Spring Quarter, 2025: lush, bright leaves begin to dot EWU’s campus, second only to welcoming, warm blooming flowers. Amidst the flowers, trees, bushes and squirrels are the college students who inhabit the campus. The college students who, like many, may not be keen to spend a pretty penny on groceries while in the throes of exams, quizzes and late-night studies in preparation for the quarter’s home stretch.
Groceries only get more expensive each passing year and instant-ramen might not always cut it. Stressed, hungry and studying: the stereotypical student.
To break the stereotype, gardening may be the answer. With cramped residence halls, busy schedules or too-small apartments, gardening is often far-off, too difficult, or too complicated to begin, right?
However, the few minutes it takes to learn enough to plant a couple of seedlings that can grow in the corner of a sun-lit desk is enough to start the process of fresh, home-grown produce. The best part? It’s produce you don’t pay for, and produce that has a positive impact on mental health.
“There is a growing, pun intended, body of academic research suggesting that gardening is linked to improved mood and overall psychological well-being, as well as reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression,” said Nika Davenport, an EWU psychology professor, via email. “Gardening can also help improve mental focus. Research shows that gardening can restore diminished cognitive resources, leading to better attention, concentration, memory, creativity and overall cognitive function.”
Beyond the stress-reducing aspect of gardening, it can be a way to interact with the community. EWU’s Community Garden, located behind the red barn housing the campus’ police, is a blooming area to volunteer, hang out and dig in the dirt.
“People have a tendency to eat healthier when there’s easier access to produce, or they know where their produce is coming from,” said Erin Endres, EWU’s Community Garden Coordinator. The goal of the garden, she said, is “overall, just wellness and feeding the community.”
Volunteers are free to roam the garden as they please and when they please, though barred from planting without the Gardening Club or the facilities folks. Among the activities of the garden, there’s weeding, hanging out, harvesting produce or even admiring the myriad of growing foliage. A chance to connect with the earth, both with fresh food and with what they want to eat.
“So, showing students that having access to fresh produce isn’t as daunting or as challenging as one would think,” said Endres about the purpose of the garden.
Community is a large part of being a college student, but it isn’t the end-all, be-all. Perhaps, volunteering at the garden is just another chore added onto a long to-do list with no end in sight. All the same, gardening in small spaces is another way to save a dime on groceries with minimal effort and big reward. It requires some finesse and a few internet searches, but fresh produce is in sight: price tag not included.
Some crops are easier than others: many aren’t suited for a life in the corner desk with an hour of sunlight per day, and some aren’t suited for a mug-sized pot.
“Know how much sun your location gets. Small spaces might mean a balcony with minimal sun, in which case, choose crops that need less sun or use grow lights,” said the Gardeners of Cheney, a local non-profit group.
Among the less-picky plants, lettuce is healthy, tasty when dressed correctly and takes only a few days to see a return on. “Lettuce and herbs can be grown in small containers on your windowsill or table top,” said the Gardeners. Simple as that.
“Start small. Get creative,” said Endres about small-space gardening. “A lot of these things are really easy to propagate, […] doing stuff like that, being creative, like getting celery from the food pantry or green onions. You use it one time, but then you still have the bulb, and if you put it in water , [you] endlessly regenerate it.”
As for creative options, Endres recommends an at-home greenhouse to allow seeds to germinate, regardless of the weather outside.
A quick, cheap option for a ‘greenhouse’, is to take an old egg carton. After filling the containers with seeds and dirt, water generously. Then, take a plastic gallon-size bag, placing the container inside. Make sure to poke holes for oxygen to get in! After that, leave the bag in a sunny area; it should start fogging up relatively soon. It creates a warm, humid environment to encourage germination. Once germinated, seeds are much more likely to survive in their own small pots than if they’d been placed there first.
