Project Highlights (excerpts from project leader reports)

Bristol Veterans Home, Bristol

After 18 years of dedicated leadership, Marguerite Hardisty, Master Gardener class of 1999 handed the baton to John Twomey, class of 2015 who is leading the transition from the old garden beds to the new, smaller, fewer beds at the new facility. As we transition to the new facility, we will plan programs to engage veterans and their families in the gardening and learning process. Planning in January 2018 for each new garden bed, according to the sun and shade conditions, will support planting in the spring. 

This past season a small container vegetable garden was grown to allow veterans to plant, weed, harvest and show their visiting families their prized produce. We plan to expand this effort in 2018 due to the enthusiastic response by veterans and the staff. An in-garden workshop was conducted for visiting families on a Sunday to support the larger visitation.  Starting in June, we conducted 5 soil testing workshops at the greenhouse, and conducted over a dozen tests, making recommendations on how to improve the pH of the soil tested. New signs will support a growing demand and use of soil testing in 2018.

Good Friends Community Garden (GFCG), Martin Luther King Center, Newport

This was a good first year for our project which serves children from the community center as well as adults involved in the community garden. The children learned a lot and had a blast growing food in their plot at the community garden. Besides working with the children, the other aspect of this project was to work with community gardeners in answering their questions. As we expand our team, we can come up with more innovative approaches to teaching so the children will be receptive and productive. With more MG volunteers we could offer more days for the children to come to the garden and learn planting, tending, eating veggies and fruits. MGs will teach the parts of a plant, type of vegetable plants and how they grow, and insects’ (including pollinators) role in the garden.

Middletown Community Library Garden

Our clients are local gardeners who want a place to grow vegetables. We had some terrific new gardeners this year including an immigrant family from China with two young kids who loved being in the garden. We have a limited number of raised beds and each person gets their own raised bed for the season. We have about 30 beds plus four community beds that we tend together. Each year, through turnover, about 8-10 beds become available and are quickly filled. We taught about pollinators; and by growing native plants plus making them available to the gardeners, we demonstrated how they would attract bees. All the water used in this project comes from runoff collected in rain barrels or is donated by the Fire Department.  We emphasized that the Master Gardener Program does not recommend this for edibles due to food safety concerns. Education continued with emphasis on the eco-friendly way to garden. We taught them to wash veggies before eating them. We encourage composting, the use of organic material and strongly advise against non-organic material. Not using yard waste bags and composting was a big change; and we will see how the compost comes out in the spring ‘18.

Grow4Good Garden, Mount Hope Farm, Bristol

We emphasize growing food for the Bristol Food Bank while teaching several thousand visitors, 4-H children, Mount Hope Farm Inn and wedding attendees, and our 15 Master Gardener and community volunteers. Just under one ton of food was planted, tended, weeded, drip-line watered, harvested, weighed and delivered for distribution.  We taught sustainability, soil care, produce care, how to save seeds, what types of plants are best for pollinators, etc.  As part of an educational opportunity with the 4-H club, we used the Irish Potato Famine of the mid-1800’s as an example of why we should promote biodiversity from the perspective of food gardens. Education events included: an in-garden workshop, guided tours, youth and family events, monthly kiosk and soil testing, plant tags and informational conversations and coaching of the public. Our participation in the annual Mount Hope Farm Fest again attracted hundreds of visitors to the gardens, with our perennial border native pollinator plants and shrubs as a highlight.

Governor Bradford Garden, Mount Hope Farm, Bristol

The gardens at Governor Bradford House, built in 1745, are made up of five different gardens totaling almost 2,300 square feet. Working with Mount Hope Farm’s Horticulturist, the Master Gardeners and  Interns began this second year by completing the rehabilitation of two large gardens. What were once overgrown gardens with plants that rarely flowered are now home to beautiful plants that provide season long blooms complementing the historic setting. The herb garden, which is again well maintained, is now a centerpiece of questions, instruction and source of 30+ herbs for use in the kitchen and curious tasters. Of the two gardens that follow an old stone wall, one was rehabbed earlier this year and has now become the favored backdrop for many photos. The other was recently rehabbed with an eye towards replanting at the beginning of next year. Visitors include Inn guests, newlyweds and families of young scholars at the nearby Roger Williams University.  These gardens have become a showpiece and an educational opportunity for the URI Master Gardener Program.

Mabel’s Garden, Norman Bird Sanctuary

Thousands of local and out-of-state visitors frequent this Sanctuary annually, recently including a group of Master Gardeners from Washington DC who were thrilled to see a native plant garden and all it entails. Informal education to visitors emphasized native plants to support native and migratory pollinator species, education of incorporating native plants into the home garden and best practices regarding care for the gardens from spring to winter. Educational events included guided tours, plant tags, publicized Q&A sessions and workshops on Integrated Pest Management, invasive removal and native restoration.  The Norman Bird Sanctuary (NBS) Harvest Fair was an opportunity to meet and greet the public, give garden tours and conduct Q & A at the MGP Kiosk. Team members participated in NBS Country Garden Fair as flower judges, education r/t identification of plants, plant health and best practice in the home gardens. Our biggest success – Monarch and Swallowtail caterpillars were identified in the native gardens. As a team, we are basing our success this year by following Larry Weaner’s theory. We continue to seek minimal tool storage on site to limit the daily hauling of gardening tools for our work.

Good Gardens, Norman Bird Sanctuary

Newly started in mid-2017, over 64 adults and 597 youth directly learned from our MG Project, producing approximately 300 lbs. of produce for the Martin Luther King Center Newport, animal ambassadors, campers and Harvest Fair attendees. MGs from Mabel’s Garden assisted the startup efforts of this project. A well-organized series of public lectures on gardening for youth camp was enthusiastically received.  Additionally, we had interns from the MET School in Providence and East Bay Community Action Program who learned several aspects of the garden from redesign to harvest. Volunteers from various RI companies, required community service folks, Boy and

Girl scouts got their hands dirty in the garden along with a 15-minute garden tour. Next season, we will be designing signage for self-tours and maximizing the redesign for Norman Bird Sanctuary educational programming. Our biggest success was redesigning the garden and approval as a Master Gardener Project. Next year we will be redesigning the hoop house, creating educational signage and brainstorming on interactive garden education.

Prescott Farm

Colonial farming is our purpose. Over 400 adults and 114 youth benefited from learning on site and 714 pounds of produce was donated this year. In addition to explaining the organic techniques of gardening that we employ and the plant material used on the property to visitors, we seven scheduled and publicized lectures on the first Sunday of the month from April to October. This included:

• Soil and Soil testing presented by Garry Holmstrom and Carol Nagel;
• Spring Edible Perennials presented by Johanna Becker and Susan Estabrook;
• Pollinator Plantings by Gary Casabona from the Natural Resource Conservation Service;
• Composting Techniques presented by Terry Connell;
• Three Sisters Garden presented by Betsy McClintock;
• Cover Crops presented by Susan Estabrook; and
• Feeding a Family from a Colonial Garden presented by Jeff Richards.

Taylor Point, Jamestown

Taylor Point MG Project is an East Bay Land Stewardship Project to remove invasives and restore native plants in the natural habitat.  This project is a partnership with the Taylor Point Restoration Association under the direction of CRMC Certified Invasive Plant Manager Dennis Webster. Approval by the Jamestown Town Council occurred in May 2017, and the Coastal Resource Management Council (CRMC) on September 5, 2017. URI Master Gardener Program approval occurred in September. We began to remove invasive honeysuckle, oriental bittersweet, multiflora rose, black swallowwort, Rosa rugosa, autumn olive, wineberry, privet, garlic mustard, bittersweet nightshade and porcelain-berry from the Black Cherry Woodland, sections of Potter Cove Beach and a section of Taylor Point Cliffs.  We will be monitoring the cleared areas and planting native species as indicated. Training and educating all volunteers, including community members and URI Master Gardeners, proceeds each work day session focused on land stewardship, invasive species and benefits of native plants.

Farnham Farm, Prudence Island

Two MGs worked the Project this year, with approximately 7 volunteers and two dozen plot renters. Soil development and alternatives to pesticides became the focal point of education and practice.  Off-site workshops were conducted on the island to demonstrate what gardening is possible on Prudence Island with its unique environment and soil conditions. Healthy Nutrition vegetable growing was emphasized at the onsite farming sessions. Attendance was up during the spring workshop over last year’s. However, the availability of interested participants was limited and as topics were taught, participation dropped. This project will become independent of the Master Gardener Program after the 2017 growing season. Thank you MG Hope Morow for leading this project on Prudence Island.