M R Gardens: Healthy Plants, Healthy Landscapes
M R Gardens is a resource for both home and professional gardeners; landscape designers; and community organizers. We have a one-of-a-kind sustainable nursery, specializing in native perennials as well as high quality vegetable and herb seedlings, usually selling direct to customer. We can also fill large orders for landscape designers. Owner Megan Riley gives advice on how to
install no-till Microbe Rich ("M R") garden systems, giving tours of her ecologically landscaped farm as well as consults at clients' properties.
Megan's philosophy is that
well-managed gardens add to growers' quality of life on multiple levels, and
those benefits should extend to all segments of the community. "Everyone
can benefit from a garden, no matter how big or small it is,"
Megan said. "As our culture switches to healthy eating, reviving tasty
nutritious vegetable varieties that are not easily shipped, more people will want to take part in the growing of their own food. The more we coordinate this endeavor—and provide education so that people have successful gardens—the more that healthy
food becomes affordable for everyone in the community." In the meantime, the flowers planted around the vegetable garden are beneficial to the crops and the surrounding ecosystem, making sure it retains a healthy balance.
Four
principles guide M R Gardens: Health, Community, Traditions and Sustainable
Systems
Health: Since Megan grows on a small scale, she gives individual attention to the plants and her customers in hopes of producing healthy products and relationships. She follows organic practices. The plants add joy to the customers' lives, and the activity in the garden is therapeutic.
Health: Since Megan grows on a small scale, she gives individual attention to the plants and her customers in hopes of producing healthy products and relationships. She follows organic practices. The plants add joy to the customers' lives, and the activity in the garden is therapeutic.
Community: Creating a mission-driven business with strong values and a strong foundation is one of the best contributions to the community. The annual plant shows at M R Gardens are a great way for community members to make connections, and the on-site group classes foster relationships between gardeners. Megan also connects with and donates to community organizations that are spreading access of healthy food to low-income
areas.
Traditions: The corner of Oakley where M R Gardens is located
used to be a strong farming community, and her neighbors often talk about the
spectacular garden that the former owners of her land tended. Bits of that
gardening tradition still remain in the community, and Megan hopes to re-inspire
her neighbors. Megan buys seed from a local company as well as exchanges heirloom seeds with Cherokee Reservation growers
and others who have been in the mountains for generations.
Sustainable
Systems: Megan
promotes a no-till, low maintenance garden system that relies on layers of
organic matter, microorganisms and healthy soil structure to create a good habitat for plants.
She also incorporates native and/or beneficial plants to attract pollinating
insects and garden pest predators. When building the nursery, she examined every element of the business and the greenhouses to make sure she is being as sustainable as possible.
Call
828.333.4151 or email megan@mrgardens.net to place an order or set up an
appointment.
