Dallas County Master Gardeners (MGs) have long responded to requests for help to develop community gardens and school gardens. These requests typically come through the MG Help Desk or the local Texas A&M AgriLife Horticulture Extension Agent. At first, MGs operated as a Garden Incubation Team that provided help developing gardens while, at the same time, analyzing whether the garden in question could be adopted as a MG project where MGs would continue to provide long-term volunteer assistance.

The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service coordinates the Texas Master Gardener Program (TMGP), however, and in 2019 their direction changed to emphasize the use of MGs as educators, not laborers. As a result, the Dallas County MG program no longer adopts, or otherwise sponsors, any new gardens where MGs will provide long-term assistance maintaining a garden. With the elimination of its “incubation” function, the Garden Incubation Team became the Garden Consultation Team (GCT) which now serves exclusively as an educational resource available to the general public.

Matters handled by the GCT primarily involve requests for assistance with community gardens or school gardens. To a lesser extent, the GCT handles requests from charitable organizations such as churches, synagogues, homeless shelters, etc., as well as some commercial operations. Requests continue to be referred to the GCT through the Horticulture Extension Agent or the MG Help Desk.

When received, each request for assistance is evaluated by the GCT Team Leader to assure that the commuunity, school, or other qualifying garden is within the scope of the Dallas County MG Program. If the garden is within scope, the GCT arranges for an on-site visit by two or more of its members to determine the extent of assistance needed. This may be a one-time visit or several visits to a potential or an existing garden site. The visiting members report their findings and recommendations after each visit to the GCT Team Leader. The entire GCT team meets on a monthly basis to discuss the status and disposition of each request for assistance.

Certified Dallas County MGs who participate on the GCT have completed Advanced Master Gardener Training Courses in certain specialized fields, including, but not limited to, vegetables, tree care, rainwater harvesting, greenhouse management, entomology, and composting. Most GCT members have completed advanced training in the area of vegetables; and some have completed advanced, or otherwise approved training, in more than one specialized area.

The GCT teaches how to create and maintain gardens a given school, community, or other group can be proud of. They will teach those interested how to build a garden, and they will consult as needed to make the garden successful. While GCT members may, in rare cases, oversee garden construction (if needed), they will not physically build the garden, weed the garden, plant the garden, or otherwise tend to the garden. The hope is that the GCT teaches those asking for assistance how to garden so they, in turn, will feel confident enough to teach others. To borrow and modify a phrase, “What starts [with the GCT] changes the World!”