U. of Kansas expands its rooftop garden

May 20—Focus groups have shown that students at University of Kansas, in Lawrence, prefer eating food from a local source, Janna Traver says. Well, it doesn’t get much more local than the Kansas Union's rooftop garden, which just got its biggest expansion since the garden began.

The expansion was made possible by some new space on the Union’s sixth floor provided by the University Women’s Club. They expect its output of herbs and tomatoes to roughly double during this growing season. The expansion came at a cost of about $600 to fill seven barrels, 14 irrigating earth boxes, 22 five-gallon buckets and three pots. Workers hope for it to produce 100 pounds of herbs and tomatoes this year. Plans are for it to begin providing herbs for the residence-hall dining areas on campus, Traver said, cutting down on costs and reducing energy usage.