Great idea! You have space, use it. Make sure it's south facing, without many trees or buildings to block the sun. I would start by mapping out the plan for garden beds. If funds are short, I wouldn't bother with raised beds. They can be added later if donations of wood are abundant. I recommend 4x8' beds at least 2 feet apart to allow for paths and reaching the middle from either side. That way, you can add wood in standard 8 foot lenghts later. Once you have your plan, mark them off in the area and have the volunteers go to work removing the sod. The sod can be placed elsewhere if you need to re-sod an area, or broken up in a compost pile near the beds. Trust me, you want a compost pile. Once the area is clear of sod, you should augment the soil with as much compost as your donations/funds will alow. The dirt won't have the nutrients to grow great crops. If you weren't growing for several months, I would suggest just turning over the sod and breaking it up. However, now is the time for salad crops. At least I think it is in your neck of the woods. Plant several types of leaf lettuce, spinach and any greens that are appropriate for your dinner table. I like Salad Bowl, Red Sails, Italiansheir for their rapid growing, color and texture. By growing leaf lettuce according to the spacing on the packet, you can simply trim off the top few inches and let it grow back over a week or two. Radishes and green onions are good to, maybe carrots. I'm not an expert on your aream but that makes for a decent salad in short order (carrots are slower growing). Save the northern most spaces for your tall crops so they don't shade your garden, though come summer time, that may be a good idea for your salad greens so they don't bolt so fast. By tall crops I mean tomatoes. You may want to get your parisioners to donate seedlings since you may not want to mess with growing from seed to start, and may not want to pay to buy them. I hope that helps. Others can help better for your area. Enjoy your garden and best of luck to you! Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's garden adventure.

Another vote for Mme.Plantier. She's really been a terrific rose for me and she has a divine fragrance. She's been hardy to the tips. You might want to consider Tuscany Superb also. Deep burgandy blooms with a lovely fragance. Once bloomer in the late spring, early summer. He doesn't get as large as Mme. Plantier. so it's possble you could fit them both into your garden. Both roses are disease free for me. Have fun with your decisions Here is a link that might be useful: Tuscany Superb

I'll give it a shot. Since this is a steep slope, you might consider planting weeping love grass there. The Georgia DOT plants a lot of this along steep slopes on highway cuts, particularly in the mountains. I think it would grow OK in South GA. Low maintenance is a relative term. There is always some maintenance involved, if for no other reason because weeds and trees will always start to invade a planting area over time. However, you could annually burn off the weeping love grass and that should control weeds and trees. Check with your local extension service about love grass and how to plant and grow it. I am sure you have seen it before. You usually see it on steep slopes along highways. It has a very fine texture and long grass blades, giving it a weeping form. It's very attractive. (I grew up in GA, but now live in NC.)

Thanks, Joepyeweed. I've browsed the sites some, and I plan to browse some more. . .One thing I'm doing differently, it seems, is planting the "prairie" as I would a flower bed. I'm putting down layers of newspaper, cardboard, mulch and planting the grass and flowers into the bed. I plan to do most everything from seed, but in flats. I'll do a little bit each year. This way is probably more work, but I'd rather do it this way because I won't be there to go through the mowing routines, and especially because my parents will want it to look at least something like a garden flower bed in the beginning. Because there's a seawall, they don't really need buffer vegetation--at least until the wall collapses as it has in the past. I'm desperately looking for someone in the Southeast who's planted grassland. I'd especially like to know how little bluestem does down here (it's in its range). It SHOULD work because most of the southeast used to be a longleaf pine savanna. The main grass in that part of Ga (and down here in FL) was wiregrass, but that's difficult to deal with. Bluestems, muhly, and other grasses grew with the wiregrass though, so I'm thinking it should work. . . Thanks again.