G3 has launched curriculum development on the G3 Garden Steward Series of workshops to bring people who maintain gardens (residential, commercial, and public) into their rightful role as stewards of the environment. At the core of the G3 Garden Steward Series is a deep understanding of Water and Resource Management Techniques including:
- Plant/Soil/Water Relationship For Water Budgeting
- Irrigation Hydraulics and Troubleshooting
- Irrigation Controller Programming
- Elimination of Dry-Weather Runoff
- Creation of Living Soil Without Synthetic Inputs
- Sponge Garden Maintenance
- Healthy Plant Maintenance
The G3 Garden Steward Series was inspired by blending Santa Barbara, CA’s Green Gardener Program with various Water Management certification programs. As G3 is focused on teaching for understanding, the Garden Steward Series emphasizes hands-on, peer-to-peer training over classroom work, and is closely affiliated with the G3 HOWs. Workshops within the Series will be offered in English and Spanish, and all course materials are translated into Spanish.
The objective of developing the Garden Steward Series, and pairing it with the Watershed Basics Classes and HOWs, is to create a Garden Steward Certification. G3 is working with its Program Partners to ensure that this Certification is recognized by property owners as a value-added skill set worth paying a living wage to gain the partnership of a trained landscape steward rather than a “mow, blow, go” garden janitor.
Stay tuned in Spring 2013 for the first workshops in Southern California.
