Blog 21: Independent Component 2

LITERAL

• I, Danielle Carlson, affirm hat I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.
• The website "The Old Farmer's Almanac" wrote an article about how to care for marigolds. LINK:http://www.almanac.com/plant/marigolds.  Another article I read was "How to Care for Marigolds". LINK: http://www.essortment.com/grow-care-marigolds-66205.html. The last article I read was by Jeff Lowenfels and it's called "As the Snow Goes, Consider Marigolds".
• Independent Component Log 2
• To complete this independent component, I wanted to grow marigolds. My goal for this IC was compare and contrast the differences when growing annual flowers (the marigolds) and perennial flowers (the dahlias I grew last semester.) I watered and cared for these plants daily which took a great amount of time because marigolds, when younger, need an immense  about of water. Along with that, I also prepared a flower bed where I will put the marigolds when they are bigger. The flower bed was a lot of work because I had to pull the extensive amount of weeds from the dirt and most of the weeds were huge. I also had to prepare the soil in the flower bed since it was not fit for the the sensitive annuals. I had to mix it with miracle grow and then add homemade compost. I also spent some time preparing and planing the garden out and did research on how to care for them.

INTERPETIVE

Here is the end result of my Independent Component. I knew the plants would not grow given the amount of time (they will probably bloom around July). But, they have grown quite well and are healthy. That's what counts :)

Some of the flowers that are growing

Up close and personal with the flower.

Flower bed before pulling weeds.

MONSTER WEED. This one had some thorns so it hurt pulling it out.

Remove weeds, looking better.

Added compost to make healthier.

All the flowers

• Too see more evidence here are the links to my blog posts: 
• Blog post 1
• Blog post 2
• Blog post 3
• Doing this independent component may have been a lot more difficult than the previous one, but it was worth it. I got to experience hands on how hard it is to grow annuals, and I did not fail. To me, gardening has become more like a hobby now instead of just work. I really enjoyed coming home after school to water my plants or clean up the flower bed; it defiantly gave me time to think and relax. I would have liked to start earlier though, and wished I asked if my IC was approved sooner, but in the amount of time I was given, I enjoyed every second of it.

APPLIED

• I believe that this component helped support both of my answers which are, maintaining soil health and planning your garden. Before planting my flowers in to the ground I spent 2 days researching and planning how I wanted it to go and what I needed to successfully grow my flowers. That is something I did not do previously and I preferred planning because it gave me a sense of direction. When it came to soil and maintaing its health, that played a huge factor. I had to start off with healthy soil or else my flowers would not get the nutrients they need, causing them not to grow. Also, I had to prepare the soil bed soil by removing weeds and adding compost to add nutrients. I am now more sure than ever about the importance of my answers and how they are relevant to my EQ. 

Independent Component #2 Update #2

It has been a week or so since I last updated about my independent component and I have to say, these annual flowers are a lot harder to grow than I thought. They require much more watering then the perennials I grew last time. Also, they always have to be in the sun or they will start to wilt immediately. Since the weather this weekend was colder than usual, I had to place them inside. However, I brought them outside once again on Sunday because my father did not want them inside. I also have started cleaning out a space where I will plant the Marigolds once they are ready. That took a lot of work because my yard has a lot of weeds that I had to pull, needless to say I did not finish but I won't give up :) Also, good news, my plants started to germinate (or start to grow) as shown below.

 

Some of the marigolds have started to pop out of the dirt :D

This is where I want to plant them once they are ready, obviously
 I have lots of weeds to pull. 

Me fake smiling as I pull weeds.

Up close and personal with all the weeds.

This one was a monster and took forever to pull out.

Independent Component #2 Update

So I started my independent component on Wednesday and I neglected to post about it. The plants have not germinated yet but they probably will in about 3 days, well at least I'm hoping. This time around for my independent component I decided to take more pictures than previously and also I am growing the seeds in a seed separator. Also I am also growing annual plants instead of perennials to see if there is a difference in difficulty. So far the only difference I noticed is that these annuals need full sun, compared to partial sun for the perennial plants. Hopefully these plants will bloom just fine. I am aware that independent component is due in 3 weeks and that the plants will most likely not bloom/flower in that period, since it takes about 58-80 days to bloom, however  I will take pictures every week and describe  my experiences. These are the pictures I have taken so far:

I will be growing Marigold flowers for this component.

Buying some soil at Lowes, since my soil at the
house was not fit for these sensitive annuals.

Putting soil in this neat little seed separator.
(please ignore that I'm in my PJ's I was quite sick)

Watering

Up close of the seed separator.

Planting the seeds. This was really time consuming
and irritating since the seeds kept sticking to my hands.

Blog 15: Independent Component 2 Approval

1. For my Independent Component 2 I was planning on growing another flower garden. However, instead of growing a perennial type of flower, I will grow annuals. Annuals are flowers that do not last years but rather a season.
2. Starting and maintaing flower gardens are a lot of work but even more so if it is an annual. Annual flowers are picky to where they are planted and what soil they require. I will have to plan the garden a lot longer than I did for my first Independent component and will have to cater to the specific needs of the flower.
3. This independent component works well with my EQ because I get to experience what it's like working with the difficult annual flowers. I will compare both of my experiences and see the differences. I will also see how there needs differ and see if they have any similarities. 

Blog 14: Independent Component 1

LITERAL:

• A) I, Danielle Carlson, affirm that I completed my Independent Component which represents 30 hours of work.
• B) My mentors name is Jerry Carlson, my father, who watched me complete my 30 hours of work.
• C) Independent Component Log
• D) Basically I started out and planted daliahs into a pot. Every week I would water and pull weeds and, sometimes I would compost and put that over my flower garden. When my flowers outgrew their pots, I would put them into bigger pots with new soil. 

INTERPRETIVE:

• The things that would take the longest would have to be switching the flowers into bigger pots because I have to be careful not to harm the roots of the flowers. Also watering took some time because I had to do this everyday. But, in the end it was relaxing and enjoyable. (Order of pictures: newest to oldest)

APPLIED: 

• Growing my own flower garden gave me a chance to get a hands on experience of being an actual horticulturist. I had to plan my garden before hand to get a better idea of how it would turn out. Also growing my own mini flower garden helped me discover my first answer to my eq which is soil health. Without doing this as my in dependent component I would not have a basic idea of all the work that goes into maintaining healthy soil and how important it is to a flower garden. Durning this experience I also learned the benefits of composting, or creating natural nutrients for a garden. I really got to witness first hand how much faster and stronger the flowers grow with composting. In fact one of the flowers is almost in bloom and it isn't even spring yet, which I find incredible.  Overall I believe growing my own flower garden benefit my senior topic more ways than one. It helped me understand what it is like to grow my own healthy garden as well as it be a way to relieve stress and feel success when I witness my hard work begin to prosper. 

A Little I.C Check

My dahlia's that I am growing for my Independent Component are thriving and healthy. Especially the four I originally planted in the big black planter. Unfortunately though, the planter was a bit shallow so I had to move the dahlias but they are fine. I have been watering them and making sure there soil is still healthy. Also, if I see any bugs, I personally remove them. YUCK, but it's better than using pesticides. All and all, I think my I.C is turning out to be successful, especially since I am having fun while doing it.

Blog 10: Senior Project Update

1. Currently for my independent component I am growing Daliah flowers. They are just starting to bloom.
2. One article that has helped me is called "Composting Yard Waste. This article explains how I can take leaves that fell from trees (since its fall) and make it into soil for my flower garden. Also, since it's made from leaves, it keeps the plants warm for winter. I plan to make my own solid from leaves that fall into my backyard and use if for my garden.
3. The pictures shown above are the plants when I first started planting. I will be taking more pictures soon.

Blog 7: Independent Component 1 Plan Approval

1. For my Independent Component I plan to plant a flower garden. 
2. Growing a flower garden will meet the 30 hour requirement for the independent component because it is very time consuming to plant a garden. Also a garden needs to be tended to constantly to make sure the flowers are growing well. By gardening I will be doing tasks such as watering, weeding, adding vitamins, and removing pests that can harm the plant.
3. My independent component relates to my EQ because it is giving me the hands on opportunity to see the process of growing plants. Of course it helps to read the proper way of growing a garden but actually growing a flower garden for yourself can be more educating.