Green Learning Station- Cincinnati, Ohio

The kids and I had a great field trip at the Green Learning Station today. As evidenced by this blog, I am all about growing things in small spaces, urban environments and learning how to do this in an environmentally friendly way. Civic Garden Center has been doing this and teaching others to do it themselves since 1942. The Green Learning Station was completed in 2011 to give a central location where others could learn. It's like a tiny gardening oasis in the middle of downtown Cincinnati.

I stumbled upon it by accident and was thrilled to learn what this non-profit has been doing. If you want to learn about composting, urban gardening, water reclamation, or rooftop gardening, this is the place to start.

Creating their own compost bin design

Our facilitator, Andy, gave the kids different "problems" and encouraged them to find solutions that were practical, economical and earth friendly. Just calculating the amount of storm runoff that their small parking lot saves each year was enough to convince me that the work they are doing is priceless.

GLS also has a large garden throughout the grounds that provides examples of how you can grow ornamentals, like you would in your front yard, but to also companion plant with edible varieties. [Not GLS promoted, but this is one way to get around picky neighborhood covenants that oppose gardens.]

As more and more neighborhood and community gardens are started, the GLS seed library would also be a valuable asset for providing heirloom seeds. I didn't see anything specifically promoting organic gardening, but Andy talked a lot about companion planting for pest control and other organic tips.

We had a chance to sample garlic chives, sorrel and fennel...all delicious. We also saw multiple plantings of greens, kale, cabbage, cilantro, strawberries and chard...plus, asparagus as tall as me.

Today's bonus was that the GLS currently has all of their plants at 40% off. They were having a huge plant sale the first time I drove past two weeks ago and the remnants have subsequently been reduced. Much to my childrens' chagrin, I picked up tarragon, small eggplant and garlic chives plants.

I couldn't get anyone else to go on the field trip with us. The age restriction of 7th & up only, combined with end of school year busy schedules may have kept some away. I hope if you're in the area you'll stop by sometime, even if you can't plan a field trip. Most of the center could be seen with a self-guided tour and they are open Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Comparing water runoff from different roof designs

The Green Learning Center also offers classes for as low as $5.00 each. At those prices, you should definitely take advantage of what this local non-profit has to offer every gardener and wanna-be.