Education for Sustainable Living, Environmental Respect, and Celebrating the Quality of Life.

Gardens as Models of Sustainability

One of the more memorable things about my time in Italy in 2003 was the number of home gardens we found there.  If an Italian had any land area with their home, almost everyone had a garden.  Most people viewed turf as a total waste – you can’t eat it, you have to mow it, turf wastes time and wastes energy … why would you???  

Gardens, on the other hand, are a model of sustainability.  Gardeners create beauty and quality food.  In the Environmental Sustainability Project, we talk about how beauty and quality food are things we seem to have a hard time getting enough of in our lives.  A vegetable garden with interestingly shaped beds, planting patterns, and interspersed with a few ornamental flowers can be very attractive.  You can use animal waste products, plant materials, and composted food wastes to provide nutrients for plant growth.  You can recycle waste products to build the soil resource.  It is an almost perfectly sustainable system.

The Orono Community Garden is one of the service projects of the Environmental Sustainability Project.  We are producing vegetables using organic methods to provide quality produce for senior citizens with limited accessibility to quality food.  

Putting knowledge to work with the people of Maine

A Member of the University of Maine System
Last Modified: 09/13/2006
These pages are currently being maintained from the
Water Quality Office, University of Maine Cooperative Extension.
Send comments, suggestions or inquiries to John Jemison

In complying with the letter and spirit of applicable laws and in pursuing its own goals of diversity, the University of Maine System shall not discriminate on the grounds of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin or citizenship status, age, disability, or veterans' status in employment, education, and all other areas of the University. The University provides reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities upon request.

Questions and complaints about discrimination in any area of the University should be directed to the Director of Equal Opportunity, 101 North Stevens, (207) 581-1226.

Information in this web site is provided purely for educational purposes. No responsibility is assumed for any problems associated with the use of products or services mentioned in this web site. No endorsement of products or companies is intended, nor is criticism of unnamed products or companies implied.