By JULIE CARLE
BG Independent News
Produce grown in the Bowling Green State University Community Garden went head-to-head with some of the best gardens in Wood County and won some ribbons.
The first-time effort landed the garden first-place ribbons for lettuce and radishes, and second-place ribbons for carrots and an unusual-shaped cucumber.
Ellie Heck and Ashton Horton, student interns for the garden, were among the crew that helped plant, weed and water the 10 beds that sit between the Fine Arts Center and Kreischer Quadrangle on campus. The garden also grows zucchini, broccoli, green beans, collard greens, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, basil, cilantro, marigolds and “a lot of catnip,” said Heck, a senior environmental policy and analysis major.
The community garden began in 2018 as a group project for the Chapman Learning Community. They managed it for several years and in 2022, the community garden merged with the Falcon Food Pantry, which is under the leadership of Dr. Shannon Orr. The Chapman students continued to start the seeds in the spring and the food pantry team, overseen by a Master of Public Administration student, used the plants to continue the community garden.
“The community garden is open to everyone,” said Horton, a junior environmental science major. “BGSU students, faculty and staff, and the local community are welcome to pick the produce that is ready for harvest.”
Orr mentioned the possibility of entering produce at the Wood County Fair. When Heck and Horton heard about the idea, they thought that sounded fun.
During this summer, in addition to the time they spent tending to the garden, they also worked on signage to provide more information and make the garden more accessible.
“People were picking the vegetables too early, so we tried to make signs to help them understand when the veggies were ready,” Heck said.
They also made signs to designate produce that was intended for the county fair.
“People can pick whenever they want,” Horton said. “We don’t want to limit that, but we also wanted to make sure we had produce ready for the fair. It was a fun little project.”
Visitors to the garden saw the signs and respected the request to let the vegetables grow. “They let the plants be that we were taking to the fair, and the plants grew like crazy,” Horton added.
The weather was a big factor in the growing process. They learned to manage the tasks, including how to grow an unusually shaped cucumber. Zip ties helped to form the cucumber into a caterpillar-type shape.
The community garden is starting to be really successful and sustainable, Heck said.
“The students love it. It’s even part of the campus tours and the parents love the concept,” Horton said. “Students talk to us while we are working and picking the produce.”
When the vegetables are ripe and no one has picked them, Heck said they will pick the produce and take it to the refrigerators at the food pantry, giving people who come into the pantry the option of freshly picked vegetables and herbs.
“Most pantries don’t get a lot of fresh food. It’s important that everybody has access to the garden and the fresh product. It’s incredible that we have this on campus,” she said.
The garden has its own social media account to post when produce is ready to be picked. “Recently, we promoted our basil. We had so much of it at the time,” Heck said.
Some of the produce will still be available into the fall, Horton said. Collard greens, marigolds and potatoes should be available until about October.
“Come to the garden; it’s a community space,” Horton said. “Don’t feel like you have to pick and then leave. Come hang out. There are seats and a Free Little Library to take a book or share a book,” he said.
The garden experience was invaluable to the student interns.
“I’m not the same person I was at the beginning of the summer, thanks to the garden,” Heck said.
“I learned more about BGSU, the community and what people are taking from the garden and the pantry,” Horton said.
The lessons will help them as they plan for next year’s garden and their entries at the fair. The ribbons hang in the food pantry as a reminder of their first-time success.
“We hope entering at the fair becomes a tradition for the BGSU Community Garden,” Horton said.
