Campus Learning Garden

Cultivated by GMercyU's Biology students

As part of their capstone project during their junior and senior years, GMercyU's Biology majors have the opportunity to care for the Campus Learning Garden, to maintain the production of organic fruits and vegetables while expanding its pollinator garden to attract Monarch Butterflies.

Monarchs are an endangered species, and the Sisters of Mercy promote the develop of Monarch Gardens as part of their Critical Concern of Earth and through their Mercy Milkweed Project.

The Biology students also work with GMercyU's UNV 100/101 classes to provide service opportunities for first-year students throughout the year, and hope to partner with many student organizations to provide awareness and service opportunities. Future plans for the garden include adding small research plots to encourage student research. 

So far in 2026, the Campus Learning Garden has yielded tomatoes, lettuce, strawberries, and herbs like oregano, cilantro, dill, thyme, and mint to Catherine's Cupboard, with more to come.

 

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Creating the Campus Learning Garden

GMercyU's picturesque, 145-acre campus is the perfect home for a garden. Thanks to seed funding from the Montgomery County Health Alliance and donors Richard and Kathleen Target '69, students in GMercyU's Public Health program helped construct the garden next to Valie Genuardi Hall in 2023. They planted several hardy varieties to get the garden started. New fencing and netting were added that fall to protect the garden from campus wildlife, particularly our campus deer.

The following year, students and faculty expanded the garden with more raised beds, in addition to more than 230 square feet of garden beds of native plants to attract pollinators, thanks to the generous donation of plants and design skills of Jonathan Nuss, owner of David Brothers Nursery. Benches and a picnic table provide space for lunch, classes, or events.

In summer 2024, an herb garden was planted, funded through a grant from the Pennsylvania Heartland Herb Society submitted by student Chelsea Golin ’24.

Anyone in the GMercyU community interested in learning more about the garden or working in the garden may join the Campus Learning Garden Resource in Canvas.

 

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Irrigating the Garden

In 2024, a new cistern was constructed adjacent to the garden. The cistern collects rainwater from the roof of Valie Genuardi Hall and is used to irrigate the garden.

In past years, GMercyU's Mercy Focus on Haiti has raised funds to purchase cisterns to provide clean water for the people of Gros Morne, Haiti. 

The GMercyU cistern brings Haiti to our campus, helping our community visualize the work and the need for potable water. Social Work majors and other students, faculty, and staff assisted with the build of the cistern under the direction of Structural Engineer Johann Zimmermann of JZ Engineering. 

JZ Engineering specializes in projects for underserved and marginalized communities. In 2020, Zimmermann traveled to Haiti to train 18 masons in cistern building through Mercy Focus on Haiti. 

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