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.
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 :)
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| Some of the flowers that are growing |
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| Up close and personal with the flower. |
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| Flower bed before pulling weeds. |
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| MONSTER WEED. This one had some thorns so it hurt pulling it out. |
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| Remove weeds, looking better. |
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| Added compost to make healthier. |
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| All the flowers |
- Too see more evidence here are the links to my blog posts:
- 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.
- 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.
