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This is a great overall resource for school gardening. They include how to get started, developing goals, planning and designing your garden, materials you will need, sources for funding, and case studies. If the idea of garden-based learning is completely new to you this is a great place to start!

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1. School gardens help children learn.

Gardening is the study of life. The simple act of caring for living soil and plants gives children a foundation for understanding the principles of birth, growth, maturity, death, competition, cooperation and many other lessons that transfer to human lives. In a school garden, children experience these lessons 'hands on' through a learning method that is rich and inclusive to varied learning abilities. The results teachers see every day are now supported by science: school gardens can help our children learn better, both academically and emotionally. For more information, read School Gardens: Can They Make Our Children Smarter?

2. Gardening together strengthens ties between school and community.

School gardening programs offer opportunities for community members to get involved, reducing the social isolation of seniors with skills to share and connecting children to older generations. They also help connect schools to local businesses and groups when they request sponsorship or volunteer assistance.

3. Getting their hands dirty helps connect children with nature.

Children who garden get a close-up look at natural processes and the living organisms that thrive in these environments. By learning to care for a living, breathing ecosystem, children develop an understanding of nature's importance in their lives and the lives of other beings. This fosters a culture of environmental stewardship.

4. Gardening strengthens children's immune systems.

There's more and more evidence that getting dirty exposes us to a variety of microbes that can fortify our health and balance our immune systems against our overly sterilized world. This is particularly true for children who benefit from reduced allergies and asthma when exposed early in life to dirt and the outdoors. The vitamin D they absorb when gardening doesn't hurt, either!

5. Working in a school garden helps children stay active, reducing obesity.

Teachers across the country agree: when children garden, they move their bodies more than when passively listening in a classroom. Jumping, bending, lifting, and stretching all take place during a typical gardening session.

6. Gardening moderates moods and eases anxiety.

There's some evidence that exposure to the beneficial microbes in soil can help regulate the neurotransmitters affecting our brain's emotional state. A whole practice involving exposing yourself to green spaces to lift the mood has even emerged globally, with convincing results. But gardens are more than just another green space: they're hands-on, outdoor classrooms that teach children self-regulation and mindfulness -both of which have been shown to decrease anxiety and depression.

7. Children who garden at school develop empathy and practice risk.

Teachers who garden with their students notice increased empathy towards other students and the organisms living in their school patch. That's because tending to a 'bug hotel' or watching birds and earthworms thrive in the garden helps children understand the interdependency of nature. A garden also provides the perfect place for children to learn about boundaries and responsibility by practicing new activities in a safe space. Using a paring knife, trying out a hammer, or balancing on the edge of a raised bed are all ways for children to test their edges and learn new skills in a supportive environment.

8. Teaching and food gardens improve children's diets.

Academics and journalists agree: children who garden eat more fresh vegetables. This extends beyond what they nibble on during classroom gardening time. Apparently just having a garden at school increases their intake of vegetables at home. And that's good news for parents, teachers, and kids.

Whatever your reasons for wanting to start a school garden, the benefits are many. (Special thanks to The Classroom Gardener for sharing their expertise on school garden benefits.) So how can you help a garden come to your school?

To provide outdoor, hands-on learning.
The classic teaching garden helps teachers provide their students with real-life learning. The hands-on environment compliments lessons about plant and insect life cycles, along with experiential activities like building a bug hotel, ...Art, math, English, and social studies: all these lessons can find a home in the teaching garden.

To cultivate food for school programs.
Some schools use school gardens to augment their school lunch or food services programs. Fresh greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, and more can all end up in the kitchen or in the school cafeteria salad bar.

To send fresh fruits and vegetables home with students.
In some locations, children don't have access to fresh produce or lack the resources at home to afford them. Schools gardens can provide the chance to experience vine-ripened goodness while meeting the goals of the curriculum.

To reduce school-generated food waste.
Adding a composting system to a school garden helps teach children about the decomposition process and eliminating food waste. Many schools even encourage teachers and students to bring compostables from home to really get the process going.

To provide a therapeutic space for children and young adults.
Gardens are peaceful, healing spaces where many can find rest and respite from the world around them. Many therapeutic programs feature gardens for their healing abilities.

Identifying the primary and secondary goals for your garden will help you determine what size and style of garden you need. Once you have a sense of your garden's direction, consider the following questions to further hone your vision:

1. Who will use the garden? Which grade levels will spend time in the garden? How will they use the space? Some schools assign one bed for each class to tend, while others share the beds over multiple classrooms.

2. How often will students use the garden? Biological processes are always taking place in the garden-not just during planting and harvest time. Aim to have children visit the garden weekly during your gardening season and less frequently when things are dormant. Even when things appear to be sleeping, there are still lessons to learn. Regular visits will help children develop a connection with the space.

3. Who will be responsible for scheduling? Someone on your garden's committee, usually a teacher, will need to oversee the timing of classroom visits. Too many children in the garden at once can take pleasure out of the experience.

4. Who else is needed to accomplish your goals? If your plan is to provide the school cafeteria with fresh vegetables for part of the year, you'll need to plan your activities around local seed and harvest times. Consult local experts through your neighbourhood nursery or extension office to get information right for your climate and soil conditions.

How much space do you need to meet your goals?
How many beds do you plan to install to produce food for your school's needs? What is the best way to divide that space into beds? What other items (compost bin, tool shed, potting tables or benches, trellises, etc.) do you need? The answers to these questions will help you design the configuration of your beds and how much space you need to contain them.

Is there enough sun?
Direct exposure to sunlight is one of the most important needs your garden will have. While salad greens need about 4 hours of sunlight each day, your site will ideally have 7-8 hours of sunlight to accommodate the broadest range of fruits and vegetables. If you're unsure how much light your site gets, use a sunlight calculator to be sure.

Where is your water access?
Your site should ideally be no more than one hose length away from the nearest faucet or standpipe. If you plan to install in-ground irrigation, the distance away from your water source will affect the pressure needed to get water to your site.

What type of beds will you use?
While a traditional in-ground garden is the simplest to install, it requires that good quality soil be available onsite. You can order additional soil or well-seasoned compost to augment what's there, but there should be something to start with. Benefits of in-ground gardens include flexibility, good moisture retention, and the ability to add cold frames or hoop houses as needed to extend the growing season.

Raised beds are commonly used in school gardens because they make weed control easy and are accessible for all ages and abilities. They also come in a variety of heights, widths, and lengths. In most cases, use beds 3 or 4 feet wide so that children can reach the center of the bed without standing on the soil.

Raised garden boxes generally have no bottoms and sit directly on the soil. This is the ideal set-up. However, if you must install your beds on concrete, consider purchasing beds with integrated bases and increasing the height of your garden to at least 18 inches. Taller beds will give you more versatility in terms of what plants you can grow. Any garden beds that have bottoms fitted to them must be designed to ensure good drainage.

Many schools also use horse troughs, either alone or in conjunction with other raised beds.

Can you go vertical?
Schools wanting to get the most out of their space often add vertical elements. This includes trellises on raised garden beds, wall pockets of varying sizes hanging on fences or walls, and stacked garden towers in a central, accessible location. Just be sure to place vertical elements so they don't shade any beds behind them (e.g. place them south of shorter beds if you're located in the northern hemisphere).

What type of soil is on site?
The key to successful gardening is building and maintaining heathy soil. Starting with healthy, living soil gives your garden the nutrients it needs to thrive. And while you can add fertilizer before planting, healthy soil is more than just nutrients. The best soil structure is fluffy, lightly textured, and full of organic matter that's continually breaking down. It provides enough air pockets for roots to infiltrate and water to travel.

If there is dirt available on site, conduct a soil test to find out what nutrients you can add. Performing a simple squeeze test will help you further evaluate your soil's tilth and organic matter content.

If, like most soils, yours needs help, the best sources of organic nutrients are finished compost and well-rotted manure (at least two years old). Both of these can augment whatever soil is available on site for a winning combination of nutrients plus organic matter.

Is the site secure?
In most locations, gardens must be fenced to keep out animal pests and little feet looking for short cuts at recess. Factor your need for a fence into your initial site considerations. Is there a location close to an existing fence that could help reduce your expenses for full perimeter fencing?

Even if you don't have much foot traffic or pests in the vicinity, consider securing your garden with a fence to deter human mischief. Locating your garden in a well-lit area with neighbors nearby is another way to discourage nighttime visitors.

Teaching / gathering area

Small clearings with benches.

Potting benches or tables

For sowing and potting up plants, making paper pots using a press, or seed saving activities.

Fruit and vegetable beds

Raised or in-ground beds; horse trough beds; container gardens.

Annual and perennial flower beds

Butterfly and pollinator garden beds.

Trees and shrubs

Fruit trees, shrubs, and brambles.

Irrigation

Soaker hoses, drip irrigation, overhead sprinklers.

Greenhouse
To extend the growing season and/or as a seed starting area.

Storage shed

For storing tools, containers, seeds.

Sink

Washing station for cleaning up hands and harvest.

Special features

Bug hotel, bee condos, pond, bird houses, bat houses, theme beds, etc.

Recycled Plastic or Wood?
If your garden will contain raised garden beds, what will those be made from? Although treated wood lasts longer where wood is concerned, it is coated in chemicals that can leach into the soil and get taken up by plants. Recycled plastic beds are made of solid HDPE plastic which is safe for gardening, will not rot or degrade, and is very durable. These beds are heavy and expensive. However, they are worth the cost since they are so long lasting. Cedar beds are beautiful and rot resistant when compared to other woods, and some even come with a natural, silica-based treatment that is safe and non-toxic. For those that don't, the application of eco-wood treatment (also safe and non-toxic treatment) will improve longevity when applied to the inside of the beds. Other less expensive species of wood can be used, of course, which might not last as long as cedar. Ask your local lumberyard about options they recommend."

Soil
As noted above, soil is best amended by compost and organic, well-aged manure. But what if there's no soil on hand to fill your beds? Purchasing good garden soil requires research. Often "topsoil" may appear healthy, but on closer inspection it consists of low quality dirt and sand. Talk to local suppliers about their sources, specifying that you want to grow vegetables. Many municipalities now offer compost for sale from local landfills or industrial composting facilities. Avoid anything that isn't processed under high heat, because it may contain weed seeds.

Fertilizers
Chemical fertilizers may give plants a quick fix, but they have been shown to deplete soil over the long term. Instead, feed your plants and your soil at the same time with an all-purpose organic fertilizer. You will need half a pound for each 10 square feet of soil. Perennial plants and shrubs will have other, more specialized requirements. You can also grow a cover crop chosen for your climactic area to add nutrients to the soil. Talk to your local nursery or seed supplier for more information.

Irrigation
As noted above, different irrigation systems are available to suit different garden designs. While drip irrigation is ideal for some set-ups, it can also be expensive and require some ongoing maintenance. Using soaker hoses or hand watering are viable options, depending on the size and configuration of your beds. You can also set up rainwater catchment systems using rain barrels to store water during the rainy season.

Tools
Since most gardens are designed for one class to visit at a time, the number of tools will usually reflect the average class size at your school. The following list of materials was adapted from the Healthy Planet Foundation's basic supply list for a schoolyard garden.

Watering can (3)
Hand trowels (25-30)
Round shovel (2)
Flat shovel (2)
Garden hoe (2)
Digging fork (2)
Drinking water safe hose (1)
Garden twine (1 200ft roll)
Gardening gloves (25-30)
Plant labels (50)
1 wheelbarrow
1 spray nozzle

Fencing
As noted above, school gardens benefit from a secure fence. Wire mesh fencing with wooden or metal posts is usually more cost effective than wooden slat or picket fencing. Choose your preferred material, and then calculate the length needed by measuring around the perimeter. Be sure to add clearance for paths around all sides of each bed. Paths greater than three feet will accommodate a wheelbarrow (allowing you to turn and dump its contents).

O'Farrell Charter School, San Diego Windermere High School, Vancouver

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How to Start a School Garden: Your Complete Guide

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From striking your garden committee to hosting a school-wide 'dig day', learn how to start a school garden for education, eating, and fun.

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What type of garden suits you and your space?

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What type of garden suits you and your space?

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There are many ways to incorporate gardening into your school. They don't have to be traditional in-ground gardens. This website provides you with 18 different methods of gardening so that you can pick what works for you!

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If you buy an item via links on this page, we may earn a commission. Our editorial content is not influenced by commissions. Read the full disclosure.

Are you new to gardening or curious about what your gardening options are?

Don’t assume because you’ve started with one gardening method you must stick with it.

Gardening styles and techniques can change over the years. You can also incorporate more than one form of gardening into your property at a time.

Whether you’re learning the ropes or you’re looking for different gardening styles to be able to grow more food, you must know what your options are.

Therefore, I’m going to introduce you to the many different gardening methods out there, and share with you how you can make them work.

Here are the different gardening types:

1. Container Gardening Method

Container gardening can work no matter where you’re located. It consists of growing crops in different containers.

This can be planters or as simple as buckets. Container gardening works great for growing tomatoes, peppers, root vegetables, green beans, and lettuce.

If you have a patio or balcony, you could even grow smaller varieties of corn. Whether you live in a small apartment with a sunny windowsill or on a farm with many acres, container gardening can work for you.

2. Traditional Inground Gardening

via Gardening Know How

When you hear the term gardening, you may envision a small plot of ground that has been tilled, planted, and cared for to produce vegetables and fruits.

This is what traditional inground gardening looks like. Your plot can be as small or large as you have room for.

It’s a wonderful style of gardening if you have the room and can get down on your hands and knees to work in the dirt. You can grow anything you’d like in this type of garden (depending upon space) as long as you take care of your garden and soil.

3. Raised Bed Gardening

Raised bed gardening is one of the hottest styles of gardening going on right now. The reason being, it looks stylish in your yard, it’s easy on your knees and back, the soil is easier to care for, and weeds are easier to control.

You can choose any style of raised bed garden you’d like, and you can grow almost any vegetable in the raised bed.

The only downside to raised bed gardening is it does require a place to put a bed. This style of gardening would work well for those who have small or large yards, but at the end of the day, it does require outdoor growing space.

4. Vertical Gardening

I love the idea of a vertical garden because I like to know people can garden anywhere regardless of where they choose to live.

Some gardeners live in the city for their job but still enjoy fresh food. City dwellers are ideal candidates for vertical gardening because food can grow well on balconies, patios, and even indoors.

You can purchase a vertical gardening set-up with grow lights to grow a vertical garden inside or purchase pouches to be able to grow vertically.

Vertical gardening methods is a cool style of gardening which can work practically anywhere. There are some limitations as to what you can grow based upon your vertical set-up.

If the crop is too heavy or requires a great deal of depth to the soil, it won’t work as well. However, regardless of set-up, vertical gardening works well for fresh herbs and lettuce.

5. Hydroponic Gardening

As we move forward with science and technology, hydroponic gardening is becoming the norm for foods we purchase at large chain grocery stores.

The process of hydroponic gardening is you purchase a set-up where your plants grow in a solution that gives them their desired nutrients and oxygen instead of planting them in soil.

However, hydroponic gardening still requires a form of light whether it be natural light or grow lights. If you live where you have enough room for a hydroponic set-up, this style of gardening could work for you.

You can purchase smaller set-ups, but to grow as large of a variety of crops as you would in a traditional garden, it would take considerably more room.

Hydroponics would allow you to grow whatever plants you’d like at any time of year if you offered the proper protection from natural elements.

If you used hydroponics with another style of gardening, it could help provide some of your food even if you didn’t have much (or any) land to grow on.

6. Aquaponics Gardening

Aquaponics is another modern style of gardening. It requires a proper set-up, but it’s a fascinating way to grow your own food.

The idea behind aquaponics is you raise both fish and vegetables simultaneously. Plants grow in a solution similar to what you’d use to grow vegetables in hydroponics.

Fish are added to the water. The fish waste is used to feed the crops, and the plants filter the water for the fish.

You can garden using this style on a large or small scale. Therefore, this makes it a viable option for gardening for anyone regardless of the amount of land they have.

Some aquaponics set-ups are as small as a traditional fish tank. Meaning, you could use this style of gardening while living in an apartment.

7. Square Foot Gardening

Land is a difficult thing to come by these days. The price keeps going higher making it harder for people to own much of it anymore.

This is why I’m ecstatic about people working diligently to figure out how to make do and grow food with the amount of land they have.

Square foot gardening does require you to have some land to grow on. However, it doesn’t require you to have as much land as a traditional style garden.

The idea is to mark off your garden plot a square foot at a time. Each square will be packed with vegetables of your choice and will represent a different variety of crops.

It helps to reduce the number of weeds, and it gives you more of a selection of crops without having a huge garden.

You can grow any vegetable you’d like in this style of gardening. Seasonal fruits can grow in a square foot garden as well. Be sure to use proper trellising where necessary.

8. Upside-down Gardening

Whether you’re trying to grow more foods or you’re short on space, learning how to grow certain crops upside down is an interesting approach to making optimum use of space.

This style of gardening is traditionally used to grow tomatoes. If you’re a fan of tomatoes but fear you don’t have the room to grow as many as you’d like (or any at all) consider growing them upside down.

You can purchase a container specifically meant for growing tomatoes upside down or make your own from a bucket.

Either way, they hang out of the way and produce a delicious vegetable many people love. Tomatoes are also great for making salsa, using in salads, or including in soups.

9. Hanging Gardens

Did you assume your hanging planters were meant only for gorgeous flowers? Prepare to have your mind blown.

Anything you can grow a flower in, you can find a vegetable to grow equally as well. If you’re going to use basic hanging baskets, you can grow any shallow-rooted plant.

For instance, peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, spinach, herbs, cucumbers, and squash would all grow well in a hanging basket.

You wouldn’t want to grow root vegetables (unless the pot is deeper than the standard hanging basket) or plants that produce heavy crops such as watermelon.

If you have room for a hanging basket, you’ll be pleasantly surprised to realize you have room for a hanging garden.

10. Edible Landscaping

Do you live where HOA’s make your life complicated when it comes to gardening? I understand HOA’s can be great for many things, but you may be able to find a way around the issue with growing veggies.

Instead of growing a traditional style garden, consider using some non-traditional methods mentioned above.

You could also include edibles in your landscaping. Instead of planting bushes in front of your home, plant blueberry bushes.

Asparagus is a great crop to grow between your shrubs. In the place of ornamental trees, you could grow dwarf fruit trees.

Instead of growing ground cover, plant perennial strawberries. When you begin to research the crops available and match them with your HOA rules, you may be surprised how many crops you can plant in plain sight and still be within HOA rules.

11. Window Box Gardening

This gardening option goes along with edible landscaping. Whether you’re looking for more space to grow in an apartment, subtle ways to grow in an area with an HOA, or you prefer to grow your crops close to home, this style of gardening is for you.

Again, don’t assume where you only plant flowers, other plants shouldn’t grow. In fact, you can grow tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash, and other smaller crops in window boxes.

You could even try smaller varieties of heavier crops depending upon the depth and sturdiness of the window box. Strawberries, smaller types of carrots, and even small varieties of watermelon could be potential candidates for a window box garden.

Before you give up on gardening altogether, substitute your flower space with vegetables or fruits and see if this is the solution to growing in tight quarters or gaining additional grow space you’ve been searching for.

12. Greenhouse, Cold Frames, and High Tunnels

Red and green tomatoes in a greenhouse of transparent polycarbonate

The last gardening style or technique you should consider is a greenhouse, cold frame, or high tunnel gardening.

These items are structures built out of materials that allow the sun to shine through them. They can naturally be kept warm via solar power.

During the winter, you should either grow cold hearty crops or introduce artificial heat to keep the structure warm enough to grow in.

You can grow almost anything in these structures. If large enough, you can even plant small trees. The positive to growing in a greenhouse, cold frame, or high tunnel is they lengthen your growing seasons.

However, you must have a place to put such a structure. Therefore, this gardening option isn’t viable for everyone.

13. Keyhole Gardening

If you’re looking for a smaller gardening area that is also easily maintained, a keyhole garden is perfect for you.

The idea behind a keyhole garden is it’s a circular shape that looks similar to Pac-man. (Am I telling on my age here?)

There’s a sliver carved out which allows you to walk into the garden and care for it properly.

The garden is also built on a slight slope. In the center is a compost pile you can continuously fill throughout the year. This will feed the soil all year long.

Underneath the soil is rocks and twigs which help to keep moisture in the garden and above them you have soil that is being fed naturally from the compost.

You can grow any variety of vegetables you’d like in this type of garden.

If you’re looking for a smaller growing space and would like to keep it as organic as possible, keyhole gardening is for you.

14. Lasagna Gardening

When you hear the term lasagna garden don’t start daydreaming about pasta.

Instead, get ready to have your mind blown as to how you can build a garden that resembles the layering style of lasagna.

The idea is to not dig into the dirt to get it started. Instead, you pile layers of composting items on top of the ground.

You’ll have brown layers and green layers. The brown layers should be two times the depth as the green layers.

Brown layers will consist of items such as fallen leaves, old newspapers, and pine needles.

Green layers will contain fresh grass clippings and veggie scraps leftover from cooking meals.

The entire garden should be 2-feet deep because it will compact over time. If you’re working with a smaller gardening area, and you’d like to avoid much of the physical labor, a lasagna garden could be of interest to you.

Also, you’re only limited by grow space as to which crops you can grow with this gardening technique. It will work around large trees, root vegetables, or above-ground crops.

15. Straw Bale Gardening

Straw bale gardening is exciting to me, and I’ve decided when I’m older and don’t have to grow as much food this is the style of gardening I’ll most likely go with.

You begin by purchasing multiple bales of straw. Stack them where and how you’d like and wet them down.

This will cause the bales to compost. When the bales have started composting, you add some soil, and plant all over them.

You can grow peppers, tomatoes, green beans, and a variety of other crops in a straw bale garden.

It’s a wonderful way to grow a good amount of food in a small space.

16. Core Gardening

Are you someone who doesn’t have time to garden, but you’d love to grow as much food as possible?

Core gardening methods could be perfect for you. It all starts with gardening in a raised bed. You add quality soil and compost to plant your crops in.

In the middle of the raised bed, a trench should be dug out, and large amounts of straw should be added down the center.

Cover the trench with the straw (which is your core) and plant over it. Water deeply at the start to ‘charge your core.’

As the core absorbs the water, you can water less frequently. It works like a giant sponge and releases water over time.

Therefore, your plants can thrive and not require as much watering as other gardening styles.

Any crop you would typically grow in a raised bed garden will work with these gardening methods.

17. No Till Gardening

No-till gardening is similar to lasagna gardening. The idea is to lay all of the nutrients on top of the ground.

You begin by laying cardboard and newspapers on the ground to block the layer of weeds.

From there, add compost and other materials that will breakdown and form compost over the newspapers and cardboard.

Once these first two layers are complete, add wood chips. You can get them from tree service companies at no cost (depending upon the company.)

The wood chips will breakdown and form a rich compost your plants will thrive in. You shouldn’t have to pull weeds, and you don’t cultivate the ground in any way.

As with lasagna gardening, you can grow any variety of crops you’d like using these gardening methods.

It does require quite a few materials to get started (and this will depend on the size of your garden,) but it’s worth the effort to make gardening less labor-intensive.

18. Hugelkultur

I’m a massive fan of this gardening method. If you have a great deal of scrap wood and other natural materials cluttering your property, this gardening method will not only produce food but clean the clutter up around you.

You form a pile of all of the large wood and other materials that will compost and place it in a trench you’ve dug in the ground.

Once the pile has been made add soil and the earth you removed to dig the trench. It should look like a big dirt mound.

The materials work as a sponge would by holding water to keep your vegetables from becoming thirsty. The same materials also breakdown to add nutrients to the soil to feed your crops.

Growing a hugel garden is a neat experience and something worth exploring. It works for growing any variety of crops too.

You now know of 18 different gardening styles, how these gardening methods can be utilized, and what grows best when using each method.

Hopefully, this will give you more options if you’re working with limited space. Even if you have enough space to grow in, you now have more ideas on how to be able to grow as much as possible on your property.

Gardening is a wonderful hobby to have delicious results. It’s our hope you will be able to dive into it to embrace the delicious and relaxing benefits it can offer you.

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18 Gardening Methods to Choose From to Maximize Your Space

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There is such a huge variety of gardening methods, it might be difficult to decide what would suit you. We recap 18 different methods to help you decide.

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If you like checklists, this article is for you. It has checklist for 3 major areas of getting your garden up and running (Forming garden group, defining goals for the garden, and designing the garden).

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Reach out to your local 4H groups and possibly extension groups from local colleges. There is much research out there to back school gardening and 4H has a lot to do with it. They always are willing to help schools establish gardens and get them up and running. Use your community!!

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Impact on Educational Goals from Garden-Based Learning

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Impact on Educational Goals from Garden-Based Learning

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In order to gain support from your admin and coworkers, you must have sound research to back your reasoning for a school. The following articles will help you establish that strong background.

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GBL, "At Risk" Secondary Education Students

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GBL, "At Risk" Secondary Education Students

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GBL, Practical and Theoretical Work through Design

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GBL, Practical and Theoretical Work through Design

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Reengaging Disengaging Youth through GBL

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Reengaging Disengaging Youth through GBL

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Keywords: garden-based learning, health, well-being, social cohesion, youth, community, educational outcomes, self-esteem

Abstract

There is an emerging body of literature that explores the impact of garden-based learning on health, well-being, social cohesion, and educational outcomes. In this paper, we examine a pilot study conducted in partnership with the Royal Botanic Gardens' Youth Community Greening to implement a gardening program with disengaged youth. Data was collected through eldwork and semi-structured interviews, revealing ve interconnected themes: enhancing well-being and health literacy; building life skills; engaging students; connecting with adults; and increasing self- esteem. We conclude by showcasing some of the collaborative practices between educational contexts and communities to reveal how these partnerships can be mutually enhancing.

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"Sowing and Growing" Life Skills Through Garden-Based Learning to Reengage Disengaged Youth

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Keywords: garden-based learning, health, well-being, social cohesion, youth, community, educational outcomes, self-esteem There is an emerging body of literature that explores the impact of garden-based learning on health, well-being, social cohesion, and educational outcomes. In this paper, we examine a pilot study conducted in partnership with the Royal Botanic Gardens' Youth Community Greening to implement a gardening program with disengaged youth.

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This article tells about ways to involve parents in with your school garden. Taking information from parents about when they are available to come to garden, ways they want to help, etc. Parent voice is important.

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An elementary school garden has fostered community by giving English-speaking staff and Spanish-speaking families a shared goal.

Juliana Urtubey / Edutopia

My family left Colombia in part so that my sisters and I could live in a safer place. When we arrived in Chicago, the language and cultural differences between my family and the school staff concerned my parents-keeping our cultural identity would be challenging. My parents' concerns continue to shape my thinking years later now that I'm a teacher at Crestwood Elementary School in Las Vegas, where over 80 percent of students are Latinx. I wanted to help create a warm and welcoming school environment where all families, particularly first-generation Latinx families, felt valued and respected. I wanted to help close the cultural and linguistic gap between families and the teaching staff.

I started by building an outdoor garden and mural program at my school. School gardens bring people together, helping to strengthen community relationships. The garden program has been successful, and as it has grown, it has become a home to our shared commitment to learn from each other. The garden also serves as a space for rich student-directed outdoor STEAM learning, provides increased access to healthy foods, and has helped improve student and school morale. And the garden is a natural place to teach our students about character and culturally responsive growth mindset. What better place for a student to learn that it's OK to make mistakes than a garden where fixing mistakes easily becomes an observation lesson?

As teachers began to teach in the garden, we realized that it had another benefit: Teaching there is fun! We have added infrastructure to teach full lessons in the garden-tables and places to sit, so that students can work there. Students are far more engaged during lessons in the garden than we expected, and we teachers also feel happier.

Getting Families to Participate

Our build days brought over 200 people together to plant trees, paint murals, and construct tables, compost bins, and benches, with funding from the American Heart Association and Green Our Planet. I was intentional in designing the garden and murals to celebrate our community. That meant hiring Latinx artists who painted brown children, and it included ethnobotanical planting-planting key ingredients of dishes that mirror the school population.

It also meant letting students take ownership of the garden. We created a garden club dubbed Gnomies by students (gnome + homie) to help maintain the garden, with the help of a local farmer. And in addition to being a place for teachers to hold classes, the garden is a place where school counselors can lead sessions and teachers and parents can build relationships-the students' excitement to work on the garden encourages their families to come.

To fit parents' and guardians' schedules, we created free time for them to drop in without commitment. When we asked families what they would like and need, I learned that they enjoy being allowed on campus through the side gate where the garden is located, which acknowledges that they are active members of the community who we know by name and face. Because they don't have to go to the front office and check in with their ID, they feel trusted.

Strengthening Teacher-Parent Bonds

The garden benefits the entire community by creating a space where community members and teachers are all perceived as equal in terms of their assets, knowledge, and contributions. The teachers and the school are not asserting power, and families' strengths can shine. A few mothers, for example, are really knowledgeable about herbal remedies. They taught us how to use plant parts we would have composted, like artichoke leaves, which help lower cholesterol and improve digestive health.

The garden makes it easier for English-speaking teachers and Spanish-speaking families to connect. An English-speaking colleague told me that conversations with families happen naturally at the garden without the pressure that comes during parent-teacher conferences or behavioral citation meetings. She no longer feels self-conscious or "unprofessional" using the tiny bit of Spanish she knows, and started feeling comfortable talking with Spanish-speaking families.

"The garden was like an equalizer," she said. "There were so many tangible elements that when having a conversation with families, you could point or help carry tools, or dig a hole together-that was our common language."

To help foster communication between families and staff, I used both English and Spanish to welcome everyone at the start of our build days and to state our goals for the day. Bilingual signs around the garden support communication between teachers and families.

Our school garden has become a place where friendships blossom between families and staff. I think that without the garden, I would have missed out on meeting exceptional people in my community. Many mothers come every time there's an opportunity to work in the garden. One mother, Melina, always wore a hat with a brim so big you could see her and her family from blocks away. Sadly, Melina lost her battle with leukemia and lymphoma just a week before school began this year. Although our school community is shaken by the loss of such a giving and vibrant soul, Melina will live on in the beauty she helped create in the garden.

The garden helps humanize us all. Many have realized by working in the garden that cultural and linguistic barriers do not impede us from building genuine relationships. Teachers used to complain about their perception of the lack of safety in the neighborhood. Since we built the garden, I've noticed that this perception has decreased significantly, and families feel more welcomed, too. I believe it's because the garden is a space that is for families and by families-it's a space that is separate from the systemic inequities that exist in the educational system.

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An elementary school garden has fostered community by giving English-speaking staff and Spanish-speaking families a shared goal. Juliana Urtubey / Edutopia My family left Colombia in part so that my sisters and I could live in a safer place.

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Research Articles about Blending Schools Gardens with your Local Community.

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Research Articles about Blending Schools Gardens with your Local Community.

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School gardens improve both school environments and the communities in which they are located. In a review of 7 qualitative studies of school gardening programs, all 7 found “improved school attitude and pride in the garden and its produce” among the students, which inspired them to involve their parents in the garden, who reportedly became more involved in the school as a whole (1). A less studied, but highly important, aspect of garden-based learning is its effect on educators. Teachers at school with garden-based learning claim elevated mood and higher “general satisfaction with being a teacher at that school” (2).

School gardens attract community members such as restaurant owners, farmers, and Master Gardeners, to be volunteer speakers, maintenance workers, lesson leaders, produce purchasers, and more. When these and other members of the community become involved, children gain an appreciation for working with adults from the neighborhoods and develop a consciousness for improving neighborhood aesthetics (3). The community-building aspect of school gardens is one of the benefits best supported by peer-reviewed research. Blair’s (2009) review of 7 qualitative studies (mentioned above) also concluded that all studies promoted group cooperation and relationship building among students, provided a wider range of interactions between adults and students, and boosted community outreach (1).

Supporting Publications:

(1) Blair, D. (2009). The child in the garden: An evaluative review of the benefits of school gardening. Journal of Environmental Education, 40(2), 15-38.
(2) Murphy, M., & Schweers, E. (2003). Evaluation of a food systems-approach to fostering ecological literacy. Final Report to Center for Ecoliteracy. www.ecoliteracy.org.
Accessed from: http://www.ourcommunityourkids.org/media/4852/OVERVIEW%20of%20Research%20supporting%20Garden-Based%20Learning.pdf
(3) Pothukuchi, K. (2004).Hortaliza: A youth “nutrition garden” in southwest Detroit. Children, Youth and Environments, 14(2), 124-155.

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Promote School & Community Development | School Garden Resources

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School gardens improve both school environments and the communities in which they are located. In a review of 7 qualitative studies of school gardening programs, all 7 found “improved school attitude and pride in the garden and its produce” among the students, which inspired them to involve their pa…

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Grow Pittsburgh provides great resources for teachers trying to incorporate GBL. They have numerous lesson plans for all ages that integrate many content areas. This is a great place to look at lesson plans and gain inspiration for your own lessons.

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April 18, 2019

Grow Pittsburgh has a collection of great resources for teachers and other school community members looking to learn more about starting, maintaining, and teaching in a school garden. It includes lesson plans, garden recipes, and best practices. These resources have been developed and tested by Grow Pittsburgh staff and are used by teachers throughout the region and beyond.

Find everything you’re looking for here.

Lesson Plans

Children's Garden Book List

Useful Links

Garden Layouts

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School Garden Resources - Grow Pittsburgh

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Grow Pittsburgh has a collection of great resources for teachers and other school community members looking to learn more about starting, maintaining, and teaching in a school garden. It includes lesson plans, garden recipes, and best practices. These resources have been developed and tested by Grow Pittsburgh staff and are used by teachers throughout the region and beyond.

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Not only is this organization fantastic in terms of everything GBL but they too provide many lesson plans based around various crops, gardening activities, and social emotional lessons in the garden. SEL is very important, especially in our current COVID impacted society.

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Get the best gardening ideas for kids right in your inbox.

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Whole Kids Foundation is another great organization that provides GBL lesson plans. These lesson plans only range from PreK-5.

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As mentioned, in WV our 4H/Extension Service contributes and helps teachers in terms of Agricultural Science. I'd recommend that you seek out any local resources you may have, like 4H, to help you along your school garden journey.

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4-H Clubs in WV

WVU 4-H offers community and specialty 4-H clubs across the state.

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Recent WV 4-H News

My Hands to Larger Service Spotlight: Putnam County

While thinking about ways people could get up and move more in their community during the COVID-19 pandemic, Carter Takarsh and the Clover STEMs 4-H LEGO® Robotics team members decided that their area needed a Little Free Library®. Their community of Fraziers Bottom is far away from any of Putnam County's public libraries. In addition to building and installing a Little Free Library at the intersection of three subdivisions in the community, Takarsh planned to provide starter books for the library.

There were many steps to completing this project. First, Takarsh and the Clover STEMs applied for several grants to support the work, including a My Hands to Larger Service mini-grant. Next, the team had to complete a property search to find out who owned the property where they wanted to install the Little Free Library and receive permission from the property owner.
My Hands to Larger Service Spotlight: Putnam County
My Hands to Larger Service Spotlight: Pleasants County

Many residents have to leave the comfort of their home, neighbors, friends, and most of their personal belongings when they move into a nursing facility to receive care. The Pleasants County 4-H teen leaders wanted to ensure that the residents know that they are valued and acknowledged for their roles in the community. The teens made a case for friendship with residents by bringing a small source of comfort to those who may need a helping hand.

Under the leadership of 4-H'er Mariah Evans, the teens formed a plan to provide residents with a homemade pillowcase to offer the residents happiness, comfort, and an offering of friendship. The teens applied and received a My Hands to Larger Service mini-grant to support their plan. Additionally, the 4-H teens sought help from their 4-H leaders, volunteers, and a community needlework group. These adults helped the teens "learn by doing" while demonstrating and teaching the youths sewing skills and how to use sewing machines.
My Hands to Larger Service Spotlight: Pleasants County
My Hands to Larger Service Spotlight: Mineral County

"Give what you can. Take what you need." That is the motto of the Blessing Box that the Denim & Dirt 4-H Club saw a need for in their local community. A Blessing Box is a mini-pantry stocked with canned vegetables and proteins, personal care items, paper items, kid-friendly non-perishables, and special seasonal treats.

The 4-H club, under the leadership of 4-H'er Raley Nestor, successfully applied for a My Hands to Larger Service mini-grant. Over four months, the club members and volunteers organized, built, and installed the Blessing Box in their community. The Blessing Box is located in a safe and accessible location within the community, readily available to those in need to obtain food and essential care items.
My Hands to Larger Service Spotlight: Mineral County
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Every nine minutes, someone is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The five-year survival rate is only 10%. Pancreatic patients and survivors need hope. Stephanie Santilli's family was impacted when her uncle passed away from pancreatic cancer in 2007. He truly appreciated homemade items that were given to him. Santilli wanted to give others hope, so she stepped up to coordinate the "Purple Scarf of Hope project."

After receiving a My Hands to Larger Service mini-grant, Santilli set forth to recruit volunteers to make scarves and secure additional donations to support the project. She distributed yarn and supplies to the volunteers, collected the finished scarves, and distributed the scarves to pancreatic cancer survivors.
My Hands to Larger Service Spotlight: Barbour County
My Hands to Larger Service Spotlight: Braxton County

In 2018, a new 4-H council circle was built at Holly Gray Park in Braxton County. Two years later, the new benches in this campfire circle were still bare wood. Drina Kearns saw a need to clean, stain, and seal the benches to keep the structure maintained for coming years.

Kearns took the lead in securing a My Hands to Larger Service mini-grant in 2020. Through the grant, she purchased stains, wood cleaner, and brushes. In addition, Kearns assembled a team of other Braxton County 4-H junior leaders and 4-H volunteers to help her with this project. By July 2020, the team had completed the task. The solid wood stain on the benches will protect the boards from rotting and stay without peeling for many years.
My Hands to Larger Service Spotlight: Braxton County Browse WV 4-H News

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WVU 4-H offers community and specialty 4-H clubs across the state. 4-H Club Chartering West Virginia 4-H is a free, educational program for West Virginia youth in all 55 counties. Grow and learn about topics that interest you with WVU 4-H projects. No events available at this time.