U students have caught the gardening fever. The Sustainable Environments and Ecological Design student group has joined up with biology professor Fred Montague to help prepare and promote his Ecological Principles of Organic Gardening course.
“Gardening brings people together, stimulates social interaction, encourages self-reliance and, most importantly, produces nutritious food,” said Anna Copeland-Rynders, a member of the group and a junior in environmental studies.
Students organized SEED, one of 45 student-directed programs through the Bennion Community Service Center, in 2004 to address social and environmental health and sustainability issues, focusing on expanding urban organic agricultural practices both on campus and in the local community, said Alexandra Parvaz, co-founder of the student group and an environmental science graduate student.
In the past year, SEED has taken more of a leadership role in the overall management of the gardens prepared for the course, Montague said.
It built and purchased raised planting beds made of untreated wood to help keep the water and soil from leaving the space around the plants, making the garden more efficient, he said.
The planting beds are only being used in the garden in the front of the Sill Center. Montague hopes to make this garden an example for the community of what an ideal garden looks like.
Montague started the class in 1996. The course, Biology 1340, runs Tuesday nights during the summer as a lecture and students are required to work in one of the gardens for two hours during the week. The two gardens are located on campus, one along the walkways of the Sill Center and the other just east of Pioneer Memorial Theatre.
“We help school kids learn about gardening and the ecological process,” Montague said.
After the class is over, students harvest the produce. More than 75 percent of the produce is then donated to the Utah Food Bank and the rest is distributed among the students.
Montague hopes that in the future, each department at the U will have a garden of its own.
“Instead of landscaping with fancy plants, we could grow food so the land can pay for itself,” he said.
Montague said people at the Marriott Library have already expressed interest in creating a garden of their own.
“There are lots of possibilities,” he said. “Economically, it is much cheaper to grow your own food instead of buying it, but it takes time.”
For more information about the course, contact Montague at 801-581-6244 or visit www.biology.utah.edu.
Richard PaysonStudent volunteer Valerie Cohen spreads hay around to protect the soil at the SILL gardens Sunday afternoon.
Richard PaysonStudents from a global environmental issues class prepare to plant a variety of vegetables in the SILL gardens. The vegetables grown in the garden will be sold at a farmers? market.
