You may have noticed it on College Walk, twice in fact – Columbia’s very own fall harvest – reaped from the Community Garden near Pupin and Uris Halls.

Since spring and through the summer, as many as 35 student gardeners under the auspices of the Columbia University Food Sustainability Project have cultivated vegetables, herbs, berry bushes, fruit trees and flowers.

They’ve planned, planted, watered, mulched, weeded. And on September 28, they picked the late summer tomatoes, sweet and hot peppers, celery, kale, broccoli rabe, chard, mixed greens and herbs. The next day, the produce was ready for purchase along College Walk.

A month later, on October 27, they sold the very last produce of the season: lots of celery, green tomatoes, parsnips, radishes, two pumpkins, a few baby squash and herbs.

Matthew Shapero, CC ’08, was one of the summer gardeners and assumed primary oversight for the garden this semester. He says the produce sold at Columbia ’s mini farmers market was a relatively small amount, considering that all summer, volunteers had picked what they could use as each fruit or vegetable ripened.

Shapero says the purpose of the produce sales was two-fold: to raise money for the garden and to acquaint the Morningside campus with the project. Each sale raised about $80 that “will go back into the garden somehow,” he says.

A few weeks ago, the gardeners sowed a fall planting of lettuce, spinach, radishes, turnips and beets that they hope to harvest well before the first snow flies. “We're now frantically trying to get a winter cover crop planted before the real, real cold comes: we've chosen winter rye,” Shapero says.

At this point, however, most of their attention is on next year. Shapero says there are hopes for an expanded garden with new techniques such as expanding vertically with more trellises.

Alison Powell, Barnard ’09, says that the money from the vegetable sale “was way more than we expected and gives us lots of hope for an economically viable garden.” She looks forward to a more holistic approach, in which elements such as organics, design and education would be integrated into the planning.

She says her hope is “to have the most beautiful, clear vision and plan for next year’s garden.”

This year’s garden was largely the inspiration of Becky Davies, CC ’10.  Davies submitted a proposal written by Sustainability Project members to Facilities Operations, and worked with the department to obtain the plot.

Now, as the growing season winds down, Matthew Early, Assistant Vice President, Facilities Operations, says “the students have been outstanding, and the area is kept very organized. They have planted additional plants and the area is always kept extremely clean.”

Early says weeding has been continuous, and vegetables and herbs have been removed, with none left to decay. He says he’s “extremely pleased” with the students’ efforts and dedication to keeping the garden tidy.