Plant & Soil Science Projects
Plant & Soil Science Projects
Additional Resources & Opportunities:
- 4-H Garden Club (coming soon)
- Wisconsin Horticulture Online Programs
- National Junior Horticulture Association
In this project, you will learn about different crops grown locally, regionally, and nationally to feed our world. The focus is on crop growth, diseases, and pests impacting agriculture production.
- Beginner: Explore common plants, plant anatomy, growing conditions, and crop by-products.
- Intermediate: Learn about germination, environmental influences, common diseases and pests, and soil nutrients.
- Advanced: Learn about degree-days, cross-pollination, genetic hybrids, and multi-crop management.
Learning opportunities: List the different types of crops grown in your community. Start a small plot of a crop like corn and monitor its growth through the season. Experiment with how nutrients impact plant growth and vitality
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Growing food, flowers, fruit, and herbs is gardening. Horticulture, the science of growing, helps us understand what we produce, how and where to grow it, and more. Youth in this project may choose to grow plants to eat, look at, or both.
- Beginner: Learn about plant types, seed types, germination, and propagation.
- Intermediate: Investigate nutrients needed for plant growth, including making your own composted soil.
- Advanced: Learn about food preservation techniques, return on investment, and soil regeneration.
Learning opportunities: Start an herb garden indoors or outdoors. Create a weekly menu using the produce that is in season. Visit an arboretum or garden center to explore local and exotic plants and their uses.
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Indoor plants add beauty and design to any space. Learn about indoor plant varieties and propagation suitable for your home environment. Youth may explore flowering and non-flowering plants.
- Beginner: Find out about indoor gardening practices and care.
- Intermediate: Investigate soil types for indoor plants and start plants from seeds or cuttings.
- Advanced: Track the life cycle of plants, how they use nutrients, and plant propagation.
Learning opportunities: Identify the plants in your home that start best from seed vs. cuttings. Interview the owner or manager of a garden center. Experiment with different mediums for growing plants.
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Plants can produce food for your family and add beauty to the earth’s landscape or your bedroom. Discover landscaping plants and design fundamentals to create a functional and beautiful environment year-round.
- Beginner: Explore color, lines, and textures in landscape plantings throughout the year.
- Intermediate: Investigate design techniques, patterns, and plant propagation.
- Advanced: Design your own landscape and plant patterns for a school or home garden.
Learning opportunities: Visit a local garden center to see what landscaping plants are available. Interview a local Master Gardener. Try using computer software to create a landscape design.
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Bouquets, corsages, and centerpieces. Cut flowers, dried flowers, or other plants. Plant crafts such as flower arranging, pressed flowers, evergreen arrangements, and more can add beauty to a room, an event, or someone’s day. Youth in this project will explore ways to be creative with plants.
- Beginner: Learn about plant types, flower structures, and how to collect plant material for crafts.
- Intermediate: Practice flower arrangements and experiment with different flower types, textures, and shapes.
- Advanced: Explore native and exotic flower types and creative arrangements.
Learning opportunities: Visit a local florist to learn more about flower arrangements. Experiment with which fresh-cut flowers last the longest. Research different ways to preserve flowers.
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Soil is more than just “dirt.” Soil is alive with plants and animal life. In this project, grow your understanding of
soil types, what plants need, and how seeds grow into plants. Then, explore how to support the soil by keeping it healthy and preventing erosion.
- Beginner: Collect soil samples to understand what is living in and on the soil surface.
- Intermediate: Learn about soil health and soil nutrients cycle through the environment.
- Advanced: Explore how soil, water, air, and plants impact each other and work together.
Learning opportunities: Create a poster about everything you find in three different soil samples. Measure the soil’s health over time when you make changes to it. Create a terrarium to demonstrate how soil, water, air, and plants work together.
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