Workday and Water

Master Gardeners and community volunteers came out in force for the March 3 Carolina Children's Garden workday, overseen by Workday Coordinators Mary Kelly and Joyce Bibby.  The Three Bears' reflecting pool was tidied; new plantings were installed around Pooh's Corner, Mr. McGregor's Garden, Old MacDonald's Farm, and the Alphabet Fence; the triceratops in the Mesozoic Memories Dinosaur Garden received a fresh coat of paint; and the blossoming daffodils, yellow bells, pansies, and budding fruit trees were admired by all.

Freshly-painted triceratops

On the day following the Master Gardener workday, Mr. Joe Hudson, property manager at the Clemson University Sandhill Research and Education Center, and his team of groundskeepers dismantled a raised bed in Growing Healthy in preparation for a new garden design to be implemented later this year.  Many thanks to Mr. Joe and his crew for their hard work!

Growing Healthy after removal of a raised bed

Many changes have come to the Garden this winter, and amongst the most exciting is this: WATER.  Every gardener knows how important it is to have access to water in a Garden, and while we strive to be water-wise at the Children's Garden, having ready access to a reliable water supply is going to make a huge difference in the Garden this spring.  We at the Children's Garden are so grateful to everyone who made these improvements possible!

WATER!!!

Getting the Garden Off the Ground...with Pot Towers!

A beautiful new pot tower has been added to Growing Healthy at the Carolina Children's Garden!

The Growing Healthy Garden is growing, well, up!  Master Gardener Crystal Masterson designed, created, and installed a stunning pot tower in this space devoted to healthy living.  Colorful pots painted with polka dots and stripes now boast an array of delicious and nutritious plants, including strawberries, parsley, and thyme. 

Master Gardener Crystal Masterson constructing the pot tower

Pot towers are easy to construct:  Crystal's tower began with a 5' length of iron rebar that she pounded through the drainage hole in the bottom of a large painted pot and into the ground below.  She covered the bottom of the pot with broken cardboard egg cartons to help with drainage, then filled the pot with soil.  The next pot was slightly smaller, and it was threaded onto the rebar through its drainage hole and balanced at an angle on top of the pot beneath.  More egg cartons and soil were added, then a third pot was threaded onto the tower and balanced at an angle...and so forth and so on until the tower was complete!

We are very grateful to Crystal for this beautiful (and functional!) addition to the Children's Garden!  Visit our Facebook page to see more photos of this and other Children's Garden Projects:  Facebook Page 

Not a Lazy Saturday: Kiwanis Aktion Club Workday

Volunteers from the Kiwanis Aktion Club, reporting for duty!

Saturdays are lazy days for many people…days to sleep late, eat a leisurely brunch, potter around the house, and enjoy a little much-needed R&R after a busy work week.  For members of the Kiwanis Aktion Club, however, last Saturday (February 26^th) was anything but a lazy day!  Over a dozen volunteers from the Club’s local chapter convened at the Carolina Children’s Garden for a special Garden Workday.  Enthusiastic participants tackled several important tasks—removing giant longleaf pine cones from the play areas, painting the fence around Mr. McGregor’s Garden, fertilizing the tea olives in the Reading Garden, raking pine straw, and stuffing our friends, Mama and Baby Bear, with fresh sphagnum moss.

The Three Bears' Crew stuffs Mama Bear with fresh sphagnum moss

We at the Carolina Children's Garden are very grateful to the Aktion Club for their service--the Garden would not exist without the hard work of volunteers like you!  Thank you!

Great Backyard Bird Count 2011

 Last Saturday, a large crowd gathered in the Carolina Children's Garden for the second-annual Sandhill Rally of the Great Backyard Bird Count!  The weather was perfect and the birds were very active.  In approximately one hour of birding, our three groups of birders saw 28 different species of birds, and every group saw at least two bird species that no other group saw.

The Children's Garden would like to send a special "thank you" to all the volunteers who helped make the event a success--the Richland County Master Gardener Association, South Carolina Midlands Master Gardener Association, Columbia Audubon Society, Kiwanis Club, Woodley's Garden Center, and Wild Birds Unlimited--and, in particular, to the bird guides--Patricia Voelker, Judy Hurley, and Arlene Marturano (above, pictured with Brian Welte of Wild Birds Unlimited).  

For more information about the GBBC, visit http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/. 

Species Counted at the 2011 GBBC:

American Crow

American Goldfinch

American Robin

Blue Jay

Canada Geese

Carolina Chickadee

Carolina Wren

Common Grackle

Dark-eyed Junco

Double-crested Cormorant

Downy Woodpecker

Eastern Bluebird

Eastern Phoebe

Great Blue Heron

Mourning Dove

Northern Cardinal

Northern Flicker

Northern Mockingbird

Pied Bill Grebe

Pine Warbler

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Red-tailed Hawk

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Tufted Titmouse

Turkey Vulture

White-throated Sparrow

Wood Duck

Yellow-rumped Warbler

End of 2010

2010 has been a landmark year for the Carolina Children's Garden at the Clemson Sandhill REC.  Garden Programs, begun in fall 2009 and sponsored by the Richland County Master Gardeners and South Carolina Midlands Master Gardeners with funding from the Richland Conservation Commission, continued to grow, attracting hundreds of new faces to the property.  There were also many physical changes to the Garden:  the Butterfly Garden was revitalized; raised beds (currently sporting fall vegetables) were installed in Mr. McGregor's Garden; Old MacDonald's Farm was planted; the arbors and fences were re-painted; and a worm dig was created near the Carolina Fence Garden.  Several local individuals and organizations volunteered their time and expertise to effect these changes (many thanks to each and every one of you!), and big plans are in place for making the Garden even better in 2011 (we can't wait!). 

From all of us at the Children's Garden, Happy New Year and Happy Gardening!