Watering

This week I watered the plants in the orchard that was built by Adam Jackson, a senior at Covenant. I found that the butterfly bushes had leaves that were yellowing towards the top, the belle of Georgia Peach's leaves have yellowed, and the red delicious apple tree has leaves with holes in them. In addition, I found aphids on one of the Southland Muscadines. Aphids do more damage in hot weather and needed to be monitored. Large infestations of theese insects can yellow leaves and cause them to curl. Aphids can also stunt the growth of a plant and emit from their bodies a sticky substance called honeydew that turns black because of mold. Aphids also spread disease among plants. It is important for the botany class to keep a close watch on these insects.

Greenhouse Assessment

Sam, Leslye, Rachel, and I have been assessing the greenhouse and there are a couple things that need to be repaired.

1.Repair doors (new hinges, new plastic). The door on the west wing has come off the hinges.
2. Repair plastic on west wing beside the door and the south wing at the bottom.
3. Redo floor (gravel, and weed stop)
4. Repair tables to put plants on
5. And if we can find one we need a pickle barrel

Raised beds

In this first week of botany, we (Garrison, Ian, Nic) were assigned to the raised beds. We first assessed the condition of both beds. We found that most plants had died due to neglect and many weeds. We took out the three tire beds because we plan to build a third raised bed in the future. Next we dealt with the extensive weed problem. Upon completion of restoring the first bed, we moved to the second, deeper bed. we were also spreading the green house plastic to dry out and debug. Overall this week went successful.

-Ian and Nic-

(please pray for Garrison Hardie and his neck)

Raised Bed assessment:

So Nic, Ian and I are in charge of assessing the raised beds this week and this is what we've come up with.

1. We need our compost bin up and running again so we have good soil being produced. That will help with the upkeep of the raised beds.
2. We also think that we need to build another raised bed; seeing as we got rid of the tires.
3. The raised beds need new things to grow now, seeing as some of the other items are deceased.
4. The beds must be checked daily for the annoying weeds. (We just cleaned them out)

For now that's all we've come up with! With regards with the replanting of the raised beds I'd like to hear what the class wants planted in them or if Mr. Hardin has any preferences!

This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!

To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.

Note: To play video messages sent to email, QuickTime® 6.5 or higher is required.