The Erasmus Sustainability Hub Gardening team hosts open gardening sessions every two weeks. Any students could join and learn how to garden in the Campus Garden where they have planted different varieties of vegetables, fruits, and even decorative plants. The gardening team started the initiative of gardening sessions in spring when the weather is nice for everyone to get together and reconnect with nature.
Planting session
Every gardening session has a different theme; this time, Adinda joined the planting session. Everyone was given gloves to protect their hands from sharp objects that might be there in the soil, then they all started to prepare the soil. Bob ter Haar, the initiator and coordinator of the campus garden, explained the steps to prepare the soil before planting. “You need to make sure that you separate the plant materials from the soil. This is important as the soil around the roots has the most nutrients.” After this, the team created soil blocks where seeds are going to be planted there before actually planting the soil blocks on the ground.
Whilst the open gardening sessions happen every two weeks on Wednesdays, the gardening team always checks up on the garden every week. Carlijn Roedig, an Erasmus University College student, explain the reason why they started the gardening session initiative. “It is very laid back so even if you have no experience in gardening you are welcome to join. It is very important to reconnect ourselves with nature as this is one step to becoming more environmentally conscious.”
Challenging
Gardening is super fun but it can also be a challenging experience for some people. Yara Spoorenberg, an Erasmus University College student, shared her tips for beginners in gardening. “It is important to begin small if you’re doing it by yourself and always go for an easy win. For example, you can start by planting spinach as they have high resistance.”
Gardening was mostly a new experience for Adinda. Overall, she would rate this experience ‘a seven out of ten’. The most challenging part about gardening was actually getting her hands dirty with all the insects (she has a bad phobia for insects). Another difficult part is trying to keep the plants alive after a couple of weeks, as different plants have different needs. You can also join the gardening session by contacting the Erasmus Sustainability Hub Gardening Team! Hope to see you in the next session.
