Grass to Garden is a four-part (12-hour) workshop geared towards non-profit employees, local officials, community volunteers, and garden enthusiasts who struggle to find the tools they need to make their gardens community-driven, successful, and sustainable.

Session One

In this session, participants will serve as an Introduction to Community Gardens and Pre-Garden Planning Techniques, including:

• • An overview of the different types of community-based gardens
  • Establishing a plan to foster positive relationships with local government entities and stakeholders
  • Defining goals, mission and vision statements, and outcomes for individual community-based gardens projects
  • Understanding how to identify community resources, including funding sources

Session Two

This session focuses on establishing Garden Policies and developing the Community Engagement Plan. More specifically, participants will:

• • Work through possible conflict-resolution scenarios
  • Explore practices which might improve productivity and lessen the environmental impact of a garden project
  • Cultivate strategies for recruiting and managing project volunteers
  • Examine possible ways the garden project can engage the community
  • Create a detailed budget plan for the project

Session Three

The primary objectives for this session are to focus on community garden site selection and preparation, as well as to:

• • Research the history of garden site
  • Discover how to assess soil health
  • Create a garden layout

Session Four

In the final session, participants will learn how to effectively grow and harvest the fruits of their labor by:

• • Understand strategies for improving garden security
  • Constructing a planting and harvesting schedule
  • Learn techniques for plant propagation
  • Gain insight about major and minor nutrients, as well as how they affect plant growth and pest-management plans
  • Determine how to identify and manage common garden pests
  • Acquire proper food-safety procedures