The end of the semester means the end of my learning project! During the past seven weeks I have learned so much about gardening and even more about learning online. The weekly blog posts kept me accountable and I am appreciative that they provide a means of measuring my growth and progress throughout my learning project!

Weekly Overview

Week 1: To Grow or Not to Grow

• Introduction to my learning project
• Reasoning and explanation of why I chose gardening for my learning project
• Outline of what I had completed in preparation for the learning project
• Overview of my next steps

Resources explored: Facebook group, YouTube Video

Week 2: Garden of Weedin’

• Research, research, research
• This week I focused on growing my knowledge on gardening

Resources explored: Almanac Website

Week 3: From the Ground Up

• This week I focused on garden preparation
• I top-dressed my soil with compost and then re-tilled my garden to mix it all in
• Soaked pea seeds, prepared my seeding potatoes, and purchased garden tools like trellises and cages for my tomatoes and peppers
• Continued growing my knowledge via online resources

Resources explored: Shifting Roots Blog, Almanac Website, Growing Guides

Week 4: Learning & Tech: Garden Planner

• Explored the use of technology in the learning process
• Reviewed the Almanac’s Garden Planner and provided an extensive review on my thoughts and overall experience
• Provided a video tutorial on how to use the application

Resources explored: Almanac’s Garden Planner

Week 4: Learning & Tech: Loom

• In order to share my thoughts on the Garden Planner application, I had to explore an additional tech resource; Loom
• Provided an extensive review on the screen casting platform and outlined my experience and thoughts

Resource explored: Loom

Week 5: Veggies Loading

• This was an exciting week as it was the week my garden was officially planted
• I shared multiple gardening videos from social media sites, specifically Instagram and Tik Tok
• Outlined my next steps for my gardening journey, including watering, fertilizing, weeding, and harvesting, and provided resources for each step.

Resources explored: Instagram, Tik Tok, Almanac Website, Fine Gardening Website, UF Gardening Solutions, Pick Your Own Website

Videos provided:

• Early season tomato pruning tip
• When should you harvest peas
• Importance of thinning vegetables
• What to do with strawberry runners
• How to properly plant tomatoes
• Easiest vegetables to grow
• How and why to top pepper plants

Week 6: Labour of Love

• Tried out YouTube for the first time and posted a time lapse video
• Provided progress photos of plants (which looking back now grew quite quick!)
• Focused on land based learning and provided resources regarding how gardening is an excellent means for this
• Extensively reviewed all resources provided this week

Resources explored: YouTube, Indigenous Land Based Learning Article, The Sheaf Article, Learning from the Land Resource

My Tips to Beginner Gardeners

• Research, research, research. There are endless resources available to all level of gardeners, and a quick google search will likely provide exactly what you’re looking for. My two favourite resources I utilized while learning about gardening were the Almanac Website and the Shifting Roots Blog.
• Don’t be afraid to ask for help! Throughout this process I leaned on both my mom and grandma who have much more experience and were able to share their knowledge and provide many helpful tips.
• Map out your garden before you plant! Prior to this learning project I had no idea that certain plants grow better or worse depending on what plants they are beside. It is also important that you leave enough space between rows of veggies so you can maneuver around your garden, whether to weed or harvest. I loved the Garden Planner App for planning my garden, and was very thankful to have a template to refer back to when my veggies were just starting to grow and I forgot what was planted where.
• Try not to compare your garden to others. I felt like I planted my garden way too late, however, in the end it really didn’t make that big of an impact! While my veggies may not be ready to harvest quite yet, they are right on track for me to have some produce soon!
• Have patience, water, weed, and watch your veggies grow!

Before and After

My Key Takeaways from this Learning Project

1. Online learning is a very prevalent topic, especially following the recent global pandemic and shift to online classes for many. This learning project reinforced that in order for it to be fully successful, online learning requires motivation, persistence, and basic technological skills. Overall, I do believe learning online is an effective way to learn.
2. This learning project made me realize my preferred methods of online learning. While I assumed I would prefer video resources, I found I actually prefer written or print resources accompanied by pictures or media.
3. Having a PLN is very effective. Throughout this learning project, I found it very beneficial to have peers commenting and contributing to my learning project and blog posts. Whether it was sharing a resource or just providing some encouragement, it was motivating and validating to hear others perspectives and observations. Learning alongside peers was also motivating and encouraged me to try and make my learning project and subsequent blogs as good as the ones I was engaging with.
4. Gardening is an excellent way to connect with nature and is something that is attainable for many. I believe gardening is a cost effective hobby as it requires little to get started, and will allow you to save money on groceries once the veggies begin to grow. Personally, I was able to plant my entire garden, purchase seeds, fertilizer, trellises, and tomato cages all for under $50.
5. Can anyone learn anything? Maybe. But we must consider the accessibility of tools and resources required in the learning process. Specifically, for online learning, digital access is a huge factor which decides who will be successful in learning a new skill. If you’re not able to fully participate and access digital tools, then the level of knowledge gained will be limited. Money can also be a large factor deciding what skills can be learned. For example, while learning how to play an instrument would be awesome, it would require owning or having access to said instrument. Gardening is not an expense free skill/hobby, however, it provides unlimited opportunity for a variety of budgets to try gardening out.

Who knew gardening was so much work? Going into this learning project, I assumed that the planning and actually planting of my garden would be the most labour-some task I would have to do. However, now that my garden is in the ground, I have come to find out how much work it is to maintain! Between weeding, watering, fertilizing, and general upkeep, my garden has begun to feel a bit like a chore. This week I have also come across a small obstacle that I have had to do some research about. My neighbours have multiple large elm trees that hover over my yard. With the prairie wind that we always experience, the elm seeds continuously blow into my yard/garden. As you can see from my time lapse video, I tried leaf blowing them from my garden, which was semi-successful. After consulting with my mom (a gardening pro – in my eyes), I am hopeful the seeds should be done within a week or two. However, until then, if anyone has any suggestions on how to deal with, get rid of, or prep my garden for the elm seeds please let me know!

With all of that said, it is so rewarding getting to see my plants grow and flourish! This week I have seen much progress in many of my plants. My strawberries, lettuce, radishes, and even a few potatoes are officially beginning to grow above ground! My tomato and pepper plants are also thriving. I know there is still quite a bit of time before I will see any vegetables, however, it is so exciting seeing tangible progress!

Progress of my Garden!

Land Based Learning

I am currently taking an INDG 100 course, and this past week we discussed Indigenous land based learning and the importance of connection to land. This week of my learning project, in addition to maintaining my garden, I focused on growing my knowledge base of Indigenous land based practices and how I may be able to use my garden as a means of connection.  

Quotes from the Resources I utilized to facilitate my learning this week:

• How Indigenous land-based learning can help fight climate change
• “It’s the land that brings us together — the land that teaches relationship-based ways of knowing about the natural world and its food systems.”
• Land-Based Education: Taking knowledge back to its roots
• “Indigenous concepts of reciprocity, respect, relationship and responsibility are woven into [Land-Based Education]. Being of the land grounded us to our true selves, opening the portal to our awareness as far as we would allow it to go.”  Gabrielle Doreen
• “Land-based education is about learning to think more critically in terms of capitalism, economic development, environmental and, more importantly, an integrative anti-racist education.” Tennille Bear
• Learning from the Land
• “The values of reciprocity, respect, balance, and connection to spirituality are central to learning from the land.”
• “The land sustains our spirits and bodies; it determines how our societies develop and operate based on available environmental and natural resources; and our socialization and governance flow from this intimate relationship.”

Thoughts on the Resources I used this week

• YouTube – This was the first time I have ever created or uploaded a YouTube video. I found the process surprisingly simple and user friendly. I like how Youtube has an option for videos to be public, private, or unlisted. One thing I wish would be added to the upload function is the option to add background music to videos. I’m sure I could figure out how to add music to my video with a different app, however, it would be a much more streamlined process if YouTube had this feature.
• iPhone Time Lapse – As a loyal Apple customer, I am quite familiar with the camera options on the iPhone. I like how the time lapse video, or any content from an iPhone, can be easily airdropped from my phone to my computer. This makes the uploading process quick and easy! One feature I wish Apple would add to time lapse, is the option to change the speed of the time lapse video. I think I could have altered the speed through iMovie or another editing app, however, having that feature would streamline the process.
• How Indigenous land-based learning can help fight climate change – This article discusses a community-based research program aimed at cultivating healthy relationships and a healthy environment. The post is rich with links and resources that lead to numerous other learning opportunities, which I really appreciated. One thing I wish the post had more of was media, there were no pictures or videos present to compliment the article.
• Land-Based Education: Taking knowledge back to its roots – The main thing that I enjoyed about this resource is that it is Saskatchewan based. The article was written and published by the Sheaf, the University of Saskatchewan’s Newspaper, discussing the graduate programs offered through the UofS. However, I do think the post would have benefited from additional pictures or links.
• Learning from the Land – This was my favourite resource that I learned from this week. The article was supplemented by a short YouTube video and all of the content was created and led by Indigenous Peoples. I also enjoyed that there were links scattered throughout allowing for further learning to be had.

My garden is officially planted! Luckily, the forecast decided to stop raining long enough for my garden plot to fully dry allowing me to finally plant my seeds! Going into this project, I was planning on only planting half of my garden plot as this is my first year planting my own garden, and I had much to learn. However, I may have been a little over enthusiastic as I ended up utilizing all of the square footage in my garden. Since my last post, all of my seeds and plants are officially in the ground! As I mentioned in my previous post, I utilized this Garden Planner to plan where I wanted all of my vegetables to be planted. One thing I found interesting was the variety of depths each vegetable had to be planted at. For example, tomato plants need to be planted quite deep as each tiny bump on the stem of the plant will turn into roots. As for things like lettuce or basil seeds, they only have to be a few millimetres under the soil.

Recently, the algorithm from the different social media sites I use have been showing me more gardening content. I have especially seen an increase on both Instagram and Tik Tok. I enjoy watching these videos as they are so easily digested as they are always under 1-minute-long, and present useful snippets of information. I have been saving these videos to refer back to. That is one feature I appreciate from these social media apps, being able to have all of your liked or saved content compiled into one easy to access area. Tik Tok specifically allows you to create categories within your saved videos which organizes your content which I appreciate. This prevents you having to scroll through hundreds of videos you have saved, and instead just locate the personalized category you are looking for.

Some useful videos I have come across:

• Early season tomato pruning tip
• When should you harvest peas
• Importance of thinning vegetables
• What to do with strawberry runners
• How to properly plant tomatoes
• Easiest vegetables to grow
• How and why to top pepper plants

I have already used some of the useful tips from the above videos. I am excited for my plants to continue to grow so I can find more videos to apply to my garden. Specifically, I am very excited for my strawberry plants to grow, however, I know a lot of people have trouble with birds stealing all of the fruit before they have a chance to harvest. One tip I read was to paint small rocks red which will deter the birds once there is fruit on the plant. I think I will be trying that tip out once my plants begin to grow. I also have purchased netting that can cover my strawberry plants to try and protect them from birds as well. This netting can also be used as a support for my taller plants, like my peas, tomatoes, and peppers. Because these plants tend to grow quite tall, they require support. If the netting doesn’t work as a support, I also have a few cages and trellises prepared to use as well. In addition, I also separated my strawberry plants from the rest of my garden as they are perennials and I would not want to rototill over them next spring.

What are my next steps in my gardening journey?

• Water – It is a general rule of thumb that plants in the ground require about 1 inch of water per week. It is also best to either water in the morning or in the evening.
• Weeding – This will likely consume much of my time in my gardening journey moving forward.
• Fertilizer – Usually a balanced fertilizer is applied every three to four weeks throughout the growing season. One tip I have come across is using egg shells in the garden as the calcium from eggshells moderates soil acidity while providing nutrients for plants.
• Harvest – Unfortunately, I will not likely be able to harvest any vegetables by the time EDTC 300 ends. However, I will definitely have to make one final post at the end of the growing season summarizing my first time gardening experience!

In order to share the garden planner application from my last blog post, Learning & Tech: Garden Planner, I subsequently had to try another application new to me that allowed for me to screencast. Loom is a free screen and video recording application that allows you to record your camera, microphone, and desktop simultaneously. Your video is then instantly available to share through Loom’s patented technology.

Getting started with Loom was very simple.

1. Create an account – This is especially easy if you are a google user.

2. Download Loom – I use google chrome and it was quite simple downloading the extension to my browser.

3. Record a video – There is an option to record the entire screen, just a tab, record a voiceover, and add a video of yourself while recording the video.

4. Share the video – There are many options that allow you to share the video instantly.

Overall, I really enjoyed using this app. Due to its simple download and recording processes, I believe majority of people would be successful using this application. I appreciated how the app allows you to include a video of yourself as well as voice over the video as you record your screen. Loom has features that makes sharing your recording very straightforward. With only a few clicks, you can share your Loom video on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, or via email. Loom also has features similar to those of a social media platform. You can invite teammates to your Workspace to allow them to be able to few your recordings and comment or react with emoji’s.

The one issue I came across when using Loom was the inability to edit recordings. I made a few mistakes while making the recording and had to start over each time. This ultimately comes down to user error and not the application, however, it would be frustrating if you were doing a longer recording and made a mistake and had to start all over. I would have to do some additional research to find out if the app has any editing capabilities that I may have overlooked. I also had some trouble uploading the finished Loom video to my blog, however, this was once again due to user error. Once I realized I had to embed the finished video and not upload it, the process was a breeze.

I believe Loom would be an excellent tool to use in the classroom. I would imagine it being used mainly by the teacher to show students how to do something on their computer or to record lessons. For example, the teacher could record directions for students learning from home, or to allow students to re-watch a lesson multiple times. If students were using a webpage or application for the first time, the teacher could record a how-to video by recording their screen and walking students through the steps of using that webpage. Teachers could even use Loom as a tool of communicating with families and sending messages home. Overall, I would consider Loom to fit in the augmentation stage of the SAMR model as I think Loom would enhance the learning process without significantly altering the learning tasks. However, I do believe there is room for educators to utilize Loom in a way that would fit into the modification and redefinition steps. In order for it to fit into these categories, I believe the responsibility of using Loom would have to shift to the students.

With EDTC 300 being centered around technology, I wanted to be intentional with the tools and resources I utilized while learning how to garden. One tool that I tried out recently was an online garden planner. The Garden Journal application is developed by The Old Farmer’s Almanac. and is “your ever-present gardening companion. It helps you to keep track of what you’ve sown, planted, tended and harvested in your garden, so you know exactly what has been done and keep on top of upcoming tasks. In future years it provides a benchmark for you to refer back to, making it easier to tweak your gardening strategies to find out what works best for you in your unique garden. Use it on any Internet-connected smartphone, tablet or computer.”

Features of the App:

• Garden Plans: Get access to your garden plans all year round so that you can make changes, print them and produce up-to-date planting lists.
• Email Reminders: Receive email reminders of when to sow and plant out the vegetables in your plans.
• Save Time and Money: Having a well-planned garden and planting at the best time helps increase your success rate when gardening.
• Easy Crop Rotation: Use the color-coded system to rotate your crops each year, avoiding the buildup of pests or depletion of nutrients in the soil.
• Next Year’s Planning: The Garden Planning tool will simply copy your garden layout without the vegetables, making it simple to start on next year’s plans.
• Upgrades: New features are immediately available to you as they are released, making the Garden Planner even more useful.
• The Big Bug Hunt Feature – Report bugs you find in your garden and receive helpful advice on potential pests
• Garden Journal Feature – Track your gardening progress, view your gardening reminders and plan your week
• Priority Support: Technical support by email from our own trained support staff, should you require it.

Here is what I thought of the Garden Journal application:

Pros:

• I found this application to be very user-friendly and did not have a large learning curve.
• You can create a custom layout specific to the exact dimensions of garden (for me 13ft x 35ft)
• Feature to put in your location and it provides information on the first and last frost dates as well as weather forecasts and precipitation.
• There is an in-depth, user guide
• Extensive tools and accessories available to make your garden template as realistic as possible. Some of the options you can add include a trellis, paths, shed, pond, hose connector, water barrel, etc.; they really thought of everything!
• The application has every variety of every vegetable, for example I planted 4 different types of pepper plants and I was able to differentiate each on my template.
• Variety of features available, as outlined above.

Cons:

• One may struggle effectively utilizing this app if they were not technologically literate.
• In order to use the app, you are required to sign up for a free trial. After the 7-day free trial expires you must pay for a subscription. However, with an annual subscription you get all of the services and features outlined.

Overall, I really enjoyed this garden planner application. It really helped me when both planning and planting my garden. I specifically appreciated how it gave me an idea of how to space my plants and which varieties of plants should be planted where. I will be keeping my completed template to refer back to and remember what was planted where, as well as to refer back to next gardening season, so I can rotate planting locations (ie. potatoes) and tweak anything that wasn’t successful.