Community Gardens are spaces where community members can rent a plot to grow crops for personal use or for donation to food banks or other community food program. WSU Extension Pierce County Master Gardeners partner very closely with the organizing efforts of Harvest Pierce County. You can find a community garden near you and start gardening or register your current community garden.
WSU Extension Pierce County Master Gardener Community Demonstration Gardens are where WSU Master Gardeners teach, demonstrate, support development, or lead community garden engagement. These community gardens are outdoor classrooms with either all or parts of the garden dedicated to instruction. These gardens host free classes, speaker series, classroom field trips and answer plant clinics. As Master Gardeners, you can log the hours spent maintaining these gardens or specific plots as program support and any community outreach or educational programming as volunteer hours.
- All participants in community garden efforts must recognize that WSU Extension Master Gardener volunteers are educators and advocates for sustainable gardening in their communities. In this spirit, WSU Master Gardener volunteers may assist community partners by:
- Leading community partners through a step-by-step process to develop a community garden;
- Helping to assess the suitability of a property for a community garden;
- Helping to design the garden, including layout of beds and common areas;
- Providing assistance in acquiring funding and grants, including in-kind donations based on the value of volunteer hours;
- Arranging for or leading workshops and seminars in the garden; and
- Giving one-on-one or small group instruction on activities such as preparing soil, planting, cultivation, harvest, pest management, etc.
WSU Extension Pierce County Master Gardener Community Garden Leads or Team Members:
WSU Extension Pierce County Master Gardener Community Garden Representatives are Pierce County Master Gardeners who privately rent a plot in a Harvest Pierce County Community Garden or county P-patch. These reps serve as a liaison between Pierce County Master Gardener Program and County Services. Their role is to act as a community connector, helping the Community Garden Leads find resources, share horticultural opportunities with fellow gardeners and in general engage the community in learning, growing and sharing. The time spent as a Community Garden Mentor is not logged as volunteer hours unless you are engaging in approved educational projects or specific community outreach. Any physical labor performed is done so as a private citizen, and WSU’s liability insurance will not apply.