Starting and Sustaining School Gardens

Teacher Training Intensive

Saturday March 19th, 2011

9AM-3PM

Register Online

$15 includes materials and lunch

Friends Academy

1088 Tucker Road

Dartmouth, MA 02747

For School Garden Facilitators at Every Level of Experience

Beginning, Intermediate, and Experienced

Download the Flyer

Led by Steve Walach, Friends Academy & Derek Christianson, Brix Bounty Farm

Course Overview

The workshop will feature a variety of gardening basics: composting, seeding, transplanting, harvesting, plot design, planting schedules, mineral amendments, soil management and soil testing. Special attention will be paid to concerns germane to school gardeners, like administrative support, student involvement/management, curricular relevance, budgeting and what to do about summer vacation.

The first half of the morning schedule will consist of demonstrations, slide shows and discussions. Then, before lunch you will have an opportunity to get a jump on the growing season in a hands-on way. We will supply industry-standard trays and high-quality starting mixes plus seeds for a variety of spring crops. You will seed two, 98 cell, durable plastic trays and take them home with you – a practical way to get ready for your traditional mid-April transplanting. Or, you can seed one tray yourself and take a second tray back for your students.

In the afternoon, hands-on demonstrations of useful, kid-friendly tools and seeding/transplanting methods will be held in the Friends Academy garden, a site that last year produced more than four thousand pounds of vegetables for a nearby food pantry.

Professional Development Points will be available for attendees who complete the additional/required four hours of course-prescribed work, which can be easily accomplished by simply following through with the stated goals of starting or maintaining a school garden.