On this year’s Make a Difference Day’ April 21 the UW-Whitewater Campus Garden Opened for students to get out get busy planting.

The campus garden is located between the Ambrose Health and the bookstore, on the back end near the parking lot. Opening day involves the volunteers and student workers clearing out the weeds, and preparing for the upcoming season. The event, of ‘make a difference day’ on campus at the garden was scheduled for 11 a.m.-3 p.m., and was planned by the Sustainability Office’s student workers. The campus garden is a yearly tradition that is opened during the spring semester and then cared for during the duration of the spring semester and throughout the summer and fall. Students are able to harvest the plants and deliver them to the pantry to give back to the community. 

Wes Enterline, sustainability coordinator, explains that the students are the key to the garden’s success.

“The goal is to get the beds prepped and ready to plant; add compost and break the soil up and hopefully plant some seeds today,” said Enterline.  

Each year the student workers will plan out what plants they want to grow, which will then be planned out and put into place throughout the semester. 

“This is not just about the students, it is a way to get the community involved,” said Enterline, about why the garden is so important to the campus.

The garden is first and foremost a pantry garden, and this year, they are planting a wide variety of foods, such as hearty kiwi and the newest addition: grape vines. Another goal this year is to get more fruits from the trees that are surrounding the open space of the garden. The harvesting process will take place throughout the fall semester and the students and community will be able to help and take turns throughout the summer to take care of the garden while the plants are in full swing. 

Students are able to volunteer to help, and of this year’s student volunteers there were several members of UW-W sorority Alpha Gamma Delta. Rachael and Meadow Warren helped out for their Make a Difference Day by raking the dirt throughout the space. 

“I’m most excited to be helping out with the garden this year, because this is my first year doing it. I’ve learned so much already,” said junior marketing major Rachael Warren. 

The opening of the garden was to help prepare for the upcoming season. The entirety of this event was to prep the area by having the students work throughout each space at their own pace to learn about how and what is important for a community garden. 

“I thought it would be fun to do for my Make a Difference Day volunteering choice because I helped out last year and really enjoyed it,” said junior biology major Meadow Warren. 

The students and staff were out working hard for several hours to help prep the garden for the growing season. The day was sunny with a slight wind, making a perfect day for being outside with nature. according to the volunteers. There was a lot of hustle and bustle around what was happening with the garden, causing passersby to stop and watch the commotion.

Warren is already excited for the fall because there will be opportunities to harvest the plants and send them to the greenhouse to be filtered. From there, the plants will be donated to the local pantries. 

To find out more information about the Campus Garden and sustainability visit https://www.uww.edu/sustainability.