In this lesson, I did an experiment. I took about a cup of dirt and poured it into a glass jar two thirds full of water. The result is that the heaviest/largest particles of dirt like loam sank to the bottom and piled up under the lighter particles of sand and clay. The Pictures below are a good way to see how our soil settled.
For the past week I haven’t been posting much about Science, and here are the upcoming projects of the Compost pile (project #5) and a raised bed garden (project #6). I already have the compost pile done, I just need to start flipping it. The raised bed I might use as my mint/rosemary bed. If you’re wondering what I mean by that, I have a garden plan for the summer and winter for the garden in our back yard. Here’s the plan for the spring and summer:
You can see I’ve put a lot of catnip in the garden. 
I did this because it serves a dual purpose: they help the potatoes grow to be healthy and large, and our cats love it to death. That’s what the arches are for, so the cats don’t kill the catnip with overeating and stepping it.
The winter plan is a lot simpler, but mom suggested that I grow some spaghetti squash, so of course there’s some in there. The winter savory is just a companion plant for the squash:
That’s it on the upcoming projects.
In this lesson I took my old catgrass plant for the cats and went ahead and made it a self-watered potted plant! I did that by taking the tray under the bowl and bending it so it fit to the pot better, and then bent out one corner to add water in. This made it so there was a bowl under the catgrass bowl. I then watered the top and inserted
the water in the bottom and it was done! The catgrass has been doing better with more water under it, and I have to water it less, maybe a day and a half instead of every day! Sadly, they died despite the water and sunlight, probably because Black (not Blacker) curled up and went to sleep in the catgrass bowl, smothering it while sleeping in the bowl.
I have learned about soil sampling and where to send my soil to find out what kind of soil I have. I sent a sample to my local testing center at Viringia Tech to find out the acidity of my garden soil after filling out this form: http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/452/452-125/452-125.html. I also picked up a sampling box from my local extension. Here’s the results I got.
I’m not sure if everybody heard about it, but I started a project for science – growing an avocado tree. I first took the seed and jabbed three toothpicks in the sharp end of the seed. When you’re doing this make sure you do not put one in a crack. set this on a jar of water (preferably not tap) with the flat end under. After a while, it will split and a root base will grow. Once it gets larger, get a bigger jar. after a while of jars (I used two) you can look in the pit and see this:
A little sprout down in the avocado pit! this is the first time (other than a bowl of catgrass, which the cats killed) that I’ve successfully grown something that will produce food! My brother and dad are especially love this, as they love avocados. Hooray!
In lesson 74 I was told to make a terrarium, and really that’s just put some rocks in, some dirt in, some charcoal, and the plants. The plants can’t be too big or vigorous like ivy (vigorous means grows quickly). You can put an animal like a lizard in if wanted, but if so, make sure there are enough plants to sustain its breathing. That’s it on terrariums!
Schoolroom Today 