Growing your own food has been a way of life for thousands of years. Cultivation laid the foundation for human civilizations and allowed people to thrive. From nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyles to permanent settlements and farming, agriculture has changed the way humans live. So, how has man lost those skills? One word: convenience.

Over time, man has become spoiled, selling primal skills in exchange for convenience. Yet the agricultural industry is under extreme pressure. Climate change, water and land scarcities, invasive species, disease, and aging out of farmers are just some threats to global agriculture. With the cost of necessities rising, even in the wealthiest countries, world health experts warn that food shortages may serve as the root cause of the next global health crisis. That is why it is important to teach today’s young people gardening skills that will allow them to return to their roots, becoming more self-sufficient and less reliant on prepackaged food.

Youth Gardening Program

During the 2022-2023 school year, the Alabama Cooperative Extension System (Alabama Extension) at Alabama A&M University partnered with Montgomery Public Schools (MPS), national home improvement product retailers, local feed and seed stores, Parent Teacher Associations, and other organizations to establish school fruit and vegetable gardens. A committee consisting of Alabama Extension personnel; school administrators, teachers, custodians, and cafeteria nutrition personnel; parents; and area business leaders looked to accomplish the following:

• Identify what type of gardens would serve students most.
• Determine what materials and supplies were needed.
• Obtain funding to support the gardening efforts.
• Incorporate gardening into existing curriculums.

Program Delivery

Utilizing a hybrid approach to program delivery, students participated in Zoom videoconferencing and workday sessions on seed starting, plant propagation, soil and plant nutrition basics, watering and irrigation, and pest management. Properly supervised, students in grades 3 to 5, made use of various hand and power tools to assemble raised bed fruit and vegetable garden plots. Students also learned the 4 Rs of green living: reduce, reuse, recycle, and repurpose. For instance, instead of plastic seed starter pots and trays, students reused and repurposed toilet paper and paper towel rolls to start and plant seedlings, reducing the number of rolls that end up in landfills.

Gardening Benefits

A school fruit and vegetable garden can be an exciting and a deliberate way of making Alabama’s Common Core State Standards in science, math, reading, and art come alive. Suitably planned, a youth-driven school fruit and vegetable garden can serve as living laboratories in which students see and experience what they are learning. For example, MPS students were instructed to calculate the soil volume of each raised bed to determine how many bags of topsoil, compost, and potting mix to add. Students kept scientific journals on what improved or hindered plant growth and their response to stimuli and environmental growing conditions throughout the season. When engaged in a hands-on gardening lesson, students exhibited an increase in positive attitudes towards content material and learning.

The inventory of benefits resulting from youth participation in school gardening continues to grow, as does the recognition of school gardening as an experiential learning tool that teachers can employ across the curriculum in support of academic achievement, social and behavioral development, and environmental awareness and appreciation. Bettering students achievement in the classroom requires focus on the whole child, and the whole-school experience. Gardens can facilitate and support such development as well as empower today’s young people to become resilient youths, self-sustaining adults, and stewards of the environment.