Gardens

What is a community garden?

It can be any piece of land gardened by a group of people. It can be…

• Urban
• Suburban
• Rural
• In a school
• At a hospital
• In a neighborhood

It can grow…

• Flowers or vegetables!

Why start a community garden?A community garden can…

• Improve the quality of life for people in the garden
• Provide a catalyst for neighborhood and community development
• Stimulate Social Interaction
• Encourage Self-Reliance
• Beautify Neighborhoods
• Produce Nutritious Food
• Reduce Family Food Budgets
• Conserve Resources
• Create opportunity for recreation, exercise, therapy, and education
• Reduce Crime
• Preserve Green Space
• Create income opportunities and economic development
• Reduce city heat from streets and parking lots
• Provide opportunities for intergenerational and cross-cultural connections
  

Why teach gardening in your classroom?

A class garden (being a model of a community garden) will create a classroom community that will reap the benefits mentioned above! Students will discover where their food comes from and the work involved in its production. This classroom garden may lead into a larger project resulting in a community garden in your students' neighborhoods.

How do I start a classroom garden?

• Check out your state science standards
• Use questions from this site to connect to your students' background knowledge
• Allow students to explore the gardening process (observe and visit a local garden)
• Gather materials (seeds, soil, planters, etc.)
• Plant seeds
• Care for plants (transplant outside if possible)
• Dissect some of the plants to learn about parts of a plant and how they grow
• Harvest for a healthy snack (be aware of food allergies and parental consent)
• Link the gardening concept to other important ecological concepts (i.e. photosynthesis, the water cycle, composting, micro-communities, and the social aspects of building community)

Here is an example of our Exploring Your World Day Community Garden display:

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Community
Water
Compost

To learn more about the American Community Garden Association, click here: American Community Gardening Association