On Martin Luther King Day, 2012 USC students, faculty, and staff dispersed throughout the Columbia metropolitan area to serve the community in the annual Community Service Day. Through USC’s Community Service Program 22 undergraduate students joined Midland master gardener volunteers in a brisk January workday at the Carolina Children’s Garden, a two-acre theme garden for children and families at the Clemson University Sandhill Research and Education Center in northeast Columbia.

Joyce Bibby, garden maintenance coordinator for the garden and Richland County Master Gardener, described a set of timely projects from planting to painting and groups of students selected one or more to concentrate on.

In McGregor’s Garden, a replica of The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter, scalloped bare grey concrete blocks edged the flower border. Students transformed the grey concrete blocks into colorful creeping crawling hungry caterpillars along the white picket fence.

Eeyore’s collapsed house of sticks was rebuilt. Old MacDonald’s Historic Crop Farm rotates crops of seasonal interest. Students weeded the farm field before planting, watering, and mulching cool season spinach inside the split rail fence. Pansies were planted along the exterior of the fence.

Pooh’s Corner, a simulation of Hundred Acre Wood from the Winnie the Pooh book by A.A. Milne has been under renovation for some time but USC students brought many loose ends to completion.

Eeyore, the donkey, lives in the southeast corner of Hundred Acre Wood in a house make of sticks called The House at Pooh Corner. In the book, the house collapses frequently but it had done so in the garden too. Students took the pile of logs and recon- structed the shelter from the ground up, and it now looks as good as new.

Creepy Crawly Concrete Hungry Caterpillars In the same theme garden, students painted the stripes on Tigger and put up new signage as well.

Picnic tables and benches encourage visitors to linger in the garden and are used for the education program. But mold growing on garden benches made them uninviting until students made it disappear by applying elbow grease and a mold remover.

Compost is an amendment continually being replenished in the 12 theme gardens. A pair of students sifted and screened compost at the compost demonstration area and then toted pails of compost back to the garden for use in upcoming planting projects.

While master gardeners pruned dead wood from shrubs and trees and planted spring bulbs, they noticed premature signs of spring with blossoms of Lady Banks rose, forsythia, and bridal wreath open in mid-January.

In four hours, USC students made an enormous difference in the look and life of the children’s garden. If your nonprofit would like to partner on a project with enthusiastic and energetic young adults, contact USC’s Office of Community Service at 777-7130. Visit the Carolina Children’s Garden website for program information at www.carolinachildrensgarden.org/

Students painted Tigger in Pooh’s Corner.

New signage was posted at Pooh’s Corner