Students at the University of Tennessee who lack space to garden can now reserve a growing spot inside the Pendergrass Agriculture & Veterinary Medicine Library. The library opened its indoor hydroponic garden on the Knoxville campus Wednesday, letting students grow fruits, vegetables and herbs from seeds in the library’s collection.
Hydroponics grows plants in a water-based mineral solution instead of soil, according to The Daily Beacon. Students can take seeds from the Pendergrass Seed Library and reserve space in the garden; when full, the system can produce around 40 pounds of food, the student newspaper reported.
Bokeuim Yeom, the library's public services and engagement librarian, said the project is intended to make growing plants more accessible. “We want to encourage people to grow their own plants,” Yeom said.
Built for Students Without a Backyard
The project reportedly took around three months to develop, with its grand opening in early November. The Daily Beacon reported that it received a grant through the Student Environmental Initiatives Fund (SEIF). UT’s Office of Sustainability describes SEIF as supporting sustainability-related projects that enhance campus operations; its public description does not specify the garden’s award amount.
Dameon Binion, Pendergrass's evening supervisor, said the library saw a need among students living in dorms who wanted to garden but lacked room. He said campus garden plots are not a practical option for everyone, and the indoor setup is intended to offer another way to grow.
Binion said students can reserve a growing spot much as they would check out a book. The library sees the garden as one way to respond to the needs of the people who use it.
Part of a Bigger Hands-On Food Mission
The hydroponic garden is designed to connect students to the food system through practical education and self-sufficient agriculture, rather than simply handing out produce. That mirrors groundwork UT Libraries has already laid with its seed-to-pantry efforts; the Pendergrass Seed Library has been open to all staff and students since at least 2024, part of a campus push the library has described as addressing food access issues on campus while enhancing student experiential learning.
UT's existing Grow Lab, a living laboratory that started in spring 2018, promotes a similar blend of experiential learning and ecological food production, and its harvests are eventually delivered to the Big Orange Pantry, a campus resource for those in need of food support, according to UT Libraries. The new indoor garden gives students another, more accessible entry point into that same hands-on food system, without requiring a plot of actual earth.
Hydroponics itself is not new or unique to Knoxville. The practice allows food crops to grow almost anywhere, including aboard the International Space Station, and several other universities have already built their own versions of the concept. Troy University's library partnered with its Office of Civic Engagement to grow food hydroponically, with its first harvest of lettuce handed out to students along with recipes, according to Troy University. Ohio University installed indoor gardens in two residential dining areas to educate students and supply its food pantry, Cats' Cupboard, with salad greens, tomatoes and strawberries, per Ohio University. At Rutgers–New Brunswick, a student-run system called Agoraponic Farms produces about 10 pounds of fresh produce a month for roughly 100 students, according to Rutgers' Division of Student Affairs, with student organizers there saying the approach uses significantly less water than traditional farming and can produce food year-round.
Pendergrass Library serves students, faculty, staff and the public seeking information tied to UT's Institute of Agriculture and its two colleges, a mission that now extends a little further into the realm of hands-on food production. For students stuck in a dorm room with no dirt in sight, the new hydroponic setup offers something closer to a backyard garden than anything the campus has offered before.
