Designing your garden
Gardens can be as simple as a tray of seedlings on a windowsill or as complex as outdoor classrooms. If planting indoors, you should consider sunlight, water access, and temperature. If planting outdoors, consider sunlight, water access, soil condition, types of garden beds, integration with existing landscape design, and underground and above-ground utility line locations. Tour existing BCPSS school gardens virtually here.
As you start designing, you should start assembling the components of the Facility Enhancement Application that you will need to submit to the district office before breaking ground on your garden project.
Finding the Best Place for your Garden
Outdoor gardens generally fall into two categories: raised bed gardens and those directly in the site’s soil. Soil condition is an important consideration in planning your garden. The previous uses of the land may have left it contaminated, compacted, or full of rubble. Talk to long-standing community members to find out if your garden space had any previous uses, or use the Google Earth History tool (which can also be a great classroom lesson) to investigate yourself.
When looking for the best space for an outdoor garden, look for locations that meet the following criteria:
Nearby water access. Look for a hose bib on the side of the building. See info below on water testing once you have located your water source.
Adequate sunlight. Most vegetables require at least 6 hours of sunlight each day. The south side of a building will receive more sun than the north side. You can use an online calculator to determine the length of shadows from objects and buildings at various times of year: https://www.findmyshadow.com
ADA Accessible. Can all students access the garden?
Minimal safety concerns. Avoid building your garden too close to a busy street, or nearby potential hazards.
Relatively flat.
Room to grow. While we recommend always starting small, consider how the garden project can grow over the years. Is there room for additional beds if the project is successful? Can an entire class of students fit in the garden space? Is there room to incorporate a seating area?
The garden design chapter of the Slow Food School Garden Manual contains some excellent additional tips on design considerations and features for your garden.
More Design Tips for Your School Garden:
The following links include ideas for designing your indoor or outdoor garden, contacts to request assistance with your project, and other information for use during your design phase.
Miss Utility marks utility line locations. If you are planning a garden that will require digging, have utilities marked during the design phase to ensure your plans can be carried out safely.
Green Pattern Book from the Baltimore Office of Sustainability provides ideas on how to use vacant land in the city and determining the best use of your school’s available space.
Blue Water Baltimore may be able to offer support or site assessments to help you integrate rain barrels, rain gardens, tree planting, pavement reduction and/or conservation landscaping into your design.
Neighborhood Design Center’s Community Design Works program can provide free design and planning services for community initiatives.
Indoor Gardening Toolkit from Grow to Learn NYC.
Build your own rain garden guide from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
Raised Beds
Raised beds are a relatively simple DIY project that could be built in an afternoon. Below are a few easy-to- follow instructions with pictures for building raised beds.
Instructions for building raised beds: from Lowes, The Food Project, and Planet Natural
Instructions for raised bed for wheelchair-bound gardeners: from UMD Extension
More raised bed resources from the University of Maryland are available here
How much soil do you need? Use this online calculator. Buying soil in bulk and having it delivered to your site can save both time and money. Many suppliers often sell a raised bed soil mix that is a mixture of compost and screened topsoil.
Learning from successes at other schools can provide inspiration as you design your garden. Contact the City Schools Farm to School team (farms@bcps.k12.md.us) to get connected with garden leads at a school near you.
You may also choose to explore the possibility of involving Career Technology Education (CTE) students in your school garden efforts. For example, students in the construction pathway could help build a raised bed, or culinary students could develop recipes that incorporate items grown in the garden. Teachers in CTE pathways may also be interested in incorporating the garden into ongoing curriculum-aligned projects. Please contact Stan Wolfe (swolfe@bcps.k12.md.us) and the Farm to School team (farms@bcps.k12.md.us) if you are interested in this possibility.
