1 our news! f enmihecM ?h 0 "!?. ! he (Battalion Aggielife Page 3 • Tuesday, September 28, 1999 'Vi! mei The Green Grass Grows tudents grow plants to reduce stress, improve surroundings osesHi WEki at FrcebJ BY NONI SRIDHARA The Battalion M ary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow? With silver bells and cockle shells all lined up in a row. As students grow up, this nursery rhyme be comes long forgotten, but for some, the thoughts of having a garden still hold true. One such student is April Herring, a horti culture graduate student and Class of ’98. She said she was around plants throughout her childhood because her mother was in the nurs ery business. Herring said she is studying horticulture because of her family’s influence and per sonal interest. “I [was also] really interested in horticulture because of all the hands on experiences you get in the different labs,” Herring said. Throughout her undergrad- *»*»«»** uate career. Herring said she has had many different experi ences in gardening. “We got to do a lot of neat experiments,” Herring said. “I took a socio-horticulture class in which we learned a lot about gardening and medicine. In that class, we went to a lo cal retirement home and plant ed a herb garden. In another class, we got our own veg etable plots. “We planted corn and har vested all the crops and got to take them home to try them out. Whatever we didn’t use we donated.” Herring has also experi enced the charitable side of gardening. She said in another one of her horticulture class es, she volunteered as a gardener at the Mar- u'n Z,other King, Jr. Gardens in Bryan. “It was very neat to see how gardening could bring people in the community togeth er,” she said. Herring said her collection of house plants has turned her front porch into a jungle. She said because she is renting her house, she cannot have a large garden, but hopes that in the future she can resume serious gardening. “1 hope 1 can start planting, like, a small veg etable garden,” she said. Unfortunately, due to limited space in res idence halls and apartments, many students cannot have a full-fledged garden. Instead, they keep plants around the house as a sign of vitality. Almudena Alba, a junior international studies major, said a garden would be a good stress reliever, and students could benefit from the lessons gardening offers. "One of my room mates told me that my plants were my babies because I nur tured them so much/ 7 — Amira Gerges senior nutrition major “I love flowers. I think 1 identify with [flowers] because they seem to have a per sonality,” Alba said. “They also express any thing from happiness to sadness. It expresses so much when you give flowers to somebody and want to say something but are too afraid to say it. I feel gardening would be such a re laxing hobby. ” Amira Gerges, a senior nutrition major, has kept plants throughout her entire college ca reer because she is not allowed to have pets. “The plants symbolize life to me,” Gerges said. Gerges said she has become as close to her plants as some other students have become to their pets. “1 love having [the plants] because they just add a lot of joy to my day,” Gerges said. “It’s a very fulfilling feeling. I love to just to see them grow. One of my roommates told me that my plants were my ba bies because I nurtured them so much.” Rob Sweet, manager of Plan tation Gardens in Bryan, of fered tips for students wishing to grow their own gardens in the future. “The very first step to growing a garden is bed preparation,” Sweet said. “You want to choose a nice loose soil [to plant your flow ers] in, and the bed should also have a minimum depth of up to eight inches. The groundwork for a healthy gar- den is healthy soil.” Sweet said another thing to consider when preparing a garden is the plot’s surroundings. “This is more a factor of personal taste, but in the scheme of things you want to buy things that will match the landscape,” Sweet said. He said some of the most common types of plants people purchase are annuals. There are two kinds of annuals. The first kind are planted in the spring and live through the fall, and the second kind are planted in the fall and live through the spring. Sweet also said potential gardeners should read labels carefully when treating plants with chemicals. “[Even good] chemicals for plants can be bad if directions aren’t followed,” he said. Sweet said he believes organic fertilizers are better than chemical ones. “Initially, it’s more expensive, but [in the long run], you will have to take less care of the garden, and less fertilizer will be re quired,” he said. KIMBER HUFF/The Battalion Will Last Cp Cp Cp Cp Cp Cp Cp Cp v|> Cp Cp vj> Cp Cp Cp vp Cp Cp Cp Cp Cp v£> Cp Cp Cp \$> Cp <£ STUDYING ABROAD IN SPRING SEMESTER 2000?? C|> Cp Cp ^ ^ ^ \P'Cp Cp Cp Cp \P vf? Cp Cp Vp Chat & Chew with Dr. Malon Southerland c 65 Vice President for Student Affairs September 28, 1999 11:00am-1:00pm Wehner Room 159 • Voice Concerns • Ask Questions • Light Refreshments TEACH?! Perform one of the highest services—teach! Teach at The Brazos School for Inquiry & Creativity, a new experi mental school in North Bryan that serves many low-income students. The Brazos School for Inquiry and Creativity seeks undergraduate and graduate students interested in working with children in grades K-12 on science or art projects. We seek arts and humanities majors-poets, painters, musicians, and dancers- to teach one- or two-day modules in the visual or performing arts. We also seek scientists to teach one- or two-day modules in the physical, biological, or social sciences. A small honorarium will be paid. For more information, please call 229-4652 or 229-4651 Be on your way an “A” • Organized, detailed, typed notes • Done by top students in class • Fast quality service • Semester packs, exam packs, and daily notes HOW DOES IT WORK? Top students in selected classes take notes which are then typed and available for you to pick up the NEXT DAY! You may pick up the notes whenever you wish - daily, weekly, or before exams - whenever. ACCT 209.506 ACCT 327.504-505, S07-508 ANTH 202.500 ANTH 205.501 ANTH 205.504 BIOL 113.503 BIOL 113.504 BIOL 114.500 ECON 202.506, 509-510 ECON 202.507-508 ECON 203.506 GEOG 305.500 GEOL 101.510-515,57 HIST 105.508 HIST 106.507 MGMT 105.500 MGMT 211.501-502 MGMT 363.501,502 MICR 351.501-510 MKTG 321.501 MKTG 321.504-505 MKTG 345.501-503 PHYS 201.511-520 POLS 206.501 POLS 207.502-505, 510 PSYC 107.508 PSYC 323.500 RDNG 351.500 RENR 205.502 SCOM 301.500 SOCI 319.500 VAPH 305.501-503 694-9403 707 Texas Ave., 222D (Next to Barnes & Noble)