Blog Post #6

Welcome back to another week with the Poly (culture) Pocket crew!

On this week's adventure, we almost got completely rained out thanks to the beginnings of hurricane Helene. However, we were still able to dig out a few weeds, fertilize, and apply the rest of our hay cover to our crops. The entire class ended up running back and forth between the gardens and the covered area which led to an overall chaotic but very enjoyable gardening session. Here's a review of our crops so far:

• Our corn is growing tall and strong! We saw a visual gradient with our fertilizers as the more fertilized plants still looked very green while the corn at the end of the row was definitely showing signs of needing some more love. From what we can see so far, there are no apparent differences between how the Indian and King corn cultivars are progressing but we'll continue to keep an eye of them. 

• The tomatoes were looking a little bendy this time around but we're hoping they'll make it out okay through the storm. 

• Pumpkins are looking great! The low ground cover of these gourds is a very stark difference to how the corn is growing. 

• We're currently unsure of how the onions we planted last week are going to hold up with the approaching hurricane. We'll definitely be taking a peek next week to see if any growth starts up. 

That's all for now, unfortunately today was cut short for us due to weather complications but we made do with the time we had and had a great time doing it. Thanks for staying tuned, catch us in future updates to see how our garden fares post-Helene! 

Photo captions (left to right, down to up): 

1. Various classmates and team members walking toward the gardens under a darkening sky. This was the first day we truly began to understand the incoming effects of Hurricane Helene. We were working quickly to avoid the bouts of thunder and lightning in between the downpour of rain. This practice was not Dr. Merchant approved. 

2. Speaking of working in between spouts of bad weather, this photo demonstrates what the team was working on while unable to be out in the garden. Daniel Ohana is seen holding a hay fork while posing menacingly against the incoming hurricane. This was a vital step in our garden process. 

3. Kenlsey Greene can be seen holding an armful of hay. On this day the team was desperately trying to get all our crop cover down before the winds of the hurricane swept through the city of Gainesville. We covered almost our entire plot in hay, it provided great ground cover for insect and pest deterrents. 

4. Another portrayal of the in-between photos we were able to take while the team waited for the weather to die down. Daniel Ohana is now accompanied by Kyle Evans as they hold gardening tools and equipment out towards the sky. Lightning can be seen from the image of Daniel above. A frightening sight indeed. 

5. The beginning growth of the Three Sisters’ portion of the plot. At this stage, the corn and squash are quite apparent with the beans lagging behind. This area of the garden is the only one not covered by hay as we did not want to possibly impede the growth of the pumpkins by further shading them out.