On September 7th, over 250 people came out to celebrate and learn about the growing national trend of natural landscaping at the Second Annual Smart Yards and Friends Festival presented by the Knox County Master Gardeners. The UT Gardens was again the ideal setting for people to gather to learn about how to support ecosystem services through stewardship actions in their yards. There were information tables and demonstrations of the nine foundational principles of a Tennessee Smart Yard. Topics included how to compost, incorporate native plants in their yards, use rain barrels, water efficiently, check for signs of healthy soil, construct a bat box, and more. All of these actions are awarded “inches” towards a certified Tennessee Smart Yard, which requires 36-inches-worth of stewardship actions. Since 2020, over 680 yards have been certified through the UT Extension program.
Many “friends” also joined the festival. The Water Quality Forum, Native Plant Rescue Squad, Trees Knoxville, City of Knoxville, Knox County Stormwater, Ijams Nature Center, Wild Ones, Smart Yard Realtors at Wallace, Keep Knoxville Beautiful, Knoxville Botanical Gardens and Arboretum, UT Gardens Membership, and Beardsley Community Farm all had tables with information talking about their aligned missions and initiatives. It was a powerful collection of local leaders and advocates who work towards common goals of stewardship and conservation of our natural resources.
The morning’s agenda included giveaways of a worm compost bin, two rain barrels, and a locally made four-chamber bat box. People who pre-registered for the event received a free raffle ticket, and those who attended the demonstrations received another ticket and chance to win. Taking the self-guided tour of smart yard principles at work around the gardens also earned participants chances to win. Raffle tickets were collected in and drawn from a composter provided by the City of Knoxville Solid Waste department. In addition, visitors took home native plants grown by Knox County Master Gardeners specifically for this event. Did we mention there was also a photo booth?
New this year was a yard-chemical-for-native-plant-seed swap. Twenty-one people brought in their unwanted yard chemicals and in return received a package of native plant seeds for supporting pollinators. The collected chemicals will be properly disposed of by UT Facility Services and the TN Department of Agriculture.
The success of the festival for two straight years is a reflection of the dedication of the Knox County Master Gardeners to empower people with information that will not only benefit their own properties but also our communities and our environment. Through Tennessee Smart Yards and the work of so many in the Knoxville area, we are protecting Tennessee’s water and natural resources one yard at a time.
For more information on this event, email Andrea Ludwig at aludwig@utk.edu. Check out more photos from the event from Elle Colquitt here and from Andrea Ludwig here.
