Pacifica Gardens Day 3 cont.

Time spent: 4 hours

Action: continue weeding soil beds

Next action: plant spring vegetables and fruits in rehabilitated soil using organic methods

How Am I doing: Throughout the weeding process, I was taught by Loretta, my mentor how to weed properly. We made sure that I weeded out the roots of the weeds and not just the plant with proper weeding techniques. After we weeded, we added organic nitrogen fixers and compost to the soil to help the soil begin its nitrogen fixing process. I learned that this nitrogen fixing process is a key component to organic farming because it restores the soil naturally without any man made resources or harmful side effects.

Pacifica gardens Day 3

Time spent: 4 hours

Action: Weeding at Pacifica Gardens

Next Action: I will start spring planting once the weeds are all cleared from the soil beds.

How Am I doing? : My mentor showed me which plants to pull in soil beds and which ones belonged in compost or garbage. We took out weeds in the garden to continue preparing the bed for future plants. We also pulled burr clover(which belonged in the garbage because they would outgrow plants), common weeds, and loosened the soil. We tilled and loosened the soil throughout the whole time period. Others in the team were also doing the same at different beds to prep the soil for spring planting.

Pacifica Gardens Day 2 cont.

Time spent: 4 hours

Action: trimmiing the strawberry patch, weeding

Next Action: work on other miscellaneous projects around the garden



How am I doing?:After planting the grains and fava, we went over to the strawberry patch to trim the brown leaves away from the plants in preparation of the spring harvest. We removed only the brown leaves and weeds intertwined with the healthy plants of the strawberry patch with mini scissors. Doing so was hard work because we had to squat for long periods of time under the hot sun. I felt somewhat like a farmer after this task was completed.

Pacifica Gardens Day 2

Time Spent: 4 hours


Today was a really nice and sunny at pacifica gardens.

Our team prepped the soil by weeding, loosening the soil, and digging a trench around the edges of the soil bed. In order to help the soil rehabilitate, we planted carbon crops like grains and fava within the soil. The soil beds in the garden right now have a carbon mass of under 3%. We are working toward a 5-6% of carbon mass in the soil. After that, we placed irrigation tubes over the soil bed evenly to ensure that it had adequate water supply. We then placed white coverings over the irrigation tubes and the soil bed to protect the soil from being compacted or eroded by natural factors like wind.