Gardener Resources

As a member of the Penn State Community Garden, you will have access to:

Our shed of tools, including shovels, broadforks, hoes, trowels, pruners, watering cans, and wheelbarrows. You will be given the lock combination to the shed once your garden membership is confirmed.
Our rototiller (please contact garden leadership for training on rototiller use!)
Our compost, mulch, and straw for use on your plot.
Our water pumps, located along the downhill fence of the garden.

Compost etiquette

We encourage you to compost weeds and other plant material from your plot in our compost piles! These are located near the picnic tables at the edge of the woods. You are also welcome to bring your kitchen scraps to compost at the garden, but please limit this to fruits and vegetables - no meat or bones.

All fresh inputs should go into the left-most section. As this breaks down, we will turn the compost over to the right. Finished compost can be taken from the right-most sections to use on your plot. We also order finished compost that you can use, located around the corner and a bit uphill from our compost bins.

*NOTE: If weeds are fully grown and have gone to seed, please instead deposit these materials in the woods behind the compost bins. We'd like to keep our compost free of weed seeds!

Soil Science Workshop Video.mp4

Soil Science Workshop with Dr. John Spargo (PSU-AASL)

You can access the recording of the presentation given by Dr. John Spargo about soil testing, soil science, and the results of our own soil testing here!

Soil test reports are posted here, along with our soil sampling scheme. We split the garden into 8 subsections, pooling equal amounts of soil from every plot in that subsection. So for the most localized results, take a look at the subsection that contains your plot!

The slide deck from the presentation can be found here.