Bell County Master Gardeners offer tips for Central Texans
By AMY ROGNLIE | Photos courtesy of BELL COUNTY MASTER GARDENERS
Want to grow a garden and don’t know where to start? Visiting the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension office in Belton would be a great start. The friendly folks from the Bell County Master Gardeners are ready and willing to get you off on the right foot. From the education center to the help desk to hands-on classes, these knowledgeable volunteers will do their best to answer all your gardening questions.
“We have folks wander in here all the time to ask, ‘What do y’all do here?’” says Teri Marceau, president of Bell County Master Gardeners.
The question should be “What don’t y’all do here?” when it comes to gardening. The staff teaches the citizens of Bell County, both young and old, about gardening. When I visited the extension office, I enjoyed perusing the displays of local soil types and the examples of common weeds. I also learned that folks can come into the office, call or email them, and they will help solve your gardening or plant problem. And if they don’t know the answer, they will research it for you or send you home with some helpful literature.
“Our goal is to increase our outreach through classes and workshops throughout the county. Currently we have been focusing on the west side of town. We hope to increase our reach to the east side of the county through our monthly seminars,” Marceau says.
Favorite classes include butterfly gardening, vegetable gardening, and native and adaptive plants. Some classes are conducted on-site at the extension office, where participants learn everything from constructing worm towers, to crafting hypertufa pots, to whipping up a batch of herb butter. In addition, the Master Gardeners staff serve with the AgriLife Family and Community Health Department’s “Learn, Grow, Eat, Go” program for third to fifth grade students at several local elementary schools. Kids have the opportunity to build a garden, prepare the soil, and even learn about microbials. Students are thrilled to eat their produce and even take some home to share with their families.
When I visited the extension office in Belton, the volunteers were gearing up for the annual Bell County Home and Garden Show. While several volunteers potted up succulents to sell at their “Ask a Gardener” table, Marceau showed me around the lovely grounds, which is a work in progress. The group is currently in the process of rehabilitating the demonstration gardens at the extension office, making them more ADA accessible. Plans are also underway for a “pocket prairie” which will include wildflowers, native grasses, and habitats for birds and other wildlife. Other current areas include a succulent garden, a rose garden, and a native/adapted plant garden, as well as trial gardens where the current class of Master Gardener students conduct experiments.
The Master Gardeners also have their hands (literally) in many community-enriching projects. For example, the volunteer gardeners maintain the garden at the local Ronald McDonald House in Temple. They are also involved in working with juvenile offenders at the Killeen Municipal Court Community Garden, where young men and women in legal trouble work in the garden as part of their community service.
Last year, 8,000 pounds of produce was harvested from the garden and donated to local food banks and shelters. Besides that, the gardeners are very excited to be able to head back to the Veterans Association after not being able to teach there since the pandemic. The Master Gardeners developed an award-winning plan for a healing garden on the VA grounds and hope to get the project underway soon. If that wasn’t enough, the staff teaches local garden clubs and homeschool groups, attends career days on Fort Cavazos, and teaches classes to the trainees at Eldred’s Nursery, a local training center for adults with disabilities.
“We are all volunteers here,” Marceau says. “You can come and learn how to grow beans, or you can apply for the Master Gardener program. We have something for everyone.”
Bell County Master Gardeners
Address: 1605 N. Main St., Belton
Phone: 254-933-5304
Website: bell.agrilife.org/bell-county-master-gardeners/
Email: bell.mg@agnet.tamu.edu
Facebook: facebook.com/BCMGA
