Students studied herbs, flowers and vegetables on Monday in the garden outside of the Markee Pioneer Student Center.
Herbaceous Plants, an eight-week course, uses the garden to teach students about plant identification and caretaking.
“I like that we get to come out here,” Erin Moeller, senior agricultural education, non-teaching major said. “The garden really turned out beautiful.”
Vegetables and herbs were planted in the garden for the first time last spring.
The plot of land, near the south entrance to the MPSC, has rosemary, flowering kale and cabbage.
The crops will be used as a garnish for the Dining Services’ catering events.
“(Pioneer Crossing workers) can come out and harvest food as they need it,” Lee said. “What we are growing is not usually used for meals. It’s more for garnish. You wouldn’t normally eat it.”
Nurturing the Vegetation
Over the summer, two interns, Lyn Schambow, senior ornamental horticulture major, and Kevin Seng, junior reclamation major, maintainted the garden.
Under Pioneer Greenhouse Manager Dawn Lee, they sowed, transplanted and watered the plants.
Now that it is fall, students in the eight-week Herbaceous Plant course are working in the garden and studying the matured vegetation.
“Incorporating gardening into curriculum is important, especially for students who want to farm or study plants,” Lee said.
“It’s all a part of a learning process. They learn how to go from a seedling stage to transplanting, maintenance, watering and fertilizing. They also learn to treat insect problems, if there are any, and how to identify plants.”
Experimenting with Seeds
Zinnia, Petunia, Red Gazaia and Coleus, four of the flower varieties introduced to the garden, were grown as an experiment for Harris Seeds, a national seed supplier.
“The company seeks volunteers to test how new seed varieties take to gardens in different climates,” Lee said. “The company provided the seeds for the garden.”
“They had us keep certain records and report back what we found. We were all very happy with the results.”
