The vegetable garden idea came from Saurabh Aurora and Eveline de Hoop, two TU/e faculty members. De Hoop: “I set up a community garden before, back when I studied at Oxford. A lot of TU/e folk took to the idea, including Ruth Oldenziel. She started lobbying for us with the Executive Board, which OK’d the plan in mid-April. Landscaping then ploughed in a small strip of land between Paviljoen and Connector.” The spot is a convenient one for several reasons: it may be expanded should its popularity increase; there are no plans for construction anytime soon, and it’s close to the IPO building, so De Hoop can keep gardening tools in her office. “Everyone’s free to come and garden with us, a link with TU/e is not yet required. We do have to set up some type of association still, however.”

The initial plan was to kick off this Saturday by burying wire mesh to keep rabbits at bay, drawing up a garden planning, and sowing some seeds. It turned out there was already an archery competition planned for that Saturday, so now the gardening activities have been moved to Sunday. Whoever wants to help out can contact Eveline de Hoop at e.d.hoop@tue.nl.