Delaware County Master Gardeners Activities

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Volunteer Activities

Master Gardeners volunteer in a variety of ways to support gardening activities and education in their local community. Below is a sample of activities currently supported by Delaware County Master Gardeners.

Hortline

Master Gardeners staff a horticultural "hotline" to answer gardening questions from the local community. See Have a Gardening Question? for more information.

Home Garden Lecture Series

Master Gardeners give lectures on various gardening topics as requested by libraries, garden clubs, schools. and recreation centers. Check our events calendar for topics and dates.

Home Gardeners School

The Master Gardeners of Delaware County host a popular day-long event dedicated to educating community members on topics of special interest to home gardeners. This annual event includes lectures, demonstrations, plant sales, and book sales. Watch our events calendar for the next scheduled school.

Teaching Gardens

Teaching Gardens have been developed at the Cooperative Extension office in Smedley Park and at Hillside Garden and Terrace Garden. Smedley Park's gardens include a "Gardener Selects" evaluation site, and a garden designed to attract birds and butterflies. A shade garden featuring native plants was installed in 2003.

Composting Workshops

Delaware Master Gardeners present workshops on how to convert kitchen scraps and yard waste into an extremely valuable soil amendment instead of sending it to a landfill. These workshops are sponsored by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and Penn State Cooperative Extension. Class participants receive a composter. Check our events calendar for dates.

Philadelphia Flower Show

Each year, the Penn State Master Gardeners and cooperative extension personnel plan, implement and staff an informational booth at the Philadelphia Flower Show.

Other Activities

Delaware County Master Gardeners support a variety of other educational programs in support of community gardening. Check our events calendar for topics and dates.

Starbucks' "Grounds for Gardeners" Program*

Starbucks aspires to be known not only for the quality of its coffee, but as a socially responsible company, both in the communities where it has retail locations and the countries where our coffees are grown.

To help minimize Starbucks environmental footprint, the company is committed to reducing waste generated in our stores. Starbucks partners have discovered that many of its customers are also gardeners. This discovery led to the Grounds for Your Garden program.

Coffee grounds, mixed with other materials, are an excellent source of nutrition for soil. Giving away used coffee grounds not only makes customers happy, but it reduces garbage in the landfills and contributes to a healthier environment.

Coffee grounds can be applied along with other materials as a side dressing for vegetables, roses and other plants. Coffee grounds are high in nitrogen, but are also acidic. Adding brown material such as leaves and dried grass to the grounds will help keep a balanced soil pH.

Coffee grounds act as a green material with a carbon-nitrogen (C-N) ratio of 20-1. They make an excellent addition to compost. Combined with browns such as leaves and straw, coffee grounds generate heat and will speed up the compost process. To counter the acidity of the grounds, consider adding a teaspoon of lime or wood ash for every 5 pounds of coffee grounds.

Worms fed with coffee grounds combined with other materials will flourish.

*Coffee grounds are free to gardeners. It is recommended that one takes his own container when stopping to pick up the grounds.

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Horticultural Therapy

Master Gardeners implement Horticulture Therapy programs, frequently at the request of Delaware County organizations. These programs are designed to enrich lives through the joys of gardening. Presently, the following programs are in place:

	Broomall Presbyterian Village is a residence for seniors. Volunteers teach and assist residents in gardening projects twice monthly throughout the year.
	Seniors who attend the Family Matters Day Care Center in Clifton Heights, under the instruction of Master Gardener volunteers, make seasonal gardening-related projects on the second Monday of each month.
	Merry Place in Havertown, is a playground and garden designed to serve the needs of the disabled. Master Gardeners are on site to educate and supervise when business and community groups as well as school children volunteer to weed, prune, and plant.
	The Garden Club of Main Street School in Upland includes third to sixth graders who garden to beautify their school and to attract birds and butterflies. Master Gardeners volunteer once weekly during the growing season.
	Melmark Home, Berwyn, is a residential facility for developmentally disable people. Volunteers meet on Thursday from 10 am to 12 noon, to assist gardening indoors in winter and outdoors in summer. Chair: Diana Pompei
	Family Matters Day Care Center in Clifton Heights is a day care center for seniors. Volunteers meet on the second Monday of the month year round, from 10 am to 12 noon. Chair: Susan Andrews

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