As a new gardener myself and someone who is passionate about community building and food security, I came up with the idea of a garden tour as a way to share knowledge and encourage more people to try growing.
The application process was easy and then I started networking with gardeners I knew who might be willing to share their knowledge and time. I chose a date and time that worked for the majority. I had a more artistic friend help me with making a poster and printed it in colour at our local regional library. I then created two Facebook groups: one for planning purposes with the gardeners abs one for the event. I posted on local community event pages. I then created an Eventbrite organizer account for people to access the tickets on. Tickets were free but I wanted to have an idea of how many people were coming, an ability to cap tickets at 15, and a platform that would collect emails so I could contact participants. A week before the event the 7 gardeners and I got together to hammer out the details of which stop would be first, how long each stop would be, route map and I gave an outline to help guide their knowledge sharing. I also gave each gardener a honorarium for their time. Some gardeners chose to buy snacks and drinks with this, others gave out gifts of plants or dried herbs. I reserved some of the funding to offer support for those who needed help financially or transportation which two participants did access.
The day of the tour was a gloriously sunny day with 28 people(including gardeners) attending. Route map, photo release form, and waivers were signed at the beginning of the tour. We saw greenhouse systems, raised beds, orchards, flower gardens, creative pest repellent methods, a jungle biosphere with ponds and fish, soil creation/composting systems, and how to maximize a small space for most production. The tour lasted about 4 hours and lots of positive feedback was given from both the tour group and gardeners
{Post Image:11}
