Helping the Planet with Janet - By Hayden Fitzgerald, Grade 11 Biology

I have been doing grade 11 biology and during this time I have studied a lot about the environment and humans living in the environment.

Plants and Vegetable Production

Throughout the course we have learned about plants and plant reproduction methods for the plant unit. We have an organic vegetable garden at school and have learned about and used  many types of plant reproduction methods. These include planting by seed, rhizome, bulbs, tubers, and clippings.

Seed Method:

• We placed avocado pits in soil to simulate how it would grow in nature and have been patiently waiting and observing the results
• We sprinkled flax seed over soil to grow the flax.

Clipping method:

• We cut the green tops off a pineapple and put the green head in soil to regrow the pineapple. It takes a couple of years before harvest

Tuber method:

• We took potatoes that were starting to root.  We cut off sections with the shoots coming off making sure to have parts of the flesh attached. We then  planted each of these in deep pots of soil.

Rhizomes:

• Rhizomes – you can grow the following through their rhizomes - mint, rhubarb, ginger, horseradish, ginger, turmeric, asparagus.    I wasn’t there the day my class planted mint by using the rhizome. Here is a link for finding out more \/
• https://littleveggiepatchco.com.au/blogs/news/planting-rhizomes-and-tubers

Bulbs:

• Our class planted garlic in the fall by taking apart the full bulb and taking each clove and placing it a few centimeters into the soil. We  then covered it with leaves and a layer of sticks for winter protection. Then in the spring we will remove the layers of sticks and leaves and  wait for the shoots to come up.  In June you can harvest the scapes which are edible. The bulbs are harvested in late July.
• Egyptian Onions - and our class also planted Egyptian Onions. The bulbs grow at the tips of the plant and then fall over to re-seed themselves. We take these bulbs and plant them in the soil in the desired location.

Root clippings:

• We cut the roots off of green onions and leeks that we we using in cooking.  We stuck the roots in soil to let them regrow. This method lets us have a continual crop of green onions and leeks when needed.

Runners: strawberry plants, thyme can be reproduced using runners.

• We have a wild strawberry plant in the classroom and we also have thyme growing as well. I was not here for the planting of these but my class did plant these.

Grafting:  we did not do grafting at school but there are many resources available.  Fruit trees such as apple trees often use the grafting method.

• Here are some resources:

• https://www.extension.umn.edu/garden/yard-garden/fruit/grafting-and-budding-fruit-trees/
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ryf0248Od60
• www.torontomastergardeners.ca/askagardener/fruit-tree-grafting/
• www.hardyfruittrees.ca/tutorials/2014/01/16/why-are-fruit-trees-grafted

Taking care of the environment

In this class I have also helped with organizing the blue, black, and compost bins around the school to help the planet.  We have also made compost liners out of newspapers so we don’t have to purchase them and have taught other students how to make them. Here is the link so you can make your own liners:

http://ottawa.ca/cs/groups/content/@webottawa/documents/pdf/mdaw/mdu2/~edisp/con054938.pdf

We have also shared our knowledge of sorting recycling and garbage with other classmates and people in the school. We did an garbage and recycle audit. We also went class to class with a sort-it-out activity challenge for each class. In this activity students were given a variety of blue, black, compost and garbage items and were challenged to sort them into the proper bin. We rated each class and gave feedback on their successes.

My classmates and I also made a petition for stopping the use of non-decomposable coffee lids. This was sent out to Tim Hortons, McDonald’s, and Starbucks through a www.change.org  petition. We are encouraging people to read, sign and and share the petition to reduce plastic waste on our planet. We also encourage people to  Lug-A-Mug to their coffee shops/fast food outlets. Here is the link and please support our work to save this planet for our future generations.

https://www.change.org/p/guest-services-timhortons-com-have-decomposable-coffee-lids?recruiter=850457004&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=share_petition&utm_term=triggered

Thank you for taking the time to read this and hopefully you can help save the planet as well.

Hayden Fitzgerald, Frederick Banting Alternate Site