Kiosks and Signs
A series of information kiosks and signs are being developed throughout the garden for wayfinding and as a means to explain garden features and how the garden works. This information is being developed as student projects. There are three levels of signage, the large, colorful panels, moveable metal signs that explain techniques or things to observe of a more transient nature and plant signs that give the names of the various plants growing in the garden.
Enabling Tools Display
Enabling tools are tools that make gardening easier for people with special needs. Examples are pruning shears with a ratchet joint that require less strength to operate, light-weight garden tools, cut and hold shears, tools with adjustable handle lengths, devices to aid planting seeds and tools with contrasting colors.
Special Events Canopy
Special events are held at the garden at various times throughout the year. The canopy provides a focal point for these events as well as a shelter. If your organization is interested in renting the garden for a special event, please see that section of this web page.
Red Barn
The barn is divided into three sections. The main section is for storage of supplies and equipment and a work bench for repairs. One side annex is for garden tools and the other is for tillers and other power equipment.
Produce Handling Facility
This sheltered area is for cleaning, trimming, weighing and packing produce that is to be sent to the serveries. It also serves as a work area for seeding transplants and other garden activities.
Outdoor Kitchen
The produce handling facility can be turned into an outdoor kitchen. Kitchen utensils and other supplies are stored in sealed plastic bins in cabinets under the stainless steel counter top.
Compost Facility
The garden produces a lot of refuse that is composted. In addition, pre-meal produce trimmings are brought to the garden from the serveries and mixed with tree leaves to make compost. This is done in the compost facility which consists of a series of bins which are used as needed to make batches of compost. Compost is made aerobically in batches and each batch heats to 140 to 150 degrees so that the compost is naturally pasteurized.
Chicken Coop
To help show the integration of animals in agriculture, the garden maintains a small flock of chickens. The chickens provide eggs for the garden’s activities. Chicken manure is rich and used for garden plots after it has been composted.
Rainwater Harvest Tank
This tank harvests rainwater from the barn roof. Rainwater is pure, free of additives and very good for plants. We cannot harvest enough in the 700-gallon tank for the whole garden but it is especially useful for seedlings and container plants and on those occasions when the primary water source to the garden is cut off.
Tool-Washing Station
Clean tools do not spread disease from one plant to another or from one garden bed to another. All tools are washed at the end of each lab or when garden activities move from one plot to another.
Pergola
The pergola is used for garden activities and programs. The benches were gifted to the garden in honor of loved ones who have passed. The trumpet vines being trained on the pergola are magnets for hummingbirds.
Greenhouse
The garden is designed to be off the power grid. In keeping with this goal, the garden’s greenhouse is solar. In the winter the sun’s rays warm the air in the greenhouse. This warmth is also taken up by the water in the blue barrels, warmth that is released as the temperature drops at night. The third heating source is an aerobic compost bin that runs the length of the greenhouse. This compost bin generates the extra heat needed to get the greenhouse through times the outdoor temperature drops to below the freezing mark.
Nursery Benches
The garden produces thousands of plants each year, for use in the garden and in student projects. Many of these plants are also sold to the public in the garden’s plant sales. This is a great educational experience for students and a way to make garden-tested plants available to local gardeners.
Plant Sale Benches
The garden holds large plant sales at four times each year, but there are always surplus plants year-round that are offered to the public. These sale plants are displayed on these benches between the wood fence and pergola in a self-serve sale.
Apiary
The garden maintains bees to pollinate the fruit crops that require pollination. The bees are the main focus of the Rice U. Bee Club and maintained by the students.
Story-Telling Area
This area is designed to provide seating for groups visiting the garden and for storytelling. It is the Sarah Novak Story Telling Area, being named after an elementary school teacher who loved to teach gardening to her special education classes and tell stories to her children.
Shepherd Compost Bin
The Shepherd Compost Bin was donated to the garden by the C. E. Shepherd Company in Houston. This very durable, flexible bin is used to make compost for the garden and illustrates another way to make compost in a home garden.