Growing Together: Open Forum

Hi everyone,

I'm excited to share that I'm planning to create a garden at our school to educate students about gardening, sustainability, and the wonders of nature. I believe this will be a fantastic hands-on learning experience for the kids, and I'm eager to get started. However, I could really use some advice and guidance from this wonderful community.

Here are a few things I'm thinking about and would love your input on:

Getting Started: What are some essential steps to kick off a school garden project? Are there any specific resources or materials I should gather first?

Involving Students: What are some effective ways to get students engaged and excited about the garden? How can I make the gardening experience educational and fun for different age groups?

Plant Selection: What types of plants are best suited for a school garden, especially considering we want the kids to see results relatively quickly? Any recommendations for easy-to-grow veggies, flowers, or herbs?

Sustainability Practices: I'd love to incorporate sustainable gardening practices. Any tips on composting, water conservation, or organic gardening that would be suitable for a school environment?

Curriculum Integration: How can I integrate the garden into the school curriculum? Are there any particular subjects or projects that work well with a school garden?

Challenges and Solutions: What common challenges should I be prepared for, and how can I overcome them? Any advice on maintenance, pest control, or dealing with the different seasons?

When I was searching about it I came across these resources Starting a School Garden Program: Overview MLOps Architecture. However, they are good but not completely fulfilling my requirements.

I'm really looking forward to hearing your experiences, tips, and any advice you can offer. Thank you in advance for your help!

Thanks and Regards

I highly recommend you can your local  Master Gardener Association, they will help guide you and answer all of your questions.  You can request an in person visit from one of their school garden consultants. 

Here are some quick answers to your questions. I live in Sacramento and took over our school garden 24 years ago knowing very little about gardening. I hope this helps. If you have more questions or would like to zoom with me, email me at margolincranch@gmail.com. I'll be in the valley in the next few days.

Getting Started - You need buy in from the principal and staff. Get to know the head custodian and if it's a public school, get to know the person at M&O (maintenance and operations) that manages gardens). Make a plan with the purpose, goals, scope, key stakeholders, timeline, budget, etc. (Look on line and find examples or a project charter).

Materials: water source, wheelbarrow, raised beds, compost, trowels, rake, clippers, gloves, hoses, watering cans,shovels, buckets, knee pads, painter tarps, journals, paper, color pencils, markers, scissors, glue sticks, an easel

Involve Students - Students should be responsible for maintaining and participating on a weekly basis. All classes come out to the garden once a week for a 30 minute lesson with me. The teacher stays and helps. i do the planning and set up. I let students come at recess to weed, water, trim, etc.

Plants - I started with vegetables and flowers, then added lots of native plants. This creates a balance to bring in pollinators. There is so much to teach kids about native plants. I keep it simple. I do a winter garden and a summer garden. Winter is carrots, kale, spinach, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, peas. I start these in later October. Summer is squash, bell peppers, melons, tomatoes, cucumber, corn. I start these late May so everything is still growing when school starts up again.

Curriculum - Take classes! I am including some of my garden classes. I created some of these lessons and got most of the lessons from classes I took , then I (sometimes greatly) modified them to fit our population. I take classes at a local urban education farm, at UC Davis Children's farm and more. Contact UCLA and your local city colleges for workshops in your area. Sign up to get newsletters from California Ag in the Classroom, the Edible Schoolyard in Berkeley, and Green Schoolyards America

Challenges - Lots. Start small. I think small wooden raised beds are the easiest to control. Good redwood can last 20 years. Employ parents, scouts, church groups, Kiwanis, Americorp, etc. to help. Funding is a big challenge for me. I am constantly writing grants. Look for local grants.  Sustainability. Our garden has survived because I do the lessons, upkeep, grant writing, shopping. Teachers love the garden but won't take the time to plan garden lessons and bring their kids out. Some schools put the lessons in tubs. Then parents act as docents and teach the lesson from the tub. Another idea is to have a garden club.

Attachment(s)

K through 5 Cameron Ranch School Garden Sacramento.docx   30 KB 1 version

Evelyn, 

Thank you for posting the response you did to Lila. I am going to take notes and use your suggestions for my school garden.