Since 2009, the Greater Greenville Master Gardener Association has funded service and education programs in Upstate of South Carolina through our community grants program.
Our grants support new organizations, as well as proven programs. We fund school gardening programs, community gardens, and beautification projects as well as a host of other projects. All of our grantees encourage knowledge and promotion of gardening and horticultural education for our community.
Click here for Descriptions & Guidelines (pdf)
Click here for Application (Google Doc)
If you have questions, contact [email protected] .
GRANT AWARDEES FOR 2023-24
by 2023-24 GGMG Grants Chairperson Lynn Price
The Greater Greenville Master Gardeners Association has again completed a successful community grants program for the year. The committee met with this year's applicants and made site visits. Funds were distributed to the following worthwhile projects.
Our grants support new organizations, as well as proven programs. We fund school gardening programs, community gardens, and beautification projects as well as a host of other projects. All of our grantees encourage knowledge and promotion of gardening and horticultural education for our community.
Click here for Descriptions & Guidelines (pdf)
Click here for Application (Google Doc)
If you have questions, contact [email protected] .
GRANT AWARDEES FOR 2023-24
by 2023-24 GGMG Grants Chairperson Lynn Price
The Greater Greenville Master Gardeners Association has again completed a successful community grants program for the year. The committee met with this year's applicants and made site visits. Funds were distributed to the following worthwhile projects.
Pictures coming soon!
Berea Elementary School
as relayed by Tiffany Herndon, Site Coordinator, Berea Elementary School
We have been busy and growing this year! The four new beds at the front of the school were planted with onions and more
butterfly-friendly flowers, which really brightened up the front of the building.
We were able to add another bed in the grassy circle by the car line. We purchased soil amendments and fertilizers, and as you can see in the pictures, the snapdragons, tulips, and kale we planted looked beautiful!
With the extra new beds, we needed irrigation supplies, which we were able to purchase with the funding received. An efficient irrigation system has been so helpful, especially in our warm South Carolina days.
In the existing garden spaces and raised beds, we planted wildflowers, butterfly bushes, snapdragons, dianthus, and some delicious veggies.
We grew and harvested romaine and mixed lettuce, which was used in the cafeteria, featured in a teacher appreciation salad bar, and bagged up and sent home with students and staff. As school ended, we harvested carrots, potatoes, and broccoli. We were able to share these crops with our school community.
Lastly, the gardening experiences we provided our students—through your help—gave them the opportunity to gain skills and learn about agriculture, enjoy nature and each other, feel pride in contributing to the campus appearance, and be part of the start-to- finish process of growing food they got to eat, share with their family, or see served in their cafeteria.
We cannot thank you enough for your support these past two years. We expanded on the school garden program for our students in a significant way. I would love to stay in touch about continuing our partnership or hear about any other opportunities you can refer us to as we aim to continue growing!
Nicholtown Community Garden
as relayed by Laura Shoun, Nicholtown Community Garden Team Leader
The Nicholtown Community Garden is located in the heart of the Nicholtown district. The neighborhood was established in the early 1900s as an urban, black community where neighbors built houses together, watched out for each other’s children, and shared produce they grew. There were neighborhood stores where everything cost a nickel. Welcome to Nicholtown.
In 2010, neighborhood leaders envisioned a garden on a space in the community. With an original grant from Pepsi and cooperation from the city of Greenville, the garden was established in 2012.
Neighbors purchased bricks for a community plaque to honor the original families in the area. Mr. Byrd was the experienced gardener for the concept. Traditional crops of green beans, corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, okra, sweet potatoes, collards, and cabbages were grown for the summer and winter seasons. He worked with other neighbors to clear the space for planting and tended the garden until 2018.
In 2018, a young new neighbor Lindsey Jacobs converted the care of the garden to organic practices. With the blessings of neighborhood leaders, help from knowledgeable friends, and a grant from The Greater Greenville Master Gardeners Association, Lindsey was able to purchase garden tools, fertilizers, irrigation tubing, and a shed to house the tools. This shed is integral to the current effort to move the garden forward to more sustainable practices.
The Nicholtown Neighborhood Association is excited about this newest chapter. With a grant awarded from the Master Gardeners in autumn 2023, Nicholtown Community Garden purchased power tools for the garden effort, solar panels, and a battery pack to store the solar energy. The solar energy can also charge power tools, donated by Ryobi, which are shared by the community to keep yards mowed, and trees trimmed.
We are just beginning to use the system to full capacity. It is a particularly good unit and a great idea. Our neighborhood tool-share program is benefitting from free power to charge the tools. Our garden has the same advantage. Being “off the grid” is such a joy. Originally, we approached the city to install electric lines, but the solar solution is far superior. There is no bill, and our tools are always charged when needed.
The Nicholtown community is very grateful for support from the Greater Greenville Master Gardeners. Our garden volunteers came out to meet the grant team, and collaborating with the patient Lynn Price and Nancy Williams, grant committee members, was a joy. Our gardening volunteers are using organic and sustainable practices for controlling weeds, insects, and nourishing the soil. We are committed to these practices, and our newest “off the grid” battery charging station helps us meet that vision. Thank you for your outreach to our community, Greenville Master Gardeners.
Mill Village Ministries
as relayed by Morgan Wilson, Development Management, Mill Village Farms
We are incredibly grateful for The Greater Greenville Master Gardeners Association’s support of our initiative at Mill Village Farms. As mentioned in our application, the grant funds helped expand the growing area on our current farm property to provide more education, as well as access opportunities for local community members.
We established an Inspiration Garden to showcase various methods for growing food in limited spaces. This Inspiration Garden is situated at our “Crop Stop” area on our farm in the Sullivan neighborhood. The area was professionally graded, cleared of invasive kudzu and a paper mulberry tree, and prepared for the installation of garden boxes and creative container gardens.
This project will enable us to offer more educational classes to the community in the future in a more accessible area than our main garden space. The extra produce grown in this area will be distributed back into the Sullivan neighborhood.
Furthermore, this garden has provided us with a dedicated teaching space on our farm. Currently, we conduct teachings in our main garden space and greenhouse, which have been optimized for production. Having this accessible garden area focused on inspiration and education will allow us to continue to offer more opportunities to educate the community—and the teens with whom we work—on horticulture, especially, on growing food.
as relayed by Tiffany Herndon, Site Coordinator, Berea Elementary School
We have been busy and growing this year! The four new beds at the front of the school were planted with onions and more
butterfly-friendly flowers, which really brightened up the front of the building.
We were able to add another bed in the grassy circle by the car line. We purchased soil amendments and fertilizers, and as you can see in the pictures, the snapdragons, tulips, and kale we planted looked beautiful!
With the extra new beds, we needed irrigation supplies, which we were able to purchase with the funding received. An efficient irrigation system has been so helpful, especially in our warm South Carolina days.
In the existing garden spaces and raised beds, we planted wildflowers, butterfly bushes, snapdragons, dianthus, and some delicious veggies.
We grew and harvested romaine and mixed lettuce, which was used in the cafeteria, featured in a teacher appreciation salad bar, and bagged up and sent home with students and staff. As school ended, we harvested carrots, potatoes, and broccoli. We were able to share these crops with our school community.
Lastly, the gardening experiences we provided our students—through your help—gave them the opportunity to gain skills and learn about agriculture, enjoy nature and each other, feel pride in contributing to the campus appearance, and be part of the start-to- finish process of growing food they got to eat, share with their family, or see served in their cafeteria.
We cannot thank you enough for your support these past two years. We expanded on the school garden program for our students in a significant way. I would love to stay in touch about continuing our partnership or hear about any other opportunities you can refer us to as we aim to continue growing!
Nicholtown Community Garden
as relayed by Laura Shoun, Nicholtown Community Garden Team Leader
The Nicholtown Community Garden is located in the heart of the Nicholtown district. The neighborhood was established in the early 1900s as an urban, black community where neighbors built houses together, watched out for each other’s children, and shared produce they grew. There were neighborhood stores where everything cost a nickel. Welcome to Nicholtown.
In 2010, neighborhood leaders envisioned a garden on a space in the community. With an original grant from Pepsi and cooperation from the city of Greenville, the garden was established in 2012.
Neighbors purchased bricks for a community plaque to honor the original families in the area. Mr. Byrd was the experienced gardener for the concept. Traditional crops of green beans, corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, okra, sweet potatoes, collards, and cabbages were grown for the summer and winter seasons. He worked with other neighbors to clear the space for planting and tended the garden until 2018.
In 2018, a young new neighbor Lindsey Jacobs converted the care of the garden to organic practices. With the blessings of neighborhood leaders, help from knowledgeable friends, and a grant from The Greater Greenville Master Gardeners Association, Lindsey was able to purchase garden tools, fertilizers, irrigation tubing, and a shed to house the tools. This shed is integral to the current effort to move the garden forward to more sustainable practices.
The Nicholtown Neighborhood Association is excited about this newest chapter. With a grant awarded from the Master Gardeners in autumn 2023, Nicholtown Community Garden purchased power tools for the garden effort, solar panels, and a battery pack to store the solar energy. The solar energy can also charge power tools, donated by Ryobi, which are shared by the community to keep yards mowed, and trees trimmed.
We are just beginning to use the system to full capacity. It is a particularly good unit and a great idea. Our neighborhood tool-share program is benefitting from free power to charge the tools. Our garden has the same advantage. Being “off the grid” is such a joy. Originally, we approached the city to install electric lines, but the solar solution is far superior. There is no bill, and our tools are always charged when needed.
The Nicholtown community is very grateful for support from the Greater Greenville Master Gardeners. Our garden volunteers came out to meet the grant team, and collaborating with the patient Lynn Price and Nancy Williams, grant committee members, was a joy. Our gardening volunteers are using organic and sustainable practices for controlling weeds, insects, and nourishing the soil. We are committed to these practices, and our newest “off the grid” battery charging station helps us meet that vision. Thank you for your outreach to our community, Greenville Master Gardeners.
Mill Village Ministries
as relayed by Morgan Wilson, Development Management, Mill Village Farms
We are incredibly grateful for The Greater Greenville Master Gardeners Association’s support of our initiative at Mill Village Farms. As mentioned in our application, the grant funds helped expand the growing area on our current farm property to provide more education, as well as access opportunities for local community members.
We established an Inspiration Garden to showcase various methods for growing food in limited spaces. This Inspiration Garden is situated at our “Crop Stop” area on our farm in the Sullivan neighborhood. The area was professionally graded, cleared of invasive kudzu and a paper mulberry tree, and prepared for the installation of garden boxes and creative container gardens.
This project will enable us to offer more educational classes to the community in the future in a more accessible area than our main garden space. The extra produce grown in this area will be distributed back into the Sullivan neighborhood.
Furthermore, this garden has provided us with a dedicated teaching space on our farm. Currently, we conduct teachings in our main garden space and greenhouse, which have been optimized for production. Having this accessible garden area focused on inspiration and education will allow us to continue to offer more opportunities to educate the community—and the teens with whom we work—on horticulture, especially, on growing food.
We look forward to future visits with these awardees and watching their projects develop!