Walker County Raised Bed Garden and Invasive Species Control
Through the CAWACO grant funds, ACES provided a 40 hour Master Gardener Volunteer Training Program for 10 local M.G. interns. Each intern learned about many topics related to home horticulture. In turn these interns have to date volunteered some 203 hours of documented volunteer service at an estimated value of $6,798.47 based on the current value of volunteer service hours. They
have completed projects such as raised bed gardens at local schools, taught lessons on water quality at Water Festival programs for fourth graders, and met with local second grades conducting Read and Seed activities.
Through the Master Gardener Volunteer program, our Extension Office has been able to expand our staff capacity to reach more school students and groups.
Equipment for conducting educational programs, demonstrations, and field days on methods of controlling invasive plants on for small landowners including foliar, hack and squirt, cut stump , and basal bark applications. Equipment was also purchased for demonstrating invasive fire ant control methods. Invasive species are a major identified problem affecting our native plant and animal ecosystems, and many small scale property owners are unaware of methods to control these non-native invasives.
