Day One Module One - Plant and Soil Science

Maramataka

It is Monday morning, our maramataka is entering Whīro... The moon is entering a new phase - a new moon which is an unfavourable for planting... Ominous...

This period is a good time to knuckle down, stay close to home, be mindful and plan forward; so not that ominous. Whīro sounds like the perfect time for this hīkoi to begin, online learning and discovery of Horticulture is definitely a way to stay close to home and forward plan.

Plant Cells 

"Plant science, also called botany or plant biology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology."

I never did Biology in school, the components of plant cells are somewhat new to me. But how amazing are cells? This was mind blowing discovering the components of a plant cell.

Cell Walls:             This is what encloses the cell membrane and is only  found in plant cells.

Cell Membrane:     This is a thin flexible sheet within the cell wall that protects the contents within.

Nucleus:                 Usually only one nucleus is found in a cell. It is like the brain of the cell.

Vacuoles:               This mostly consists of water and supports the growth and structure of the plant.  

                               When Vacuoles lose water the plant will wilt.

Chloroplasts:         This is where photosynthesis takes place. They are a green colour because of the pigment chlorophyll.

Mitochondria:        The "power house" of all living cells. Mitochondria breaks down glucose to release energy.

A cell seems to me to be like a little super computer always functioning, always supporting and always working towards growth of the plant (or animal). 

I have been following ants on TikTok lately and I can see the similarities of an ant colony and a cell structure, the nucleus is the queen and the mitochondria are the worker ants all housed within a cell membrane like an ant colony.

The cells function within similar structures, think wood and bark. These structures support the plant as a whole and are arranged into tissue systems, these systems can be arranged into organs. 

I never looked at a plant and thought that it had organs but it makes sense. The organs are its Leaves, Stems, Roots, Flowers and Fruits. Of course these are plant organs! Plants are living things and living things have organs to function and all have a purpose to grow and procreate.

That brings me to cell division or growth. Cells divide and produce new cells in a process called mitosis. Each new duplicated cell is identical to the original with the same genetic code.

What a morning! I took a deserved lunch break away from the computer. On the menu was refried roast veggies or an attempt on bubble and squeak. I add a fried egg, they were out after the toddler requested scrambled eggs for her lunch (thanks Peppa Pig for encouraging egg consumption today). 

The egg is like a cell! The shell being the Cell wall, that inside film of the shell is the cell membrane, the egg white is the cytoplasm and the yolk is the nucleus. I guess looking at the bigger picture a chicken egg could have grown a chicken (if fertilized) then that chicken would lay another egg and thus creating a clear picture of growth and duplication.

Clearly I am a person that takes what I have learned and applies it to things I already know, I make it relevant to myself.

Plants are AMAZING!! This introduction to cells, their function and growth has made so much sense to me in not only a plant sense but also in a living creature sense. We all have cells, we all have similar cell make ups, we are all connected.

Growth

All plants grow within a "Root, Shoot & Reproductive" system, I guess similar to our bodies.

My torso upwards (arms, head, hair) are my stems and leaves; my shoots.

My torso downwards (legs, feet) are my roots.

Obviously my reproductive system is my reproductive system.

When I grew taller, which was years ago because I am on the short side... this would be a primary or apical meristem, and when I fill out with yummy kai and winter warming weight this would be a secondary or lateral meristem.

There are also two main flowering types (that I definitely would never have given a second thought to) these are Monocotyledon and Dicotyledon plants.

Harakeke would be a monoct plant and a Pohutukawa would be a dicot.

My homework is to collect a range of flowers and leaves and sort them into a Dicot and Monocot pile. Given it is Hotoke (Winter) this task may need to be postponed until warmer days.

I have learned so much today! I am pumped and inspired to keep discovering more!