The garden on the rooftop of the Tony and Libba Rane Culinary Science Center does more than provide food and adornments for guests of its signature restaurant, 1856, The Laurel Hotel & Spa and Ariccia Cucina Italiana.

The 4,400-square-foot garden on the Walt and Ginger Woltosz Rooftop Terrace, named through a gift from the couple, is also collaborative work space for the College of Human Sciences’ Horst Schulze School of Hospitality Management, the College of Agriculture’s Department of Horticulture, and Ithaka Hospitality Partners.

And that is likely just the beginning.

“We are always looking to collaborate with other programs on campus,” said Susan Hubbard, dean of the College of Human Sciences. “The College of Agriculture brings the expertise needed to support this aspect of the roof-to-table concept, elevating the academic experience for students in both horticulture and hospitality management. We see this as the beginning of integrating more programs within human sciences and across campus.”

Jack Maruna, a 2018 agriculture graduate and consulting project manager for horticulture, agrees that the garden poses a number of opportunities for future collaboration.

“We are already talking about mental health benefits of being in a garden and how to involve psychology,” he said. “We have partners in entomology that can do research on the difference in pest pressure between traditional and urban agriculture. Our friends at the bee lab will be able to study the impact of a rooftop garden on our local pollinators. Biosystems engineering students that are employed and working on the rooftop can help with irrigation systems and future projects.”

Desmond Layne, professor and head of the Department of Horticulture, also sees a bright future. He said land-grant universities like Auburn have been pioneers in testing and developing new concepts and providing research-based agricultural solutions for decades.

“Urban and rooftop farming is a new frontier, and Auburn is on the forefront,” he said. “My hope is that we will write the first textbook, host the first national conference and be the go-to place for others to learn.”

Starting from seed

The initial collaboration between human sciences and agriculture started about a year ago when Paul Patterson, dean of the College of Agriculture, and Layne were invited to meet with Hubbard; Martin O’Neill, head of the Schulze School; and Hans van der Reijden, founder and CEO of Ithaka Hospitality Partners, the hospitality management company behind The Hotel at Auburn University and Dixon Conference Center and the Tony and Libba Rane Culinary Science Center.

The arrangement was for the two colleges to develop and manage a garden on the roof of the Rane Center, which was under construction. The garden’s produce would be used six floors below in the cutting-edge culinary laboratories and in 1856 – Culinary Residence, the center’s teaching restaurant.

“How many aspiring chefs at other schools are going to know that experience, are going to know about the growing process?” asked O’Neill. “There are few schools that have that type of engagement, let alone a rooftop garden that serves an entire building.”

Van der Reijden said the restaurant itself is a first-of-its-kind facility because of its concept: an a la carte menu for lunch and a tasting menu for dinner, which is seven to nine courses.

Chef Tyler Lyne, co-owner of Tasting TBL in Birmingham and the center’s first chef-in-residence, controls the menu. Lyne said the chef-in-residence program puts “real-world professionals in a teaching environment,” which doesn’t happen elsewhere.

Van der Reijden called the rooftop garden an asset because it gives new meaning to “locally sourced.” As farm-to-table or farm-to-fork concepts are popular across the country, Auburn has created a “rooftop-to-fork” concept, and “it’s only an elevator ride away.”

Daniel Wells, associate professor of horticulture, Jack Maruna, consulting project manager, and Desmond Layne, professor and head of the Department of Horticulture, are part of the team that works with the College of Human Sciences and Ithaka Hospitality Partners to develop and maintain the garden atop the Tony and Libba Rane Culinary Science Center. (contributed)

Experiential learning

At the core of this collaboration is an experiential learning opportunity for Auburn students.

Maruna put it simply: “This rooftop gives us the opportunity to show our students all that it takes to get food from the ground to someone’s plate.”

He and two horticulture master’s students visit the garden a couple of times a day, seven days a week. The graduate students conduct their own research and supervise undergraduate students, who help maintain the garden.

Mackenzie Pennington is one of the master’s students under Daniel Wells, associate professor of horticulture. Her thesis revolves around the different fertilizer methods being used in the rooftop garden.

An environmental scientist at heart, Pennington was attracted to the project because it combined her interest in agriculture and sustainable food production.

“With the collaboration, I hope I will be able to understand the needs of chefs and accommodate them more accurately to eliminate so much food waste,” she said.

The spectacular view from the Walt and Ginger Woltosz Rooftop Terrace, on top of the Tony and Libba Rane Culinary Science Center, includes Auburn’s iconic Samford Hall. (contributed)

Maggie Mayfield, a senior in the hospitality management program, is in the Food and Beverage Management course, which includes different roles at 1856.

“As a culinary student, I believe it would be highly beneficial to interact with the horticulture students and spend time in the gardens, learning about seed to table,” she said. “A well-rounded understanding of the foods being grown on the rooftop and how they are used on the various dishes in the restaurant will expand our knowledge and enhance our guests’ experience.”

Wells called it a “world-class experience” for horticulture students to work in the rooftop garden.

“Their daily experiences range from pure horticulture like planting, pruning, staking, fertilizing, watering, scouting, et cetera, to other critically important experiences, like developing communication and teamwork skills and troubleshooting unique problems,” he said.

There is potential for cross-training of disciplines in the future. But for now, Wells and Pennington said the horticulture students learn about the culinary sciences when hospitality management classes visit the roof.

“There are often herbs and items we have grown that I have never heard of, but I get to see how they use it and learn how to grow something new,” Pennington said.

Horticulture students learn about culinary arts when they visit a kitchen on the first floor and see how the plants are prepared.

“I would love to learn more about the flavors of vegetables and herbs,” Pennington said. “What makes vegetables taste better on our end of the production? What parts have the most flavor? Could I do something to enhance the flavor?”

Maruna appreciated the garden as a practical application of classroom knowledge.

“Obviously, learning in the classroom setting is important, but there is something very special about giving our students the opportunity to have hands-on experiences on the rooftop,” he said. “Underneath the umbrella of urban agriculture, our students participate in irrigation, pest management, garden design, nutrient management and greenhouse-growing practices.”

The garden on the Walt and Ginger Woltosz Rooftop Terrace, on top of the Tony and Libba Rane Culinary Science Center, features plants and flowers that can be used in cooking or as decorations on the tables in 1856 – Culinary Residence or throughout The Laurel Hotel & Spa. (contributed)

Growing a garden

Some of the plants in the rooftop garden came from Bonnie Plants in Opelika, which made a donation to the project. Others were purchased from local nurseries or were started from seed in campus greenhouses and transplanted to the roof.

“The garden looks more developed this way, as opposed to simply planting seeds and waiting for them to germinate, like in a home garden,” Layne said.

The garden is composed of sections, each a raised bed with sidewalls of concrete.

The garden on top of the Tony and Libba Rane Culinary Science Center is meant to be functional and beautiful all year long. (contributed)

Beds are filled about 3 feet deep with a rooftop-growing media substrate, like soil.

Horticulture faculty and staff chose the ornamental and food plants featured in the garden. All fruits, vegetables and herbs are edible, while other plants have edible parts. While some flowers can be used in cooking, they are more likely to become fresh decorations on the tables in 1856 and Ariccia and in the guest rooms of The Laurel Hotel & Spa. They might even be a garnish for a cocktail.

Layne and Maruna said communication with Lyne and the kitchen staff in 1856 and Chef Leonardo Maurelli and the kitchen staff at Ariccia has been constant.

“The regular communication helps to make sure that we know their needs in advance, and we keep them up to date on what is going to be ready so they can plan to use particular items on the menus,” Layne said.

The communication was crucial when the available plants changed from summer crops to cool-season varieties. For example, zinnias have been replaced with pansies; peppers with kale and broccoli.

While a home garden would typically be turned in late fall and replanted in the spring, the rooftop garden doesn’t have that option.

“One of our biggest challenges is the fact that the rooftop needs to be beautiful first and productive second,” said Maruna.

Students and faculty continue to develop and maintain the garden on the Walt and Ginger Woltosz Rooftop Terrace. The 4,400-square-foot garden is visited daily to ensure the space is not only beautiful but functional for the culinary laboratories and teaching restaurant below. (contributed)

Many challenges

Standing higher than all other buildings in Auburn, the view from the Rane Center rooftop is simply spectacular. The well-kept garden adds much to beautify the surroundings. Yet, the rooftop location continually poses challenges.

Maruna admitted to being grateful they had a period to spend in the garden before the Rane Center officially opened in early fall. That time was spent in trial and error. Some plants flourished, and those that didn’t were replaced.

“We struggled through the summer with certain crops. Even varieties of tomatoes that were made to withstand heat didn’t thrive on the roof,” he said. “The combination of wind, sun and intense summer storms made it difficult to grow fruiting crops. We were very successful with bell peppers and certain varieties of squash. We now have a better idea of what we are going to do for next summer, though.”

The time also allowed the horticulture team to try four irrigation systems before they found the right one. Maruna said not all plants needed to be irrigated the same amount, so some plants received hand watering, and others received more fertilizer than the rest.

The 3 feet of substrate posed its own test.

“We were challenged to figure out how to water the plants, given the depth of the growing medium and how it holds water relative to normal soil,” Layne said. “The substrate tends to drain faster and dry more quickly. We found we needed to use pine straw on top to reduce evaporative water loss and irrigate more frequently, because it doesn’t hold the water really well.”

The weather was a major challenge. Alabama is notorious for having summer days of intense sunshine, high humidity and oppressive temperatures without much rainfall.

“We’re 120 feet up in the air. We’re higher than all the water towers around here, so water had to be pumped up to us,” Maruna said.

Waist-high glass walls surround the rooftop, but they don’t stop the wind from blowing through, sometimes with great intensity.

“We get pop-up storms in Alabama within a few minutes, and it’s much more intense up here than it is on the ground,” Maruna said. “Multiple times we came up here after a pop-up storm and were disappointed by the damage that it did. But we always have to be ready with off-site plans so that if something like that happens, we’re able to replace it almost immediately.”

This story originally appeared on Auburn University’s website.