Success StorySenior Garden



Senior Garden

Author: Samuel Cofield

Planning Unit: Trigg County CES

Major Program: Home & Consumer Horticulture

Plan of Work: Food for Everyone

Outcome: Intermediate Outcome

The Trigg County Cooperative Extension Service in partnership  with the Trigg County Senior Citizens Center have worked to provide our community members with many opportunities to improve their quality of life by encouraging healthy habits.  One of these projects is a community garden located by the pavilion at the senior center.

2019 is the Fourth year of the garden project started at the Trigg County Senior Citizens center.  The project began with an idea and a trailer load of tires from our conservation districts tire amnesty day.  Several tires were cut and arranged at the senior center to make a tiered raised bed for growing vegetables.  

Since starting the project we have grown our garden to include Berries, beans, cucurbits, and sweetcorn.    Community members helping with the garden also learned about how to use plastic ground covers for weed control, learned how to ID several common garden weeds, diseases and pests.  They have also seen firsthand the importance of rotating locations for disease control.   Many of the community members who helped or worked in the Sr. Center garden took some of the ideas home with them.   The plastic ground cover was probably the biggest success for people with gardens at home, it saves worlds of time weeding and reduces the need for irrigation dramatically.  Another favorite was the use of stock panels set in a row and used to hold up the tomatoes and cucumbers. Most had never seen cucumbers grown upright but everyone appreciated it when time came to start picking.  Some of the vegetables grown in the garden were also incorporated into recipes and demonstrations by our Snap- Ed instructor and our FCS agent. Everyone involved with any part of the project has reported that they’ve enjoyed working in the garden, and learning more about the plants there.  It has been a great way to get some of our citizens back outside and moving during the summer months, the produce they take home is also a bonus.






Stories by Samuel Cofield


West Ky Hemp Conference

about 5 years ago by Samuel Cofield

Industrial Hemp has been a long standing tradition in Kentucky. In the 19th and 20th century Kentuck... Read More


Master Grazer Project

about 5 years ago by Samuel Cofield

The winter of 2018/19 was a rough one for anyone trying to feed cattle though it. Rainfall in Decemb... Read More


Stories by Trigg County CES


West Ky Hemp Conference

about 5 years ago by Samuel Cofield

Industrial Hemp has been a long standing tradition in Kentucky. In the 19th and 20th century Kentuck... Read More


A Dose of Reality

about 5 years ago by Cecelia Hostilo

Each year 4-H Youth Development, Trigg Family Resource Center, and a 7th grade Social Studies teache... Read More


Stories by Home & Consumer Horticulture


Trial Gardens Benefit Gardeners

Trial Gardens Benefit Gardeners

about 5 years ago by Erika Wood

Each year, several counties across the state participate in the bedding plant trials. These trials c... Read More


Bates Community Development Corp Grows Fresh Food for the Community

Bates Community Development Corp Grows Fresh Food for the Community

about 5 years ago by Stephen Lewis

Bates Community Development Corp (BCDC) is a nonprofit that provides social services to the communit... Read More