The Design and Implementation of a Campus Community Garden

Abstract

For my thesis, I have fashioned a design for a community garden and recorded the implementation of it as far as time allowed. I discuss what other schools have done in my same position to allow me to fully understand the situation ahead of me so that I may improve upon and learn from what they have already done. I have also researched the actual execution of a garden and how to achieve a successful crop to further my understanding of how a garden and all its natural processes function. Above all this thesis has become an outlet to allow me to think like a plant and its ecosystem so that I can become a truly successful gardener. I will be presenting my thesis in three parts. The first part will chronicle the successes and road blocks that other schools have met in order to create a picture of the nationwide movement. These stories will allow me to build off what they’ve accomplished in order that we may create our own success story. The second part will include the actual garden plan and include the scientific research that will help us create a fertile plot. I will explain how we need to improve our soil and what we should grow in it, as well as the basics of gardening. The third, and final, part will be a plan for sustainability. This will include worker management, funding, and other practices that will help the garden to succeed in the future. Together, these three sections will provide a guideline and information for those, who just like me, are new to gardening and what steps can be taken to increase the fruits of one’s gardening labors. Whether the Justice Acre is a tale of triumph or failure will not be known for many years, but what I have enclosed in this thesis will be a resource that can be consulted to make sure that it is the former more so than the latter.