School Gardening - Getting Started

When designing an outdoor edible school garden, the first question you should ask is, "What is the goal of our garden"? Is it  to provide children with a garden club experience after-school or is it to provide classrooms with experiential learning of core standards - or somewhere in between?  There are so many design features to consider, so the purpose of your garden is really important.  Of course, there are many ways to go about it. Some schools plan their garden based on their current budget or the kinds of donated building materials they have, while other schools want to build a garden area for each grade or classroom. All fun things to consider when designing your garden.

We like the idea of having as much flexibility as possible and starting small. Some school garden programs begin as an after-school program, and quickly move in the direction of a multidisciplinary learning tool for science, math language and arts. With teachers becoming more excited about using the garden as a learning tool, school garden lessons are making their way into curriculum, school garden policies are being adopted and the daily school culture of learning, growing, tasting, and harvesting fresh fruit and veggies is changing school cafeterias. Still other school garden programs donate food to local community organizations and food banks - amazing!  So what's the purpose of your garden?

Marcia Benvenuti, Jen McMahon and Tom Kalal at Haynes Elem. School

Just as your school was thoughtfully designed, your new outdoor classroom should be carefully arranged to meet the needs of those who will use it. Here are some tips and resources for getting started:

1. Create a planning team consisting of students, teachers, school administrators, groundskeepers, parent volunteers, and community representatives as a resource for suggesting ideas to be incorporated into the design. 
2. Choose the site of your garden: consider shade and sun, access to water, proximity to classrooms and possible access points by the community, shared vs. exclusive space, exposure to wildlife and safety.
3. Once a garden site has been selected the appropriate size should be planned. Some schools have a limited amount of space for a garden and size has already been predetermined. In this situation, careful planning will insure that every square foot is allocated for the best possible planting advantage. Consider the following:

Large or Small, your School Garden will be Something Special

• Numbers of teachers and students who will use the garden
• Kinds of plants to be included and their space requirements
• Size of pathways (wide enough for wheelchairs, wheel barrows and maintenance)
• Space for storage to hold tools and supplies
• Area for composting
• Room for greenhouse or cold frame
• Areas for container and vertical gardens
• Spaces for permanent plantings such as vines, trees, and shrubs
• Areas to place tables for class instruction and for potting benches
• Number and sizes of beds (there are pluses and minuses to raised and in-ground bed planting)
• Resources and materials available for construction and start-up costs
• Start up money and annual budget available for garden expenses  

Garden Plan at Uncas Elementary School, Norwich, CT

Designing your garden can be a fun experience and there are a lot of resources to help you design a garden that's just right for your school. Draw out your design on paper or use stickies to move around elements of your garden, trying different configurations. Name your garden, perhaps after a former teacher, principal or student, to add a personal touch. Some schools even have created a special logo to promote their garden. Watch for garden promotion and community involvement ideas in our upcoming blog post!

In the meantime, check out Getting Started and Designing Your Garden, or get more information by access the resources listed in the margin of this blog and attending one of our upcoming New London County School Garden Network meetings!  

Our next meeting will be held on April 29, 2015 at 3:30 at the FRESH New London office at 45 Broad Street. New London. Contact Cindy at 860-448-4882 ext 302 for more information.

Have a cool idea to share? Email it to us (with photos, if possible) to: CBarry@llhd.org