Welcome. The project started from a placement at university. Looking at the situation of school gardens in Thunder Bay, Ontario. There are many pieces of the puzzle and eco-justice, social justice, food security and education all find a home at my Blog.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Barriers to school gardening

Many people have asked me what happens in the Summer to the school gardens and who looks after them when the children are not at school. This isn't California! 


No, this isn't California, and that shouldn't be a reason not to try and plant a garden at school.


Involving community in the design and planning of the gardens and greening projects helps to strengthen community links. Maybe there is a horticulturalist living next door to the school and may get involved with watering over the summer. Maybe there is a family who love gardening and can help out. There are many other possibilities for keeping the garden cared for and looked after. High school students looking for volunteer hour credits might get involved or a family may want their children’s party at the school and can put in some work while they are there? If a garden is near a senior’s residence, there may be possibilities for including them in the garden design and they may be able to share some of their gardening knowledge with the students? There could be a rota drawn up to amongst the students of a class to help out during the Summer.


There are many sited reasons for closing school gardens. There may be a lack of support on the part of teachers, school administration and maintenance staff. There may be problems with lack of funding and financing of the garden. There may be lack of support on the part of parents and volunteers. 


Other factors relating to not starting a project of closing a garden might be vandalism, ineffective integration into the school curriculum. There may be those summer challenges or that the garden just isn't valued as part of the school community.


In order to overcome barriers and challenges to gardening in schools, there needs to be broad-based support including principals, teachers, parents and wider community. Integration into the community is an excellent way to build up and maintain the gardening experience for students and staff alike. 


If anyone has any other ideas to share, please add a comment!








1 comment:

  1. Hi Liz,
    At my school, there are three teachers interested in the garden, so the first summer, we just divided up the number of weeks and divided by three. I went twice a week for two weeks (as did the others), and ran into school families there, helping out. I also ran a nature daycamp at the school during my third week, and the participants weeded, watered, meditated and harvested in the garden. (Everyone enjoyed a "hand salad" on the last day!)

    This coming summer, we will probably ask for families to volunteer for one week (two waterings). The following year, we're hoping to have a rainwater catchment system in place that will water automatically. Though the kids sure do have fun watering in the summer!

    Your wonderful blog is inspiring me to update my school gardens webpage (http://www.greenhearted.org/school-gardens.html).

    Thanks!
    Julie Johnston
    GreenHeart Education

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