Saint John, New Brunswick
Please describe your garden, is it raised beds, in the ground, do you have a greenhouse?
There are 17 raised beds in total. 11 are designated to the classrooms in the school. Each classroom has their own bed. I bed for the teachers and the other beds are shared by the school that include strawberries, raspberries, potatoes, sunflowers and cucumbers.
What vegetables/fruit do you grow in your garden? What do you have a difficult time growing in your school garden?
We grew peas, carrots, cucumbers, potatoes, tomatoes, onions, squash, pumpkins, melon, beans and sunflowers.
Most of the vegetables did really well. We did have some issues with the potatoes. As we were digging them up we found red ants in the soil.
Why did your school decide to add a school garden?
Saint Rose decided to put in a learning garden to teach students about sustainability. Also many of the students had never eaten vegetables before we put in the garden.
What classes participate in the garden, what subjects are taught in the garden?
All classes participate in the garden. Lessons have been taught on soil and the growth stages of plants.
Who manages the garden day to day? Who manages the garden over the Summer break?
Each individual class is responsible for planting, watering and maintaining their bed. Our school has a partnership with the YMCA. They have it built into their daily summer schedule to water and weed the garden.
What do you do with the harvest from your garden? Do you have a harvest celebration? Do you use it in the cafeteria, or culinary classes? Do you donate some of the produce?
With the green tomatoes and the onions we made chow chow and made pickled beets with the beets. These were sold to help raise money for seeds for next spring.
We also made fresh salsa and shared it equally amongst all of the classes.
Do you have community involvement? Do you have parents and volunteers? Have been able to source other funding to help your garden grow?
The community has played a large part in the development of our garden. All of the funds needed to put the garden in placed was donated by the community. Without them we would have never been able to put our plan into action.
What are your future plans for the school garden?
We hope in the future we are able to increase the yield. One of the main purposes of the garden was to donate to the local food bank. As the yield was small this year we were unable to do so.
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