Improving the Sustainability of Muhlenberg College’s Community Garden

Community Garden BackgroundThe Muhlenberg Community Garden, created in 2010, offers the Muhlenberg community a chance to participate in a relaxed, hands-on physical activity that promotes sustainable living on off campus housing.

Presented by Rebecca Hernandez, Ashley Wofford, and Rob McLean

Project BackgroundThis project was developed by a student-led project in Dr. Niesenbaum’s Sustainable Solutions course at Muhlenberg College. This project aimed to design and implement a project that would improve the sustainability of the Muhlenberg Community Garden. Currently, our project has been approved by the Muhlenberg Garden Committee, and is set to be implemented in late March or early April 2014. All materials utilized for this project will be made from recycled materials.

Problems with the Community GardenBased off of our formulated definition of sustainability from Dr. Niesenbaum’s Sustainable Solutions course, it was assessed and determined that the Muhlenberg Community Garden sufficiently lacked sustainability in resource and waste management. Unsustainable use of water from a hose next door and unusable wood pallet compost structures provided the components to be improved upon. A rain barrel system and wire mesh compost bins were designed to remedy this problem.

Students contributing to the maintenance of the Community Garden

The original neglected and inefficient wood pallet compost system

We would like to thank the Garden Committee, Dr. Heiman, and Dr. Niesenbaum for their continued support and their expertise during this project. We would also like to thank Tim Korn of Plant Operations for donating materials to implement this project.

Solution A: Rain Barrel SystemTo remedy an unsustainable use of water, a rain barrel water collection system will be implemented to utilize rain water as a source of irrigation to the garden. Three rain barrels and various other materials will construct this system that will decrease the dependency on city utility water.

Solution B: Wire Mesh Compost BinsTo remedy ineffective waste management, three wire compost bins will be implemented to take the place of the wood pallet composting system. This design allows for easier access and compost turning, which will minimize the amount of food and yard waste from the garden.

Three barrel triple manifold design