Blog Post #11

Poly (culture) Pocket friends and family, 

We are elated to give you the harvest post!! After an entire semester of growing, planting, weeding, fertilizing, and praying we finally have crops that are ready to be picked for consumption. Although some of our plants are leaving much to be desired (looking at you corn...) the team is ecstatic at our progress. 

Let's take a look back at our original objectives and how they shaped up by the end of our time within the course. 

1. Observe the differences in growth rates between two cultivars of corn.
1.  Honestly, we did not observe any significant differences in the growth between the King and Indian Corn. Both grew at practically equal rates and averaged out to very similar heights. As a result, we can conclude that at least in our plot, there were no differences in the growth of the various cultivars in regard to corn. 
2. Experiment with the 'Three Sisters' method of growing crops to determine if we could use it successfully.
1.  This was the most prevalent objective throughout the semester. So many of our crops were relying on this method! In our experiment, we utilized two different cultivars of corn, beans, and pumpkin as our choice of squash. All in all, we were pretty successful! We had production of all three types of crops with varying success. Our corn was our quickest-growing and producing crop throughout the plot. The beans followed quickly behind and although we feared they may end up strangling our corn, the two were able to grow well alongside each other in the end. Our pumpkins however were a different story, we only managed to grow one pumpkin out of the dozen we planted. We believe this is due to our lack of spacing precautions, we should have spaced them out better to prevent overcrowding and overshading. Overall, we were successful, however, our experiment revealed where the weakness of the Three Sisters method might reside. 
3. Determine how different crop covers affect the growth of crops. (hay vs mulch vs compost vs no cover)
1. The crop cover was beneficial for a majority of our crops. The hay in particular allowed for a significant reduction in weeds and kept most of the pests at bay. Following the hay, mulch, and compost were largely equal in terms of success in regards to the increased production of crops. We discovered that any crop cover is better than no crop cover! 

And that's pretty much it! We at Poly (culture) Pocket are so grateful to have been allowed this opportunity and we had an absolute blast working together to create a beautiful and bountiful harvest. Thank you for joining us!

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

1. Several banana peppers are stored in team member Daniel Ohana’s pockets. The amount of peppers we were able to harvest was bountiful and made for such beautiful pictures. We were lucky enough that each of the team members had the opportunity to take many peppers of both varieties (banana and jalapenos). 

2. The sole survivor pumpkin of the bunch. We were pleasantly surprised to see that we were at least able to grow one squash even though we were initially hopeful for a plentiful showcase. This is most likely the biggest and most colorful it will get. Damaged and yellow squash foliage surrounds the lone pumpkin. 

3. A beautiful example of the gorgeous coloring seen on the Indian corn. This was such a sight to see! Indian corn is more commonly utilized as a festive decoration rather than for consumption and the team can see why. The hues of orange, yellow, and purple created a work of art in the plot. 

4. A photo of more banana peppers with a bonus guest of a few bean strings! Team member Kensley Greene holds our harvest and displays the abundance of our small garden. It was so fulfilling to watch these crops grow and leave the semester with bags, pockets, and backpacks full of the matured fruits of our labor.