{"id":802,"date":"2025-04-17T12:52:40","date_gmt":"2025-04-17T12:52:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/price-healing-garden\/?p=802"},"modified":"2025-04-17T12:52:40","modified_gmt":"2025-04-17T12:52:40","slug":"clean-up-at-the-healing-garden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/price-healing-garden\/clean-up-at-the-healing-garden\/","title":{"rendered":"Clean Up at the Healing Garden"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spring has sprung! <\/span><\/p>\n

As the weather warms and the last frost approaches, the Price Institute has started preparations for another successful year at the garden. Our first event was on March 27, 2025, a garden clean up and collaboration between the Price Institute, RU-Eco, the RU-N Pantry+, and students in Earth and Environmental studies. Here’s a quick run down of how it went:<\/span><\/p>\n

The garden was in dire need of some helping hands. After harvest last fall, the remaining plants had shriveled up and needed trimming before next season of planting. Volunteers clipped back mint and pulled the remains of the tomato plants \u2013<\/strong> the start of a fresh batch of compost. We collected seeds and checked up on our perennial herbs, already seeing sprouts and new growth. Earth and Environmental Studies students tested the soil of the garden, checking beneath our feet for toxicity from metals and past construction on the property.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

RU-N Pantry+ is the newest addition to our garden, and volunteers from the pantry helped put together a new raised bed for their herbs, filling it with dirt and hay. With the planters prepared, trash collection became the next big task, as we found all sorts of plastics and wrappers littered across the garden. Among the collected litter was: soda cans, candy wrappers, receipts, business cards, and plastic utensils. Luckily, some of our volunteers were able to find some more garden-appropriate creatures among the planters, from earthworms to feeder birds curiously watching our progress.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We especially enjoyed RU-Eco\u2019s tea table, covered with various loose leaf teas to choose from. Chamomile, lavender, lotus, black tea, and honey all warmed up students hard at work. It was a great turn out, and seeing the garden filled with so many eager to help on a windy day goes to show Newark’s dedication to supporting and protecting its green spaces. If you missed them last Thursday, you can see RU-Eco out again at the garden on April 24th for their plant sale!<\/span><\/p>\n

The fun continued on April 3rd, as we gathered for a seed swap and workshop by eco artist Anne Percoco. Anne has created a project called The Next Epoch Seed Library, looking to preserve seeds from weeds and other common plants, and she joined us to assist in the creation of a seed time capsule. The Price staff and student volunteers worked together to collect seed pods from last years plants, from mountain mint to morning glories, and place them in small glass vials. Then, after circling around the entire garden, we buried the vials into a hole in the ground and covered it with a stone by our lovely daffodils that was found during the initial garden excavations to build the garden. Atop the stone now sits a plaque that reads \u201c<\/span>HERE LIE SLEEPING SEEDS, To be unearthed in 2045″. We can’t wait to revisit our garden in 20 years and see what has changed!<\/p>\n

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