Gardening Club Grows Community and Student Involvement

Abbie Klein 

On the top of the hill behind West Commons there’s a path hidden off of a gravel road that leads into what appears to be the woods outside of campus. However, if you were to follow the path you’d find yourself not in an eerie part of the forest, but in one of the hidden gems of UWG’s campus, The Community Garden. The Community Garden is home to UWG’s Gardening Club, a student organization that has been active for years, but somehow always flies under the radar.

“Gardening Club is awesome. We meet every Tuesday at the UWG Community Garden near the observatory,” said Brae Mooney, a UWG student who is enjoying her second year in the organization. “It’s really a club where we’re able to be hands on, and have your voice heard with what you want to plant and what you want to see happen throughout the school year and semester.” 

Members of the Gardening Club are able to learn skills that will help them grow and care for specific vegetation and plant life they might be interested in. Recently they have been growing pumpkins to prepare for the fall season. 

In addition to the benefit of having the food they grow available to take home, members also have the opportunity to be educated on ways to help the environment and give back to the community. 

Mooney has been passionate about environmental work for years and encourages UWG students to get involved with the Gardening Club’s activities and take advantage of what they have to offer. 

“I was Environmental Club President for a year and a half in high school,” said Mooney. “I led recycling drives and we cleaned up multiple rivers around my high school, along with donating compost to local farmers.”

The previous passion and experience she has continues to grow through the work UWG Gardening Club does within the community. The club works with other Carrollton environmental organizations like Keep Carrollton Beautiful, which works to pick up trash and plant flowers and other shrubbery around the community. They have also worked with the Wolves Don’t Waste program on campus that works to fight food insecurity and wastage on campus. 

Besides volunteer and community work, Gardening Club hosts numerous meetings and events throughout the semester for students interested in educating themselves on horticulture skills and club values. 

“Last year we held an event in the fall where you were able to paint pumpkins, sit around the campfire, drink apple cider and just talk about club values while bonding with other club members,” said Mooney. “We want to try to do a lot more events like that to get the campus involved.”

The club is working hard to plan more events in the upcoming weeks for student involvement, especially with the holiday season approaching. Events planned by the club are open to all students, you don’t have to be a member to have fun, but new members are always welcome.

“Gardening club is always accepting new members. You can join through WolfConnect or get in touch through our Group Me,” said Mooney. 

Interested members can also reach out through the Community Garden instagram page @uwggarden, or simply show up to a meeting. The club wants to continue to grow and leave their mark, or green thumbprint, on UWG and the Carrollton community.