In March 2021, Mary Hank started as the Horticulture Assistant under the Horticulture Agent, Kathy Wimberley.  Mary and Kathy put together several raised beds with the help of the maintenance man at the time.  Fast forward to August 2, 2022, Mary Hank taught a class at the Extension Office called Toolbox: Wicking Raised Beds. There was about thirty people in attendance included several Master Gardeners. The program was also recorded and added to a YouTube page for a larger audience reach. The page has 5,940 subscribers. During Mary’s presentation she discussed what all you will need to start a garden and how to take care of it.

Next, she taught the audience how to build a wicking raised bed like they have at the Extension Office. After about an hour the audience followed Mary to the barn beside the office. There the audience was able to get a hands-on experience with the raised wicking beds. They took lots of photos and asked lots of questions. Several even told Mary they were going to go home and look into building a raised wicking bed to cut back on watering.