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Gardening serves as a bridge that connects people with nature, allowing us to engage deeply and intimately with plants, insects, birds, bunnies, and weather. By nurturing seedlings and saplings and observing plant-insect interactions, individuals develop a heightened sense of attentiveness that may enhance their relationships with other lifeforms. Those who spend time outdoors often feel a greater connection not only to their communities and the planet, but also to a larger purpose beyond themselves.
Read about how Urban Herbs connects to the value of Care for Our Common Home, as featured in the Office for Mission and Ministry's "Healer's Guidebook" for Georgetown University Medical students.
Care of our common home Garden essay 2025.docx
Deliberately overplanted, with mint and showy primrose serving as living mulch, the gardens favor diversity, habitat, and soil health over neatness.
Our mission is to create beautiful spaces that feed and delight people and pollinators in the Georgetown community.
Below are a few of our garden practices that support climate adaptation and regenerative gardening:
Organic gardening: Avoiding all chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides
Permaculture: Basing gardens on perennial plants
Xericulture: Utilizing water-thrifty gardening techniques
Low-to-no tillage: Avoiding tilling, which fosters erosion and disrupts below-ground microbial and invertebrate communities
Intentional overplanting/Intercropping: Planting different species closely together enhances soil health
Sequential blooming: Feeding pollinators by selecting plants that bloom sequentially from March to November
Mulching options: Emphasizing no-cost options including leaf litter, wastepaper, and plants that serve as "living mulch"
Composting options: Demonstrating no-turn compost and pit compost
Leave the leaves: Leaving some leaves, twigs and stalks for overwintering insects
Microclimate adaptation: Siting plants based on microlocal differences in temperature, moisture, and light
Students gardening in April 2023
Student volunteers care for the garden and create the plant monographs. Gardening volunteer opportunities are available. Please email Dr. Fugh-Berman at ajf29@georgetown.edu if interested.
To learn more about our M.S. programs in Pharmacology and Physiology, please see the Department of Pharmacology & Physiology.
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