Final Week (Evaluation, Harvest and Sales)

     Hellooo...... So this will be the final post from me... I think..  Well, let get on with it.

     So for the final week, there was a one on one evaluation between us and our lecturer. Basically a recap on our understanding on the subject. I mostly got asked on the farming tools that I used as well as their usages. Overall, I think I did fine. Supposedly, were we supposed to harvest the vegetables this week. However, since a majority of them haven't matured yet, the harvesting process was delayed about a week later.

    As for the harvesting process, we weighted the vegetables based on their types and who planted them. It is so that we can get a general idea of who was successful with their farm plot. We harvested the vegetables manually by hand and thoroughly washed the soil before weighting them. Each of the weight is recorded. After that, the vegetable are piled up based on their type. The vegetables then undergoes through quality check where we remove the hard stems and discard bad/low-quality vegetables. They are then tied up together to be sold off.

 

Here is the total amount of vegetables that were harvested from the farm:

    

NAMA	BAYAM HIJAU (g)	PAK CHOI (g)	BAYAM MERAH (g)	KAILAN (g)	TOTAL (g)
FARIS	350	250	150	175	925
AMY	950	0	50	100	1100
RAIHAN	0	50	150	50	250
AFIQ	500	50	600	50	1200
LUQMAN	150	100	500	0	750
AYUB	300	50	50	50	450
IZZAT	400	50	450	125	1025
HAZIM	950	25	200	50	1225
DULLES	1000	75	450	400	2225
AMMAR	550	50	200	50	850
DANISH	350	50	200	50	650
BUKHARI	50	50	200	200	500
FARUQ	450	50	150	50	700
SUHAIMI	200	0	100	0	300
JOEL	50	50	50	200	350
EVA	200	0	600	0	800
ZAHIRAH	300	0	50	0	350
ADIBAH	200	0	100	0	300
HAZIMAH	100	0	50	50	200
TOTAL (g)	7050	900	4300	1600	13850

The total harvest amounted to about13.85 kg which is considerably very low. This is mainly due to the insects eating at our vegetables seedlings and also disease attack especially on the Pak Choi and Kailan. The soil condition may also affect the growth of our vegetables. However, the amount that were sold were considerably lower than this. This is because of the condition of the vegetables. Some of them were badly infected that they were not suitable to be sold.

    As for the sales of the vegetables, all of the were bunched together and were sold at RM2 per bunch. We got a total amount RM54 from selling the vegetables. However, this is not the gross profit for it. We needed to substract it with the operating cost for the farm. However, all of it is covered by and supplied by UITM. So technically, it is a 100% profit for us. But if this was a real farm where the operation cost is from us then were suffered a major loss. Overall this was a good experience for us. We should have taken more effort to maintain the health of the vegetables at the seedling stages. Most of the vegetables died off or were stunted during this period. This will mistake will surely help us improve our understanding on growing vegetables. 

    Anyways, that is all from me. I would like to thank my friends who joined me in this journey as well as our lecturer who guided us. Thank you and goodbye everyone :)

Week 13???

     Another bad news...... So during quarantine, another housemate who quarantined with me was covid positive. Therefore I had to extend my quarantine period. So once again, I could not attend the class. Once again, thanks to my coursemate who explained the class lesson for me.

    Surprisingly though, it was another general maintenance on the farm. It started with the usual watering of the plants. Then, continue with the weeding process if necessary. Though, considering that weeds grow fast, weeding is pretty much mandatory. The soil was also loosened up to provide better waterflow and aeration. From what my coursemate explained, we also fertilized the soil. The plants were rather small so they really needed the extra nutrients from the fertilizer. When applying fertilizer, make sure to use the correct amount. Too little fertilizer will not improve the growth rate of the plants. Too much fertilizer will promote weed growth and excess nutrients in the soil to leach out to water bodies.

     I haven't gone to the farm for more than a week. Hopefully, my plants are growing properly. Thanks to my friends who are keeping care of my plants in my absence. 

    That's all I got for now, next week should be the last class. And I finally finished my quarantine period as of this post release. Can't wait to finally see my plants again.

Week 12???

    Okay..... so bad news. I got quarantined due to being in close contact with my housemate who was covid positive. So basically, I don't really know the exact details of what our class did on this week. Therefore, I will be talking based on what my coursemate told me. 

    From what I heard, this week was basically another general maintenance on the farm plot and beds. First, watering the plants. Then, proceed with weeding if necessary. Check up on the condition of the plant. Observe any abnormalities on the plant and provide the necessary care for it. Another thing that I forgot to mention before is that you should also loosen up the soil from time to time. When watering plants, the water will pull down the soil downwards. This will cause the soil to be more compact and firm. This will cause a decrease in total volume and number of pores inside the soil. These pores are needed as plant roots require air to absorb the nutrients from the soil. And guess where they get the air from, yes from the pores which contain pockets of air. Loosening up the soil also provides good aeration in the soil. Naturally, underground creatures such as earthworm will aerate the soil. However, our farm plot is too dry and is not really suitable for the earthworm. Therefore, we need to manually aerate the soil. This can be done by using hand trowel and hand cultivar. Make sure not to injure or damage the plant roots when loosening up the soil.

    That's all I got for this week. See you later.

     

Circle Weeding, Thinning and Improving Mulching

    Hi....., on to the next class we go.

    So for this week, we mostly did some general maintenance on the farm bed. First we did some weeding on the beds. Weeding is basically us removing weed or other unwanted plants that grows on the bed. Circle weeding is as the name suggest, we weed out the weeds growing around our plants. For this, we manually remove them by hand. You should completely remove the weed up until the roots so that they don't regrow back. However, weeds are fast growing so you should always check it up and do weeding whenever necessary. Weeding is important as the weeds will take up the nutrients from the soil. This will causes our plants to only receive low amounts of nutrients as they have to fight for the nutrients with the weed. This will lead to slower plant growth and maturity.

    Another thing that we did was thinning. Thinning is the process where you remove excess plants from the bed. I forgot to mention this before but we did not have enough seedlings to plant in the beds. Therefore, we directly planted the seed into the bed. This pretty much causes overcrowding of the seedlings as there are too many of them. Same as the weed problem, this will cause the plant to fight for nutrients causing slower growth. When thinning the plants, make sure to remove the smaller ones and keep the larger ones. Ideally, you want around 2 to 3 seedlings per hole. Any more than that is not really ideal for optimum plant growth.

    We also continued to improve the mulching of the beds. Our previous attempt at doing mulching was not really up to standard so we added some more palm fronds and dried leaves to the bed. Also, some of my plants were eaten by insects, while some were near wilting due to the heat.

    

That's it for now, see ya later.

Seedling Transplanting and Mulching

    Helloooooo everyone.

          So for this week, the seedlings has grown large enough for us to proceed with transplanting. Ideally, you want to keep the seedlings in the greenhouse for 2 or 3 weeks. Another indicator is the amount of leaves (true leaves) that the seedlings have. These leaves will ensure that the seedling can survive in the new environment. First, we needed to prepare the bed to transplant the seedlings. We used the raised bed for the farm plot. We took the topsoil of the plant and piled it up in a straight line. The bed was raised at least 15 cm from the ground level and the width of the bed was around 60 cm. The transplanting process should be done as quick as possible so that the seedling do not suffer from shock due to the different environment. The distance of each planted seedling should be around 6 inches from each other, or closer/further depending on the type of plant. Start, by digging a hole (at least deep enough to cover the plant roots) and place the seedling in it. Then proceed to cover it up with soil. Water it thoroughly. As I explained before, don't use high pressure water to water the plants. In this case, the water will uncover the buried roots, thus exposing them to direct sunlight. Instead, you can also water the near surrounding soil instead of directly watering it on the plant.

    Another thing to do is to do mulching on the bed. This was done to provide some shade for the seedlings and retain moisture in the soil. The farm plot was fully exposed to direct sunlight meaning that the soil will dry out quickly. We used palm fronds and dried leaves for the mulching. The fronds and dried leaves are piled up directly above the seedlings but not enough as to squish or hamper the growth of the seedlings.

Well, that's about it for this week. Oh yeah, now that the seedlings are planted, we had to go to the farm daily to water the plant at least 2 times per day. That should be all of it, see you next ime.

Land Clearing (part 2), Liming and Sowing Seeds

     It's me again. So for this week we continued clearing the land a bit more as there were some remaining weeds and stumps on the farm. Same as the week before, time to bring out the machetes. 

    Besides that, we also did liming on the soil. This is because the soil was too acidic for the plants to grow. The liming process is done to neutralize or to bring the pH of the soil to a reasonable level. The pH level is important as plants, especially for our plants, as they need a pH level of 6 to 7 to grow properly. We used limestone for the process. The limestone was spread around the farm plots evenly (kinda). 

    Not only that, we also did seeding for the plants in trays. First, we filled the tray with organic soil and watered it. Then, holes were poked and the seeds were placed in the soil. It is then covered again with soil. You can water the soil again if you want but the initial watering is more than enough for the seeds. After that, the trays were placed in the greenhouse and is watered daily until it is ready to be transplanted into the farm plot. Important note, when watering the seeds, make sure to not use high pressure water as the seeds may be discharged or removed due to the high water pressure.

     We also built a bridge for an easier access to the farm plot. We chopped some tree trunks and built the bridge using it. The farm plot is surrounded by water trench so we really needed the bridge.

  

That's pretty much it for what we did this week. See ya later.

Finally!!!! First Day in Real Farm & Land Clearing

     Hello, it's me again. So after almost half a semester, we finally got to do hands on practical on the farm. I haven't really been in shape so this was really tiring. Anyway, on we go.

    For this week, we were tasked to clear out the farm land, and oh boy was it hard. The land was basically stranded and has tons of overgrown weeds and such. One of my classmates also said that they encountered a snake in the area. Real dangerous stuff here. Despite all odds, we actually did a decent job on it, considering that this was a first time for some of us.

    For the tools, we were given machetes and hoe. I would like to point out that you should wear gloves. Friction caused by the tools is not a joke. Safety first people. The weeds were piled up in an area and then was burned down. Ideally, you want to fully remove all the weeds. Usage of herbicides is recommended if you want to do a full scale farming plot. However, in our case, we did not use any herbicides at all.

 

All in all, it was a good experience, that's it for now, See ya.

 

Soil Structure

    Hello.... it's me..... again..... Onwards to the next topic.

    So for this week, we learned more about the soil structure and its importance. So before we go to that, we need to learn about the soil profile. Soil profile is the vertical section through the soil until it reaches the unweathered parent material and it show's the different layers of the soil. The layers of the soil is called horizons. Horizons are grouped in O, A, E, B and C horizons.

1) O horizon - Topmost layer, organic, fully or partially formed from decayed plant or animal debris. 

2) A horizon -  Topsoil, surface of mineral layer, darker colour than horizons below

3) E horizon - Most of leaching occurs here (clay, chemicals and organic matter)

4) B horizon - The layer which accumulates the leached matter (illuviation)

5) C horizon - Is usually the parent material, does not have the properties of A and B horizons

    As for the soil structure, they relate to the grouping or arrangement of the soil particles. They can be grouped further based on the aggregates. Aggregates are single particles that, when assembled, appear as larger particles. In general, soil structure can be described in terms of grade (aggregation degree), class (size) and the type of aggregate (form).

    In terms of grade, the structure can be classified as:

1) Structureless - no aggregation

2) Weak structure - poorly formed aggregates, easily breaks down when removed from profile.

3) Moderate structure - distinct aggregates, moderate durability, will break down into many aggregates when removed from profile.

4) Strong structure - well formed, durable

    In terms of form, they can be classified as:

A) Granular or crumb structure

    - individual particles of sand, silt and clay grouped together in small grains, high water circulation,

usually in A horizon

B) Blocky or sub-angular blocky structure

    - soil particles cling together in angular blocks, resist water circulation, usually in B horizon

C) Prismatic or columnar structure

    - formed into vertical column or pillars, poor water circulation and drainage, commonly in B horizon where clay accumulates.

D) Platy structure

    - soil particle aggregates into thin plates/sheets piled horizontally, greatly impairs water circulation, common in forest soil in A horizon

   

Picture obtained from Science Direct

  

  That's all from me, see ya later.

Presentation Week (part 2)

     Hello again, so for this week the class continued with the leftover presentation. Well, I already did my presentation so why not talk about what my classmates did for theirs.

    So just like me, some also created flower pots for their project. Some opted to use water bottles while some used worn-out tires. There was also one where they made a hydroponics pot using the waste material. I'm rather surprised on how well the hydroponics pot worked out.

    Meanwhile, some decided to create composts and fertilizer to encourage plant growth. They used fruit peels, leftover foods and some even decided to use snail shells. These material contain beneficial nutrient which will be absorbed by plants. Not only that, they can also improve water retention in the soil.

    Well, that should be enough from me for now. See ya later.

    

Presentation Week!!!!!! :)

     Hello everyone. So yeah, I've haven't posted in a while. There's that and well.... on to the next topic.

    So for this week, our class was ordered to present on the assignment which was given to us prior before this. The topic for the assignment was called 'From Waste to Gold'. Basically, from the title itself, we were tasked to use waste products from our house and turn it into something that has value or can be used again. So, for me, I decided to make ..... (drumroll).... a plant pot.  Not going to delve to much on my project choice so let's get on to it.

    Okay, so first of all, I would like to point out that the design of the flower pot isn't from me 100%.  I took some inspiration from videos and images that I found online, and put some of my own twists to it.

So the process is pretty straightforward. 

1. First you need to collect some empty bottles (preferably the 1.5L one), a scissor, some markers, cellotape or any adhesives, and paint for colouring.

2. Then, mark the area which need to be cut and proceed to cut it with scissors. 

                                                    

3. Depending on what kind of design you want to make, the cutting process will differ. For my pot, I decided to bend out the plastic pieces to make it look more like a pot.

4. Then make some holes on the bottom part of the pot so that water can flow out from it. This is important as water can accumulate inside the pot. So apparently, plants can 'drown' if there is too much water. They need air in the soil in order to get nutrients in the soil. Too much water will fill out the pores which contain the air.  Therefore, I really need to stress on the importance of having the holes.

5. After you are done making the holes, you can paint the bottles. Of course you can just leave it as it is. But why not just make it pretty while you're at it.

6. After the bottles have dried out, fill it out with soil. I borrowed (cough.. cough....stole) some organic soil from my mothers garden to put in the pot.

7. Finally, arrange the plants or sow the seeds (if you want) in the pot and water it. Place it in an area where it is shaded enough from the sun.

    Yeah, it is pretty simple and straightforward. If you also want to make your own pots, I really recommend going to YouTube to look for some ideas and inspiration. There's a lot of good designs. Anyway, that's all from me. See you next time.