Sunday, December 06, 2009

School garden guilding principles

Checklist for Establishing and Maintaining the
PEC Friendship School Garden Sites

1) Planting material should be reusable. Emphasis should be placed on vegetative propagation and open pollinated / “heritage” seeds.
Lesson:
a) Students learn how to save seeds/planting material for the next season
b) Genetic conservation: reuse and recycle planting material within the garden
c) Growing plants that are adapted to the local environment. This minimizes insect and disease issues.

2) All organic matter remains in the garden. Nothing is removed off site. Additional organic material from the school lunches and farmers market is added to the garden site by first being recycled through compositing bins.
Lesson:
Students learn how to recycle and reuse organic materials in the garden. They learn through composting how to convert unused or “waste “by products into a valuable resource for growing plants. (Closed loop system)

3) Mixed planting in the same garden beds . This design maximizes output from limited growing space. Plants with different height and root structures should be planted together to efficiently use solar energy, soil nutrients and water.
Example: (1) strawberry with climbing peas or beans. (2) Climbing beans, corn, and squash.
Lesson:
Students will learn how to design an edible garden which mimics nature’s mixed; multi layer native landscape and all of it inherit bio-diversity benefits.

4) FAITH Garden (Food always in the homegarden). The garden will have a variety of food, medicinal, and culinary herbs so that something is harvested the year round.
Lesson:
Students will learn that in the Encinitas environment edible garden plants can be easily grown year round providing fresh, clean, and green produce for their family.