Garden Ecology Lab

Studying the plants, insects, microbes, and decisions that improve or degrade a garden’s ability to promote environmental and human health.

Research

Our current projects focus on native plant - pollinator interactions, microbes in garden soils, urban agriculture and food production, and garden biodiversity. We work directly with gardeners to identify high priority projects that align with our areas of expertise. We are always on the lookout for new projects, but need to consider new projects in the context of current lab capacity, expertise, and funding.

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Teaching 

Teaching is a core component of the Garden Ecology Lab mission. Our group teaches credit, non-credit, and community classes on a variety of topics related to gardening and urban agriculture. Effective and supportive mentoring of undergraduate and graduate students is central to our work.

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From our Blog

Garden Ecology Lab

Garden Ecology Lab Feed

Plant of the Week: Purple Coneflower

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Nov 6, 2025

This entry in our “Plant of the Week” series is written by Georgia Vatcoskay, an undergraduate research assistant and Botany and Plant Pathology student at Oregon State University. Purple coneflower, also known as Echinacea purpurea (Asteraceae), is a popular perennial herb that sprouts showy blooms from late spring to late summer. This plant is native […]

Tips for Removing Plastic Mulch from Garden Soils

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Oct 25, 2025

As Gail discussed in her blog post Plastic Pollution in the Garden, plastics have become ubiquitous in gardens. While there is still much to be learned in terms of how plastic contamination impacts soil (and garden) health, I’d like to discuss some tips I have for removing one of the common forms of plastic which […]

Plastic Pollution in the Garden

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Oct 9, 2025

This article was originally written for and published in the HPSO Quarterly Magazine, and was greatly improved by the suggestions of the HPSO editorial team. In a follow up post, M.S. student Anna Perry will share her best tips for removing plastic from garden soils. Plastic pollution now represents one of society’s greatest environmental challenges. […]

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