Ooo, they were going to be planting the puffapods! Sounded like fun. Kourt repeated the list of required items in her head as she rose from her squatting position. Spade, gloves, and Hippogriff dung fertilizer. Simple enough.

She followed the rest of her classmates to the cupboard and retrieved the spade. She then gathered a bit of Hippogriff dung fertilizer. Heh. She wasn't sure how this was going to smell, but she imagined that it wouldn't be as sweet smelling as the puffapods were.

Once Kourt had finished gathering the supplies, she returned to where her puffapod was.

It was such a beautiful view here with lots and lots of puffapods in different colors. Tiffany smiled as she heard the professor tell them to bring these puffapods into the flowerbed.

She put on her gloves as the professor had told them to do so. She headed to the cupboard and she got a spade and some Hippogriff dung fertilizer. Then she went back to wait for more instructions.

All the blossoms popping up as seeds were dropped made Stella smile more, just at how much the colors changed to appearance of the greenhouse. She could understand why Professor Bentley loved the green houses more now, and why her own mother took amazing care of their garden at home. Either way, though, she was fairly certain that the flowers weren't supposed to stay on the hard floor of the green house, and she took a breath as the professor said the next step was collecting tools for planting. She wanted to remember the smell of the puffapod blossoms before dealing with the smell of hippogriff dung.

She also slid her gloves on before walking away from her pretty orange flower and heading to the cupboard. It was better to be prepared, especially if she was going to be expected to bring back some of that fertilizer. Collecting a spade and a bag of the smelly fertilizer, she returned to her flower. Trying to refrain from breathing except when necessary so she wouldn't have to deal with the smell. The worst part about gardening was the fertilizer, after all, at least in her opinion.

YAY! The were going to planting puffapods they were all so pretty! Luna half nodded and walked over to the cupboard to get her supplies

Spade
Gloves
Hippogriff dung fertilizer she had but she was starting to think WHY?

She took the items back to the spot where the proffeser

Yay! Planting! Aurora grinned as she pulled on her gloves and went to retrieve a spade. Right, that's that, now she needed to get some dung.... check. She moved back to her puffapod and plonked the spade and the bag of dung down next to it, awaiting further instruction

For a second, Kurumi THOUGHT she had heard Professor Bently imply that they should have brought their own Hippogriff dung fertilizer...

Professor Bentley was joking, right? Surely she was joking. Kurumi glanced at Jonathan out of the corner of her eye and knew that he was probably having an internal dialogue with himself about maybe just poofing out of the classroom. That wasn't going to help him any with his OWLs to be sure. Flashing him a somewhat confident smile as she spun one more time on her carpet of flowers, she walked back to her table and grabbed her dragonhide gloves before proceeding over towards the shed THEN realizing that she had misheard. Hehe. She was a lot more tired than she thought. She was going to head straight up to the dorms after the lesson and take a nice long nap.

Upon retrieving her spade, Kurumi grabbed a small bucket and scooped some of the Hippogriff dung fertilizer into it before returning to her station. She yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn suddenly and tried to cover her mouth as quickly as she could, but she was beginning to feel a big groggy and loopy. At least puffapods didn't bite...Professor Bentley could have had a serious problem on her hands.

Nessie put on her gloves and walked over to the cupboard and took out a spade and the Hippogriff fertilizer. She balaced in her hands and brought them back to her flower.

Salima put on her loves and walked over to the cupboard and picked up a spade, and a bag of fetilizer before making her way back to the flowerbed forcing herself to put up the smell of the Hippogriff poo.

Seren pulled on her own dragon hide gloves whilst she waited for the students to return with the items they required for the next task. Now that they’d successfully burst their puffapod seeds it was time to get down and dirty.

“Alright everyone, paying attention now please.”
Yes no more being distracted by the prettiness otherwise they would find themselves in a bit of a pickle once it was time to get started.

“Though the action of the puffapod seed blooming is a defensive mechanism, the plant itself will still perish if it is not planted and cared for appropriately. So for this reason, we need to get a wriggle on and get these beauties established in their new home.”

“Start by digging a hole in the soil,” she said taking up her special turquoise blue spade, complete with engraved initials. “You want the hole to be deep enough to sold the roots and a good two inches of the stem... the reason we don’t stop once the roots are covered is because want them to feel comfortable and established within the soil, this way there is not risk of the roots becoming exposed during watering or while it grows.” And they knew that exposed roots were bad right?
Seren inspected her hole and estimated its depth. “About a foot will do... but be sure to double check.”

Turning to the floor beside her, she gently picked up her bright orange flowered puffapod, one hand supporting the stem, the other cradling the plants roots. It really was like a child, ever so beautiful, and ever so fragile. “Shake off the roots a little before placing it into the hole, this will allow it to breathe more freely and will support healthier root growth later down the track.”

“Now because the raised flower beds are designed with an efficient drainage system, we do not need to break up the soil with filters such as pebbles or gravel. Simply fill up the hole with the soil you dug out.” Using her gloved hand, Seren swept the soil back in and around the plant, filling the hole in and smoothing it out. “Pat it down gently, but not too hard, the aim is to tuck it in, not smother and suffocate it.”

Once that was done, Seren dusted off the dirt from her gloves and withdrew her wand. “Of course the first thing we do after planting something is.....” everyone should know this already, “...water it,” she finished. Aiming her wand at the base of her puffapod, she gave it a generous sprinkling of water, but not enough to drown it or cause root rot.... unlike that stupid snow dragon.
“Then the last step, is to sprinkle a handful of hippogriff dung fertilizer around the plant, don’t pack it in too close to the stem, but keep it around the base.” She demonstrated by taking a handful of the fertilizer and breaking it up in her fingers, sprinkling it around the plants base, but not too close to the stem.
“And there you have it.”

Dusting off her gloves one last time, she leant forward and sniffed the fragrant flower. Lovely.

“Right, so time to get cracking, you don’t want to leave your puffapod sitting on the floor for too long. Once you have completed the task and have cleaned up your area you may be dismissed.”

OOC: This task should be performed in 6 posts to be eligible for full credit. Please title each post with the corresponding number. (But remember not to double post!)
[1] Dig a hole, approximately one foot deep.
[2] Pick up your puffapod and shake out the roots gently before placing it into the hole.
[3] Fill the hole back in and pat it down gently.
[4] Water your puffapod.
[5] Fertilize it with Hippogriff dung fertilizer.
[6] Clean up your workspace.

You will have 48 hours to complete the activity.

Minerva went to get her supplies. She placed her gloves on first before going near the Hippogriff dung. Then with her supplies she went back to her place to wait for instructions.

Minerva listened to all the directions and looked at the dirt. She already had her gloves on so she got her tools and began to dig the hole. She wanted to make sure she had it the right size. She put her hand down in the hole to judge the depth. No seemed a bit short. So she kept digging until she felt she had it one foot deep.

Planting time!!! c:

Janice turned to the flowerbed besides her and took the shovel. Then, she kneeled down and dug a hole about 2 finger streches, from the tip of her little finger to the tip of her thumb. That part was easy.

Right, time to plant a puffapod. It couldn't be that hard, right? It was just sticking a plant into a hole. Or something like that.. Gaby had never actually done a lot of gardening before. It wasn't really her thing.

She did know that she'd have to dig a hole first, though, because she had been listening to the professor. It seemed relatively simple. She picked up her shovel and began to poke around in the soil... it was a good thing she had gloves.

Once her hole was about a foot deep, she stopped digging and smoothed around the sides with the back of her shovel. Eventually, she got it so that it was kind of neat. That would do, right?

Planting time. Raven wore her gloves and took supplies from cupboard.

spades.. and Hippogriff dung fertilizers

Then she started to plant. As instruction of Professor Bentley, she dig a hole. She dig approximately one foot deep.

Elise stared at the puffapod for a moment again before running off to get her equipment.

Shovel
Fertilizer.

Snapping on her gloves, she got back just in time to hear Professor Bentley tell them what they were going to do. YAY!



Nodding at all the right places, Elise grinned and pulled out her notebook.



Picking up her shovel, she knelt down by one of the raised flowerbeds and started shovelling. Stopping a moment at about half a foot, she peered in.

Not enough, it was only one span deep. Digging another half-foot, she measured it using her hand span. Two. That was bout one foot.

She was done. Grinning, she smoothed the sides a little, just cause it looked nicer. Then, she scratched note number one off her list.

Right...time to actually work and plant their newest blooms into the refreshed flower bed so they could actually survive and make the greenhouse all filled with life once more. Gideon listened to the professor's instructions, making note of what was needed since he had his gloves with him and nodding to show understanding. The Gryffindor set down his plant and moved with his fellow classmates to retrieve the mentioned items.

Spade and hippogriff dung...certainly a smelly prospect.

But it wasn't like they had never dealt with dung before...it was usually an aspect of herbology that the scweemish had to get over first and foremost. That and getting your hands dirty. After grabbing a spade and a pail full of dung, Gideon headed back to his work station just as Professor Bentley was about to move on. Attention...check, he had that as he placed the bucket down and focused on what was being said, taking notes of anything he might not remember or certainly need for another time including the steps they were to take for their task.

SPOILER!!: notes

Step 1: Dig a hole about 1 foot deep.

Gideon slipped on his gloves and picked up the spade once more, begining to dig in the area of soil directly in front of him. The boy careful not to dig too close to the edge so the roots could establish better. It took several scoops and dumps of the soil within the would-be hole onto the undisturbed ground for him to reach a depth he thought was about right.

One step down.

India took the pink seed in her hand and dropped it onto the table - she made sure she didn't throw it or even look like she was throwing it. When the seed hit the table there was a slight crack sound and then a vibrating 'poof' sound.

POOOF

Her puffapod plant blossomed beautifully infront of her. Hmm, maybe just making them blossom was a good idea? She wondered, as really it was rather therapeutic seeing a plant spring to life in front of you.



Wait what? Had she just inferred that they should have brought their own Hippogriff Dung Fertilizer? Or was it the Gloves.

India understood the gloves - but not the Hippogriff dung - really? They were students though after the Snow Dragon Attack maybe Professor Bentley's stores were a bit low? India wondered.

Thats it. She had to have too little for the entire class - so India now had a plan. She was going to give her a thanks for being an amazing Professor gift of a BIG pile of Dung. She'd love that right? Or was that just distributing? Putting her things on her table she looked down realizing that the reason her shoulder had been sore was carrying the Hippogriff dung bag. Right. Loopy India had her own Dung. No wonder people said she was like Lovegood.

Taking her spade in her hand she walked to the raised flower beds. Plunging the spade into the ground - the vibrating feeling of it giving way as she dug the hole made her smile. She was planting life. She only stopped digging as the hole was a mere one foot deep. One foot perfect.

Keefer didn't want to leave behind his awesome orange flower, but he knew he'd be coming back soon. Donning his gloves, he briskly walked over to the store cupboard, hoping that no one would hurt his plant while he was gone.

He found a spade easily enough. Grabbing a large bit of Hippogriff dung, he wove his way back to his plant, being careful not to step on anyone else's Puffapod in the process. But they were so large, they were hard to miss, so he made it safely.

Keefer set right in to digging. With his spade, he worked for several minutes at a properly-sized hole. Once the hole was deep enough that his arm fit up to his elbow, he wiped his brow. Herbology was definitely the hardest class as far as how much hard work they did.

He bent down to his plant. Placing his fingertips on the ground, he estimated how much length the plant would need in the ground. He thought he needed about another inch, so went back to digging. Finally satisfied with the hole, he set aside his spade.

Alyssa quickly wrote down in her journal the steps that she had to do to plant her puffapod plant.



Alyssa started working on the first part of the task which was digging a hole approximately one foot deep in the raised flower bed she was standing next to. She picked up her spade and started digging, scooping up the soil and putting it aside. She kept digging and scooping out the soil until she decided that she had dug deep enough. But just to be on the safe side, she took out her measuring tape from her bag and measured the depth of the hole she had dug. It was exactly one foot deep. Now on to the next portion of the task.

He double-checked the length and width of his hole, again approximating the distances by using his arm. Now he was ready to actually plant the... plant.

He bent down to his puffapod and spoke gently. "Hey little guy. It's alright, I'm just going to move you to some delicious soil. I promise you'll like your new home. Just don't die on me, please."

Firmly grasping the stalk, he let the bloom rest against his chest so it wouldn't bend much in transfer. Placing his other hand under the root system, he picked up the flower and gently shook the root system. Knowing the plant's fragility made him nervous, but he was confident that it could withstand a little shaking. When he was satisfied, he brought the plant up above the level of the bed and slowly lowered it into the hole. He was pleased to see that the hole was almost exactly the right depth and circumference.

Alyssa referred to her journal for the next part of the task



She turned to her beautiful orange puffapod flower and placed one hand on the stem to support it, while using the other to cradle the plant's root. Holding it in both hands, Alyssa gently shook out the roots of the plant with the hand that was cradling it. Once she was sure that the roots were nicely spread out, she placed the plant gently into the hole that she had dug. "There you go my little one,"Alyssa softly whispered to her flower.

Now onto the next part of the planting process.

Okay. Now she had dug the hole, what did she do next? Gaby consulted her notebook, which she had placed next to her on the floor... which proved to be a bad idea, seeing as it was now covered in mud from the hole she'd just dug. Whoopsies. Pulling off her gloves, Gaby brushed as much of it as she could onto the ground next to her hole, making sure that none of it fell in. It was the perfect depth and she didn't want to mess it up.

Once the page was readable again, Gaby looked at the instructions. Shake off the puffapod roots and place it gently into the hole. She could do that, that was easy. She pulled her gloves on and picked up the plant, shaking it gingerly. It would suck if it broke or anything.

When satisfied that the roots were sufficiently shaken, Gaby placed it neatly into the hole and started to fill it in a little. It looked happy in its new home. Well, it probably would, if it had a face...

Now that Alyssa had safely placed the plant in the hole that she had dug, she quickly referred to her notes. All she needed to do now was the fill up the hole with the soil that she had dug out from the hole earlier. Using her gloved hands, she swept the soil slowly back into the hole making very sure that the roots were fully covered and then making sure that the stem was positioned upright. "[b]We definitely don't want you growing sideways, now do we?" Alyssa whispered to her plant.

Once the hole was fully filled up with soil, Alyssa gently patted down the soil gently around the plant. She needed to make sure that the plant was well tucked in and wouldn't move around, which it would do, if the soil was loose around it.

"Okay now that I've got that done, onto the next."

Now on to step two...preparing and planting the puffapod into the soil. Taking one last scoop of soil from along the sides to make sure there was enough room for the pod, Gideon then set the spade aside on the work area, absently brushing access dirty from his gloves doing his best to have it land on the raised bed and not too much on the floor. He then moved onto the actual step picking up his orange puffapod and gingerly shaking the roots out as instructed.

"There...that should do it ," he mused absently to himself as he figure to be satisfied with the freedom of the roots from the actual pod. As if he could judge that any more then the depth of the hole he had made just on sight. Gideon then set the puffapod down into the hole careful with the placement and using his gloved fingers to make sure it fit properly.

Alright, time to fill in the hole and let this little guy rest after such a stressful day.

Keefer set to work, whistling all the while. Gloves still on, he scooped several handfuls of dirt onto the roots. He kept filling the hole until the plant was buried two inches above the roots, just as the Professor had specified.

Still whistling nothing in particular, Keefer began to lovingly pat down the dirt. "Let's tuck you in little guy. Snug as a bug on a rug." He gently patted the soil until he was satisfied, then began to run his hands in a circular motion around the plant. He continued smoothing out the dirt for another few seconds before moving on to the next step.

Now that the plant was safely planted into the hole, it was time for her to water it. Alyssa removed her right hand glove and unholstered her wand. She pointed her wand at the base of her Puffapod plant. She was about to cast the Aguamenti spell before she remembered another spell that she had heard a Slytherin student used to cause water to sprinkle ,and not flow out onto the compost that they had been turning.

Recalling the incantion to the words, Alyssa pointed her wand again at the base of the plant and said,"Aguamentiminia Sprinkaled", and sure enough instead of the Aguamenti spell which would have caused water to flow from her wand and possibly over watering her plant, water sprinkled out of her wand instead, just like how a watering can would do. She moved her wand all around the base of the plant making sure that she had covered the entire area. Then she removed her wand and touched the soil with her bare hand to make sure that she hadn't over done the waterng. Pleased with the amount of moisture in the soil, Alyssa put on her gloves again and prepared to move on to the next part of the task.