Everyone Can Grow!
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Everyone can Grow! Book 2 Student Materials Written by: Rachel Elam Special thanks to Hannah Burch and Toby Una Everyone can Grow! Foreword Welcome to Everyone can Grow! a curriculum to bring gardening indoors. If you are reading this, you must have an interest in growing plants, but may not have a yard to do it in, or maybe you just like the idea of having plants indoors so you can reap the health benefits, like increased focus, creativity, better air quality, a higher pain tolerance, and improved sleep. It is amazing what keeping plants can do for you and your home. In this student manual you will find a compilation of handouts that correspond to the Everyone can Grow! curriculum and activities. These instructions are meant to get you started on your indoor gardening adventure and are not extensive guides. There is a plethora of information online that can help answer questions once you get past the introductory knowledge. Like all hobbies, keeping plants has its own vocabulary, which can be a learning curve to a new hobbyist. It is my hope that you have a lot of fun with these activities, learn about science, and how plants work. Tending plants can be a relaxing and enjoyable hobby for everyone, so welcome and I hope you plan to stay! 2 Everyone can Grow! Table of Contents Foreword ................................................................................................................................................. 2 Table of Contents ..................................................................................................................................... 3 1. Basic botany ................................................................................................................................. 7 For science! .......................................................................................................................................... 7 What is botany? ................................................................................................................................... 7 Brief history of botany .......................................................................................................................... 7 Uses of botany ...................................................................................................................................... 7 Parts of a plant ..................................................................................................................................... 8 Botany terminology .............................................................................................................................. 8 Biological Terms ................................................................................................................................... 8 Flower terms ...................................................................................................................................... 11 Fruit terms ......................................................................................................................................... 12 Life cycles and reproduction ............................................................................................................... 13 Life cycle and reproduction of non-vascular plants ............................................................................. 14 Life cycles of vascular plants .............................................................................................................. 14 Seedless vascular plant ...................................................................................................................... 14 Seeded vascular plant ........................................................................................................................ 15 Reproduction of a gymnosperm .......................................................................................................... 15 Reproduction of an angiosperm .......................................................................................................... 16 Plant cells ........................................................................................................................................... 17 Cell terminology ................................................................................................................................. 18 Basic photosynthesis .......................................................................................................................... 20 The color of light and photosynthesis ................................................................................................. 23 2. Illustrated guide to plant terminology .......................................................................................... 24 Types of plants ................................................................................................................................... 26 Forbs .................................................................................................................................................. 26 Vines .................................................................................................................................................. 26 Shrubs ............................................................................................................................................... 27 Trees .................................................................................................................................................. 27 Vocabulary for describing leaves ......................................................................................................... 27 Parts of a leaf ..................................................................................................................................... 28 Types of leaf arrangements ................................................................................................................. 28 Leaf shapes ........................................................................................................................................ 32 Leaf apices ......................................................................................................................................... 38 Leaf bases .......................................................................................................................................... 40 Leaf margins ....................................................................................................................................... 44 Leaf venation ...................................................................................................................................... 46 3 Everyone can Grow! 3. Light sources .................................................................................................................................... 49 A guide to comparing and understanding light sources for growing plants ......................................... 50 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 50 Vocabulary ........................................................................................................................................ 50 More on lights .................................................................................................................................... 53 Do I have enough light? ..................................................................................................................... 53 4. Soils for indoor gardening ................................................................................................................. 56 A guide to understanding soil and its components ............................................................................. 56 Basic soil types .................................................................................................................................. 56 Moisture control ................................................................................................................................ 56 Drainage ............................................................................................................................................ 57 Compost ............................................................................................................................................ 57 Additional soil amendments ............................................................................................................... 60 Basic soil recipes ............................................................................................................................... 60 5. The basics of indoor plant care ......................................................................................................... 62 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 62 Notes on Latin names: Binomial nomenclature .................................................................................. 62 Caring for plants ................................................................................................................................ 62 Repotting a plant ............................................................................................................................... 62 Basic