The University’s East Campus might be getting a new agricultural landmark in the fall thanks to the efforts of Athens P.L.A.C.E. and the student organization UGArden.

“We’re asking permission to have a highly visible educational garden on UGA’s main campus,” said Craig Page, executive director of Athens Promoting Local Agriculture & Cultural Experience, in a telephone interview.

Page, along with the officers of UGArden, submitted their completed proposal to the grounds department of the Physical Plant June 1. Page said the proposal lists three possible locations for a campus-community vegetable garden – near the Ramsey Center, in the Geography/Geology quad or on North Campus at Lumpkin Street.

Page said the garden will be “following organic guidelines, but will not seek certification.” He hopes creating positions such as garden manager can provide students internship opportunities.

P.L.A.C.E. and UGArden will partner with Southern Seed Legacy, a nonprofit seed networking and exchange project, Page said. SSL, housed in Baldwin Hall as part of the anthropology department, will be “providing [the garden] with some seeds for the communal plot,” and the garden will in turn be able to help “maintain their living seed bank.”

Cara Sipprelle, a graduate student from Los Angeles and employee of SSL said she saw this as a “really great opportunity to provide seeds to a great organization.” Most of the seeds SSL has are “adapted to the Athens climate” and will grow well in the garden.

Chris Cary, a senior from Leesburg, said UGArden is proposing a “nominal participation fee” in order for “gardeneers” to have an individual plot.

The fee will cover seeds, soil and other inputs, and UGArden’s goal is to have the fee be less than $20, he said. Cary said the garden is open to anyone in the Athens community and students do not have to major in an agricultural field to participate.

The garden will be a combination of a communal and individual plots. Its dimensions are to be determined by the Physical Plant.

The garden is the brainchild of Morgan Fleming, a University alumnus from Suwanee. Fleming said the garden will have a centerpiece that will be a place for students to study and teachers to hold class.

Last fall, the Physical Plant paid for the Ecology Club to go to a sustainability conference at Atlanta’s Spelman College.

After hearing about Emory University’s community gardens, “I said, ‘Hey, that’s a really cool idea,’” Fleming said.

Liberty Newberry, a senior from Asheville, N.C., said a main goal of UGArden is outreach, especially to students in on-campus housing who do not have green-space. She hopes UGArden will help to get other students and organizations involved in working in the garden.

Atlanta sophomore Jenny Brickman said UGArden will “raise awareness about food issues on campus and publicize the garden.”

She said UGArden has a few program ideas in the works, including a sustainable food fair and donating some food from the communal plot to local charities.

“I hope that it would make students see that it is possible to eat more locally grown food,” she said.

Physical Plant director Dexter Adams said the Physical Plant has been working with UGArden and P.L.A.C.E. and seen the draft of the garden proposal, but the proposal has not been “officially received.”

Once approved by the Physical Plant, the proposal must also be looked at by campus planners, Adams said. If it is approved after this stage, Adams said the role of the Physical Plant in the garden would mostly be supportive.

He said they would work with the two groups on the design of the garden to make sure it “all adds up with the campus landscape,” and the Physical Plant would provide materials such as soil and compost.

They will also work to figure out how water will be provided to the garden.

Adams said he hopes the garden will “open some eyes” and give students an opportunity to “dig in and get their fingernails dirty.”