Horticulture practical skills level 1

Only just found this one Craig, good call

I've made it a sticky for now so you don't have to keep dragging it up again

 

Kristen - to be honest i was thinking the same about planting parsnips in the polytunnel. I will keep you updated on how these get on.

In relation to the 3 missing, 1 was on holiday which we were pre-warned about the other week, 1 rang in sick on the morning and 1 left after 30 mins on saturday as she was ill. She came in to do the theory side of things and then left.

Zigs - thanks! I'm going to have to start taking some photographs of the place so you can start to get an idea of the place

 

Its that time again...

week 5 - 08.03.2014

We started this week completing assessments on what we had being doing over the last 3 weeks to keep our paper work evidence up to date. This didnt take as long as normal so we were straight out to the polytunnel.

We were to start planting up some summer flowering bulbs which we were supposed to do last week. We were all given a large square plant pot and a choice of bulbs. There were several types of gladioli to choose from and some blue plant that i cant remember the name of. We had to create our own displays and then label/water them.

We checked on the lettuce and caulies that we planted in the polytunnel last week and gave them a drink.

In my first post on this thread i talked about the college winning a grant of around 1.5million pounds. This week the work has started around the place with builders everywhere. There are new large wooden planters going up the car park at the side of the cafe/entrance. The full time course had been planting these up with winter pansies and primroses but had only completed around 75% of them. We were to finish them by planting in groups of 9 (3x3x3) flowers of the same colour. Once this was complete it was break time.

After break we were to work outside again but this time in one of the brassica cages. There are two on site that have polytunnel frames but netting over them. The soil was large clods and looked a right mess. We set up in a line (a bit like a police search team) and started to tread the soil. We did this all the way up on one side of the cage. Once the soil was flat we gave it a really good raking. I couldnt believe the difference between the two halves of the cage. We started to plant onion sets in rows. It was suprising how long this took as we were quickly out of time.

I have started to take a few pictures, i will upload them in a min...

 

The new planters:



Standing in one of the brassica cages. You can see the difference in soil. The right side untouched and what we worked on on the left:



A closer look at our worked soil:

 

Another one of our work and the other brassica cage in the background:



A view of the greenhouse from inside the cage:



I will try and get some of inside the polytunnels next week.

 

Important to do it at the right time - if the soil compacts, because it is too wet, or worse: sticks to your boots, then it will do more harm than good, but soil that is "just dry enough" will crumble beautifully.

Brassicas need really firm soil, otherwise Sprouts will blow. I don't seem to be able to achieve this, even though I'm on heavy clay and it goes rock solid in summer, so thins year I am going to stake my Sprouts to stop them rocking about - apparently it is movement of the plant upsetting the fine root hairs that is the issue.

 

week 6 - 15.03.2014

Well, yesterday was a heavy session for a saturday morning. We usually spend around 30-45 mins in the classroom learning a bit of theory. Not this time, one and a half hours of theory. We had previously touched on micro and macro nutrients but went into greater depth this weekend. We talked about why plants need each one, what they do for the plant and the symptoms shown if the plant receives too much or too little of the nutrient. We talked about the different plant foods and fertilisers on the market and how they show what NPK's and trace elements are in them on the packaging. As this took longer than normal, we went for an early break.

After the break we met in the polytunnel where we talked about applying fertilisers to an area. We measured out enough for a 1 metre square and then went out to the cages where we worked on the soil in the previous week. We measured out 1 metre areas using canes all the way up one side and then took it in turns to spread the blood fish and bone over each square. Whilst one person was spreading, another was measuring out another lot. We also watered over the area to keep it from blowing away.

We checked on the crops we have previously planted/sown over the previous weeks. Everything is starting to appear now.

Thats it for this week

 

A long time ago I was involved with an outfit that grew Tomatoes using Hydroponics (NFT) where, basically, the nutrient flows past the plants' roots, drains into a reservoir tank, and is then pumped up to the top of the rows to flow back down again.

There is a "salinity" meter which triggers some concentrate nutrient to be added (as the solution gets weak), a ball valve to top up with water and a pH sensor that injects Acid or Alkaline to stabilise the pH.

It was an industrial site, and as part of that there was a chemistry lab with some fancy spectroscopy analysis kit, such that we could get accurate readings of all macro and micro nutrients in the hydroponic solution, and adjust accordingly.

When the Tomatoes started fruiting they stripped all the Potassium out of the nutrient solution overnight, it was quite extraordinary. Conventionally with Hydroponics you just keep topping up with concentrate, and on small systems you throw away the nutrient once a week, or whatever, and start again from scratch which ensures you then resume with a balanced solution, but when proper analysis is available it is very interesting to see how the plants choose to "feed"

 

Well i suppose growing plants on a hydroponic set up like you mentioned above certainly helps with our understanding of plant needs and the importance of feeding

 

week 7 - 22.03.2014

We each have a small ringbinder folder where we place any bit of paperwork and assessment papers we are given. At the end of the year, this is how we will be assessed. As mentioned in a previous post, we recently filled in a few of the assessment documents. Since day one, our tutor Jenny has been taking photo's of us whilst we are doing our tasks. This week she had printed off a big batch of them. We had to do a bit of cutting and sticking. We had to reference them to the units we had been taught and then gone on to practice. Our folders are starting to fill up nicely.

We had a look at the overall assessment sheet. There are three levels you can achieve, there's the Level 1 - Practical Horticulture Award, Certificate and Diploma. With what we have done so far, we have already achieved the award. Within a couple of more weeks we will have earnt enough credits to achieve the certificate.

Once we had finished this task and had a quick break we headed up to the practical area. We were in the unheated polytunnel where we previously planted transplanted lettuce and caullies as well as starting off some seed. This was all done on the left hand side. The right hand side had not been touched for quite a long time. We were to de-weed it and turn it all over. Its quite heavy clay so the tutor has asked for some organic material in which we will be adding to the soil next week.

In the heated polytunnel, there were several trays of lettuce and onions that needed potting on as well as some marigolds. We gave a few of the plants a drink to see them over the weekend until monday morning.

 

Hi all,

sorry for the late updates, i have been mega busy trying to juggle work, digging over my allotment and starting seeds off but here goes...

week 8 - 29.03.2014

Again we started off by cutting and sticking some more pictures the tutor had printed off of us doing the tasks. We referenced these up and completed some more assessments sheets. After this and the break we gathered some tools from the tool shed as we were going to be working on the outside areas. There are several flower and shrub beds around the farm/site. We worked on one of them. The weeds were dug out and the border trimmed/smartened. Once complete we started filling wheelbarrows with bark chippings which were then spread over the area. I think we did a pretty good job. We used the barrows again but this time filled them with rotted manure. In one of my previous posts i mentioned about us working in the cages behind the polytunnels (i think there is a picture in this thread), we were to spread the manure in one of these cages. The day was finished off with a bit of potting on and watering of plants.

week 9 - 05.04.2014

Again, more pictures and assessment sheets to start off the day. A quick calculation shows that we have achieved 30 credits so far. We need 38 for the Diploma which is the top award we can achieve. We are flying!

Once the assessment bit was finished we talked about cuttings. The tutor had several presentations and pictures to show us in which we went into detail on. Jenny had brought in several types of secateurs and knives. She went through the pro's and con's of them and what they would be used for. There are several shrubs in front of the polytunnels and greenhouse in which we would be practicing on. I took 6 cuttings from a Hebe. Once we had the cutting we all met in the heated polytunnel. We placed the cuttings into modular trays using rooting powder.

We then finished off the day by taking soil samples from around the site and tested for the different nutrients and PH. We had to work in pairs and try and complete as many tests as we could with the time available. This was quite interesting and fun. It felt like being back at school in the science labs