Winter Garden Kit Project

What do you do when you are an enthusiastic volunteer garden educator who cannot have any person-to-person contact with people during a pandemic and you want to share the benefit of the training that you have received through the Master Gardener Program? You think creatively! And that is just what Cheryl Brock did as a 2019 MG and Community Garden advocate. 

Cheryl knew from her conversations with City of Portland Community Garden Coordinators that there was an interest in supporting gardeners to learn more about winter gardening options, but so far there had not been the resources or time with City staff to move forward on this idea. And Cheryl knew from her experience as a gardener at the Rigler Community Gardens that the beds look like a sea of burlap in the winter – protected from the harsh weather but not productive. What a perfect match with the resources and expertise of the Master Gardener™ program!

Cheryl applied for and received Chapter support to fund a Community Education Project. She developed a Winter Garden Kit to be distributed to 104 gardeners with plots in the Rigler, Helensview and 72ndStreet Community Gardens. Her goal was to encourage growing a winter food crop, as well as to promote weed management and regeneration of soil through planting a cover crop.

The kits included 2 seed bulbs of garlic and 1 pound of triticale and hairy vetch cover crop.  The kit also included instructions, derived from research-based OSU Extension articles, written cooperatively with the Chapter Communications Committee, and printed in English and Spanish. 

The Chapter mini-grant covered a small portion of the cost of the kits, with materials valued over $1600  generously donated from Naomi’s Farm Supply and Portland Nursery. 

Cheryl developed strong partnerships with the City of Portland Community Gardens staff, who distributed the kits to gardeners in the three gardens, thus there was no person-to-person contact by Master Gardeners.

What is the outcome of this project?  Cheryl has proven that, even in a situation that feels locked-down, we can reach out as garden educators and share the knowledge and resources of our program. 

Strong partnerships can help us with our mission, as well as reaching broader and more diverse groups of gardeners. The Winter Garden Kit Project is a positive model for us to replicate with other partners in all of our Metro neighborhoods.