A jungle of tree branches tied together with strips of fabric protects and supports Anquan Zhang’s 20 or so varieties of produce.

In another garden, flattened cardboard boxes shield delicate young plants from the wind. Nearby scarecrows ward off blackbirds.

Zhang, a second-year doctoral student in educational psychology, is one of about 40 Evergreen Terrace residents who take advantage of a plot of land provided by the university to grow whatever type of produce their heart desires.

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About 40 gardens live side by side, divided by chicken wire and plastic fences, forming what Evergreen Terrace assistant program coordinator Jamie Corr describes as a “patchwork quilt.”

He said he grows more than 20 varieties of plants, including potatoes, peas, tomatoes, cabbage, squash, Chinese spinach and several varieties of melon native to his homeland – China.

Elyse Crowell, the Evergreen Terrace resident manager, said the Evergreen Terrace residents are a diverse group and many of the residents use the gardens to grow plants native to their countries as well as vegetables they’ve learned to like in the United States.

Zhang said he enjoys gardening, but that’s not the only reason he spends so much time in his garden.

“Some of the vegetables are not so available here,” Zhang said. “In larger cities you can buy them at international groceries, but this area is more rural.”

His garden provides him with more than just otherwise unavailable produce.

“There’s a lot of community here,” he said. The gardening community exchanges everything from advice to excess produce. Corr said they would also host a scarecrow contest in July for anyone who wants to participate.

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Crowell said the gardens are free to use for those who live in Evergreen Terrace residences, which house university families.

Corr said the area office provides water and compost and prepares the gardens each year, but the planting and care are up to the residents themselves.

She said the gardens – which have doubled in number over the past 20 years – provide different things for different people.

For some it’s a stress reliever, for others it’s a hobby and for some it’s a chance to learn something new, she said.

Corr got her own start at the Terrace gardens.

She began working at SIUC more than 20 years ago and teamed up with two friends who were also unfamiliar with gardening. They each bought their own plants to fill their shared plot of land.

“We all bought tomato plants,” Corr said. “We each bought about nine.”

Corr said she and her friends went through the garden about three times a day picking the vegetables, and would walk through Evergreen Terrace with a wheelbarrow full of tomatoes, giving them to friends and neighbors.

Fellow gardeners taught her how to can tomatoes and make spaghetti sauce.

“We made everything you possibly could from tomatoes and still gave away tons of tomatoes,” Corr said.

She has been in charge of the gardens ever since. “There’s a story in every single plot,” Corr said.

Sarah Lohman can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 254 or [email protected].