All the Dirt on Gardening

Mandy Blocker and Mark Wilkerson With Oklahoma State University master gardener classes starting in late January, Mandy Blocker met with the director of the Parks and Recreation Department, Mark Wilkerson, to discuss how they can work together. “When the master gardener classes are completed in the spring, the members of the class need meaningful projects where they can earn the 40 volunteer hours required for certification,” Blocker said. “We are going to have a horticulture hotline at the Extension Office where they can volunteer, but some of them will want outdoor hours, too.” Blocker and Wilkerson met last week at the new “Papilion, a place for butterflies” in Honor Heights Park to discuss ways their two organizations could collaborate. They decided that the perfect solution would be to create a new community garden in Chandler Road Park. (The park is near York Street and Chandler Road, where Okmulgee Avenue jogs a bit and becomes Chandler.) “When that park was built, it was i...