead. they cut darn trees.

the expeirence at planting at washington was great, it really is a nice plance, it was the great place were we should have planted things for the childrens park, and i am glad that we did that, it was a nice thing to do.

this is what we had planted at the new park, me and my goup had worked very well together.

My experience at farm....

My experience at farm was great... I think it was a great thing to do for a class. i did not expect this and i am really glad that i took this class, it was fun and i think i learned a lot about planting and about plants. i was a lot surprised about how many people were getting into it, they seamed to enjoy doing things at farm and i did not expect that. everyone worked together well and it was great team work. 









At first i thought it was gonna be fun farming and stuff, but there were many things that i needed to understand like about soil and the things that had to be used to grow plants, and that was a bit hard, because it takes to understand and have the time to actually learn it. But it was a great experience and i think i learned a lot and with more time i would loved to lean more about arming because i had the experience before, cause i have a farm of my own at my country and i think it would help me a lot and to understand eveything. I recomand this class for students, it fun and we are doing something benifashial and thats very important....
i would love to have this class again,  it was interesting and fun..... and i am glad i have learned something, which was important..............