Agriculture News

The Patch

During the last week of Term 1 and in the school holidays some progress was made on the development of the Ag Hort precinct, to be known as ‘The Patch’. The area is still in its beginning stages but we now have some wicking garden beds ready for the VCE Ag Hort students to plant some winter vegetables. A lot of effort has gone into this project so far and there is still a lot of work to do in setting up gardens, fences and other infrastructure so that students can benefit. 

Thank you to the following people and organisations who have assisted so far:

• Facilities and Maintenance staff, Leadership team, MLO staff, Science staff – moving equipment from old campuses to Hawdon St
• Quick Lift crane hire – moving the chook house from Wanganui campus to Hawdon St
• Stuart and Miriam Drinnan – collection and transportation of donated items from Murchison to Hawdon St and setting up the wicking beds during the holidays
• Robert and Michelle Brown – donated bags of sheep manure
• David and Karen Black – donated bales of pea straw
• Avonlea Flowers – donation of a greenhouse.

A Sense of Humus

The students in this year 9 elective have been continuing to deepen their understanding of the four ecosystem processes (Carbon cycle, nutrient cycle, water cycle, community dynamics) with a focus on the water cycle last week. This, together with their viewing of the documentary, “Kiss the Ground” in Week 10 last term, demonstrated how the presence of plants on the Earth’s surface, in a given location, directly impacts transpiration rates and therefore rainfall in that area. Conversely, how an absence leads to desertification. In these photos students are looking at how water quality is affected by the presence or absence of living plants in the soil. They found that where there is close to 100% groundcover containing perennial plants that water is filtered through cleanly. With partial groundcover water is still fairly clean, but in fallowed bare soil with no living roots in the soil the water erodes the soil particles away and it runs through as mud.

VCE Agriculture and Horticulture

As well as preparing to plant vegetables in the Patch, the VCE students have set up two aquaponics kits in the classroom. They have scattered three varieties of seed into the growing media on top of the systems whilst the workers – Bluey, the red fighting fish and Bob, the blue fighting fish – provide the nutrients.

Currently focusing on soils, nutrients and soil health, the students will be going out into the field (a biodynamic dairy farm and a hydroponics system) twice in the next four weeks to look at these systems and how they are managed. 

Charlotte Drinnan

Agriculture & Horticulture