Main content

Attention to the environmental and societal benefits of gardening has soared recently. Factors such as awareness of the large carbon footprint of our agricultural system, unequal access to high-quality produce, and, most recently, being confined at home during the pandemic, have spurred a resurgence of home gardening reminiscent of the Victory Garden movement. With the growth in public interest, the home garden industry, much of which relies on the production of nonsustainable resources such as plastics, pesticides, herbicides, and chemical fertilizers, is projected to reach $1,022 billion in sales by 2025 (Businesswire, 2021). Meanwhile, climate change is shifting temperatures and weather patterns in ways that challenge conventional gardening practices.

We can mitigate the effects of climate change and increase the positive impact of our vegetable gardens and landscapes through management practices that avoid nonrenewable products, sequester carbon, close resource loops, and improve water quality and retention. This course will combine scientific understandings of regional climate change trends with practical land-management practices that homeowners, gardeners, and organizations can adopt to make their own landscapes productive, resilient, and ecologically beneficial. Classes will be a combination of in-classroom and onsite at Long Lane Farm, a local resource.