Bellevue College is seeking more student interest in the Garden Club, which aims to teach a sustainable lifestyle through growing organic produce. “Garden club members learn about gardening practices. They plant plants and seeds and care for the beds at the west side of the greenhouse.” said Rick Glover, part of the Chemistry and Environmental Science Faculty and the faculty adviser of the Garden Club.
Alyssa Brown / The Watchdog
The Garden Club can provide lots of information and skills on anything like how to grow fruit from a seed to the benefits of growing your own food. “If you can grow your own food you can support yourself. Understanding the role of food in our society and the power you have when you’re able to grow your own food is a really important skill to have,” said Glover.
Glover talked about how growing your own food is a very useful yet simple skill that is often overlooked in modern day society. “It’s a skill that I think is increasingly pushed-off as somebody else’s issue but I think it is something that is important for each person to understand.”
“Students can learn from start to finish the whole process. I really try to focus on learning to start plants and knowing how to select certain seeds, how to plan our garden space because intentional gardening is really important. Understanding how much space each thing takes up and what you want is a real balancing act,” he continued.
The Bellevue College website has a Garden Club page that states that the club advisers supply all the tools necessary for growing a productive garden. Some members can take home the crops they grow, and they also donate lots of their harvest to the Issaquah Food Bank.
“I have a big bag of seeds that I collect and I have some friends with a seed company, and most everything else is already there. We have tools and beds and if we need to start stuff we have a greenhouse. So we’re resource rich, we just need more student interest,” said Glover.
“Have an open mind for how to plant and harvest, but bring questions and ideas. Involvement is as much as you want it to be. It’s something that I really like to do in my own personal life and I feel like people should be able to experience it on their own.” added Glover.
The Garden Club is actively seeking more student interest right now. This is because they are looking to introduce a large abundance of plants that will grow and need care through winter.
“There’s a lot of opportunities for students to learn and opportunities for students to get involved,” said Glover. “Not every campus has a garden space that’s dedicated to students so I think this is a great thing for students to take advantage of.”
Garden Club meets on Thursdays at 3:30 p.m. at the greenhouse, which requires a passcode for students to enter. For more information regarding the Garden Club contact Rick Glover at rick.glover@bellevuecollege.edu.