Add'm and Eve

in the Garden

Student Page (1)

Your Job

As members of an Architectural Landscape Company team it will be your responsibility to create a new and unique design for Grice Vegetable Garden. Until now the garden has been planted in a flat row traditional style, but this was found to be very wasteful of both space and time as wide rows had to be left between each set of crops. These then had to be weeded which was time wasted also. A funding group including the Student Council and PTA have offered the Grice Garden Club $1,000 if they can develop a design of geometrically shaped raised beds. To make the garden area open for use to the widest possible number of students they not only want the garden to be utilized as a vegetable garden for growing crops but also as a life-size geometry and measurement experience for the math classes during the winter months. In addition they are willing to fund, within reasonable limits, an adjacent area of the garden for whatever use you, the students, would select ( ex. recreation area, habitat area, etc.).

Following the selection of the final design the teams will pool their resources and create a description of the project work for the Grice Garden Club Internet site. A part of this page will include a listing of "Super Sites" they found during their research that would be of interest to others who visit our school site and read about their project. Take a look if you wish at the framework of this Student Project Site.

Once you have decided on the number of members of each team, you will need to divide up the following tasks depending upon the talents each person brings to the team:

Financial Analysis Department

• Accurately measure the entire area of the garden to be used in this project. Report this to the R & D members of the team. (Research and Design Development)
• As the R & D members give you the data for each individual bed, you must create a cost analysis sheet for its construction. It might be wise to develop this in several types of materials so the entire team has some flexibility in the final choices and yet stay within the budget limit.
• After discussion among team members you will help decide the utilization of the adjacent area of the garden and its design factors.
• You must work in close cooperation with both the R & D Dept. and the Sales Presentation Dept. to keep the project moving along smoothly.
• You are also responsible for keeping a total cost analysis for the final presentation at the Selection Meeting.
• Go to a sample cost analysis sheet.

Research and Design Development Department

• You will begin the research aspect of the project by using the Internet to get background information for your company team about raised bed gardens. It would be valuable for all of the team members to understand the concept of why raised beds are better than flat row gardening.
• Visit a list of related Internet sources.
• It would also be valuable in the decision making process to locate sources from which you could purchase some of the raised beds as complete kits rather than building all of them from cedar lumber. Keep in mind that the Financial Analysis Dept. will need to know the type of materials and complete costs of both lumber and preconstructed kits.
• Your department will create the designs for the raised beds to be built by the Garden Club. Your design must incorporate at least five (5) different geometric shapes of raised beds. The PTA wants the area to be used in the winter as a measurement and geometry experience for the math classes at Grice not just as a vegetable garden.
• After discussion among team members you will help decide the utilization of the adjacent area of the garden and its design factors.
• Having received the overall measurements of the garden area you will design the layout plan of the overall area utilizing the space available. (Remember that there must be paths between the various shaped beds wide enough to accommodate the wheelchair bound students in the student body.)
• Once you have created the overall design plan, you must then create an individual detailed construction plan for each bed so that the Garden Club members who will build it will have accurate measurements from which to do their construction work. This will include interior angle measurements for the mitering that must be done. Forward copies of all of these plans as soon as you finish them to the Financial Analysis Dept. so they can create a cost analysis for the final Selection Meeting presentation.

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Sales and Presentation Department

• Since it will be your job to create a persuasive presentation at the Selection Meeting you must be aware of everything that is going on within the various departments working on this design project.
• During the initial brainstorming of presentation modes you must take notes and later lead the discussion within your team as to which presentation modes they prefer. You must distribute the work involved in the creation of all of these materials. You will be expected to be a major contributor to this aspect of the process since you will moderate the team's presentation.
• You must keep the motivation levels high throughout the project. You will have to keep the latest design materials flowing smoothly from department to department so that progress moves at an efficient pace and everything is ready for the Selection Meeting. You may need to remind each department of their contribution toward the final presentation so they can help develop the necessary materials in the format decided by the group. ( ex. charts, models, overheads, videos, handout sheets. etc.)
• Take a look at the overall Grice Garden Design layout.
• At the Selection Meeting you will be responsible for a coordinated, detailed, and persuasive presentation. In the course of your team's 15 minute presentation you and your team members must be prepared with accurate statistics and visual materials that will help to convince the funding sponsors that your team has created the best possible design to meet their initial requirements.

Adjacent Area Selection

• As a team you should brainstorm some of the possible uses of the area adjacent to your raised bed site. Check the size of the space available to develop and its location within the garden area as a whole and think about how you, the students who will use the area, would like to develop it.
• Remember it is on the shady side of the garden partially under the shadow of a tree most of the summer.
• After discussing some possibilities and checking the Internet for timely information on these, the group should decide upon a list of criteria for making the final choice for the use of this adjacent area.
• Check out some of the Internet sites illustrating interesting possibilities for this adjacent area. Look in the "unique applications" section.
• Using the three or four criteria you feel are most important, decide within the team to what use you will put this special area. Create a cost analysis for the materials needed to develop your plan.
• Be prepared to include your original and creative use of this area in your final presentation. It may just be an important factor in the final selection by the review committee.

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