Name: ______

Planting A Garden Activity Sheet

Your school has decided to allow your Agriculture class to use an area of land located on the school ground to plant a garden of their choice as long as they meet the following criterion:

 The area of land has to be 400 square feet.  The garden has to be fenced.

The agriculture teacher was able to get 100 feet of fence donated from Lowes. The class decided upon planting a vegetable garden instead of a flower garden. After doing some research they want to plant tomatoes, cucumbers, and watermelon. The research on planting these vegetables gave the following information:

 Tomatoes should be spaced 18 to 36 inches apart when transplanting tomato plants.  Cucumbers should be spaced 12 to 14 inches apart when seeding.  Watermelon seeds should be placed four to six inches apart.

The class is trying to figure out the best way to plant the garden. They have a few options. The following activity will explore the various possibilities in an attempt to produce the most fruits and vegetables possible. Round all measurements to the nearest whole number.

Option 1: Fence all four sides of the garden. 1. Determine the dimensions that will meet the conditions given by the school.

Hint: Let l represent the length and w represent the width. Write an equation to represent the perimeter for the fencing, and an equation to represent the area or the garden.

Solution: 10 x 40

2. Using the diagram below, the class determines that it is more appropriate to plant the rows vertically. After careful consideration, it is determined that there will be one row of watermelons, four rows of tomatoes, and four rows of cucumbers. Hint: Each row is 10 feet long. Note: Watermelons Need more space.

a. How many watermelon plants would there be? 20 to 30 b. How many cucumber plants would there be in each row? 9 to 10 c. How many cucumber plants all together? 36 to 40 d. How many tomato plants would there be in each row? 3 to 7 e. How many tomato plants all together? 12 to 28

Option 2: Use one side of a portable building located on the school grounds as one side of the fence; therefore, fencing only three sides.

1. Determine the dimensions that will meet the conditions given by the school.

Solution: 4 x 92 and 46 x 8

2. For the first option, it is determined that they can plant 3 rows of watermelons, 9 rows of cucumbers, and 9 rows of tomatoes.

Hint: Each row is four feet long. a. How many watermelon plants would there be in each row? 8 to 12 b. How many watermelon plants would there be all together? 24 to 36 c. How many cucumber plants would there be in each row? 3 to 4 d. How many cucumber plants all together? 27 to 36 e. How many tomato plants would there be in each row? 1 to 3 f. How many tomato plants all together? 9 to 27

3. For the second option, it is determined that they can plant 1 rows of watermelon, 5 rows of cucumbers, and 5 rows of tomatoes.

Hint: Each row is 8 feet long. a. How many watermelon plants would there be in each row? 16 to 24 b. How many cucumber plants would there be in each row? 7 to 8 c. How many cucumber plants all together? 35 to 40 d. How many tomato plants would there be in each row? 3 to 5 e. How many tomato plants all together? 15 to 25

The agriculture class wants to select the option that will give the most plants possible. Of the three options, which option will give the most possible plants? Option one, with all four sides fenced.