Does your program or center have enough space to plant a garden? If so you can positively impact the community by creating a community garden at school.
What is a Community Garden?
Just as it sounds, it’s a garden that is maintained by the community and shared by the community. A community garden is build in a communal place where people within a community build, plant and maintain the produce. In turn those who work to grow the crop can use the produce from the garden.
Benefit of a community gardens for kids
Community gardens are a great way to introduce children to gardening. It teaches kids the basics of planting and caring for plants. In addition to the obvious benefit of learning about plants, it gives kids exposure to fruits and vegetables that may not be familiar.
According to a study done by Cornell University It has been proven that children who help grow produce they are more likely to eat it. Use your community garden to create a delicious snack or meal for the kids.
How to plan for a Community Garden at School
The first step in creating a community garden is to set a timeline. Decide what kind of garden you want, who will pay for the garden, who will be responsible for planting the garden and what supplies you will need.
Next plan your garden. You can build a community garden using planter boxes or just plant fruits and vegetables in the ground. Your garden can be large or small, hold root vegetables or vine vegetables. This is the step where you will decide what is important to your garden. Once you know what you want for your school garden do some research into pricing and come up with an estimated cost of the project.
When you have a plan for the garden the next step is to get funding. Keep in mind that your garden does not have to be big and you do not need giant raised planter boxes, but if you want to make the garden sustainable you will need some funds to make the school garden a success.
If you need to do some fund raising in order to finance the community garden you can get kids involved in the process. This provides a great opportunity for them to understand the importance of giving and the power of the community. Have the kids write letters to local businesses asking them to help in the development of the garden. This will take some follow up on your part to get some donations, but it will get the community talking.
You can raise awareness by contacting to local newspaper, explaining the project goals and alerting them that you will be building a community garden at school, ask individuals to volunteer their time, especially those with experience gardening.
Build a Community Garden at School
After you have your plan for the garden, you have your done your fund raising and purchased your supplies it’s time to create your garden. Gather your volunteers and some kids to build planter boxes (if you choose) and plant produce.
Once the school garden is planted kids can help care for the plants, making sure they are watered regularly, weeding and fertilized as needed. You can use a compost program to make your own fertilizer or purchase it at the store.
When the crop has come in, you can take your community garden lesson to the kitchen. Teach kids about safe kitchen practices and allow them to try new foods that they can enjoy for a lifetime.
