The Winnsboro Library Garden project at the Gilbreath Memorial Library began in 2022 as a collaboration between the city of Winnsboro and Texas Master Gardeners, Wood County. Bob Bauerschmidt agreed to take the leadership role. From the beginning of the project we had a small and loyal group of volunteers, mostly from the 2022 class. The city had tried to maintain a garden at the library, but they did not have the knowledge base to make it work.
The city agreed to remove the existing bushes and landscape cloth. The garden was designated as an Earth-Kind garden which was started in two phases. Since we had a completely blank slate, we needed a planting plan and an implementation plan. Jenna Nelson and Lin Grado were instrumental in helping with the design and plant selection.
The implementation began by bringing in many yards of compost from Vital Earth. Then we spread and tilled the compost into the soil. Next, we brought in more yards of mulch to finish the bed prep.
Fortunately, an irrigation system was in place. Phil Young designed a new drip irrigation system and helped to instruct us about how to put it in. We were then ready to plant. Lin provided us with a majority of the plants that we used from her growers.
The library garden has had a positive impact on the community. We have had so much encouraging feedback from the city, library management, and library users. Whenever we are working, library patrons tell us how good the garden looks and how happy they are that we keep it so well maintained.
Our volunteer group grew in many ways as well. We all learned together from the process and made new lasting friendships. All of us have a great deal of pride in what we have accomplished. We all feel honored that we have brought value to the city of Winnsboro.