The new Green Teaching Garden at the Grice Marine Lab at the College of Charleston officially opens on April 7, 2012 at 11 a.m. The Garden will provide opportunities for sustainable practices and education within the College and the Charleston community. The Marine Biology Graduate Student Association will also be hosting Marine-ival the same day, from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m., and includes games, lunch and kids activities. Grice Marine Lab is located at 205 Fort Johnson Road.
“Seeing the Green Teaching Garden come to life has been an amazing experience,” says Sammi Smoot, outreach coordinator for the Marine Biology Graduate Student Association and the Green Teaching Garden. “As graduate students, it has enabled to both combine our learning and passion in a hands-on way that isn’t available at all universities. Our goal is for the garden to be a center point for educating the community and conducting research.”
The Green Teaching Garden includes a primary rainwater collection system with a 1,500-gallon cistern and a secondary system consisting of 8 rain barrels that serve the side porches at the Grice Marine Lab. There is a compost area as well as four raised beds: a herb garden, perennial garden, vegetable garden, and a butterfly garden. Vegetables from the garden are donated to local homeless shelters and herbs are collected for sale at the Lab to benefit the student travel fund.
In March, the garden was already used for a community event – a free rain garden workshop. About 40 community members attended the workshop, where a rain garden was created. Rain gardens make use of native plants and soil to manage storm water runoff. Fourth and fifth graders from Harbor View Elementary School also worked in the Green Teaching Garden to paint marine creatures onto rain barrels. The water from these barrels will be used to irrigate the areas around the Lab and to nourish neighboring garden beds.
For more information on the Green Teaching Garden, contact Sammi Smoot at scsmoot@gmail.com.
