Gloucester County Certified Gardeners here to help your garden grow

Residents can receive support and education through the Gloucester County Certified Gardeners as they begin their garden this season

The Gloucester County Certified Gardeners take the initiative to preserve nature and plants within the county, educate community members on gardening topics and help gardeners who may be struggling in their own yards.

A member of the certified gardeners since 2006, Heather MacGregor had been gardening on and off for a long time before joining the group.

“It’s a way to get away from what is going on. You go out in the yard and take care of the plants; you let your mind just roam,” MacGregor said. “It’s very relaxing and therapeutic for a lot of people. To be able to plant something and watch it grow, watch it bloom and become beautiful, it’s a neat thing.”

To become a certified gardener, individuals must attend a series of classes, coordinated by Mary Cummings, that take place every Wednesday morning from January to May, taught by local professionals and educators. According to the certified gardener’s website, the registration fee for the program is $150, covering the cost of speakers, educational materials, advanced training opportunities and the recognition luncheon. In the first year and a half after graduating from the courses, 65 volunteer hours must be completed. The certified gardener must then complete about 30 hours each year to follow.

“It’s really an interesting class. You could have absolutely no knowledge all the way up to somebody who has been gardening, and I guarantee you’re going to learn something,” MacGregor said.

According to MacGregor, the certified gardeners are deeply involved with the community, working with the Gloucester County 4-H Fairground Gardens, planting flowers at the Gloucester County Veteran’s Cemetery, the Glassboro Senior Center and Library, the Monroe Township Library and taking care of the historical gardens at the Ann Whitall House at the Red Bank Battlefield, to name a few projects.

In the historical gardens, which include a medicinal garden, an herb garden and a kitchen garden, the gardeners grow plants that would have been used for eating, making clothes or for fuel. The certified gardeners have also built and installed a butterfly house at the Red Bank Battlefield with the purpose of encouraging locals to plant for the native butterflies.

“They are running out of food because of all of the development around the area,” MacGregor said. “We’re encouraging people to plant for the butterflies. It’s not just monarchs, it’s all of the butterflies native to this area.”

The certified gardeners encourage community members and locals to grow native plants to provide food, shelter and resources to wildlife. MacGregor explained native plants are those that were growing in the area before the colonial ships arrived, when it was just Native Americans on the land.

“The benefits to native plants are they are used to this area, they know the ups and downs, they can tolerate a long drought, they can tolerate so much rain, and they can survive it without a lot of care. They are basically no fuss, no muss, and they are tough, for the most part,” MacGregor said. “That is what the native wildlife in this area is used to using for food and shelter.”

By harvesting native plants and drawing wildlife to feed and live off them, it may act as a natural pest control as well.

“If you attract birds to your yard, you don’t need to use pesticides because they’ll eat the bugs,” MacGregor said. “Don’t spray and put bug killer down on your lawn just because you see a bug; you’re not helping the environment at all, and you’re not helping nature.”

MacGregor named a few native plants as the Purple Coneflower, Black-eyed Susans, American Holly trees, native evergreens and the list goes on.

“This area is so overdeveloped now. It used to be farm fields, which have been converted to developments with smooth green lawns. Those greens look nice, but they’re not benefiting wildlife at all because the butterflies have no place to nectar and they have no place to lay their eggs because their food source has been wiped out,” MacGregor said. “Birds need to get through the winter, and they eat native berries and native seeds, and some of the things growing now are not food for them.”

To grow a better garden in South Jersey, MacGregor recommends the first step is checking the soil.

“In New Jersey, you can use a combination of things for dirt. You can have sand, you can have clay, or you can have some decent soil,” MacGregor said. “If you’ve never planted a garden in your yard before, you probably want to start out by mixing some garden soil with whatever your native soil is. Sand will drain faster; if you have clay, you could add sand to improve the drainage. A lot of it is based on the type of soil you have as to what you need to do.”

Once you’ve decided to begin a garden, MacGregor reminds gardeners that you need to maintain it.

“The first thing you have to remember if you plant a garden is you have to keep it up. You have to water it; you can’t just plant plants and stick them in the ground. It’s a whole thing of turning the soil, checking out what kind of soil you have, making sure it’s the right pH and fertilized. It sounds really difficult but it’s not really,” MacGregor said. “Plant the plants, and take care of them.”

Working in conjunction with the Gloucester County Freeholders Land Preservation Division, as well as local environmental boards and commissions, the Gloucester County Certified Gardeners are there to help through gardening-based programs throughout the county. Through April, the certified gardeners will be hosting the Northeast Regional Organic Farming Association with the Spring Garden Series held at the Government Services Building, 1200 N. Delsea Drive, Clayton. Classes will be on Mondays from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. and are open to the public for $25. Topics will include vertical and container gardening, raising and processing chickens, growing tomatoes and peppers and stretching the organic garden into the fall. Registration is through the NOFA at www.nofanj.org/calendar.htm. The certified gardeners also present programs as a resource through local libraries within the county. For general information about the Gloucester County Certified Gardeners, or more information on classes and programs, contact Mary Cummings at (856) 307–6456, or email mcummings@co.gloucester.nj.us.

If you find yourself deep in the soil, unsure of what to do next, the certified gardeners have a help line, (856) 307–6464, you can call for immediate answers from 9 a.m. to noon, Monday through Friday. You can also email gardener@co.gloucester.nj.us.