There are new things happening at SPEC!
Four UBC students (L-R):Tara Moreau, Emma Holmes, Kate Menzies (myself), and Melissa Iverson, have come together to explore better ways to grow food in small spaces. We are collaborating with SPEC and West Coast Seeds on a research project we will be working on over the next few months. Our research will investigate the effects of soil amendments
on crop yields.
We have recently set up our experiment on SPEC's rooftop and I will be documenting our experience on this blog! We invite you to follow our progress and learn with us along the way.
Our experiment is designed like this: using a common potting soil (approx. 70% peat and 30% perlite) as our medium we have chosen three different soil amendments to grow our crops. This gives us four soil treatments in total.
#1: potting soil
#2: potting soil + Gaia Green 4-4-4
#3: potting soil + Sea Soil
#4: potting soil + Miracle Grow 24-8-16
We have planted the following four crops individually into each of the four soil treatments.
#1: Lettuce ( C.V Darkeness)
#2: Radish (C.V Altaglobe)
#3: Kale (C.V Red Russian)
#4: Pea (C.V Little Marvel).
Because we have 4 soil types and 4 crops we are provided with 16 soil/crop combinations. We are replicating each combination 15 times so we have a total of 240 containers on the roof!
We will document crop growth and measure the yields after harvest to determine what effect soil amendment choice has on yields.
Our hope is to obtain some interesting results that we can share with growers and improve the success of urban agriculture right here in our backyards (or rooftops for that matter!). Feel free to stop by SPEC and check out the garden or to post questions or comments for us to answer!
Happy Growing... Kate
on crop yields.
We have recently set up our experiment on SPEC's rooftop and I will be documenting our experience on this blog! We invite you to follow our progress and learn with us along the way.
Our experiment is designed like this: using a common potting soil (approx. 70% peat and 30% perlite) as our medium we have chosen three different soil amendments to grow our crops. This gives us four soil treatments in total.
#1: potting soil
#2: potting soil + Gaia Green 4-4-4
#3: potting soil + Sea Soil
#4: potting soil + Miracle Grow 24-8-16
We have planted the following four crops individually into each of the four soil treatments.
#1: Lettuce ( C.V Darkeness)
#2: Radish (C.V Altaglobe)
#3: Kale (C.V Red Russian)
#4: Pea (C.V Little Marvel).
Because we have 4 soil types and 4 crops we are provided with 16 soil/crop combinations. We are replicating each combination 15 times so we have a total of 240 containers on the roof!
We will document crop growth and measure the yields after harvest to determine what effect soil amendment choice has on yields.
Our hope is to obtain some interesting results that we can share with growers and improve the success of urban agriculture right here in our backyards (or rooftops for that matter!). Feel free to stop by SPEC and check out the garden or to post questions or comments for us to answer!
Happy Growing... Kate
