Garden Coach Q & A

This will be an opportunity to share the bounty of your garden while asking Garden Coach Steve Riggio from the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden and Polk County Master Gardeners any questions you have from your gardening experience so far. Bring your fresh salsa to share, chips will be provided. Please register at this link so we know how much salsa to provide: https://bit.ly/CommunityGardenSalsaContest.

The Garden Coach Program at the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden supports nonprofit organizations wanting to engage in plant-related activities with individuals they serve. Food pantries, organizations who use gardening for therapy or skill-building, and educators with gardening as part of their approach to teaching are all eligible to become participants in the Garden Coach Program. partners.

Volunteers and staff from the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden who have been certified or trained as Master Gardeners or have commensurate experience lead the program. They have strong communication skills, making them comfortable interacting with people of diverse backgrounds.

Garden coaches work with participating organizations in teams. They bring experience,  a virtual resource library, and a network of knowledgeable horticulturalists. While offering support for resource-planning, gardening maintenance, and problem-solving, their role is to educate, advise, answer questions, and assist participating organizations in addressing their gardening challenges.

The mission of the Master Gardener Program is to provide current, research-based, home horticulture information and education to the citizens of Iowa through ISU Extension programs and projects.