Hi! We all know and love the benefits of gardening with youth, but starting a garden or embarking on a new garden project can be daunting and maybe even downright scary! Gathering all of the information and resources to do a garden project well takes time and energy, maybe more time and energy than you have available. I wanted to share one of my experiences involving area experts to make this process easier and hopefully inspire some of you!
Take, for example, installing a rain garden. Maybe you have an area in your garden that doesn't drain well, and you wonder if a rain garden would help the situation. First, you'll need to research rain gardens to learn how they work and determine if a rain garden is the answer to your drainage problem. Then you would measure the space, possibly determine the slope of the area, and then sketch out a rain garden design. Next, you'll identify the hardscape materials you'll need, create a plant list, maybe write a grant for the materials, gather the materials, and then find the people to help install the rain garden. Finally, you'll install the garden and use it with students. Then comes maintaining the space… Whew, I'm exhausted and overwhelmed just thinking about all of the work involved!!
So how can this rain garden become a reality without you having to work overtime becoming a rain garden expert or dreaming about rain gardens every night?! Of course, you can take advantage of this authentic learning opportunity and engage students in as much of the process as possible, resulting in rich learning. But you will likely need help from experts along the way. So who do you call?
When we needed to solve a drainage problem in our school garden, we reached out to our local soil and water conservation district. A conservation specialist came out to our site, and we talked about the issue and our goals. They suggested a solution, drew up a sketch, shared details on amending the soil and reinforcing the sides of the rain garden, and they offered guidance on rain garden plants.
Next, we reached out to the local extension service to connect with the Master Gardeners and we called our town's garden club. Through these groups we found volunteers who had experience creating rain gardens, had deep knowledge of native plants, and who were butterfly experts! They had connections with another conservation organization in our area that hooked us up with FREE PLANTS! For even more help, we reached out to a local native plant nursery that gave us a discount on plants and further advised on options for our rain garden.
For the installation, one of our garden moms had a brother who owns his own landscaping company, and he brought machinery to carve out the rain gardens for us at no cost.
We were strongly supported by experts in the design and installation of our rain garden, and we could rest assured that the rain garden we installed was well-planned and would last! I can't say that as a project leader I didn't dream about the rain garden or spend a lot of hours on the project, but our school garden team certainly didn't have to go it alone!
We were lucky to have all of these experts within a 20 minute drive from us, but even if you don't have experts nearby, resources likely exist in your state that will be glad to offer help. Your state's extension service is a great place to start, and they can probably connect you with even more experts that can help with your exact needs.
So as you embark on your next garden project, be encouraged to invite experts into your garden space. Hopefully with their help you'll only have sweet dreams!
------------------------------
Amber Keller
Massachusetts Master Gardener
Life Lab-Certified School Garden Educator
Natick, MA
------------------------------