GPC student Darius Brown assists with the community garden. (Photo by Bill Roa)

Community gardens on two Georgia Perimeter College campuses are fulfilling the dual purpose of introducing students to sustainable urban gardening and providing produce for local organizations.

At GPC Decatur, students in Dr. Scott Mitchell’s and Dr. Tyrie Smith’s English 1101 summer and fall classes helped tend the Decatur Campus Community Learning Garden. They then wrote essays about urban gardening and their experiences.

They were joined in their garden work by volunteers from the campus library, the Learning and Tutoring Center and the Decatur Second Wind club for nontraditional students.

Bounty from the Decatur garden—including collard greens, heirloom tomatoes, eggplant, huckleberries, peppers, corn, potatoes, beans, squash, beets, carrots and herbs—was donated to the United Methodist Children’s Home as part of the college’s commitment to its community partners.

On GPC’s Newton Campus, students and faculty gathered during two September work days to mulch and prepare 16 raised beds totaling almost 1,200 square feet for their fall crop of lettuce, Swiss chard, collards and carrots. That followed a successful summer harvest, which was donated to the Community Food Bank of Newton and the Garden of Gethsemane Shelter in Covington.

Faculty members Dr. Sallie Paschal and Dr. Susan Finazzo are overseeing garden efforts at the Newton Campus Community Learning Garden.

For more information about Georgia Perimeter College’s sustainability gardens at Newton and Decatur, visit http://gpc.edu/gardens.