Tuesday, December 3, 2013

What is a weed?

WEEK6_DAY2



1. SOUNDTRACK OF THE DAY



2. PLACES TO KNOW

Saint-Nazaire, ex World War II submarine military base. The impenetrable German submarine base, was built during the Occupation and became the French HQ for the German navy, the Kriegsmarine. As a result, St-Nazaire became a major target for the Allies who destroyed the shipyards during Operation Chariot in 1942 followed by the rest of the city via a bombing raid in 1943. 

3. PEOPLE TO DISCOVER

Burle Marx - Roberto Burle Marx (1909-1994) was a ground-breaking artist and designer working in Brazil. He became interested in plants and gardens in his youth but his first public commission was in 1935 in Recife.

Burle Marx Garden - video

Gilles Clément - an article

Video - Gilles Clément is a gardener, landscape designer, botanist, educator and writer who trained in horticultural engineering and landscape design at the Versailles National School of Landscape Architecture. Clement discusses the "Third Landscape," a terrain classification describing abandoned spaces such as former industrial areas or nature reserves which are prime areas for accumulating bio-diversity.

4. QUESTION OF THE DAY



5. INSPIRATION

Gilles Clément:The Third Landscape garden we are in is composed of species (stonecrop) compatible with the base’s climate and “non-soil” concrete. A series of spaces abandoned by human activity. The garden was conceived by Clément but it was “made” by Coloco and Eskistwo very good contemporary landscape design studios.


How to

- Apartment therapy blog has an enormous amount of do-it-yourself guides for indoor gardening...
- Inspiration for “vertical” gardens.

Hydroponics? It's a subset of hydroculture and is a method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions, in water, without soil. Terrestrial plants may be grown with their roots in the mineral nutrient solution only or in an inert medium, such as perlite, gravel, mineral wool, expanded clay pebbles or coconut husk.

"Design is to know what you can achieve and what you can not. 
To know how much you can push yourself. 
Not too much. But not too little." 
From Course Letter


Will mushrooms save the world?

The world’s 80 most celebrated gardens, BBC's television series 

Roberto Burle Marxa Brazilian polymath. He was a renowned for his gardens and modernist landscapes, but he was also a pretty good painter, printmaker, artist, musician etcetc. 

Another article about Burle

Jorge Dominguez (student) mentioned Edward Weston 
and his curious photographs of vegetables.
“A picture is worth a thousand words.” - Napoleon

Breaking news from the NY Times: 
Terrariums make a comeback. Mentioned by  Rosanna Li (Student) . How to make a terrarium? Examples of cute terrariums.

The world’s largest maze!

The yellow submarine toy

6. HOMEWORK You need to evaluate in a short amount of time which kind of little garden would be best for your needs, space and resources.






Project checklist

Evaluation of conditions:

Type of gardeningI like the idea of growing herbs I use in food. Mainly I use 3 kinds of herbs - parsley, coriander or cilantro, oregano. 



Weather/geographic conditions: it's winter in Portugal, temperatures 1-14ºC, rarely negative on the coast, that is where I live.




Space/use of the space: I have a balcony on a 3rd floor appartment that I can keep open or closed. I want suspended containers to keep the floor free. I already have a structure to suspend the containers.

LightI have at least 6 hours of sun in my balcony.

Water: I have access to water

Containers: I want to take it with me when I move in an easy way. I'll use pet bottles.

Evaluation of resources

a. Money: I will start with one container and one herb and see how it goes. I do not want to spend money at this time. Also I made some experiences before and plants died on the balcony. I don't know if it's caused by the sea proximity.
b. Herb seeds: I will buy some parsley seeds. I use parsley all the time.
c. Soil: my neighbour agreed to assist me
d. Fertilizer: my neighbour agreed to assist me
e. Gardenning tools:a spatule and my hands it will do. I can make a tool out of the pet bottle also.
f. DIY container project: xacto knife, pliers, ruler, marker, scissor, strong wire, pet bottle, pebbles, metal perforator, nylon thread
g. Time: one hour per task (Design 101 rule)
h. Extra: digital camera, computor, graphic software

c. Information on the herbs: 

Where to get good seeds - always get biological seeds and GMO free, I found it here. But I have parsley seeds on local store, faster.



Como semear salsa, coentro e orégão





How to grow Parsley

More about Parsley cultivation 

More on Parsley

More on Parsley

How to make compost for the plants



Let's start growing Parsley from seeds?

Seeds germinate in 11 to 28 days. Parsley seed is slow to germinate (it can take up to a month).

To speed the process, soak seeds overnight, and then freeze for a week before planting.

Parsley does best in a fertile, moist, sandy loam with good drainage.

The pH range should be 6.0 to 8.0.

The plant will tolerate some shade but needs sun light.

Sows seeds directly in the garden about 2 to 4 weeks prior to the last spring frost.

Plant seeds ¼ inch deep
When growing parsley, it is best to keep the soil moist, but not soggy.  Don’t let the soil dry out. 

The plants have deep root systems, so avoid using shallow pots


It's a garden biennial herb(it returns for a second gardening season)

Soil in containers tends to dry out very quickly.  You will need to offer your plants a light watering daily. 



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