Ready to grow at Meadow Brook

Gardening is already considered ‘green.? Laura Kwiatkowski took it a step further.
The 21-year-old Brandon High School graduate joined Oakland University’s Summer Student Campus Corps this season. The senior is in charge of Meadow Brook Hall’s landscape sustainability project.
‘I’ve tried to grow organically in my home garden, using no pesticides or artificial fertilizer, but now I’ve done research to do it differently,? Kwiatkowski said.
The bio-chem major said she took the initiative to research various organic gardening techniques.
‘If I come across a disease or a bug that I don’t know, I look it up,? she said.
Kwiatkowski is assisting the Meadow Brook Hall Garden Club in sustaining organic compost piles, as well.
The Meadow Brook gardens are currently growing vegetables, including tomatoes, cilantro, basil, sage, rosemary, bell peppers, eggplant, chives and pumpkins. Meadow Brook Hall’s chef will use them in future dishes.
Beyond nutritional value, the gardens Kwiatkowski oversees add beauty to the OU campus.
‘Anyone who goes to OU can get free tours of the Hall, and the gardens are public areas,? she said. ‘I didn’t know much about them before I got this job, but I wish I had.?
Part of Kwiatkowski’s mission is to get the word out about the gardens.
‘They’re so beautiful,? she said.
Kwiatkowski said she will continue her work with Meadow Brook Hall’s grounds throughout the fall, when the plants stop producing fruit. She will graduate OU in May, looking into graduate schools for naturopathic medicine.