April showers bring May flowers

Students share how gardening has helped their college experience flourish

As the spring season blooms, many students may try to find ways to take advantage of the warmer weather. The sunny skies can inspire students’ eagerness to hike, swim, go on runs or otherwise enjoy the open air. However, some students have found a way to appreciate the weather a little closer to home, choosing to spend their time gardening.

Meera Putz, a fourth-year environmental science major, said that gardening is one of her favorite ways to enjoy the outdoors and the countless benefits it provides.

“Gardening is really beneficial for mental health in a lot of different ways,” Putz said. “It’s stress relieving, it helps build community [...] and you tend to be happier when you're outside rather than inside.”

Gardening not only leads to physical benefits, but also psychological and social ones, according to studies published by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Gardeners are found to spend more time being active, have healthier diets, have stronger immune systems and report reduced stress and anxiety levels.

Maya Ambrose, a first-year environmental science and management major, has leaned on these benefits to find structure in her busy college life.

“At my sustainable horticulture internship, I don’t even think of it as work,” Ambrose said. “I see it as a break from my studies because I get to hang out with my friends and just pull weeds and not have to think about school. It’s very fulfilling to work with your hands and get to walk by your garden and say, ‘I did that.’”

While gardening offers a host of benefits, some students may not know how to begin keeping a garden, especially if they live in a dorm or apartment without a backyard. UC Davis hosts a variety of garden plots students can apply to adopt, including the ASUCD garden plots and Segundo and Tercero resident gardens.

Students who want to take up gardening without the commitment of having their own garden can look to student organizations they can join, according to Putz. Putz referenced the Rewilding Society — a student-run organization dedicated to improving Davis’ urban ecosystems with native plant life — as an accessible option for Davis students.

“I would say the best place to start is in a club or organization like the Rewilding Society,” Putz said. “You have people that are maybe more knowledgeable in this or already have a garden that you can take inspiration from. [...] The biggest barrier with gardening is just getting started.”

Erin Chung, a third-year sustainable environmental design and art studio double major, shared that public gardens can provide a space for community interaction.

“I do love working in public gardens because being connected with a community and just being able to gab with others can be a lovely, healing time,” Chung said.

Most importantly, gardening can bridge the gap between communities and the natural world, introducing them to another way of seeing wildlife, according to Putz.

“Gardening most of all is a really great introduction for people wanting to care about the environment and finding an interest in plants,” Putz said. “There [are] definitely a lot of barriers to traveling outside the city to go on a hike or go camping, but gardening is something local that you can do.”

Gardening can not only help people care more about the environment, according to Ambrose, but also allow them to understand the role of native wildlife in local habitats.

“Native plants are really important to the health of the entire ecosystem,” Ambrose said. “Native oak trees, for example, are crucial to the survival of hundreds of species of caterpillars, which birds rely on to eat.”

Many of California’s native wildlife species are found nowhere else in the world, making them an especially important consideration in plant cultivation.

“By planting native or pollinator-themed gardens, you're able to support your local ecological community,” Chung said. “It's rewarding to give back to nature every once in a while.”

The life of a college student can be busy and chaotic, but gardening may be a way to help find balance among hectic classes and stressful exams. Gardening can help remind students that nature is all around them, even on a college campus, if they know where to look.

Written by: Amber Warnke — features@theaggie.org