University of Central Florida
IN-7: Community Garden

The Arboretum has a new Arboretum Community Farm and Garden that’s bigger than ever!

Started in February 2009, the Arboretum organic community garden has grown into a major feature of the Arboretum program. The garden has become an especially important part of our volunteer program, hosting thousands of volunteer hours per year. Volunteers are the key to our success because we could not operate such a successful garden without them.

Raised planting beds are a feature of the new garden. We are expanding our blueberry production by growing the berries directly in the blueberry mix in large pots lining one side of the area. Another great feature of the new garden is drip irrigation, which will greatly reduce our water use and contributes to the university’s water sustainability goals. The Arboretum staff and dedicated volunteers have been hard at work prepping this new site since November of 2018, and what a long way it has come!

We are especially happy that our garden produce goes to help students in need through the Knights Helping Knights Pantry. The pantry provides UCF students in need with basic needs including food, clothing, and personal hygiene items. Finally, our garden is open to everyone in the UCF and Orlando community, so come get your hands dirty and learn about growing food!