{"id":4892,"date":"2024-04-10T01:33:00","date_gmt":"2024-04-10T01:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/?post_type=purduetoday&p=4892"},"modified":"2024-08-03T20:36:12","modified_gmt":"2024-08-04T00:36:12","slug":"citi-sci-gardening-for-science-experiment-focuses-on-gardening-preferences-and-effects-on-mental-health-seeks-participants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/2024\/Q2\/citi-sci-gardening-for-science-experiment-focuses-on-gardening-preferences-and-effects-on-mental-health-seeks-participants","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Citi-Sci: Gardening for Science!\u2019 experiment focuses on gardening preferences and effects on mental health, seeks participants"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.<\/strong> \u2014 Gardeners at any level are invited to join\u00a0Purdue University Extension<\/a>, the University of Tennessee, Iowa State University and North Carolina State University for the third year of the citizen-science experiment called \u201cCiti-Sci: Gardening for Science!\u201d from May through September 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gardeners or citizen-scientists who participate, dubbed \u201cciti-scientists,\u201d will have the opportunity to grow four different types of plants \u2014 two strawberry and two marigold plants \u2014 some with edible flowers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Celina Gomez<\/a>, associate professor of controlled environment agriculture in Purdue\u2019s Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture and experiment coordinator, seeks to gain information for their industry stakeholders, who are greenhouse growers. She says, \u201cWe want to better understand consumer preferences and challenges with gardening. For example, is there value in selling containers of strawberry or marigold plants with different colors versus one color?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data will be collected through surveys. Plants will be provided at no cost to citi-scientists helping to gauge gardener preferences and challenges. Along with the plants and other materials needed for the experiment, participants will have access to monthly educational sessions led by researchers from each institution\u2019s extension department. Session topics will cover pest management, healthy cooking and nutrition, and mental health.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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Gardeners or citizen-scientists who participate, dubbed \u201cciti-scientists,\u201d will have the opportunity to grow four different types of plants \u2014 two strawberry and two marigold plants \u2014 some with edible flowers. (Photo provided by Michael Fidler)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cThis experiment is a chance for the community to be involved in science,\u201d says Michael Fidler<\/a>, Purdue horticulture and landscape architecture master\u2019s student and graduate research assistant, who leads the experiment with Gomez. \u201cWhile the data we collect and research we conduct in this field is valuable, we sometimes forget about the human aspect. This is a chance to take part in the scientific process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gomez adds, \u201cThis year, we will also focus more on the psychological aspects of gardening, specifically how participating in a community-oriented project like this can positively impact your mental health.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those interested in participating can sign up online<\/a> by April 26. The experiment is open to all, requiring only a small, sunny place for plants to grow from each citi-scientist. If selected for the research project, participants will receive plant pickup dates, location details and more information with additional resources. Contact Gomez at citi-sci@purdue.edu<\/a> or 765-494-4443 for any questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About Purdue University<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Purdue University is a public research institution demonstrating excellence at scale. Ranked among top 10 public universities and with two colleges in the top four in the United States, Purdue discovers and disseminates knowledge with a quality and at a scale second to none. More than 105,000 students study at Purdue across modalities and locations, including nearly 50,000 in person on the West Lafayette campus. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue\u2019s main campus has frozen tuition 13 years in a row. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap \u2014 including its first comprehensive urban campus in Indianapolis, the new Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business, and Purdue Computes \u2014 at https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/president\/strategic-initiatives<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Agriculture News Page<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. \u2014 Gardeners at any level are invited to join\u00a0Purdue University Extension, the University of Tennessee, Iowa State University and North Carolina State University for the third year of the citizen-science experiment called \u201cCiti-Sci: Gardening for Science!\u201d from<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":4893,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"department":[6,138],"source":[29],"purdue_today_topic":[],"coauthors":[75],"class_list":["post-4892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","department-agriculture","department-extension","source-purdue-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4892"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7779,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4892\/revisions\/7779"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4892"},{"taxonomy":"department","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/department?post=4892"},{"taxonomy":"source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/source?post=4892"},{"taxonomy":"purdue_today_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/purdue_today_topic?post=4892"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=4892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}