Revisiting the secret garden: (de)territorialising student transience through stories from a university garden

Purpose This paper aims to explore burgeoning becomings of university students who participated in a university community garden project during and after the Covid-19 pandemic. The problem of student engagement at universities was amplified by the pandemic worldwide. Design/methodology/approach Using posthumanist Deluzean rhizoanalysis, the authors map the emergence of a sustainable community through qualitative semi-structured interviews into university students’ voluntary participation in a Community Garden (CG). Findings Yet this research found that the garden became a home for transient and often marginalised students as it decentred normative conceptions of university space. Research limitations/implications The authors acknowledge that this small research project involving one university CG took place on the lands of the Noongar nation whose custodianship of the land and waters reflected the intertwinings of all living and non-living elements and of continues to inform sustainable practices. Practical implications CGs offer important opportunities for students to learn about biodiversity, native and non-native food plants and gain the skills necessary for participating in sustainable futures. Social implications Moreover, this study highlights the opportunities and challenges for university CGs, offering insight into what initially attracted students to become involved and what kept them gardening through troubling times. Originality/value Whilst much research has been done on the social emotional and physical benefits of CGs, this study adds to the discourse by highlighting the how CGs as deterritorialised places offer divergent spaces for students identifying as neurodivergent and LGBTQIA+.