Volunteer at the Marin Bay-Friendly Garden Tour May 19

by Wendy Menara

Spring is here, and we’re gearing up for our yearly garden tour—scheduled for Saturday, May 19—and looking for volunteers to help.

For the first time this year, Marin County will be participating in the 9th annual Bay-Friendly Garden Tour, which opens gates to more than 65 beautiful and inspiring gardens throughout the Bay Area. Bay-Friendly gardens incorporate a variety of practices sensitive to our local environment, including low-water-use and native plants, wildlife habitat, backyard farming, composting, lawn conversions, rainwater harvesting, graywater systems and more. The Marin Bay-Friendly Garden Tour—which replaces our previous annual event known as the Eco-Friendly Garden Tour—is presented by the Bay-Friendly Landscaping & Gardening Coalition, Marin County Stormwater Pollution Prevention Program, North Marin Water District and MMWD.

We have 12 gardens throughout Marin County and are in need of volunteers to work 3.5 hour shifts greeting and assisting garden visitors. No gardening expertise is needed. Each volunteer receives a complimentary t-shirt and guidebook containing 32 tickets. You can use these tickets to tour other Marin gardens during your off-shift on May 19, or for other Bay-Friendly tour dates in other counties (April 29 in Alameda and Santa Clara; May 6 in Napa). You can share your guidebook and tickets with friends.

To sign up, just visit the Bay-Friendly Coalition’s volunteer registration page.

You are welcome to volunteer at any of the garden locations listed on the registration page. Please put your first preference for the city in Marin County where you would like to work, and we will be in touch with more info and to confirm assignments as we get closer to the event. We will do our best to ensure that everyone gets their first choice, but ask that you please be flexible in the event you might need to work in another city in Marin. If you have problems registering, please email me or call me at 945-1521.

If you don’t wish to volunteer but would like to attend the tour, click here to register. Registration is $10 and includes the guidebook and admission to your choice of gardens on any of the tour dates.

We hope to see you—as a volunteer or visitor—on May 19!

Read Full Post »

Volunteers Needed for Eco-Friendly Garden Tour May 15

by Wendy Menara

Do you love to garden?

Are you curious about how other people design their gardens?

Do you like to volunteer?

If you said yes to any of the above, then we have an opportunity for you!

Volunteers are needed for the fourth annual Eco-Friendly Garden Tour scheduled for Saturday, May 15. The tour will showcase more than 30 inspiring gardens throughout Marin featuring native and drought-tolerant plants, lawn conversions, edible landscapes, habitat gardens, a living roof, rain gardens and more

Volunteers receive three free tour tickets (a $30 value) and a t-shirt. Shifts are 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. or 1:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Each volunteer will be asked to work either the morning or the afternoon shift and can use the other half of the day to visit other gardens. For more information or to volunteer, call MMWD at (415) 945-1521.

The Eco-Friendly Garden Tour is co-sponsored by Marin County Stormwater Pollution Prevention Program, Marin Municipal Water District and North Marin Water District. The purpose of the tour is to showcase real gardens as examples of landscapes that are designed and maintained in environmentally friendly ways.

Happy gardening!

Read Full Post »