As directed, Milton cast "Engorgio," and his jar grew much larger. Fantastic.

Then he listened to the professor talk about different types of soil... And that was when Milton knew he was screwed. He had NO idea which soil was best for his bulbs... because he swiped them from an unsuspecting first year earlier that day because he had totally forgotten to plan ahead. So, basically, Milton was going to go on a whim and go with the loam soil since the professor said it was a good option when you were unsure. And Milton was definitely unsure.

Milton got up and followed the rest of the students to the piles of soil. There, he grabbed a bucket and filled it with loam soil. After that, he went back to his seat as if he knew what he was doing.

-------

Ivy listened closely to Professor Bentley and even smiled to herself. This woman was doing a good job. And while the curriculum was rather simple in her taste, Ivy was still impressed with her. And the students seemed to be enjoying themselves as well, which was always a good sign of a good teacher.

As she made her way around, Alyssa caught her attention. Salal seeds... was that all the girl had with her? This was concerning.
"Well, bearing in mind you ought to have more than just the Salal, as we're developing a miniature biome, not just simply bottling a growth of a particular plant... the biome you appear to be aiming for, with your selection, is the coniferous forest, for that I recommend the loam."



Oh Merlin....
"No... not quite."

With a flick of her wand, the jar reverted back to its normal size.

"Try again dear." After all, practice makes... near perfect.




Seren paused as Kendall raised her concern. Hhhhmmmmm.
"If you're looking at coastal, then opt for the sand, however, if its more inland than the coastal biome then opt for the loam."


Continuing to pace, and circulate the table, Seren kept her eyes and ears open for any trouble or questions. Thought, things seemed to be going rather well, they really were a bright bunch of kids.

Soil. Spike eyed the two pots of seeds, and sighed. He had to actually make the decision for what he wanted in his terrarium. After studying the swamp in the castle, he thought creating a bog might be quite fun. Though he also like the idea of a tropical forest with bromeliads and little frogs. Was it even possible for trees to be in a terrarium? He bit his lip.

Decisions. Decisions.

Eh, who was he kidding? He wasn't going to be able to just choose. Instead, he raised his hand. "Professor, which would you recommend as giving a better result...a bog, or tropical forest with bromeliads?" He paused a moment, before adding, "And can I have frogs?" Because if he could, then the bromeliad option was going to win.

Ah, now what kind of biome for I want? I am thinking inland, a lot more life teaming throughout there. But wait a sec. I need loam for inland. What in Merlin's beard is that. I better ask.

Oichi raised her hand, "Professor, you say that loam is essential for an inland mini biome. I have never heard of the stuff. What exactly is it? What does it do?".

Taking out the gloves he needed for this class out of his bag, Daichi put them on first before anything else. He listened to the quick instructions of the Professor and then ducked down under the table to get his own jar. Placing it on his working space, the Slytherin took out his wand and with a quick "Engorgio!" he watched how the jar grew larger.

Alright, so far so good no explosions yay~!

Finding the perfect soil for the seeds were much harder than he had expected. Actually, he thought that it didn't matter! But it seemed like it was so the Slytherin frowned in concentration as he eyed the different types of soil. His brown eyes then looked at the bird cherry seeds and bromeliads and he sighed. Hearing Spike ask about wanting a frog, Daichi's head raised up and looked in his direction. That would be so cool!

But then...he wanted a...duck..no! a SNAIL! Because he had read that especially snails liked bromeliads so he too raised his hand "Professor?! If Spike can have a frog can i have snails?! cause that would be perfect for my jar..thingy" He didn't know WHY it would be perfect it just was.

And as for the soil, he figured he'd go with loam because then he was sure it was right.

Kat listened to Professor Bentley as the herbologist explained her next set of instructions. They were going to use the engorgement charm on their jars. Not too bad, considering Kat had never had a hard time performing these types of tasks. But if she did have trouble, even if it was unlikely for her to have problems with performing such simple charms and spells, she'd ask for Professor Schirmer's help, or for Professor Bentley's. Bentley because she was the professor for this class, and Schirmer because she was a really talented charms professor. At least... former charms professor. Just because the woman had left her post as professor doesn't mean she couldn't help them right? She was running for board after all. Okay, maybe it was time to charm her jar.

Placing the pickling jar in front of her, Kat searched her pocket for her wand. She took her wand out and pointed it at the jar. "Engorgio!" she said and the Slytherin watched her jar enlarge. She was pleased. Now that she was done doing so, she looked back to Professor Bentley for more instructions.



Okay, maybe Kat wasn't the best herbologist in the world. She didn't know much about the types of soil that plants prefer. She didn't really know... and she tried her best to remember how her grandmother in Canada explained to her and her siblings about these stuff. Her grandmother was a brilliant herbologist too. Unfortunately, Kat didn't inherit that skill of her grandmother. She took a liking for Herbology, yes, but that didn't mean she was any good. She knew things, just not as much as the others. Kat listened to the description of each soil, though, because she might pick something up from what Bentley was saying.

With much deliberation with herself, Kat shrugged and went to get some loam soil. It was the herbologist's best friend after all, as Professor Bentley had said. Kat took the red bucket filled with loam soil with her and carried it to her work station. It wasn't heavy as it was before, because being a Quidditch player was it. She had acquired lots of skills and strength from it, especially playing Beater once. She thought loam would be a good type of soil for growing and planting lilies, iries, and all those flowery stuff her sister sent her. Mental note: Never let Dianna bring you seeds.

Oh dear...

"Uuhh... no, you're twisting my words there. Again, it largely depends on your choice of biome. Loam soil is a balanced mix of silt, sand and clay... so it may be viewed as a more versatile soil, particularly if you're uncertain." Not that that was any excuse. As for what it did, wasn't that self explanatory? Soil did as soil does, just minor differences in texture, temperature and drainage.



Oohhhhh good questions. Seren was impressed.
"Tropical for sure," she replied to Spike, before looking between the boys. "As for creatures and insects, we'll get to that later, but yes, we can't have a biome without all of its components."




Checking the time on her pendant watch briefly, Seren cocked her head in thought. Mmm... maybe she'd give them another minute, or two.

OOC: I'm going to give people more time to post, unfortunately I have work tomorrow and a meeting after, so I won't be able to post again for another 19-20 hours.

Sarah was glad at the response. West seemed to be a doer, not a talker which was great. "Perfect" she said. She really had no problem with someone moving her things, as long as they didn't destroy them or throw it away. Her brother's when in temper would do that - throw away Sarah's things if they landed up in her terroritory.

Sarah had a hard time making decisions.. she knew that without advice from others she would probably change her mind about one hundred and twenty two times. So she decided to first get help, before she wasted her time, She raised her hand. "Um Professor, I have primrose, violets and bluebells, having chosen a Scottish woodlands biome" she hoped she had the right combination. She did know that she got them from the forest - the outskirts though. "and I was wondering what soil to use? I did some research and it said that woodland primroses need a light soil with easy drainage - would loamy soil be it?".

"Loam okay I'll go get that. I also have water lily seeds and lotus seeds. The ecosystem I was aiming for is a pond biome environment. The Water lilies and the Lotus flowers would be in the pond and the Salal plants would be the plants growing around the pond. So would this loam be suitable for the water lilies and lotus flowers too? I know that they need loam soil with 5% more clay than the sand and silt." Alyssa asked. She hoped that she had not already messed up her class assignment already by choosing the wrong seeds. Alyssa started to get worried.

Alyssa was eager to get started but she wanted to make sure that she was doing the right thing.

Doing as he was told, Dylan removed the little jar from his bag and eyed it with curiosity. He'd decided to try a non-practical approach and went with Gillyweed. He read up on it...and how it basically fed off other plants to live...He wondered if this would make a substantial ecosystem...Just having it centered around one main bio-organism...

Of course, he had other living stuff to go in with it. Things that the gillyweed could eat, basically...

Actually...That sounded...kinda wrong...

Once he had all his things pulled out, he reached into his back-pocket and pulled his gloves on.

Mr. Bond...READY FOR ACTION!...because he always felt like some super-assassin when he was slipping his gloves on. There was no explanation for it, he knew.


Setting his things that were in individual jars of their own to the side, he looked under the table for a separate to charm. Dylan hadn't thought to bring his own. With everything else going on...it had simply slipped his mind.

Finding a circular one that he thought might work best for what he had in mind, Dylan pulled it up and set it with his stuff. Rolling his sleeves up, the Slytherin removed his wand that was tucked in the right one and leveled it on the jar.

Nice and easy. Point. "Engorgio!" The jar tripled its size moments later, causing the Captain to smirk. Bam.


Removing some parchment and taking notes on the soils she was talking about, he quickly finished that up and set it to the side. Good for later reading...and studying...Yea.


Listening intently when she began talking further, Dylan raised his hand. Erm...He was thinking that first one, maybe...

So, yea....Did he need assistance? YES!

Hand-raising...."Ma'am...For these things..." He indicated his gillyweed, and other plants that the Gillyweed was to feed off of. "I'm thinking that first soil...but am not sure."

Lex was still looking down at her seeds when the Professor began explaining about soil types. This forced her to pay attention because she had no idea what the woman was going on about. Who knew playing in dirt would be so complicated? Since when did plants start caring what kind of soil you put them in?

Stick a plant in the ground and watch it grow; that's how she thought things worked, in fact, she was almost sure that was all Amanda did because the woman didn't have the intelligence to figure things like this out.

She sat as still as she could and listened to the options and explanations.

It was all good and fine but 'cept...she didn't know what kind of soil she needed. These didn't exactly come with an instruction manual. Or maybe they did...either way she wouldn't have known that.

This meant that she'd be going with loam. That's what the Professor said to chose if you weren't sure right? She got up and went to get some of that loa stuff then took her seat again. Was it time to play in the dirt yet?

Laura sighed. "Sorry Professor." Laura suddenly sneezed again. "I don't know why but I keep sneezing." Laura really hated that fact but she would try again, looking at the Jar she smiled. "Engorgio!! Laura was really annoyed when nothing happened. "Engorgio, Engorgio!!" Laura smiled when she saw it was working. "ACH_______OOOO!!!!!" Laura knocked the Jar and it broke. "I'm sorry Professor but I broke my jar." Why was she sneezing so much.

SPOILER!!: Bentley

Quote:

Originally Posted by Heartbreaker

Things were running smoothly, so smoothly in fact, that she felt as though any intervention on her part would only serve as a distraction. So she wouldn't distract them, nope.

Once she was certain that everyone had their jars and had enlarged them, she returned to her position at the head of the table, ready to carry on.
"Great! So now that our vessels are at size that we can work with, we need to establish its foundation." And this is where things would get tricky. "Soils... vary just biomes vary, so it's important to consider which biome you have selected to create and which soil type will meet its needs."

"There are five primary types of soil. These are ... sandy, silty, clay, peaty and loam," she announced, in a clear and projected voice. "Sandy soils drain rapidly, so this suits drought resistant plants and plants which do not require copious amounts of nutrients..."

"Silty soil retains moisture, drains poorly and is cold and compact... or poorly aerated."

"Clay also retains moisture and is composed of smaller particles. It's sticky when wet, but smooth when dry. It's rich in nutrients and is cold when wet but warm when dry... also becomes hard and compact when dry."

"Peaty soil is high in organic matter which makes it very nutritious. Though it's not very good when heavily saturated, once drained it's a fantastic growing medium... though when dry it can become a fire hazard. Peaty soils have the ability to hold water in dryer months, thus protecting the roots."

"Loam soil... is a herbologists best friend. When unsure, loam is a suitable option as it's a balance of silt, sand and clay. It's dark in colour and is soft, dry and crumbly to the touch. It retains water and plant food but it drains well, and air moves freely between soil particles down to the roots."
It was the King of soils... in her opinion. Great for novice herbologists who had no idea what they were doing.

"Based on those characteristics, your first task is to identify which soil will best suit your biome. Once you have decided, come up here, grab a bucket and collect your soil." She indicated to the back wall just metres behind her where five piles of soil sat, labelled, with a tower of red buckets beside them.

"If you're unsure, raise your hand, and I'll assist you."

A part of her wondered if any of the students did research into their biome of choice, having had to select one to collect seed, bulb or spore material.

OOC: The lesson will move on in approximately 11 hours.

Mika looked up toward Professor Bentley and cocked her head to the side. She had no idea what she needed. To her notes. Yep she had to figure out what kind she needed - best bet would be the Loam right? Since it was the Herbologist's friend.

SPOILER!!: Biome Notes

Herbology Lesson II: Ecosystems and Biomes

Five Primary Soil Types

Sandy soils

drains rapidly
suits drought resistant plants / plants which do not require copious amounts of nutrients

Silty soil

retains moisture
drains poorly
cold and compact / poorly aerated.

Clay soil

retains moisture
composed of smaller particles
sticky when wet / smooth when dry
rich in nutrients
cold when wet / warm when dry
becomes hard and compact when dry

Peaty soil

high in organic matter (makes it very nutritious)
(when drained) it's a fantastic growing medium...(not so much when heavily saturated)
(when dry) it can become a fire hazard
ability to hold water in dryer months (protecting the roots)

Loam soil

herbologists best friend
used when unsure
balance of silt, sand and clay
dark in colour
soft, dry and crumbly to the touch
retains water and plant food
drains well
air moves freely between soil particles down to the roots

Glancing at her notes and cocking her head to the side. And then she spotted it. Oh YES! She quickly got up and walking to the front of the room she picked up the bucket of Loam soil.

Ella scribbled down notes quickly and quietly, noting the primary types of soil and their identifiers. She then turned her attention to her seeds, chewing on her lip a bit while she thought. She'd intended to make her biome a coastal one, having gathered plants suited for that particular environment. With this in mind, she decided on the sand...that made the most sense, yeah? Hmm. She really hoped so.

Getting up from her seat, she walked up towards the front and grabbed one of the red buckets, filling it with sand. Tilting her head, she figured she had enough and returned to her spot. Right...so she was all set, yeah?

...yeah.

While waiting for the Professor to confirm whether Liam would work for her water lily and lotus seeds, Alyssa walked over to where the soil was and picking up a trowel, she scooped up the loam soil and started filling her bucket with it. She figured that if the other two seeds required another kind of soil, she would create some sort of barrier in her enlarged jar, so that she could plant the other two seeds, without getting them mixed up. She doubted that it would be a different type of soil although the water lilies and Lotus flowers did need loam soil that had 5% more clay than sand and silt.

Once the bucket was filled, she picked it up and carried it back to her workstation. 'I do hope I didn't just flunk this class with my wrong choice of seeds. I did so want to create a pond like biome.' Alyssa thought to herself.

Jar? Jar? JAR? Asher knew he had a jar this morning. He looked around his work table and when it become clear that he didn't have it. He had a feeling that he left it in the dorms on his bedside table. In fact that probably was there.

Anyway he headed over to where the other jars where. He found a squared shaped one and heading back to his work area. He pulled his wand out, pointed it at the jar.

"Engorgio!"

There that was going to be easy to work with now. Nice and big.



Note taking time Asher grabbed his notebook and something to write with out of his bag. He quickly started to write down that important points of the five different kinds of soil.



Now Which soil to choose? Reading over his notes and rereading them. He had narrowed it down to Loam or sandy. Peaty was one he crossed off,the last thing he wanted was to start a fire. So that was a big no. So it was Loam a balanced of the three ones that sounded useful all in one soil.

Asher trotted over to the buckets of soil and grabbed one label Loam, and went back over to his work station. Heck yeah, he love herbology.

Sierra tried her best to keep up with the discussion about soil types. She took a few notes, just so she could look back over them and figure out which soil was right for her. She'd chosen to a desert ecosystem, and she'd had her parents send off for seeds, bulbs, and spores for desert-type plants. Once she finished with her notes, she looked back over what she'd written.

Sandy soils drain rapidly, so this suits drought resistant plants and plants which do not require copious amounts of nutrients.

Okay, this just SCREAMED desert life. She pictured a cactus, and she knew that it could survive in very dry areas. They were drought resistant, pretty much. She circled 'sandy soils' on her parchment. She left her work station and went to retrieve a bucket of the soil she needed.

Now, she thought she had everything she needed...

Beezus took quick notations on the kind of soils as defined by Professor Bentley while she spoke in front. Sandy, silty, clay, peaty and loam. Now which soil would best fit the biome she had in mind? As if on cue, her co-Prefect asked the woman a question mentioning her biome!

"Psst. Spike, I'm also working on a tropical rainforest." She said, tugging on his elbow since he was just beside her. That meant she was going to work on that kind of ecosystem, but if he was also aiming for that one, then maybe they could share the idea. Hmm. Or even better, share the seeds they have among themselves to have diversity in each of their miniature terrariums. They'd both benefit, right?

Also, there was something she wanted clarification on before she could collect soil and start on her task. Hand up. "Excuse me, Professor. From my research, it is said that nutrient poor red soil is the kind usually found in tropical rainforests. Can I consider the silty type for this?" Because rainforests' soil layers were very deprived of nutrients due to the climate associated with it.

The pause that had apparently followed Professor Bentley acknowledging her question had started to worry Kendall. Just because she really didn’t want to think that the professor would need an explanation of her biome that she’d chosen to create. The professor had seemed like she knew everything that was plant related, and she thought she remembered something about her having traveled. Therefore, assuming she would at least be familiar with the concept of the Burren shouldn‘t have been wrong. And, soon enough, the pause had been replaced by an answer, although not entirely the one she’d wanted. It still seemed like there was a question in the air, and it wasn’t her question of if it would be possible to have normal sized plants in her terrarium, namely her butterfly orchid. At least it was something, though, so she’d nodded.

There was still a little bit of sand in the loam, after all, so she’d go with that. Either way, there wasn’t any limestone even as an option, so those seeds would just have to figure out how to survive without it. Unless she could find some to add to her terrarium. Daichi and Spike had asked about having animals, after all, so a bit of rock shouldn’t be a big deal except for the matter of locating it. That might still have to wait for her next letter home. Right now, getting g her soil seemed the better option. “I think I’ll pick the loam, then, Professor. It’s kind of in between, anyway, isn’t it?,” she said, standing up and collecting a bucket full of loam before settling it on the table next to her enlarged jar and container of seeds. Odds were the next step would be adding at least some of the soil to her jar, but she was going to wait for the official direction to. Along with possibly more ideas as to how to get her biome copied.

Seren nodded, "Yes, of the main soil types loamy would best suit your needs."



Blinking a few times, Seren wondered how the girl thought to fit in the aquatic component and the land component into her jar. It was a jar after all.
"I think perhaps you need to reconsider doing the two. In a jar there is limited space, even once it is reduced in size... I would suggest then, sticking to the aquatic component instead of trying to cram both inside."

Keeping the water separate could prove to be an issue. That, or the 'land mass' would just be too great and would diminish the pond to a mushy swamp.



Ahhh... a fine question.
"Sandy's not bad, but I'd recommend silt, it's heavy and so the sediments won't wash away... plus it supports both fresh and salt water biomes."



Seren wasn't sure if last term had been a blessing in disguise, Laura not having a wand and all.
"If you're having allergy issues, I suggest you see the nurse. It can be easily managed."

She'd been about to continue her route when Laura sneezed, again, and smashed her jar.

Merlin... this girl was a NIGHTMARE.

"Laura... are you familiar with repairo? I highly recommend you learn it." With another flick of her wand, the shards of glass reformed, it was as if it were never broken. With another non-verbal command, the jar swelled to a size big enough to work with.
"I'll give you a moment to compose yourself... but then you need to take greater care with your actions and perhaps ask a peer if you require further assistance with charms."



The Ravenclaw's hand caught her attention, giving her a brief nod and a smile, Seren listened. "Silty... not quite. I'd actually opt for the loam, but mix in a bit more sand. So..." Seren pursed her lips in thought, "... about two thirds loam and one third sand."



"Yep, sounds good to me," she confirmed.







Right. So as those students went to collect their soil, she too collected a bucket of loam and returned to her station at the head of the table.
"Now! Depending on the shape of your jar, and how you plan to distribute your vegetation, you'll need to start arranging your soil at the base of the jar. Feel free to take it off the bench, and doing it on the floor..." in case their arms were too short. "Once you have done that, you need to start planting your seeds, bulbs or spores... a quick tip, for bulbs and seeds that are bulky, reduce their size before planting."


OOC: This task should take a minimum of 2 posts to complete to be eligible for full participation credit. The lesson will continue in approx 24 hours.

Oh okay. It probably was the start of the activity now, yeah? Kat made that inference, because they were going to begin making their ickle biomes inside jars now. Yay. Kat did as she was told and, with her gloves on, scoped some loam soil with her protected hand and dropped them in her jar. She arranged her soil at the base of her jar and patted parts of it with her fingers. Press press. Pat pat.

Now that she was satisfied with the arrangement and formation of her soil at the base of her engorgio'd jar, Kat prepared her seeds and bulbs. Planting time? Gosh, Grandma Hudson would be so proud of Kat. SNIFF.

Elise was spacing out again and she was just staring at her tiny flat, circular jar and wondering about her father and just being distracted in general when she saw people moving. Snapping out of it immediately, she pulled out her wand and set the jar down. "Engorgio," she muttered, allowing the jar to swell until it was just the right size before getting up to get the soil.

Filling her bucket almost full with sandy soil and mixing it with a bit of silt, Elise then transferred it into the jar, patting it into place and pulling off the cover of her seeds. Still planning out the structure of her mini!biome, Elise began another daydream.

At least this one was related to the topic, though.

So now that was sorted out she needed to go and get the actual soil. Sarah walked over to the back and reached over and grabbed a red bucket. She then went over to the pile marked loamy and she began to fill her bucket with the soil.She wondered how much was neccesary. Should she fill it to the rim, half way or as much as she thought the jar would need? She decided on the latter, after all she could always get more later.

She walked back to her seat and plonked the bucket down. Now the real deal,... she had to 'landscape' it all in. She took a trowel and filled the bottom of the jar in a thin film of loam. She She would probably need a lot more, considering the fact that as is she would not be able to have the roots fit in.

Kat had her soil settled and arranged on the base of her jar. At least she only had one thing to do left. Well... besides watching the others decorate their jats with their seeds and bulbs and spores. Sighs. Kat didn't really like her seeds because they were too girly in her opinion. Lilies and irises. Dianna could've chosen better than that right? Well it seemed like she didn't have much of a choice now, did she? Kat just did what was asked of her.

The Slytherin planted her seeds on the soil she had just arranged, hoping they grow as expected. The bulky seeds, Kat did what was instructed and reduced its size before planting them in the jar. Because Dianna had sent a lot of seeds, Kat just planted the right amount of them on the soil and left the excessive seeds untouched.

So she can watch the others plant their seeds now, right? Right.

Sarah decided to add some more, as she definately needed more space for root systems. She had some Primrose roots with her in case the seeds did not work out, after all it is a well know fact that Primrose's are very difficult to grow from seeds. She added a few more layers of loam until she was sure it was enough. She then dug little trenches. In the one she placed Primrose seeds and in another one she put the Primrose root she got from dividing another plant. She doubted she was doing it correctly yet one could always learn from mistakes.

Then she took out her bulbs of the bluebells. She was seriouslly starting to reggret her biome as it was so the wrong time to be planting bluebells. She dug a hole about 2 inches deep and began to put a whole bunch of the bulbs in it, their flat sides down and their pointy sides up. she quickly covered the hole.

Now onto the Violets, she was propagated it from the violets she had found and she placed a small section that contained roots in a little hole she had quickly dug (using her hands.. she did not believe in spades.). She then covered the plants with some more soil. Should she water it? She decided just to wait.