Celebration!

We planted and our principal, Mr. Scarano, turned on the power!  Can't wait to see what grows!

 

Clay Pellets=Martian Soil

Soil will not filter through our hydroponic garden so we researched and found that we can use clay pellets.  They hold moisture and provide some nutrients.  Sounds like martian soil to us!

We need help!!!

We definitely need some expertise.  Fortunately, we were able to connect with Mr. C from a neighboring school MAST (Marine Academy of Science & Technology).  He helped us with the design and building.  For some of us it was the first time we used a saw! 

Aquaponics or Hydroponics: What is our design?

Lots of questions:  What is hydroponics?  What is aquaponics? What do we use instead of soil?  What types of plants grow best in a garden of water?  Design- Design-Design

Our potatoes & squash are growing!

A Message from Space!

Amazing! We were able to get in contact with astronaut Scott Kelly while he was in space! We asked him a few questions regarding his lunar garden. Interesting and so very cool!  

Recreating Mark Watney's Potato Farm

So we all starting thinking about how and if we could create our own potato farm in school.

We started thinking about the obstacles;

• no sunlight
• no one available 24/7 to water the plants
• soil or something else?

A little more research and we discovered the word/technique: 
hydroponics (noun) 1. the cultivation of plants by placing the roots in liquid nutrient solutions, rather than in soil; soil less growth of plants

We jotted our ideas on the board:

Potatoes and Butternut squash