2011 GLISTEN Progress Report
Updated July 12, 2011
The following goals were established for the 2011 summer portion of our internship:
-Framing Watersheds
-Developing Model Gardens
-Building and Implementing Educational Programs
-Developing assessment methods
Following the goals established as Stewardship Liaisons, we hope to create model gardens at the Hiram Historical Society Century House and Bonney Castle at Hiram College to protect watersheds and build educational programs. The current techniques that are promoted for home gardening are often not sustainable. Many gardens have had herbicides and pesticides applied to keep them beautiful. However, when it rains these chemicals run into primary headwaters and streams and then into our lakes, polluting the water we drink and use for daily purposes. The 2011 Hiram GLISTEN program will improve the quality of water in both the Great Lakes and the Ohio River watersheds by promoting the use of sustainable methods in gardening through educational programs and two gardens providing both sustainable and unsustainable practices. The Hiram Historical Society Garden promotes sustainable gardening relying on historically proven methods for growing crops and herbs. The garden incorporates the theme of companion planting, using plants to work as natural pesticides. Keeping with the historical theme, we have used heirloom and native plants to give a model of gardens that are both historic and sustainable. The Bonney Castle garden will display ornamental plants that illustrate models of the best and worst practices promoted today. By taking advantage of social networking sites such a “Facebook” and web-page such as ISLSOhio, we are making information available to the general public, especially Hiram Community. The sites will provide in one location, easily accessible materials with links to sites promoting sustainable practices.The sites will also provide visible representation of models for sustainable gardening methods by showing the Bonney Castle and Historical Society gardens. This will allow us to educate the public on how to create their own sustainable gardens using the models that we will construct. The gardens we produce will be used in the Beginning Field Biology and Biology for the non major courses here at Hiram to engage students in learning about sustainable landscaping and in community service projects incorporating sustainable practices. Built into our educational programs, will be built methods to assess the effectiveness of these programs in changing behaviors of local citizens in ways that will improve water quality in the region.
To accomplish our program, we set four norms:
- Seeking Feedback
- Constructing Shared Knowledge
- Building External Relationships
- Solving problems proactively
So far, the norms we established for ourselves have been followed. We have been able to seek feedback from our community, our peers, and our faculty. We had the opportunity to present our work thus far to the Hiram Historical Society, which led to a considerable donation to help fund the garden. We have been able to construct shared knowledge by using social networking sites such as “Facebook” and “Google Docs”. External relationships have been built by participating in networking events throughout Northeast Ohio such as an “E4S Local Foods” networking event and the Cuyahoga State of the River Symposium. These events allowed us to connect with people in multiple fields and brought forth many different perspectives when developing our gardens. One key external relationship that we have built has been with alum Lucy Chamberlin, Hiram College ‘76, a plant biologist and expert when it comes to gardening in northeast Ohio and garden design. She has played a key role in developing the gardens and selecting the right plants to tell our story and get our message of sustaining gardening out to the public. Proactive problem solving has also been utilized when developing the gardens. One prime example of this came about when it came time to determine what type of material should line the beds of the gardens. We were able to make use of the previous slate tiles that had been used when the garden was first constructed five years ago. The wall was designed to be both sustainable and environmentally friendly. Although when it was first constructed, it was the latter but it was not built to last. The wall were held up with small branches that had been taken by the nearby woods and had already began to decompose, leaving the walls curving and unstable. Following our norms have allowed us to be productive and efficient in using our time and efforts.
Progress Timeline:
Week 1:
-Completed the Knot Wall surrounding the garden at the Bonney Castle English Garden at Hiram College. The wall had been started by students taking a course with Professor Taylor during the spring 3-week. We were able to successfully complete the wall, further preparing it for planning and planting.
-Established goals, guidelines, and norms for the summer.
-Established a rough timeline for the work to be done throughout the summer
-Attended the 2011 State of the Cuyahoga River Symposium at Cuyahoga National Park
Week 2:
-Began planning the gardening that would later take place on the Century House Garden. Research was completed on sustainable gardening methods, rain gardens, and multiple planting methods.
Week 3:
-Weeded and tilled soil to get ready for planting in all 4 garden beds
-Weeded space between the sandstone slabs in the middle of the garden beds
-Worked on walls of the garden beds
-Attended Level 2 EPA Macroinvertabrate training at the Cuyahoga National Park
-Developed plan for century house garden walls and installed the walls that now surround all four of the beds.
Week 4:
-Attended the E4S Local Foods Networking Event
-Attended 2011 GLISTEN training workshop held by Akron University
-Discussed with Lucy Chamberlain planting methods and options. Also traveled with Lucy to different nurseries to hand pick the plants that would go into the garden.
-Picked up compost soil from the Hiram Camp Farm and incorporated the soil into the garden beds.
-Planted all plants and seeds that had been purchased throughout the week
-Attended Hiram Historical Society meeting and presented garden plan
Week 5:
-Composted soil was sifted and added to the Knot Gardens
-Updated and further developed ISLS websites
Week 6:
-Discussed education plans and needs with local high school teachers from Crestwood, Kent Roosevelt, and Ravenna High Schools
-Developed Internship progress report
-Completed “Herb History” and “Sustainable Wall Building” articles for the ISLS and Facebook websites
-Began developing Bonney Castle Knot Garden
Week 7:
-Discussed course development
-Weeded Century House Garden
-Completed maintenance on Century House Garden
-Planted Thyme and added stone to Bonney Castle Knot Garden
Week 8
-Completed staking of tomato plants at Century House Garden using sapling from Field Station
-Began working on lattice for runner beans using saplings from Field Station
-Planted at Century House Garden
-Worked with David Mosher on relaying pathway stones at Century House Garden
Along with working on our gardens, we having also been working with other Hiram students using the Frohring grant to develop and frame wetlands at the James H. Borrow Field Station.
Before reconstruction of Century House Garden
After Reconstruction
Update July 13, 2011
Crowl, Michelle A.