UT Library Debuts Indoor Hydroponic Garden
The Pendergrass Agriculture & Veterinary Medicine Library opened an LED-lit hydroponic garden on the University of Tennessee campus, letting students grow produce.
Updated on Nov. 13, 2026 in Gardening
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Pendergrass Agriculture & Veterinary Medicine Library debuted an indoor hydroponic garden on the University of Tennessee campus on a Wednesday afternoon. UT students can reserve growing spaces to plant fruits, vegetables and herbs from the Pendergrass Seed Library.
Why it matters
The garden reflects the library's mission to meet patrons' needs, including students who live in dorms without room to grow their own food. For Knoxville residents near campus, it offers a model of soil-free growing in a small space.
The garden can produce around 40 pounds of food when completely full, and it took about three months to move from concept to completion. Its exact harvest volumes and reservation numbers have not yet been reported.
The players
Pendergrass Agriculture & Veterinary Medicine Library
The University of Tennessee library serving agriculture and veterinary medicine programs, which hosts the new hydroponic garden and the Pendergrass Seed Library.
University of Tennessee
A public research university in Knoxville, Tennessee, whose campus hosts the library and the new indoor garden.
The details
The garden uses LED lights and stacked growing plots near the library entrance, with plants growing in containers filled with a nutrient-rich water-based solution rather than soil. The project is funded by a grant from the Student Environmental Initiatives Fund and had its grand opening in early November.
Timeline
Approximately three months before opening: planning and creation of the garden began.
Early November 2026: grand opening of the indoor hydroponic garden.
Wednesday, November 11, 2026: the garden debuted on campus in the afternoon.
Roadmap
Hydroponics, a soil-free method also used to grow plants aboard the International Space Station, is now being applied in a campus library. The garden shows how the technique can move from specialized research settings into everyday community use.
Students who live in dorms can reserve growing spaces to plant herbs, vegetables and fruits from the Pendergrass Seed Library without needing outdoor room or soil. Readers interested in trying hydroponics at home can use the garden's water-based approach as a starting point for small indoor setups.
The takeaway
Growing food without soil is practical in small spaces, and campus programs like this one show how students can access it. Readers with limited room can explore similar indoor approaches to grow their own herbs and vegetables.
Further reading
For more on soil-free methods, see Gardening in our home coverage.
Source note: This article includes information reported by The Daily Beacon.
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Would you grow your own food indoors if you had space to do it?
