Students Going Green

FIERCE set up an interschool food and native plant garden at American High School over the 2010 summer with help from five high schools! Our garden was mostly made from recycled or reused materials. Currently, during Summer 2011, FIERCE is building a "pizza garden". A pizza garden is literally shaped like a pizza, cut into six slices, with the ingredients to make a yummy pizza!

Our garden--as we got started. The soil was hard clay, there were no irrigation systems, and no plants but weeds had ever grown there. One of the first steps was to loosen up the soil and add compost.

The raised beds...

These raised beds were built with redwood boards from Adobe Nursery's central gazebo when it was torn down. Raised beds make for healthier soil, better drainage, and gopher control (the main reason in our case).

The main pathways...

The path was made with rocks from a homeowner who was changing their landscaping. The path borders are made of concrete test cylinders that were left over from building strength tests!

More re-using...

The garden was mulched with cardboard and wood chips (the latter were waste for a tree service company)! The hose spike on the right was obtained through RAFT and was most likely part of an industry spindle.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or would like advice on making a community garden!

Last updated: Jul. 6, 2011