VOCATIONAL EDUCATION (KAUSHAL BODH)-CLASS 6– Q&A

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Part 1: Work with Life Forms
Project 1: School Kitchen Garden

Activity 1: Visit to an Agricultural Farm/Nursery/Garden

Questions:

1. Which plants are being grown?
2. Were all the plants planted at the same time? If not, why?
3. Can all the plants be grown in a kitchen garden? Yes/No
4. How is the soil prepared for sowing or planting?
5. How are the plants provided nutrition in addition to what they get from the soil?
6. How can plants be protected from any kind of harm from animals and pests?
7. What were the two most interesting things you learnt during your visit?

Answers:

1. Plants grown: Vegetables like tomato, brinjal, spinach, coriander, and mint.
2. Planted at the same time? No, different plants have specific growing seasons (e.g., spinach in cooler months, tomatoes in warmer months).
3. Can all be grown in a kitchen garden? No, large trees like mango are not suitable due to space constraints.
4. Soil preparation: Clear debris and weeds, loosen soil with a spade, mix in compost or manure.
5. Nutrition: Add vermicompost or manure for nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus.
6. Protection: Use bamboo fencing to keep animals out and neem-based organic pesticides for pests.
7. Two interesting learnings:

• Vermicompost improves soil health naturally.
• Companion planting (e.g., marigolds with vegetables) repels pests.

Activity 2: Planning Your School Kitchen Garden

Questions:

1. Are you planning to make your school kitchen garden in the land available in school or in pots or both?
2. How are you going to calculate the area of your kitchen garden?
3. What factors did you consider when selecting a location for the garden?

Answers:

1. Land or pots? Both: raised beds on school land and pots for limited spaces like terraces.
2. Calculate area: Measure length and width with a tape (e.g., 5m x 3m = 15m²); for pots, count pots and estimate space (e.g., 10 pots at 0.5m² each).
3. Location factors: 4-6 hours of sunlight, good drainage, and access to water.

Activity 3: Making Vermicompost

Questions:

1. Which materials you used to make the vermicompost?
2. What types of food scraps did you add to the bin?
3. What changes did you notice in the compost bin over a period?

Answers:

1. Materials: Plastic bin, tarpaulin cover, kitchen waste, leaves, red earthworms.
2. Food scraps: Vegetable peels, eggshells, coffee grounds (no meat or citrus).
3. Changes: Waste turned into dark, crumbly, earthy-smelling compost after 2-3 months.

Activity 4: Preparing the Kitchen Garden for Planting

Questions:

1. How did you prepare the soil for planting?
2. Did you use organic manure? If yes, what proportion did you use for mixing organic manure with soil?

Answers:

1. Soil preparation: Removed rocks and weeds, loosened soil with a trowel, mixed in vermicompost.
2. Organic manure: Yes, mixed vermicompost with soil in a 1:2 ratio (1 part manure to 2 parts soil).

Activity 5: Sowing Seeds and Planting of Seedlings

Questions:

1. How deep did you plant each type of seed? (Table 1.2)
2. How much space did you leave between one plant and the other? (Table 1.3)
3. Was the plant-to-plant space same for all the plants grown by you?

Answers:

1. Seed sowing depth (Table 1.2): S. No. Name of Plant Seed Sowing Depth (cm) 1 Coriander 1-2 2 Spinach 1-2 3 Tomato 0.5-1 4 Mint 0.5 (surface)
2. Plant-to-plant space (Table 1.3): S. No Name of Plant Plant-to-Plant Space (cm) 1 Coriander 15-20 2 Spinach 10-15 3 Tomato 45-60 4 Mint 20-30
3. Same spacing? No, spacing varied based on plant size and growth needs.

Activity 6: Taking Care of Plants

Questions (Fencing):

1. What are the materials that you will use for fencing?
2. How many poles and the length of string will you need for fencing?

Questions (Watering):

1. How do you know when a plant needs water?
2. How often do you need to water your plants?
3. What is the best time for watering plants?
4. What factors influence the quantity and frequency of watering?

Answers:
Fencing:

1. Materials: Bamboo, old PVC pipes, wooden sticks, strong string.
2. Poles and string: For a 10m x 5m garden, ~20 poles (every 1-2m) and ~30m of string.

Watering:

1. When plants need water: Soil feels dry 2-3 cm deep or plants show wilting.
2. Watering frequency: Every 1-2 days for seedlings, less for mature plants.
3. Best time: Early morning or late afternoon to reduce evaporation.
4. Factors: Plant type, weather, soil drainage, and growth stage.

Activity 8: Harvesting

Questions:

1. Which crop(s) you harvested? (a, b, c)
2. How did you know they were ready for harvesting? (a, b, c)
3. Which tools did you use to harvest the plants?
4. What precautions you took to avoid damaging the plants while harvesting?
5. What did you do with the produce after harvesting from the kitchen garden?

Answers:

1. Crops harvested: (a) Coriander, (b) Spinach, (c) Tomato.
2. Ready for harvesting:
   (a) Coriander: Leaves green and 10-15 cm long (4-6 weeks).
   (b) Spinach: Outer leaves 5-10 cm, ready for cut-and-come-again.
   (c) Tomato: Fruits red and firm.
3. Tools: Shears for tomatoes, hands or trowel for coriander and spinach.
4. Precautions: Cut carefully to avoid damaging stems, harvested outer leaves to allow regrowth.
5. Post-harvest: Sorted by quality, removed debris, used for school midday meals.

Activity 9: Visit to the Vegetable Market

Question:

1. Prepare a price chart of vegetables (Table 1.5).

Answer:
Table 1.5: Price chart of vegetable produce

Vegetable Name	Price (₹)	Vegetable Name	Price (₹)
Coriander	₹20/bundle	Brinjal	₹40/kg
Spinach	₹30/kg	Cucumber	₹30/kg
Tomato	₹50/kg	Mint	₹15/bundle
Lettuce	₹40/kg

Activity 10: Setting a Price

Question:

1. Estimate the price of produce using Table 1.6.

Answer:
Table 1.6: Estimating price of produce

Crop	Money Spent (₹)	Quantity Harvested	Market Price (₹)	Money for Produce (₹)
Coriander	₹50	10 bundles	₹20/bundle	₹200
Spinach	₹60	5 kg	₹30/kg	₹150
Tomato	₹100	8 kg	₹50/kg	₹400
Mint	₹40	5 bundles	₹15/bundle	₹75

What Did I Learn from Others?

Question:

1. Write three most important things that you learned from others.

Answer:

1. Vermicompost enriches soil naturally, reducing chemical use.
2. Neem-based pesticides safely control pests like aphids.
3. Teamwork makes tasks like fencing and soil preparation easier.

What Did I Do and How Long Did It Take?

Question:

1. Calculate the approximate number of periods spent on each activity.

Answer:

• Activity 1 (Farm visit): 3 periods.
• Activity 2 (Planning): 2 periods.
• Activity 3 (Vermicompost): 2 periods + ongoing monitoring.
• Activity 4 (Soil prep): 3 periods.
• Activity 5 (Sowing/planting): 3 periods.
• Activity 6 (Plant care): 2 periods/week for 4 weeks.
• Activity 7 (Observing growth): 1 period/week for 4 weeks.
• Activity 8 (Harvesting): 2 periods.
• Activity 9 (Market visit): 2 periods.
• Activity 10 (Pricing): 1 period.

Think and Answer

Questions:

1. What did you enjoy doing?
2. What were the challenges that you faced during the activities?
3. What will you do differently next time?
4. What were the conditions that helped your plants grow? If your plants did not grow well, what should you do next time?
5. What jobs are related to the project?

Answers:

1. Enjoyed doing: Planting seeds and harvesting fresh vegetables.
2. Challenges: Maintaining soil moisture and sourcing affordable fencing materials.
3. Do differently: Use drip irrigation for consistent watering and recycle more materials for fencing.
4. Conditions for growth: 4-6 hours sunlight, nutrient-rich soil with vermicompost, regular watering. If plants didn’t grow well, test soil quality and adjust watering/pest control.
5. Jobs: Farmer, gardener, horticulturist, agricultural scientist, nursery manager.

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