Type: Master Composter
City: Charlotte, NC
Launch: Nov. 6, 2003
Location: Wilson Middle School ,West Charlotte
Project: Wilson Middle School Diversity Garden
Funding: Microsoft, Mecklenburg County, Home Depot, Lowes
Hours: 40 hours
Overview:Wilson Middle School is a largely minority school in West Charlotte. The Exceptional Student class is made up of children that function approximately three grades below their grade level. Last year they had made a Diversity Garden out of an assortment of perennials and a few shrubs. They did it without any help or professional consultation. A year later, the bed was completely filled with weeds and overgrown perennials. The design was lost and the children discouraged.
My husband's company, Microsoft, had teamed earlier in the year with the school to bring them one on one tutoring in their computer skills. The desire of the company was to bring this school s standing up from being the lowest in the CMS system.
Description:
I got together with the company s co-coordinator and we discussed having a Day of Caring at the school. Our proposed project was to revitalize the Diversity Garden, making it a natural habitat, while preserving the integrity of the original plan and design. The bed was approximately 24 ft x 39 ft. and bordered the front door of the school. Microsoft donated $500 toward the project and I solicited three other companies for donations of material. Microsoft also sent thirty-five volunteers to team up one on one with the thirty-five students involved.
I met with the principal, guidance counselor and teacher several times in advance. I also had regular e-mails with the company coordinator and the guidance counselor. Our goal was to give the children a sense of accomplishment and pride in creating a sustainable garden and habitat.
We had extended contact with CMS, trying to secure a commitment from them concerning preparing the beds and the possibility of providing landscape fabric, mulch and shrubs. Their communication was deficient and their agreement to participate in our timetable was disappointing. They would only commit to the possibility of the loan of tools (wheelbarrows, shovels, clippers) and the tilling of the bed. They said that they might be able to get shrubs and mulch, but nothing we could count on.
They finally agreed to tilling the bed the week before and having mulch delivered at the same time. In the end, we arrived on our specified day, only to watch the tractor for tilling being unloaded. There were no tools or other material at the site. After some frantic calls from the school s guidance counselor, did CMS scramble to provide the necessary requirements. (The knowledge that t.v crews were arriving spurred them on further!) We even received some holly bushes and crepe myrtles that we had not known about. We were able to integrate them into our plan at the last minute.
We were able to solicit two yards of pea stone from a stone yard to create walkways in our Diversity Garden. Lowes gave us a discount on shrubs and a birdbath. Home Depot and Lowes donated aprons and gloves. One of the unexpected fun donations was from the Lowes Garden Center. I had talked to the manager there and she asked if we could use some pansies that didn t look great. I said that we would take whatever she could give us. She also remembered that she had some disease resistant miniature roses that she could give up. I was thrilled because the teacher in charge had requested roses, but I had discouraged it based on our budget and the extreme care roses require.
When we arrived later that week to pick up the landscape material, we were shocked to watch them pull out pallets holding a total of 1800 perfect winter annuals (dianthus, snapdragons and pansies)!! We had two trucks and one car to transport everything, so we ended up stacking pansy flat after pansy flat. They were beautiful and colorful and not a thing wrong with them!
Implementation: I have never seen children more excited to work on a project than on this day! The school was so grateful and gracious to us, they even hosted a bbq for all the volunteers after. Two television crews came and captured the event.
I had to make sure that my expectations of the garden lined up with the ability of the students. I wanted them to feel it was their garden, not mine. Because of some of the mental disabilities, the opportunity to have one volunteer/child was incredible. The other thing that helped, was making a copy of the master plan available to each volunteer. I oversaw the broad plan, but had to resign myself to the fact that the design might get skewed with that many people working at one time. That, paired with the fact that we ended up with shrubs we hadn't planned on, made for an interesting variation on the original idea!
The circular format ended up somewhat off balance, but the general idea remained~creating a garden that was friendly to wildlife and birds, providing shelter, food, water and nesting habitats, all while giving the kids an extreme sense of pleasure and accomplishment.
On the Master Plan, I wrote out planting guidelines to make a sense of order to the tasks. I then assigned several adults to each numbered guideline, so they could orchestrate their task when it came up. The volunteers who weren t working right in the garden itself, worked with the children in hauling mulch and stone with the wheelbarrows, watering and using hedge clippers on the mature shrubbery bordering the school. We also instituted clean up at the end, piling the tools together and dead shrubs to be hauled away.
The greatest pleasure was close to the end when all the shrubs were in place and everyone was kneeling in the dirt putting in all those hundreds of pansies wherever there were empty spaces. What an easy and pleasurable job for any child to do! I abandoned my ideas of color consistency and circular placement and just wandered amongst the children exclaiming over their wonderful work!
This project took an overwhelming amount of time and energy more than I realized possible. The results are more in the minds of the children and volunteers than in the actual garden itself. My hope is that they keep a life long joy of the pleasures of creating and working with nature.
Recommendations:
One of the big problems come spring will be the appearance of grass and weeds in this bed. Because CMS didn t till it until the day we started planting, all the weed seed was tilled right into the bed. I had suggested to the school that they see if CMS would put down a herbicide in the spring, but it is highly unlikely. The landscape fabric they ended up providing was actually black plastic. I didn t want to risk baking the shrubs so we just used that underneath the stone pathways.
The annuals were put in around the shrubs and although they do not need to be re-done in spring, some would be nice. There are no teachers at this school that have a knowledge of gardening. What they need is some guidance in maintaining this bed.
The teachers also had wanted to create a Hope Garden . A vegetable/herb bed that they could harvest and use towards a meal the children would prepare. Due to a lack of time and resources, this project was unable to be fulfilled.
One positive element I would encourage others to think about, is teaming with a corporate sponsor. This gives you some volunteers and possible dollars toward a project. It is amazing how many companies are out there, just looking for such an idea.
I would also encourage other Master Composters to perhaps lower their expectations towards the final result. We need to be careful not to underestimate the value of the task, and not just concentrate on the final product.
I can t think of any changes I would make in doing this project again. I thoroughly enjoyed working with the school and company in creating this Diversity Garden.
Additional: Other Workshops Etc.:
This spring I taught the composting class to my Master Gardener Program in Union County. It was very well received and several people contacted me afterwards to say that they had been inspired to start their own compost bin.
This fall I was the speaker at Weddington Garden Club s monthly meeting. I spoke on native plants, xeriscaping and becoming an un-gardener . My goal was to give the people an idea or concept that each could take home and actually implement. It turned into a wonderful meeting and the response was overwhelming. Many expressed how they felt they had been freed to relax and enjoy their gardens without feeling they needed to spray or be on top of every garden pest or problem.
Other Gardening Activities:
I also assisted and consulted on re-doing two subdivision entrances. This involved stone work and landscape design and implementation. I worked with the subdivision s association president on this.
I am presently on the board for the Weddington Garden Club. I am heading up a project to re-do the landscaping at the historic home that houses Weddington Town Hall.
Other:
My background as an interior decorator, teamed up with new knowledge has allowed me to start consulting with home owners on their landscape issues. Instead of just doing home interiors, I have started offering a whole home approach. Starting at their driveways, continuing through their yards into their homes, I am encouraging homeowners in making wise and wonderful choices in what they plant, use for color, scent and sustainability. This has been a most rewarding venture. One that gives homeowners good choices and extends their personalities and abilities to more than just what lies behind their front door.
