It takes a village of volunteers to maintain the Carolina Children’s Garden at Sandhill, the two–acre public teaching garden at the Clemson University Research and Education Center in northeast Columbia. Richland County Master Gardeners oversee garden maintenance and education programs.

Through a 2010 Building Healthy Communities Grant from The Home Depot, master gardener volunteers are partnering with a pool of community organizations to refurbish and replant the garden. The $2,500 gift card from The Home Depot provides plants and building and remodeling materials for volunteers to work together on projects in the garden this fall.

Kevin Smith’s construction class at Heyward Career and technology Center in Richland School District One built two wooden wheelbarrows, one for Three Bears Homestead and another for Mr. McGregor’s Garden.

Youth in the Richland County Sheriff Department’s Lotts of Love initiative contributed to the planting and building projects. Thanks to their efforts a new vermi–composting bin has been added to the educational displays.

McGregor's white picket fence gets a fresh coat of paint. Master gardeners have planted MacDonald’s Historic Crop Farm in cool season row crops to demonstrate how families may replicate a winter garden at home. McGregor’s Garden has two new square foot raised beds filled with soporific lettuces and other greens “For Rabbits Only.” Peter Rabbit will have a renovated cold frame to explore. The Growing Healthy garden has new exhibits in the works as well.

Twenty–six energetic City Year volunteers worked diligently in the garden on Election Day. They painted the pyramid arbors, the pink flamingo, and several fences and bird houses. One crew gave total makeovers to the topiary bears by stuffing them with fresh moss. Another crew cleared a tangle from the butterfly garden so that new perennials may be added. A team of young women built their very first platform bird feeder for the Bird Garden. The foundation layers for a new brush pile for wildlife were installed.

Pyramid arbors were scraped, washed and painted by City Year volunteers. The Carolina Children’s Garden is grateful to all the contributions of its volunteers and to The Home Depot Corporation for its financial support. If your community organization or business is looking for a volunteer opportunity contact the garden at 803-459-3212.
Kevin Smith’s Construction Class at Heyward Career and Technology Center constructed two wheelbarrows for the garden.