WINDOW GARDEN REFLECTIONS

WINDOW GARDEN REFLECTIONS

Window garden plant data(before the holidays/ 30th March)

	Thyme	Chives	Mint
Number of Leaves	250	-	41
Height (cm)	11	31	26
Number Of Plants	1	1	1

Window garden plant data(after the holidays/ 18th April)

	Thyme	Chives	Mint
Number of Leaves	230	-	55
Height (cm)	12	32	26
Number Of Plants	1	1	1

Plant Selection For Our Window Garden

I think that we put in an adequate amount of research into our selection of plants and we have achieved decent results. Our chives and thyme were great plants due to them being quite self-sustainable plants. If I had had the chance to change our mint, I would have done so. Our mint used up way too much water and needed careful attention. Our soil selection was great but we didn't put enough research into the amount of plant food you should add to soil. This led to our mint (a high water consuming plant) drying out rather quickly. Due to some severe changes to our plans, we were able to nurture our plant to a stable health. 

Our plans to ensure the plants in our window garden will receive water over the 2 week holiday

Mr Kerbelker has volunteered to water our window garden on 2 occasions during the two week holiday. Mrs de Villiers (lab assistant) will also come water our plant on the 10^th of April. We would like to thank Mr Kerbelker and Mrs de Villiers on their participation in keeping our plants alive.

Expected changes in our plants over the next 2 weeks

In the next 2 weeks I am not confident that our plants will be watered enough. I believe that this will lead to the dying of our mint. It is a high water consuming plant and it almost died when it hadn't even been watered for 4 days let alone 2 weeks.Our other plant are way more self-sustainable and i think that they will just make it through the holidays.

If they survive I expect to see a big change in the height and in the amount of leaves on the plant.

Modifications:

In our window garden there weren't many modifications to our design, soil, plants or position, But there were a few things that we would have liked to change.

The only obvious change in our window garden was to our soil and to the watering period.

We discovered that our soil without the plant food, had a perfect PH level but when we added too much plant food, this drastically raised our soil's PH level. This lead to our plants almost dying. Our second change was to The amount of times we watered our plant a week. To get our plant back to a stable health, we had to change the period from once every 3 days, to everyday. This allowed our plants to recover.

If we had the chance to change one of our plant, we would of definitely changed mint for a more durable, self-sustainable plant.

I believe that the position of our window garden wasn't great. I think that it was too exposed to the sun and this was part of the reason that our plant almost didnt survive.

Part 2: AFTER THE HOLIDAYS 

Watering System:

Mr Kerbelker volunteered to water our window garden on 2 occasions during the two week holiday. Mrs de Villiers (lab assistant) also came and watered our plant on the 10^th of April. We would like to thank Mr Kerbelker and Mrs de Villiers on their participation in keeping our plants alive during the holidays. Their help was enough to keep our plant alive and therefore I can conclude that our plans to keep our plants alive were successful.

 Water container:
Held water that was to be distributed to the plants.

 Chives container:
There was one chive plant that was 32cm tall.
That means that it grew 1cm since the beginning of the holidays.

 Thyme container:
There was one thyme plant with 230 leaves that was 12cm tall.
That means that it grew 1cm and lost 20 leaves since the beginning of the holidays.

Mint container:
There was one mint plant that had 55 leaves and  was 26cm tall.
That means that it grew 0cm and gained 14 leaves  since the beginning of the holidays.


Referring back to our predictions 

When predicting the effect of the holiday on the plant, I predicted the mint would die due to lack of water. Looking after the holidays I can now conclude that the mint was the plant that fared the best. I said that the other plants were more self-sustainable but in this instance the didn't seem to sustain themselves like I had expected. I did predict that the plants would grow, even if not much, and that the would grow more leaves. This was proven to be correct for all except the thyme, which lost leaves. 

Abiotic factors in our window garden

Other than water, the other abiotic factors that could have ffected our plant were soil and temperature.

Soil is the outermost layer of the surface of the earth in which plants grow. It is composed of eroded rock, mineral nutrients, decaying plant and animal matter, water and air. This abiotic factor is likewise important because it supplies the minerals, nutrients and a vital support platform for the plant.

Temperature directly affects photosynthesis, respiration, transpiration (loss of water) and absorption of water and nutrients. The rate of all these processes increases with an increase in temperature and is therefore beneficial to the plant. Soil temperature also affects water and nutrient uptake. This can be beneficial or a threat. You can either improve your water and nutrient intake or you can decrease it.

Three types of biotic factors that could be present in our window garden.

Three biotic factors that could have affected our plants were insects, bacteria, the plants and us humans.

Firstly there could have been insects present. Insects can cause feeding damage such as holes or notches in the plants. This leaves the leaf skeletonized (removal of tissue between the leaf veins). This means that the insects could have killed our plants but the could have also helped our plants by pollenising them.

 How insects could have harmed our plants

How insects could have helped our plants

Bacteria could have helped our plants by giving nutrients and by helping in respiration processes in the soil but they could have harmed our plants by destroying the roots or leaves.

 How bacteria could help

How bacteria harms plants

If we had chosen plants to put in our area it could have meant that they didn't grow properly but on the other hand, if the plants were chosen correctly then they could have thrived.

 A plant thriving in the correct conditions

A dead plant in the wrong conditions

Lastly, humans could have affected our plants. There are many times where human error my have occurred and this would have impacted the plants.

 How humans harm plants

Humans can also help plants

Maximillian Wolfson

My contribution to the blog and window garden was of great help to this group. Firstly I have been the one to do every blog. Secondly I made and maintained the window garden. Thirdly I covered for the other members of my group when the let me down. I have worked hard to look after the window garden and have made a continuous effort to involve the rest of my group.

Declan Watling

My contribution to the blog and window garden was...

Nick Powell

My contribution to the blog and window garden was...