Food for thought

Morning glories might be beautiful, but they can spell death for a garden, said neuroscience sophomore Christina May. May and international political economics junior Alison-Leigh Beatty confronted the invasive flower upon taking over the UTD Community Garden Club last spring.

The only thing worse than the morning glory vines was the lethal okra outbreak, said May. Both plants were cutting off nutrient resources to plants that club members wanted to grow and were pulled like weeds.

The UTD Community Garden was initially formed after an alumni fund proposal was approved in 2004. Since then, the garden has changed hands and eventually fell into a state of disrepair.

The garden boasts 14 plots to be tended by individuals or groups and a community plot that the entire club tends. The community plot is currently fallow, but corn, squash and green-beans were recently harvested from it.

“The corn caught a fungus, but besides that the harvest went well,” May said.

Beatty said that any extra produce is donated to local food banks.

Donna Riha, UTD’s new Energy Conservation and Sustainability Manager, will be joining the garden club this spring.

“I want to wait until the bad weather passes so that I can plant some vegetables,” Riha said.

May said that winter is a good time to plant carrots, green beans and peas, although Texas soil is best suited to summer plants like tomatoes and peppers.

The time commitment is what normally costs the club members. The club meets on Saturday and Sunday from 3-5 p.m. to tend the garden.

To prevent club involvement from leveling off in the future, measures have been put into place to tie the members to their investments in the garden, said May.

There is a $10 membership fee that goes into a fund to pay for tools and gloves and a contract is signed between the club and its members.

The club is funded entirely by the members because it is not eligible for Student Organization Forum (SOF) funds.

“The Community Garden Club is not an official student organization because club members were not interested in SOF regulations, like the mandatory 5-hour risk management meeting. We prefer to be an independent group,” May said.

However, that does not mean that the garden club isn’t seeking inclusion within UTD.

Beatty said that the garden club is working with UTD Dining Services in order to obtain compost for the garden.

The garden club is also interested in helping create a farmer’s market on campus to present their produce for student consumption. Riha is in the process of putting together sustainability project ideas to submit to the administration and the farmer’s market is one of them.

For more info, contact the Community Garden club via e-mail: wgardenclub@gmail.com