In the spring of 2020, a dedicated group of Tecumseh parents secured a grant from Whole Kids (Whole Foods) and TD Bank to transform our existing green space into a learning garden. With the help of a landscape architect from the HDSB, they planned an accessible space  where students can grow vegetables, pollinator plants and a variety of native species to beautify the Tecumseh property.

During the school shutdown in the spring of 2021, several parents and teachers came to the property after school hours to plant the garden. During the summer, they showed up to water, weed and harvest from our vegetable garden. 

In the fall of 2021, the SCLD class and Eco-Team harvested many vegetables and researched appropriate recipes to prepare the produce. A few popular menu items were kale chips, salsa verde, steamed beets and steamed carrots. HDSB Facilities Services also built a beautiful outdoor learning space surrounding the vegetable garden around this time.

With the end of cohorting practices in the spring of 2022, our eco-team and SCLD class have been able to spend plenty of time starting seedlings indoors, planting pollinator-friendly species in our flower bed, and weeding the garden (which students are learning is a never-ending task). In May, seedlings are starting to be 'hardened off' by spending 2-3 hours a day outside exposed to the sun and wind. Students are eager to transplant the seedlings from the classroom into the garden before June.