Delaware County Community College students are digging into innovative gardening techniques — without getting their hands dirty.

A collaboration of several campus clubs is cultivating a soilless hydroponic garden that’s sustainable and more efficient than a traditional garden, according to a recent announcement.

“It’s important to show students that you don’t have to have a lawn to grow your own vegetables and be sustainable. It’s possible to do something like this,” Modern Environmental Sustainability Association Vice President Ryan Potts said.

The joint venture with the Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics club aims to reap a harvest of bok choy, kale, Romaine lettuce, Swiss chard and other vegetables from a mineral nutrient solution and water that fosters faster-growing and healthier plants that use less water, don’t contribute to topsoil erosion and require little to no pesticides compared to soil gardening.

“We’re showing on a small scale that we can build community and collaborations with other clubs,” MESA Faculty Advisor Matthew Wilsey-Cleveland said.

The students will also harvest data on the plants and their growing conditions for further research and subsequent lab experiments by other science students, and the resulting produce will be offered freely to the college community, with any leftovers to be donated to a local food bank.