On September 8th, 2009, the Students for Environmental Action and Awareness (SEA) club broke ground on PLNU’s first community garden. SEA’s Octopus’ Garden, named after the popular Beatles song, is located on the Nease Hall lawn. The garden is kept up by members of the SEA club, PLNU’s Physical Plant, and members of the Point Loma community that desire to be involved with the garden.
The community garden, which has been on SEA club’s agenda since last year, was headed up by current SEA club president Jenney Heffel, a sophomore Literature major.
“Before any plans were set in stone, members of SEA club went to visit San Diego Community College’s own community garden to get ideas,” explained Heffel. “It wasn’t until we saw how successful SDCC’s garden was that we really started to get excited about the prospect of starting our own.”
In order to start work on the garden, Heffel first had to write up a proposal and present it to the PLNU cabinet to be approved. Heffel and SEA secretary Daniel Virden spent about 2 months writing the proposal and coming up with funds for the garden.
This past July, Heffel received news that the garden had been approved by the cabinet and board of directors. Members of SEA returned back to Point Loma during LEAD week to start ripping up the grass, tilling the soil, and putting up the fence.
“We had so much support from the community and especially from Physical Plant. They donated scraps for the fence, plants, and even an irrigation system to keep the plants watered,” Heffel said. Jim Payton and Cathy Conner from Physical Plant were especially supportive of the garden, contributing labor and help in the preliminary planning of the garden and throughout the entire process.
In addition to Physical Plant’s support, SEA club received donations and discounts from local nurseries and hardware stores like Armstrong’s, Lowes, and Home Depot. “Without so much help from Physical Plant and the community, the garden never would have been a possibility,” noted Heffel.
SEA club started off their first crop by planting tomatoes, various types of lettuce, carrots, zucchini, onions, peppermint, peas, bell peppers, and even a pineapple. The club also planted pumpkins, but Heffel explained that the little sprouts won’t make it this year due to weather conditions.
“What I’m most excited about are the purple carrots and the Swiss chard,” explained Heffel. “Those vegetables are cool and colorful, like rainbow veggies. How awesome is that?”
Besides the prospect of colorful vegetables, SEA club is also excited about the impact that their new garden will have on the PLNU campus. “Now that the garden is underway, everybody in the SEA club wants to see it expand,” explained Heffel. “We really want it to catch the interest of students and faculty and for it to foster community involvement at Point Loma.”
And catching interest it is. SEA club has already gotten several emails from students and businesses pledging support and looking to become involved with the garden. “Ultimately, we would love to see more PLNU approved gardens springing up around campus,” said Heffel. “It would be great to have a garden for each dorm. SEA club is looking to provide the opportunity for students to engage in the environment in a tangible and rewarding way, and we hope that the community garden does just that.”
