West End Demonstration Garden

Darrell Blackwelder

July 28, 2004

     Cooperative Extension’s Master Gardener program in Rowan County has a very large urban horticulture demonstration garden at the West End Community Park on Brenner Avenue in Salisbury. The garden is now at its’ peak and the public is invited to view various demonstrations.

     The garden is a collaborative effort between the City of Salisbury Recreation Department and Cooperative Extension’s Master Gardener Volunteer Program.  The demonstration garden is a part of the City of Salisbury Park System and is open to the general public. It is not a community garden, but a series of demonstrations conducted by Master Gardener Volunteers.

     The goal of the demonstration garden is to provide Rowan County gardeners or would be gardeners’ information on different types of plant varieties, planting structures, test plots and trials that could be implemented into a typical urban garden.

     The gardening area, near the railroad tracks on Brenner Avenue, was actually an overgrown, abandoned lot a few years ago. In 1998, Master Gardener Volunteer, Ray Hayworth, Miller Center Recreation Department and other gardeners implemented a small garden spot as a Boy Scout project. The project as grown steadily each year implementing different types demonstrations and gardens.

     The horticultural demonstration gardens at the West End Park features the following demonstrations: composting, blueberry test plots, muscadine grapes, wetland and bog study, butterfly and insect habitat and garden, raised beds, annual and perennial border, drip irrigation vs overhead irrigation, heirloom tomato trial, Junior Master Gardener garden, Enabling Garden for those with limited mobility, cover crop demonstration as well as a small orchard.   The garden also features ornamental trees that surround the garden.

 The joke among Master Gardener Volunteers is that “no matter what we do this year, we’ll probably change it again next year”. In a sense this is correct. The objective of the demonstrations is to provide new ideas for the general public. This involves planting new and different plant cultivars.

     The success of the garden can be directly attributed to a number of factors including: Partnering with the City of Salisbury Recreation Department and the City of Salisbury, Block Grants from the City of Salisbury Community Development Funds, lady inmates from the Davidson Correctional Institute in Lexington, Robertson Family Foundation and the Hurley Foundation. However, the key to the success of this demonstration garden is the dedicated work of the Master Gardeners. Friday mornings, Master Gardener Volunteers are hard at work weeding, planting, pruning and maintaining the garden.