plant anatomy and what we're eating

We had a very talkative discussion in our last class about local vendors of organic or fresh foods. One place that I learned about was the UF student run butcher that is on campus in the Animal Sciences building. These animals are raised by students and provide a wider selection of meats that are otherwise hard to come by. Other food stores in Gainesville include the Co-Op, farmers market that meets on Wednesdays in downtown Bo Diddley plaza, as well as Mother Earth and Wards.

Also in our discussion we asked the question if whether or not it would be  sustainable to feed cows corn verses vegetable feeding in florida. The answer is no because corn in not widely crown here in Florida despite the large number of cattle here throughout the state.

Plant Anatomy -

There are two systems that make up the anatomy of most plants; the shoot system and the root system. In the shoot system there is the stem, nodes and internodes, the blade of the leaf buds and auxillary buds. The root system is made up of several lateral roots that stem from the primary root.

Stems:

• support leaves and flowers
• facilitate the transport of water and nutrients
• examples of stem plants include potatoes

Roots:

• anchor the plant
• absorb water and nutrients
• food storage
• examples
• beets, carrots, and turnips

Buds:

• Cabbage and brussel sprouts

Leafs:

• photosynthesize (solar panels of the plant :)
• convert CO2, water and sunlight into sugar and oxygen
• examples: lettuce, spinach, basil, onions, garlic and celery 

Flowers:

• califlour, squash flowers, artichoke, broccoli 

Fruits:

• House and Disseminate seeds
• examples: tomatoes, cuccumbers, eggplant, pumpkins, beans and peas, and peppers

Seeds:

• sexual reproductive part of the plant
• monocot and dicot seeds
• examples: scallions and palm trees

Today in the Garden!

This week I am continuing to remove several weeds and reshape my beds to counteract erosion and my plants falling over.

In class we discussed the different kinds of pests in the garden:

• Insects/Nematoads
• Weeds
• Diseases
• Vertebrae Animals

A pest is an organism that can cause injury of loss of your plant(s). There are two types of insects that have been classified as pests according to how they ingest plants. There are chewing insects like caterpillars and beetles and sucking insects like whiteflies and aphids.

There are always beneficial insects as well such as wasps, lady beetles, mantis and dragonflies.

We also discussed the different ways to control pests. Through mechanical and cultural practices, resistant species of plants, insecticides and biological control with insect predators or parasitoids, you can control the health and longevity of your crop.

I finally have some vegetables showing!

Below are some Ladybug Peppers, Eggplant, Juliette Tomatoes, Zucchinni and Scallions!

Garden Update - A little Late - October 8th

  

 Here are some pics of my awesome peas and beans that are growing magnificently! The thiner more stringy ones are my pea plants and the lrager-leafed bushier plants are my Royal Burgundy beans and they sprouted up so fast and so nicely. I had a hard time in the garden this week trying to weed two weeks worth of plants but once I finished my garden plot looked great and I can start to see my hard work pay off!!!!

I finally have some great purple and yellow flowers on my eggplants! That means that soon I will begin to have some great little eggplants sprouting from the flowers.

Unfortunately, insects and pests have gotten to some of my squash, peppers, eggplants and tomatoes. I can see small bite marks from chewing insects like caterpillars and diseases leafs and silver strays from bugs like leafhoppers or aphids and whitefly.