About the Discovery Garden | Garden Progress | Grants Received | Get Involved! | Educational Resources | Community Partners
The Mesa County Libraries Discovery Garden project is a series of interactive and demonstrative gardens that provides education, food, respite, and community engagement. Our goal is to promote nutrition literacy, keep up with the needs of the community, and uphold pesticide-free, permaculture-focused methods that help conserve water and build healthy soil. A variety of gardening techniques are modeled, including xeric, raised bed, in-ground farming, pollinator, seed-saving, and permaculture design. The Discovery Garden is by the community and for the community!
About the Discovery Garden
The Discovery Garden, occupying library-owned ground at 5th Street and Chipeta Avenue in Grand Junction, is a place where volunteers and organizations have created and maintained a beautiful space for learning and growing. The space can be used for people to gather for educational programs, events, and workshops. Features include a children’s garden, pollinator beds, compost demonstration, food plots, hoop house, xeric landscaping, native plant area, shade structures, a shed, and artists’ benches. The Discovery Garden does not offer gardening plots to individuals. Instead, the garden is a designated space for quiet relaxation and general enjoyment where people of the community can pick their own food and experience educational programs.
Garden Progress
Once a CSU community garden, then a vacant lot, now a quality outdoor resource. Since 2018, this plot of land has seem some fantastic progress. Listed below are just a few of the many developments the Discovery Garden has undergone in the past two years with the help of amazing volunteers and community partners.
- Built micro basins along 5th and Chipeta
- Planted permanent trees and shrubs
- Rebuilt and reinforced hoop house cover
- Expanded pathways through Wilderness Area and along perimeter
- Installed a little free library and musical instruments
- Added a wheelchair accessible picnic table
- Installed several interpretive signs highlighting demonstration beds
Grants Received
The Discovery Garden is honored to have received grants and donations from organizations and individuals since its inception. The following community partners graciously helped us achieve our goals in 2021:
- Friends of the Library – Grant used to purchase permanent trees and shrubs, tools, and irrigation supplies
- Walmart Community Grant: Rimrock Location – Grant used to purchase trees and irrigation supplies
- Kiwanis Club of Grand Junction – Grant used for programming supplies and child-sized gloves and tools
- City of Grand Junction – Grant used for shade structure
- Lowe’s 100 Hometowns Grant – Grant used for microbasins on 5th Street, two shade structures, wheelchair accessible picnic tables, expanded pathwork, tools, and irrigation supplies
- Green Junction Farmstead – Donated labor and supplies to renovate the hoop house and build in-ground worm bins
Get Involved!
We need your help to maintain the Discovery Garden! Please visit our volunteer page to learn how you can join us at the next Discovery Garden workday! Tools and equipment donations welcome and appreciated – call to inquire what’s needed.
Educational Resources
- What is Permaculture?
Recommended Reading Lists for Adults:
Recommended Reading Lists for Kids
Community Partners
We extend our heartfelt thanks to the following partners and community contributors who are helping to make the Discovery Garden a reality. Thank you!