Elementary Garden Club

This page contains after school garden club resources developed by the APU Community Garden in collaboration with the Azusa Unified School District. You are welcome to use and further develop these resources for non-commercial purposes.

Getting Started

As you are developing your after school garden club, we recommend that you consider:

• Available space. Select a space that receives nearly full sun during the winter months and at least 6 hours of sun during the summer months. The south side of a building or the south side of a deciduous tree are often good options. Additionally, consider campus traffic patterns to balance visibility with undesired disturbance of plants.

• Irrigation. Supplemental irrigation is nearly always required in inland Southern California. There are many viable options for irrigation, including hand watering, soaker hoses, drip irrigation, in-ground ollas, and overhead irrigation. In general, hand watering and overhead irrigation are less efficient than other options.

• Effects on grounds maintenance operations. With careful consideration, a campus garden can slightly reduce the time and effort spent by grounds maintenance personnel, but a garden can also complicate grounds maintenance and create conflicts with maintenance staff. We recommend locating gardens in existing planter beds, in existing lawn "islands" (filling the entire island), or at the edge of lawns. Include a walking path between planting beds and lawns to prevent accidental mowing of crops. Additionally, ensure that there is sufficient space between plantings and sidewalks to avoid encroaching on sidewalks.

Materials and Supplies

An after school garden club can be started with minimal materials and supplies.

As a minimum, we recommend:

• Inexpensive trowels (we have found composite trowels to be quite durable).

• A metal bow rake (soil rake) for spreading compost and mulch.

• Garden hose and/or other materials necessary for irrigation.

• Dowels or sticks in sizes from "pencil" to "fat marker". These may be formally called "dibblers".

• Compost. We recommend contacting your waste management contractor regarding a donation.

• Mulch. We recommend tree trimmer grindings. These may be obtained at no cost from your campus tree trimming contractor, or we recommend contacting your waste management contractor regarding a donation. The Chip Drop service is a very low cost source if donations are not available, but may pose challenges with your procurement system.

• Supplies, as needed, for irrigation. Depending on the size and complexity of your system, retail costs are likely on the order of $50 to $300.