Garden Sense Program Makes Sense!

The UCCE Sonoma Master Gardeners launched a partnership with the Sonoma County Water Agency in November 2013 called “”. Under the Garden Sense program, a team of two Master Gardeners with specialized training in water efficiency schedule visits with interested Sonoma County homeowners to advise on how to transform their landscape from one that gulps water to one that sips.

Garden Sense consultants have been trained in lawn conversion, water management, irrigation systems, low-water-use plants and sustainable gardening practices.

As a result of the drought emergency, there has been a huge response to the program. Garden Sense teams visited 161 clients in 2014 with a total of 182 total clients visited since the program inception in November 2013. There is a backlog of 90 more clients waiting for appointments, and we are training a new group of Garden Sense consultants to help meet the demand generated by the program.

There are a wide range of planned activities by the clients with whom we have consulted ranging from a complete re-landscape of yards with new irrigation, water-wise plants and mulching to simple irrigation improvements.

Every small step helps!

There has been a very positive response to the program, and homeowners seem genuinely grateful for assistance with recommendations in their specific home landscape. The UCCE Sonoma Master Gardeners will be conducting a survey later this year to assess actual impact of changes homeowners have made in landscape water use practices as a results of the Garden Sense program. Contact the Master Gardeners at 707-565-2608 or visit Garden Sense