Plant Update-May 11

Posted by Paola

We have finally gotten our first ripe tomatillo! When we get more we might make them into a stew or soup.

One of our tomatoes is starting to turn red!

Most of our tomato plants are a decent size.

Our biggest tomato plant already has buds on it.

We have a small jalenpeno on one of our plants.

Gardening Update - April 26th

Posted by Paola

This week was the first time we got more than than three ripe strawberries on our plant at a time.

The tomato plant we sprayed with lavender now has more tomatoes. We still haven't gotten a ripe one on it.

One of the tomato plants we planted as a seed is now very big.

We have a very big pepper on our pepper plant; but we are still waiting for it to get red.

Introducing Argentina

Argentina is a country in South America. I have some relatives that live there so that is why I decided to write about the country.  Argentina is the second biggest country in its continent.

The capital city of Argentina is Buenos Aires. 36 million people live on Argentina's territory of 1,068,303 miles. Half of its population live in the province of Buenos Aires.

There are seven regions in Argentina. They are The Pampas, The Andes, The Amazon, Iguacu Falls, Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego, and Gran Chaco.

Stay tuned for the future posts about the regions of Argentina and my interviews with people who lived or live in Argentina.  

Gardening Update - April 19th

Posted by Paola
We couldn't do much this week since it was raining hard almost all week.

One of the few changes we have seen this week were the buds on the jalapeno plants. We also have lots of red strawberries on our strawberry plant. We  found more buds on the tomatillo plant and the lettuces are bigger.

One of the most important changes in our garden is that our unhealthy tomato plant, thanks to some spraying with lavender oil, is healthy again. The leaves are turning green again. We also bought one more tomato plant.

Well, that is pretty much all. I will give you a post next week. Bye.

Gardening Update - April 12th

Posted by Paola

The most exciting thing that happened this week was getting our first ripe strawberry! Alex and I split it in half and tried it. It was delicious. 

On the weekend, we transplanted the tomato plants.

We had to cut open the plastic container that held the tomato plants.

Before we added soil to the boxes, we had to fill it with rocks so the water drains slower.

                             Both of our pepper plants have one large pepper on it. I can't wait until it is ripe.

                             We also planted some of the tomatoes and peppers in one pot. In the other pots, we    planted three tomatoes  next to each other.

                             The lettuce we bought at the store are very big now. 

                              We have two tomatillos on the tomatillo plant. Our jalepeno plants are a little bit bigger now. I can't wait until we can get a jalepeno pepper to eat.

Our parsley are a lot bigger now.

                    Our thyme is very delicious.  

           We also have a mint plant and the leaves smell good.

Our rosemary plant is one of my favorite herbs.

My favorite herb that I have tried is oregano. My family used rosemary, thyme, and oregano in the frittata we had for dinner last night.

Bye! We hope you come back and see our next gardening update.

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Our Favorite Books - Link Page

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The Alamo

Posted by Alex

The Battle of the Alamo took place in San Antonio, Texas  Sunday March 6th, 1836. Alamo had about 200 hundred people and Santa Ana had 5000 men in his army. Santa Ana attacked about 5 am on the last day and he won 90 minutes later.

The battle lasted 14 days and only the women and children survived. Santa Ana executed the seven men that survived the battle, and Davy Crockett was one of them.  According to some records two defenders managed to escape. There are many stories that tell slightly different versions of what really happened. The next few weeks I will tell you what happened before, during and after the battle of Alamo.

Here I am outside the Alamo with my brother and sister.

I am going to build this model of Alamo that I got for Christmas. I also have  soldiers, horses and cannons that I need to paint in the right colors.

These are some of the pieces of the model. I have to put the bricks together with the mortar paste.

Davy Crockett

Posted by Alex

One of my favorite American heroes is Davy Crockett. I have liked him ever since I watched the movie a couple of years back. Last year I went to the Alamo three times, and my family will go there soon again. I also have a model of the Alamo and I will post pictures as I build it.

Davy Crockett was born in Tennessee 1786. Tennessee became a state in 1796, witch means he was 10 when Tennessee became a state. His family moved many times when he was a young boy, but they stayed close the east side of Tennessee. He had to end school when he was nine years old to go on a trip, and he returned back home when he was 15. He named his rifle Betsy and he cooked his food over fire.

Crockett claimed that he fought a bear when he was two years old. By the time he was thirteen he was already a skilled hunter, and he also loved to tell tall tales about himself. He was so popular that he got a seat in the Tennessee legislature. In 1828 he became a senator of the Congress but he lost his seat in 1835 because he spoke against President Jackson and lost his seat.

He left for Texas in 1835 to make a fortune but he got involved in the Texas Independence and the Alamo.

Stay tuned for more information about what happened to Davy Crockett at the Alamo.

Gardening Update April Fifth

Posted by Paola and Alex

During the last week we noticed many changes. 

One of our pepper plants has grown a pepper. I think it will be huge by next month.

We also have one tomato on our tomato plant.

There is a big strawberry on the strawberry plant. It looks like it is it's full size. I think it will just get redder by the week. 

We have seventeen strawberries on the strawberry plant! It also has one flower. There is one flower with no petals on the strawberry too. On Easter, I found a plastic egg in the strawberry plant.

Our newest strawberry has a strawberry on it. It also has two flowers with no petals, and one flower. 

The tomatillo has four flowers and two tomatillos on it. It also has nine buds.

Next week we will transplant some more of our tomatoes. Bye!
Check out:
Planting Seeds
Plant Update
Plant Update and New Experiement
Gardening -  Update - 28 Days
Gardening 35 Days

The Grand National

Posted by Paola

The Grand National is coming up soon! It is held on a Saturday every April, and it is a famous race which is held in Aintree England. In the race the horses run  a distance of about 4 miles and 856 yards. There are also 30 fences to be jumped in the race. The most famous horse ever to race in the Grand  National is Red Rum. He won The Grand National 3 times and lost it twice. The years he won the race were 1973, 1974, and 1977, unfortunately he lost the race in the years 1975 and 1976. This year the race is going to be held April 8th through April 10th.

There are big hedges in the Grand National race. If someone fell off his horse while it was jumping, he would have to lay at the bottom of the jump until all the other horses have jumped over it. This way, he would not get ran over by a horse.

The Grand National is a long and tiring race. Most people fall off their horses before the end of the race. If it happens the rider will have to catch his own horse!

Becher's Brook, an eight foot fence is the hardest jump on the course. Many racers fall off their horses on that jump. It is a tall hedge with a pond on the landing end. Becher was a famous jockey that raced in the Grand National. He was most famous for falling off his horse on a jump with a brook on the other side. He managed to remount his horse and on the next lap, he fell off on the same jump with the brook! That jump was soon known as Becher's Brook.

Here is a map of the Grand National course. Riders have to take two laps around the course.

Bye! I hope you enjoyed the post.
Check out my posts about Red Rum if you want to learn more about the most famous Grand National Winner.
Red Rum part 1
Red Rum part 2
Red Rum part 3

Gardening 35 Days

Posted by Paola and Alex

On day thirty- five we bought a couple new plants!  We got a new strawberry plant, a mint plant, a tomatillo, and some jalapeno plants. The day's project was to transplant the new plants.

First we put some rocks in the bottom of the boxes. This helped with making the soil drain slower. 

Then, we filled the boxes with soil.

After that, Alex transplanted some of the jalapeno plants. He dug three evenly spaced  holes in a soil
box. Then, he pulled the jalapeno plants up by the middle and dropped them in a hole. Finally, he buried the roots and watered the plants.

I also helped with transplanting some of the jalapenos. 

When they were buried in the ground, I smoothened out the soil and watered the plants.

I planted the tomatillo in a planting box. I had to squeeze the roots to loosen them.

 Then, I placed the tomatillo  in the ground and pushed soil around it.

We also  got our first flower on the pepper plants!

There are thirteen strawberries on the the strawberry plant. All of them are green. We also have four flowers and one bud on the plant.

Most of the beans our dead. We are going to plant new ones in their places. Our seedlings in our miniature greenhouses are growing but they are not ready to be transplanted yet.

Check out our other posts about gardening:
Planting Seeds
Plant Update
Plant Update and New Experiement
Gardening -  Update - 28 Days