ABOUT THE GROWER

Horticulture Background of Megan Riley, M R Gardens

Megan Riley is the owner of a sustainable plant nursery and two-acre educational farm in the Oakley community of Asheville, N.C. In addition to offering edible/native landscape design and garden coaching services, she grows native perennials, other beneficial flowers, medicinal herbs and vegetable starts for sale.

Megan designed a unique 800-square-foot passive solar greenhouse, which produces plants with no supplemental heat or powered exhaust ventilation. She strives to grow plants with nearly all renewable resources while reusing any non-renewables.

Since 2009, Megan has been transforming her property into an edible and native landscape that is a demonstration site for her customers and students. She practices a no-till "Microbe Rich" gardening style and makes use of natural systems to manage the landscape. Megan coaches others how to set up these relatively weed-free, low-maintenance beds, creates garden management spreadsheets and other tools, and draws edible and native landscape designs for her customers.

Forest garden layering fruit trees, shrubs, understory beneficial plants and groundcovers.
Photos by Vickie Burick

While Megan's extended family are farmers, her inherited love of gardening and fascination with soil didn't emerge until graduate school. She designed her curriculum for her M.S. in Environmental Education from Lesley University to focus on sustainable agriculture. From 2001 to 2003, she visited influential farms such as Eliot Coleman's Four Season Farm in Maine and volunteered during brief stays at several permaculture farms across the nation. She also learned from growers trained in John Jeavons' Grow Biointensive farming method, and put theory into practice at a 7-month apprenticeship at a Community Supported Agriculture venture at Fulton Sustainability Center in Pennsylvania.

Megan's training in experiential education through her graduate program enhances her customer's coaching experience. Megan remembers what it was like to be a beginning gardener almost 20 years ago so she doesn't overload her clients with too much information or tasks at once.

Megan continually adds to her education to broaden her services. In 2012, Megan completed a Horticulture Certificate at Haywood Community College, and her curriculum included landscape design. She also completed courses at the Appalachia School of Holistic Herbalism 2014-2016. As she gains a greater understanding of the Southern Appalachian ecology, she tries to mimic these natural communities in her landscape designs. She also develops an intuitive feel of plant energies so she can pick out the best plants for each of her clients, as they each have unique needs.

Megan also learns from the diverse, unique growers in Western North Carolina, especially through her communications work with WNC Agricultural Options. Meanwhile, her upbringing in a conventional farming community helps her to understand different perspectives and appreciate the struggles of all types of growers.