Gardening in your College

The sun is out and there is no better place to get your Vitamin D than in the garden. There are many benefits of gardening; first you have that sense of achievement as your efforts result in some tasty produce, second it is a gentle way to exercise and third, gardening has been shown to benefit our mental health. Luckily there are many College garden societies who welcome new members. So, if you are not afraid to get your hands dirty and you would like to learn some gardening skills, these groups may be for you.

Read on to hear from three of these societies; Robinson, Pembroke and Murray Edwards.

Robinson College - Report from Robinson College undergraduate student Clara Baylay

Robinson’s first ever gardening society started this year. We’ve been given a very generous patch of land outside 3 Sylvester Road and have begun planting. The vision is to use permaculture

principles to transform this patch into a colourful, bustling ecosystem, which is not only beautiful, but also environmentally friendly. Most importantly, this is a space for students to unwind,  de-stress and enjoy the lovely outdoors together.

There is also a lot of space for all the herbs, fruit and vegetables which our members can grow and harvest. Socome and plant with us and feel some of the many benefits of gardening.

You can join us via our brand new facebook page.

No experience is required.

Pembroke College – Report from Pembroke College Phd student Verner Viisainen

Pembroke College Gardening Society was founded in May 2018, when we took over one of the College's allotments in Grantchester Meadows. The idea was to grow vegetables and other edible produce according to permaculture principles, which take inspiration from natural ecosystems and avoid the use of chemical fertiliser and pesticides. We started planting immediately and achieved quite an amazing yield at the end of summer, despite the short growing time and a two month-long drought. We now have over 50 members signed up, with a different array of students coming along each week to get hands on experience at the allotment. We are excited about what we can achieve this year, as we will have a longer growing period and we know more than we did last year. Gardening is fun and rewarding and can even be a stress reliever, most helpful when we all have so much academic work to do. I would encourage everyone to look out for a Gardening Society in their own College or start one if there isn't one as most Colleges own unused land that would be perfect for gardening. Otherwise, there are some great community gardens in the local area such as Empty Common Community Garden on Trumpington St, who are always looking out for volunteers to come along.

Murray Edwards College – Report from Murray Edwards MPhil student Ruilin Fan

The Cambridge Edible Garden (main picture) has both Cambridge students and local community members, who meet once a week at Murray Edwards College. Our garden beds are now sown with hardy winter plants -garlic, broad beans, and some early parsnips -and we look forward to the warmer months when we can work with a larger variety of plants. The weekly meetings are a great opportunity to get outdoors in the sun and exchange notes with fellow gardeners about urban farming and sustainability. All experience levels are welcome!

Some other College gardening groups that you can join: