The Grice Green Teaching Garden

Description

The 800 square foot Grice Green Teaching Garden, made up of a well-mulched rain garden as well as four raised beds, is watered using stored rainwater from two separate systems. A 1550 gallon cistern stores water from four downspouts that drain approximately 2300 square feet of roof area, and is used to irrigate the raised beds. Two sets of four rain barrels capture water from the adjacent porches for supplemental watering. The plants include native perennials, other climate appropriate perennials, butterfly-attracting annuals, perennial culinary herbs, and annual edibles. The Grice Green Teaching Garden serves as an educational tool for classes and the public, as well as a lovely spot to relax and enjoy flowers and pollinators. Before the garden was installed, this space was planted in turf grass.
Garden installation was completed by the College of Charleston’s Marine Biology Graduate Student Association (coordinated by Sammi Smoot), Sarah Oakes (CofC Grice Marine Lab), Jeffery Swatkowski (CofC Masters in Environmental Studies student), David Joyner (Clemson Extension), and Kimberly Counts (Ashley Cooper Stormwater Education Consortium). Costs: $3265 for the cistern, rain barrels, PVC pipes, etc.; $600 for topsoil, landscape fabric, gravel; and $325 for plants.