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.