Aug 2011 Louisiana School Gardening News ` For more information, Please see websites below: ` Organic Edible Schoolyards & Gardening with Children http://scribd.com/doc/239851214 ` Double your School Garden Food Production with Organic Tech http://scribd.com/doc/239851079 ` Free School Gardening Art Posters http://scribd.com/doc/239851159` ` Companion Planting Increases School Garden Food Production by 250 Percent http://scribd.com/doc/239851159 ` Healthy Foods Dramatically Improves Student Academic Success http://scribd.com/doc/239851348 ` City Chickens for your Organic School Garden http://scribd.com/doc/239850440 ` Simple Square Foot Gardening for Schools - Teacher Guide http://scribd.com/doc/239851110

1. August—October
Volume 2, Issue 3 Veggie Bytes
LAYAPP – Louisiana Young Ag Producers Program
2011
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
LAYAPP 1
What’s Growing 2
Classroom to the
Garden
3
Sundial 3
Science Fair in
the Garden
4
Halloween in
the Garden
5-6
The LSU AgCenter’s Louisiana Young Ag Producer Program (LaYAPP) is a
one-year intensive classroom/hands-on, mentor-based experience that introduces
high school juniors and seniors to the options available in the areas of food and fi-ber
production and encourages them to consider a career in agricultural production.
The program, which was initiated in 2010 with 14 participants, provides knowl-edge
and resources that will ultimately lead young people into their agricultural
production fields of choice. The first group of 14 students returned this summer
along with the new class of ten. Participating students spend a week at LSU in the
summer followed by a 50-hour internship with a local producer during the school
year and a second week at LSU the following summer to complete the program.
Participating students receive valuable knowledge and tools to become ag produc-ers
and also a $500 stipend pending completion of the program. Student interest
ranges from row crops, dairy, poultry and equine, to vegetable production.
Of course my area of interest being
vegetable production, I’ll focus on that as-pect
of this program. Two young ladies
were accepted into the program as future
specialty crop producers, Annelisese
Franklin and Sarah McKinney.
During their week-long visit at LSU,
they participated in meetings with financial
consultants to learn how to manage the
business side of farm production, people
within the grocery industry to determine
how to meet potential vegetable buyers,
vegetable farmers who will serve as mentors
to guide the students in the dynamics of
Annelisese Franklin and Sarah
McKinney accepted into program
as future specialty crop producers.
vegetable production, LDAF and Farm Bureau personnel and many others.
During the week, the students went on several vegetable farm tours. The girls vis-ited
three farms in St. Francisville along with myself, county agent André Brock,
and members of the Horticulture Club at LSU.
The first stop was to see Mr. Buddy Metz. His farm production includes grow-ing
tomatoes, squash, peas, beans, sweet corn, elderberries, pears, blueberries, egg-plant
and peppers. His operation is unique in that he uses chicken and other live-stock
such as goats to clean up the weeds in fields after a crop is harvested. The
second stop was to Mr. Mario Alexander’s farm. Mr. Alexander farms several
acres in St. Francisville specializing in sweet corn for homemade grits and corn
meal, oats, tomatoes, eggplant, Jerusalem artichoke (a neat plant with edible roots),
potatoes and an assortment of other vegetables. Mario spoke to the students about
diversifying in the crops they grow; value-added products, and using horse drawn
equipment in lieu of gas powered equipment.
Continued on page 2
Page Veggie Bytes

2. What’s Growing LAYAPP, continued Pg 1
Vegetables to plant
….in August
Direct seed: snap, lima, and butter
beans, beets, collard greens, cucum-bers,
lettuce, mustard greens,
okra, shallots, and turnips.
Start seeds of: broccoli, Brussels
sprouts, cabbage and Chinese cabbage
Transplant: cauliflower and tomatoes
…...in September
Direct seed: beets, broccoli and cauli-flower
(early in the month), carrots,
collards, English and snow peas, kale,
kohlrabi, leek, lettuce, mustard, onion,
radish, snap beans, Swiss chard, and
turnips.
Start seeds of: Brussels sprouts, cab-bage,
and Chinese cabbage.
Transplant: broccoli, cauliflower,
shallots (bulbs)
…...in October
Direct Seed: beets, carrots, celery, col-lards,
kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, leeks,
mustard, onions, parsnips, radishes,
Swiss Chard
Start seeds of: Brussels sprouts, cab-bage,
Chinese cabbage
Transplant: broccoli, cauliflower, Chi-nese
cabbage, garlic (toes), shallots
(bulbs)
The third stop was to Mr. Jim Hadden’s greenhouses. Mr. Had-den
grows hydroponic lettuce for the St Francisville and the New
Orleans Crescent City farmers’ markets. The lettuce grows without
soil! He spoke to the students about water quality management, seed-ing
schedules and postharvest storage.
During the week, the students also visited two other Louisiana
vegetable operations. They toured Mr. Robinson’s organic vegetable
farm where they learned about business planning and becoming
“certified organic.” This is a more labor intensive approach to vege-table
farming than conventional farming, but can yield higher prices
when sold to the right clientele.
Another grower,
Mrs. Joy Boudreaux,
took the girls on a
tour of her green-house
and cut flower
garden. She educated
the students about
seeding schedules,
cut flower varieties,
seasonal plantings,
post-harvest storage
of flowers, staking
and other field man-agement
techniques.
The LAYAPP program is open to new students each year. If you
have a particular student who is interested in this program, contact
your local county agent or Dr. Brad Leger at
bleger@agcenter.lsu.edu. You can also find more information about
LAYAPP at www.lsuagcenter.com/layapp, Facebook and on Twitter
(@LegerLaYAPP) !
For a quick and easy coleslaw recipe pick a carrot and head of cabbage from your school garden and
follow these instructions!
INGREDIENTS:
1/2 head cabbage 1 large carrot 1 medium onion
1 1/4 cup mayonnaise 3 tablespoons sugar 3 tablespoons vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
PREPARATION:
In a large bowl, shred the cabbage, carrot and onion. Mix them thoroughly. In a
medium bowl combine the mayonnaise, sugar, vinegar, and salt. Pour the liquid
mixture over the shredded vegetables. Chill for several hours and serve!
TIP:
You can mix a quarter head of red cabbage and a quarter head of green cabbage for a colorful treat!
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3. Connecting the Classroom to the Garden
“Plant Parts We Eat”
The display board is an educational tool to teach young school-age children basic agriculture. Plant parts
and descriptions of their botanical functions lie on one side of the board. For instance: “LEAF- A leaf takes
in sunlight and makes the plant’s food.” On the other side of the board are drawings of vegetables, each rep-resenting
an edible plant part. For example, a cabbage is used as an example of edible leaves. The back of
the board is wired and each part sits near a small red light. When plant parts are connected by wire to their
correct representative vegetables, their lights are activated. An audio component is included as well, as chil-dren
can be heard squealing “Ooooh!” when the bulbs light up. The board is useful at ag demonstrations in a
number of settings.
Mr. Brock tries the game. Oh no! Let’s try
again.
He gets it right on only the second try.
Good job, Mr. Brock!!!
Sun Dial
What is a sundial?
A sundial is a device that measures time by the position of the sun. It
shows the time by the shadow of a pointer cast by the sun onto a plate
marked with the hours of the day
History of the sun dial.
The sundial dates back to the Egyptian Period, around 1500 B.C. It was
also used in ancient Greece and Rome. In central Europe it was the most
commonly used method to determine the time, even after the mechanical
clock was developed in the 14th century. The sundial was actually used to
check and adjust the time on mechanical clocks until late into the 19th cen-tury.
How to make a simple accurate one for the garden
http://hilaroad.com/camp/projects/sundial/sundial.html
Other helpful sites: http://www.squidoo.com/sundial
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4. Science Fair in the Garden
It’s school time again! As you begin planning your year, you’re probably determining which activities and
lessons you’ll repeat and which you’ll change. Science fair happens to be one of those activities for some of
you that repeats itself year after year. Finding new topics for the students to research can be challenging. But if
you have a school garden, the potential science fair projects are endless.
Celine Richard, a student at St. Joseph’s Academy in
Baton Rouge, La., has already begun working on her pro-ject.
She is interested in the art of grafting plants. Her
main focus is to determine the best method for grafting
tomatoes. She is using one rootstock variety and one
scion variety but taking three different approaches to
grafting them to see which method works best. Success is
defined by the cambium tissues of the top or bottom por-tion
of the graft uniting into one plant. Why is this impor-tant?
Well, people often enjoy the taste of a heirloom to-mato,
but cannot grow them because of their poor resis-tance
to soil-borne diseases. By grafting an excellent
fruiting plant onto a disease resistant rootstock, you ob-tain
quality fruit with minimal management, a plus for
most avid gardeners. What other science fair projects can
be done in the school garden or using vegetables?
1. Does mixing compost into soil make plants grow better?
2. What is the proper fertilizer rate for optimum yield of tomatoes (peppers, lettuce… insert your vegetable
of choice).
3. Do worms have an effect on plant growth?
4. Does soil pH have an effect on plant growth… water pH?
5. Are there alternative methods to chemical herbicides for weed control? Vinegar, household cleaners, etc.
What rates do you need to apply for success?
6. What is the best way to propagate a (insert your vegetable of choice).
7. What is the best soil mix for starting seedlings?
8. Do different varieties of the same vegetable have different concentrations of vitamins A and C?
9. What is the optimum container size for optimal yield of (insert vegetable of choice) when planted in con-tainers?
10. When controlling weeds, what type of mulch works best? What is the optimum amount of mulch that
needs to be applied to reduce weed growth?
When coaching science fair students, remember that most judges base their scores on a few major points. Does
the student know what his or her hypothesis is? Did the student do the project or did a parent? This is very ap-parent
once the student starts to explain his or her project. Pick topics they can do with little help. Did the stu-dent
understand the outcomes of his or her project? And finally, did the student have replications?
Good Luck with all of your science fair projects this year!
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5. Halloween in the Garden
The ghouls and goblins are out and the candles in the jack o'-lanterns are all lit. The Halloween season put me
in mind to look at scary traditions and relate them to common gardening ideas and misconceptions.
by Dan Gill, Associate Professor
School of Plant, Environmental and Soil Sciences
Drive a stake through its heart!
An old remedy for
a tree that was defi-cient
in iron was to
drive nails into its
trunk.
Another variation was to push nails into the soil
around the base of a plant. Plants absorb iron as
simple ions, and the iron in nails is not available to
them. Iron deficiencies in plants generally don’t
occur because there is not enough iron in the soil,
but because the soil is too alkaline tying up the
iron that is present. Acidifying the soil is the solu-tion
to this problem, not pushing nails into the
ground. And, the idea that driving nails into the
trunk of a tree will benefit it is not only wrong, but
destructive. Driving nails into the trunks of trees
can lead to infection and decay.
There are man-eating plants lurking about!
Well, there are car-nivorous
plants, but
don't get carried away.
Insectivorous would be
a better word. Most of
these plants are after
insects, not you. And
Oh my!!
except for the Venus
fly-trap, most of the traps are passive, waiting for
insects to fall into a pool of digestive juice or get
stuck on sticky hairs.
There are plants that catch microscopic organ-isms,
like nematodes, and some may catch small
frogs or other amphibians, but mostly its bugs.
Hey, any plant that eats bugs is okay with me. But
don't worry about getting eaten by a plant the next
time you're hacking your way through a rain forest.
The Dreaded Mind Transfer Machine
Picture the labo-ratory
of a mad
scientist. On two
tables lie two bod-ies
connected to
each other by
about a hundred
wires. A switch is
thrown and amid a
shower of sparks the characteristics of one are trans-ferred
to the other. There is actually a gardening mis-conception
that is similar. Basically, the idea is that if
you plant a plant with one color flower near a plant
with flowers of a different color, the color of one can
be changed by the proximity of the other. Planting
plants with different colored flowers next to each other
will not cause the flower color to change. The color of
the flowers a plant produces is determined by its ge-netic
make up, just like the color of your eyes is deter-mined
by your genetic make up. A plant will no more
change the color of its flowers than the color of your
eyes will change if you live with someone whose eyes
are a different color. Neither will planting a hot pepper
plant next to a sweet pepper plant cause the sweet pep-per
plant to produce hot peppers.
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6. Halloween in the Garden. Continued
To wrap things up (mummy), just let me say that there is a lot of gardening information out there
that ranges from questionable to just plain wrong. Most bad advice is fairly harmless, but some can actu-ally
damage the plants you are trying to help. I always say that gardening is about 90 percent common-sense.
Generally, if something sounds odd you should check it out with a reputable horticulturist or
knowledgeable gardening friend first. Otherwise you might get more trick than treat.
Get the whole picture
and have a in the garden!
Growing Gardens!
Kathryn “KiKi” Fontenot, PhD
Visit our website: www.LSUAgCenter.com
Louisiana State University Agricultural Center
William B. Richardson, Chancellor
Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station
John S. Russin, Vice Chancellor and Director
Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service
Paul D. Coreil, Vice Chancellor and Director
The LSU AgCenter is a statewide campus of the LSU System and provides equal opportunities in programs and employment.
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