M R Gardens: 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.

Photo of Megan by Lisa Kruss

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 a native and edible 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, offers other garden management advice, and draws landscape designs for her customers.

Culver's Root, Photo by Lisa Kruss

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 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 and regularly attends conferences that are ahead of their time, such as the Cullowhee Native Plant Conference. 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 mimics these natural communities in her landscape designs. She also develops an intuitive feel of plant essences 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.

Customers' comments

"Working with no-till beds was a completely new experience for me. What looked like a mound of leaves was pushed aside to reveal true garden alchemy months in the making. Looking at the rich, crumbly earth, you could just tell this was good stuff! After I pushed the garden fork in the earth with absolutely no resistance, I was hooked. I had to know how to replicate this in my home garden." —Brooke of West Asheville, N.C., M R Gardens volunteer

"Park of my retirement dream was having gardens all around our new house. Before I met Megan, I could visualize my gardens but was completely stuck when it came to implementing my vision. She listened to my vision and was able to create a design that reflects what I saw. Most importantly she taught me how to rebuild the topsoil that was graded away during the building of our house. The day we started working on preparing the beds, I felt deeply that we were healing the damaged earth by layering the organic compost and leaves to decompose over the winter."—Susan of Rutherfordton, N.C., M R Gardens client

"Megan's edible landscape design is truly an inspiration for home gardeners and shows what can be accomplished on a small scale. It looks good, is productive, and provides habitat for beneficial insects, animals, and the occasional stressed-out human looking for a reprieve from modern life."—Brooke of West Asheville, N.C., M R Gardens volunteer

"Megan, you're the best! This is all so helpful and I can't believe my vision of having my first real garden is coming true."—Michelle of Asheville, N.C., M R Gardens client.

"Your plants did SO great for us last year! I don't know what you put in that soil, say to the plants, music you play for them, whatever it's working."—Cheryl of Fairview, N.C.

"Your consult was amazing... I am feeling better knowing what I have to do and when I have to do it."—Mary of Asheville, N.C.

"My heirloom tomatoes [from M R Gardens] grew wonderfully last summer." —Terri of Oakley (in Asheville)

"Megan is a remarkable resource for gardening." —Essie of Oakley

"The no-till method of gardening made me look at a gardening in a completely new way. Along with giving me other organic gardening advice, Megan has opened my eyes to a new way of growing healthy and happy plants and I will never to back to tilling!" —Jen of Oakley

SERVICES

ABOUT THE GROWER