Slideshow: UF edible landscaping builds vegetable beds on campus

Most people know about the campus bat houses, where about 300,000 bats live, emerging at dusk as a crowd of waiting people watch. Less well-known are the Student Agricultural Gardens, 77 plots of land next to the bat houses that students, faculty and members of the community can rent for $10 or $20 per semester.

: On Sept. 30, UF’s new Eternally Edible Landscaping Club broke ground in the gardens and built a raised vegetable bed. The club will build a second raised bed at 4 p.m. Saturday, and interested students are invited to join in.

: Kelly Korman, left, and Rodrigo Castillo loosen the earth to prepare a six-inch deep foundation for the raised vegetable bed on Sept. 30. Korman, who is working toward her master’s degree in women’s studies, is the club’s president; Castillo, who is working toward his doctorate in building construction, is the treasurer.

: Korman rented a plot in the gardens last year. She said she enjoyed it but felt discouraged by the lack of interaction among gardeners. She began to think of ways to build a stronger community in the gardens, and that grew into the concept for this club. The concept became a reality when Korman received a grant to start the club through the UF Office of Sustainability’s Prairie Project for Graduate Fellows. “I think it’ll be really fantastic if we generate support for this,” Korman said. “It would be nice to regenerate the space. It’s being used, but it’s almost like it’s dead out there.”

: “I felt the plots were every man for himself,” Korman said. The club will work to build interactivity and raise awareness of organic gardening.

: Castillo takes a quick break while sawing planks of wood, which came from trees around campus, for the club’s first raised vegetable bed. Castillo said he grew herbs and vegetables at home in Venezuela, but he has never “seriously” gardened before. Korman, who is writing her master’s thesis on school gardens that she built in Alachua County, has more experience, but still hopes that people with specialized knowledge — such as how to combat pests organically — will take an interest in the club.

: Korman, Castillo and Mark Clark, left to right, an associate professor for UF’s Soil and Water Science Department, level out the foundation for the first raised vegetable bed. Clark is a faculty adviser for the Agronomy-Soils Club, which managed the Student Agricultural Gardens until recently. Now, the Office of Sustainability has appointed a garden intern, whom Clark oversees, to help manage the gardens. The Eternally Edible Landscaping Club will also help by posting useful information on a kiosk, hosting seminars and providing a contact list for those who use the gardens. Korman said she hopes her efforts will encourage people to work together and share ideas.

: Clark said he doesn’t use the Student Agricultural Gardens but that he does garden at home. “I tend to consider it recreation and mental relaxation,” he said. “There’s a certain aspect of self-reliance in feeding yourself.”

: Bags of lava rocks to be laid in the vegetable bed wait in a wheelbarrow as Castillo and Clark inspect the holes they drilled in the bed’s water pipe. Korman said the raised beds are being used primarily for demonstration purposes — they are easy to see. But they are also helpful for combatting weeds and providing a controlled environment.

: The club had seedlings for kale, broccoli and collards. Korman said they also want to plant fruit trees, blueberries and other vegetables that grow well in the fall. She hopes people will see the food growing and be inspired to think about gardening.

: Cassie Spangler gets covered in soil while helping to build the raised vegetable bed. The hardest part of gardening, Korman said, is getting started. Once the beds are built and the seeds are sown, the club plans to set up a rain barrel and a composting unit.

: Korman first started gardening during her senior year as an undergraduate. She took a one-credit elective and managed to grow healthy plants with just one dedicated hour a week. “It’s really a magical thing when you put a single seed in the ground and you get a surplus of squash,” she said. “The earth will be a perpetual provider of food if you just let it.”