School Garden

Learning Garden 13: First Harvest
Gardens
Twenty days after planting tiny radish seeds, the second graders harvested bright red radishes. Radishes are a great first crop; they sprout and grow quickly. Not much for delayed gratification but instant success! The students stood at the edge of the raised bed and pulled their very own radish. They were curious, intrigued, and fascinated with how a tiny seeds grew into a red round vegetable. An excellent example of the natural process of plant growth and development, where the combination of sun, soil, nutrients, water, and air can produce a consumable substance.
October 3, 2012 Read more
Learning Garden 12: Teach the Teacher
Gardens
I have found that many teachers want to incorporate a learning garden into their curriculum but do not know how to garden. This is not a big issue for the teachers if they collaborate with an experienced gardener, horticulture agent, garden club, or master gardener to help train the teachers.
September 8, 2012 3 Comments Read more
Learning Garden 8: Plant Selection
Gardens
Choosing what and where to plant takes research and thought. I have compiled a list of things we took into consideration when we selected the plants that will transform the courtyard into a platform for hands-on learning through nature.
June 5, 2012 Read more
Learning Garden 7: Raised Beds
Gardens
If you are building a learning garden, the raised garden beds may be the central focus of all your teaching. It is important that you have the right material for your school gardening efforts. Fortunately, our county extension office just renovated their demonstration garden, and I can show you some examples that can be used at school or at home.
May 14, 2012 6 Comments Read more
Learning Garden 6: Building
Gardens
The educational and environmental impact of an outdoor classroom and learning garden is not easily measured, but it certainly can be measured by a smile when they bite into a freshly picked apple.
May 2, 2012 1 Comment Read more
Learning Garden 5: Volunteers
Gardens
Have you heard the joke, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time”? I might add, “with a lot of volunteers!” That’s how this garden project is going; we tackle one step at a time. First the vision, then the fundraising, and now the building: All of this is accomplished with the help of parent volunteers. We can hardly wait to see our kids learning in the outdoor classroom! Until then, we have skid loaders, scaffolding, tools and piles of dirt.
April 20, 2012 2 Comments Read more
Learning Garden 2: Long-Term Sustainability
Gardens
After a week of rain, progress on Benton’s Backyard outdoor classroom and learning garden can be seen. Sunburnt and covered in dirt, a few hard working dads framed up the sidewalks, shed floor, pergola floor and mow strips in preparation for concrete to be poured. Our students returned from spring break to witness all of the changes.
April 2, 2012 2 Comments Read more
Learning Garden 1: Overview
Gardens
Back in September of 2010, I started a new journey with my local elementary school, and now I would like you to join me on this journey, as I create a series of blogs that describes how a school and its community built an outdoor classroom and learning garden in 2012.
March 15, 2012 1 Comment Read more
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