Gardening
School gardens - whether they're indoor, outdoors, vegetable, flower, or pollinator - provide a plethora of benefits and can serve as an experiential, hands-on learning lab to engage students of all ages. They help students learn the interactions among ecological systems and cultivate responsibility for environmental stewardship. Outdoor gardens play a critical role to help mitigate storm water runoff that overburdens NYC's combined sewage system.
NYC Public Schools partners with GrowNYC’s School Gardens Program to fulfill the City’s mission to inspire, promote and facilitate the creation of sustainable gardens in public schools. In the 2021-22 school year, over 1,200 schools reported having a garden. These range from indoor windowsill gardens and hydroponic towers to outdoor raised beds. Nearly 70% of NYC Public School buildings have access to a garden or outdoor green space!
Key Resources
GrowNYC's School Gardens Handbook
GrowNYC & National Wildlife Federation's Outdoor Learning Toolkit
School Garden Planning Calendar (NY Botanic Garden)
Compost Made Easy (NYC Compost Project)
Educator Lesson Plans and Activities
Basics of Botany (Edible Academy)
Garden Maintenance Activities: Harvesting, Weeding, and Building Compost (Edible Schoolyard)
Student Green Team Activities
Indoor Composting with a Worm Bin (NYC Compost Project)