New and seasoned gardeners joined forces at the opening of Penn State's first organic community garden Saturday afternoon.

The grid-form garden is at the Center for Sustainability, off Porter Road near Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.

The event included three learning sessions: Introduction to Organic Gardening, Planning and Planting your Garden Plot, and Garden Rules and Guidelines.

Members of the Sustainable Agriculture Club are going to have additional workshops through the summer to help anyone who seeks further guidance, according to its Web site.

There are 98 plots reserved, said Jackie Yenerall, a member of the Sustainable Agriculture Club and one of the garden's developers. The Center for Sustainability offered this portion of land to the club last year.

Yenerall said she has recently received about 10 emails inquiring about plots, but there is a 57 person wait-list to obtain a spot in the garden.

Currently, they are not adding anyone to the wait-list, she said. However, 11 people on the wait-list did get into the garden because some people with plots decided not to stay during the summer.

The method of organic gardening will be "in-ground," Yenerall added. Seeds don't have to be organic, but once they are planted, the rest of the process must be organic, with no synthetic fertilizers or pesticides allowed.

"Organic seeds and transplants are difficult to find and expensive," she said.

Kristen Hychka (graduate-geography) said she will use the garden as an escape this summer when she writes her dissertation.

Hychka had a small garden at her house once but isn't too familiar with organic methods. Luckily, the community garden supplies members with tools, water and compost.

Cathy Cohan, senior research coordinator in the psychology department, looks forward to growing "a little bit of everything," adding her home in Lemont is near woods and too shady for planting.

The Center for Sustainability, which owns the plot, could alter the location slightly so a temporary fence now surrounds the garden. Yenerall said she hopes to make the garden permanent by next year, she said.