School gardens are an amazing multidisciplinary, hands-on learning opportunity. In addition, they provide an unparalleled experience to empower children to grow their own food. You’ll see the pride in your students’ faces the first time they get to eat or share something fresh from the garden. You can also expect them to eat food they may shun in the cafeteria because of the excitement of growing it themselves (and because it just better)!
Once again, all you need to do is hop online and visit www.schoolgardenwizard.org . This site has everything from how to make the case to your school administrators to planning the garden. It also includes tips on how to garden, how to leard in the garden, and how to evaluate your success. Of course, the climate you live in will determine what you can feasibly grow during school year. If you live somewhere with a short growing season, you may want to raise funds to build a small greenhouse for your garden. You can also focus on fast-growing crops like snap peas and leaf lettuce. Another idea is to have families adopt the garden over summer break, so the children have a bountiful harvest to enjoy when they come back in the fall. Put one family in charge each week, fewer if you have a lot parents who’d like to participate.