The campus garden

The Campus Garden Working Group, comprised of by both students and employees, meets regularly to exchange ideas and plan the further development of the campus garden together. They are also responsible for nursing the garden and are always welcome to get in touch by email.

In the course of preparing the climate protection concept both students and employees increasingly expressed a desire for a campus garden. This was therefore included as a measure in the nutrition field of action. The climate protection concept was approved for implementation by the Senate in November 2021.

In addition, despite the restrictions imposed by the coronavirus pandemic at the HFD, committed students from the AStA and the Fulda sustainability team joined forces and set up the first raised bed on campus in August 2021 as part of the "Edible City" project run by the Umweltzentrum Fulda e.V. environmental centre. They reliably took over the planting and nursing and found many student supporters.

In order to realise a comprehensive campus garden at the university, employees and students were brought together in November 2021 in collaboration with the Climate Protection Officer, Presidential Board Office division and the students, who developed a concept for a campus garden. This was approved for implementation by the Presidential Board in May 2022.

The construction of the other raised beds by those involved in the concept and a few other helpers then took place in June 2022.

The collaboration between students and employees will continue in the Campus Garden Working Group and is open to all interested parties.

Below you can see the concept we have developed for the campus garden in the winter semester 2021/2022:

The campus garden pursues various goals that are in line with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and contribute to ecological and social sustainability in particular.

The campus garden as a place for biodiversity, climate protection and climate adaptation

The funding and preservation of biodiversity are at the top of the list of reasons for a campus garden. The garden itself, as well as other plans for greening the campus, serve as a habitat and food source for insects and birds.
The campus garden is also relevant for climate protection and adaptation to climate change and is intended to raise awareness of sustainability issues among university members. Year-round gardening, from sowing to harvesting, creates a greater appreciation of food and a special awareness of what regional and seasonal food means. In addition, university members can develop and expand their competences with regard to the regional production of food. Nursing the campus garden also raises awareness of how to use water, an important and valuable resource.
The integration of the campus garden into the upcoming redesign of the old campus can counteract the sealing of the area, and fruit trees can also provide shade.

The campus garden as a place of togetherness

The importance of the campus garden as a green space on the university campus should also be emphasised. In addition to providing a relaxing environment for breaks in the greenery, surrounded by plants, it should also be a place where people can meet and exchange ideas. The beds can provide an opportunity to engage in dialogue with other members of the university, as social aspects are at least as important as environmental and climate-related aspects. As a place of togetherness, spending time in the campus garden as well as active participation and nursing should be open to all members of the university, regardless of their affiliation to departments and administrative units. This supports collaboration and exchange in inter- and transdisciplinary, intergenerational and cross-hierarchical terms.

The campus garden as a place of learning

The campus garden is also intended to be a place of learning where knowledge can be shared and acquired in various ways. This is to be achieved, among other things, through permanent learning opportunities in which knowledge about the plants grown there is offered via information boards in the garden itself.
There will also be courses on knowledge transfer and creative workshops on and around the campus garden. Other courses and activities such as summer and harvest festivals or seed swaps offer low-threshold participation and information opportunities. Ideas and the active participation of all university members are very welcome in the planning and implementation of a varied accompanying programme.

In the future, the garden can be integrated into individual projects of the departments and offer opportunities for students to study it in research, Bachelor's or Master's theses. In this sense, interdisciplinary learning and teaching around the campus garden for interdisciplinary knowledge transfer would also be desirable.

In the course of developing the concept, further areas on campus were identified that could be designed and planted in a nature-friendly and insect-friendly way and manage to enhance the ecological value of the site as a whole. A campus inspection took place for this purpose, in which both representatives of the campus garden team with the support of Facilities Management and NABU Petersberg were involved. The planned areas were analysed in terms of their potential for redesign, and general measures were discussed that could have a beneficial effect on nature and therefore on climate protection.

The suggestions include
- Perennially untouched flowering areas
- Flowering areas with nursing twice a year
- Introduction of early flowering plants in the existing meadow areas
- Hedge/wood cuttings that are not disposed of but left as deadwood piles - these provide food and refuge for numerous animal species
- Nesting opportunities for birds and small rodents on the site
- Insect hotels

This will be gradually implemented over the coming months. If you have any other ideas that you would like to pass on, you can submit them by email to the Campus Garden Working Group or via the ideas box.