Redwood Coast Montessori entrance garden

Abstract

Redwood Coast Montessori and the Manila Community Center allowed Humboldt State University's Fall 2014 ENGR215 class to implement several student-designed projects that benefited the community. The Wayfinding Entrance Garden project's main objective was to create an attractive, inviting entrance for the school that included native plants. The inclusion of edible plants was also a consideration in the design. The garden was envisioned as a place where students might be able to learn about the care of a native garden while enjoying the sights, smells and tastes of the plants.

Background

Redwood Coast Montessori and The Manila Community center are located in a dune environment near Manila, California. The proximity of the location to the ocean was considered in the design, as was the fact that the entrance area must be appealing to both the communities of the school, and of the Community center.

The Green Garden Gurus (G³)

G³ consists of four Humboldt State University students: Paul Acosta, Emily Higbee, Jose Lara, and Carmen Torres. They are all enrolled in the fall semester of 2014 Engineering 215 course, Introduction to Design taught by Lonny Grafman. This group was given the task of making an aesthetically pleasing entrance garden for Redwood Coast Montessori, which leases the property from The Manila Community Center.

Problem Statement and Criteria

Specifications and considerations are the defining aspects of the Wayfinding Entrance Garden. These aspects have been set forth by the project team G³ in cooperation with the client at Redwood Coast Montessori based on the school's and the community center's needs. The entrance garden design must meet the criteria, and stay within the constraints listed below in table below.

Criteria	Weight	Constraint
Appearance	10	Looks professionally designed and is inviting
Use of native plants	10	All plants in the garden must be native
Sustainability	8	The ecological balance of the area must be upheld
Safety	5	Will not kill children
Cost	5	Less than $500
Edibility	4	There are some edible plants in the garden

Description of final project

The final design is called Natural Native, which includes all native plants^[1] from California. The lack of large planters and a stepping stone path give this design a more natural feel.

All the plants that were planted in the ground are native to the local climate of Northern California.Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag from the garden area. (Also pull out rocks from the ground inside the garden area if any).

|File:Final design plants.jpg |Caption |4 |Create a design of your garden and were each plant will be placed.
|File:IMG 0054.JPG |Caption |5 |After creating your design you should select which plants you would like to grow.
|File:Plant Nursery.jpg |Caption |6 |Once your plants are selected you can go off and purchase all your plants at your local nursery.[2]
|File:Planting plants.JPG |Caption |7 |Start planting the flowers in the areas that you decided on in your design.  
|File:Mulch-your-borders.jpg|Caption |8 |Add the mulch to the ground around the flowers.
|File:IMG 6385.JPG |Caption |9 |Add stepping stones to create a path along your garden. 
|File:Placing weed mat.jpg| Caption|10a |Apply a weed mat on the ground around the flowers to prevent weeds from growing.
|File:Section of weed mat.jpg| Caption|10b |Take a section of the weed mat and lay it over the flowers. 
|File:Weed mat over plants.jpg| Caption|10c |Make a hole over each individual flower and make sure the hole in the weed mat is big enough to fit over the flower and place it on the ground.
|File:IMAG0671.jpg| Caption|10d |Your weed mat should look similar to this when done.
|File:IMG 6505.JPG| Caption|11 |Now your garden is finished and ready to start gorwing.
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Discussion and next steps

Discussion

Several last minute adjustments needed to be made to the final design. The client at Redwood Coast Montessori requested another stepping stone to be placed into the path to accommodate the younger students at the school. Also, the original design included covering the entire area with the weed mat, but unfortunately the donated material was not enough to cover the entire garden, and purchasing more would be outside the price range of this project.

Next Steps

The Green Garden Gurus have finally finished the entrance garden for the Redwood Coast Montessori School and already the community loves the way the garden looks. Now it is up to the students and staff of the Redwood Coast Montessori to water and maintain the garden in order for the plants to blossom and flourish.

References

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