Most of our projects are about outreach. Our current highlight this season is without question the Great Tomato Plant Sale (GTPS), starting on April 11th. But to get the real impact of our outreach, we’d like to show you how far our outreach goes!
We have the Helpdesk, who will respond to all your gardening questions, but also our AAMG tables present at many farmers' markets and special events, often giving out valuable gardening information, samples, and even seed packets for you to take home. And let’s not forget about our School gardens, Community gardens, Demonstration Gardens, and pop-ups at special CoCo MG events, teaching children, teachers, and local residents about sustainable garden techniques. On top of that, we have our popular webinars in collaboration with the Contra Costa Library, as well as the Growing Gardeners class courses which tend to sell out immediately when the course becomes available.
Of course, not every participant of these events will submit a UC survey they receive after the event. For us, MGs, it is, however, important to know how well we provide you with sustainable gardening practices. So, YES, please keep capturing those QR codes and let us know how well we are doing!
UC has 7 building blocks when rating our outreach to the community. Across the board, residents reported starting or improving sustainable practices:
- Right Plant, Right Place: 64% of gardeners surveyed are now selecting plants better suited to their environments.
- Green Waste Management: 72% now use city-provided green waste bins, while 60% have embraced traditional bin composting.
- Pest Management: 78% regularly monitor for pests, weeds, and diseases—reducing reliance on pesticides (65%) and taking steps to combat invasive plants (63%).
- Pollinator Support: Gardens across the county are buzzing—69% of participants now use pollinator-friendly plants, and 59% provide water sources for bees and butterflies.
- Water Conservation: 71% use mulch to retain moisture, and 63% are selecting low-water-use plants, helping steward one of our most precious resources.
- Food Gardening: 76% grow edible plants, more than half are expanding the diversity of what they grow, and many are sharing their harvest—some even donating produce to local programs.
- Health & Wellbeing: Perhaps most joyful of all—two-thirds of respondents (66%) say they’re simply spending more time outdoors since attending a UC Master Gardener event.
On top of this, these were not one-time experiences. Many attendees keep coming back, attending more talks, visiting our website, and reaching out to our Helpdesk and other educational resources, such as our Integrated Pest Management (IPM) portal.
These results are a powerful reminder of what community education can achieve. Every workshop taught, every demonstration garden tended, and every conversation at a pop-up AAMG table contributes to a ripple effect of environmental stewardship. We as Master Gardener volunteers, are helping our neighbors make thousands of small choices, each one helping Contra Costa County bloom in more sustainable, thoughtful, and connected ways.
So, thank you, Contra Costa County residents, for helping our county grow greener, one plant, one garden, and one gardener at a time.