Thinking of starting a classroom garden? Caring for a living thing can help with student engagement, following directions, community building, responsibility and even vocational skills! Here are some tips on how to get started. This post contains affiliate links from Amazon.
Where to garden
On Campus Plot
If your campus has large plots available then that is an awesome opportunity you should jump on! In the picture below, I had the fortunate opportunity to make a garden in front of my classroom – how convenient is that! We shared this plot with a few other classrooms on the same wing as us. This area used to be all grass but the grass had died so I was able to convince admin to make better use of the space!
Raised Garden Bed
If you don’t have much room outside of your classroom – you can grow plants in large inexpensive planters that you can get from Walmart or Amazon.
Click here to check out this galvanized raised garden bed on Amazon (affiliate link).
Click here to check out this wooden garden bed on Amazon (affiliate link).
Don’t have room? Use a large pot
You can find inexpensive large planter pots at Walmart or Amazon, and this will yield enough room to plant a good amount of one plant! This is perfect for tomatoes, herbs, and a handful of other fruits/veggies that don’t require too much room.
Click here to check out this large plastic planter pot on Amazon (affiliate).
Community Nursery
Check with your local nurseries or if your city has any community plots for rent. It is usually pretty inexpensive to rent monthly. Just do a quick Google Search “rent garden plot near me” and you should see a handful of helpful websites pop up with more information!
What Do I Plant?
First, decide if you want to go the direction of fruits/vegetables, or flowers/succulents. Then, think about where you live and what plants are sustainable (or during what season). You might have to do a little research if you want to have a successful garden.
www.almanac.com/gardening/planting-calendar you can type in your zip code and it will give you a planting schedule for a variety of plants along with tips on how to get started!
Some additional tips
- Plant where there is sun!
- Make sure you have water readily available
- If you don’t have a hose nearby, make sure to purchase a watering can that you can fill and water plants (most likely daily).
- Don’t go too cheap on the soil. Good soil can make or break if your plants thrive.
- If you don’t want to wait for seeds to grow – use transplants.
- If you have a larger garden, stagger your plants, don’t plant all at once.
- Put gardening on your schedule. Make it part of your daily classroom job.
Extra Curricular
Cooking Lesson
If you have a garden with fruits & vegetables, this is an inexpensive way to supplement your cooking lessons! What’s more rewarding than using your own grown crops to cook a meal (which yields additional life skills in itself!)
Vocational Skills – Student Business
Start a student business from the plants you grow by having a weekly or monthly farmers market. Or if you grow specific crops like tomato, onion, and pepper, you could easily make and sell salsa! Another idea is to sell flower bouquets/potted plants! There are so many possibilities when gardening to expand and practice vocational skills.
Thanks for reading!
