Green Thumbs at School: SPEC Food Garden Lesson Book
Developed by Society Promoting Environmental Conservation (SPEC), this book contains 9 food garden ecology lessons for educators and information on how to start your own school garden to help kids learn about how the sun, water and soil connect with plants, people and our planet.
Starting a Schoolyard Market Garden – An Implementation & Resource Guide
Developed by the Edible Garden Project from North Shore Neighbourhood House, this resource guide complements the Fresh roots Growing Neighbours Case Study and is intended to assist community organizations and school communities to navigate the development of a schoolyard market garden.
School Year Gardens – A Toolkit for High Schools to Grow Food from September to June
The School Year Garden Toolkit, written by Paris Marshall Smith and Arzeena Hamir helps garden coordinators to select, plant and harvest vegetables during the school year. Tips on where to source materials, how to plan for summer care, and lesson plans are also included.
Find this resource and other excellent information on the Richmond Food Security Society website.
School Garden Guide – Vancouver School Board
The Vancouver School Board recognizes the important role school gardens can play in students’ learning. Garden-based learning can enhance academic achievement through integration of hands-on experiences into diverse subjects such as math, science, art, nutrition and environmental education. Garden-based learning also allows students to discover and experience fresh, healthy food and to make healthy food choices. This comprehensive document outlines the steps for developing a school garden!
Toronto Food Share has some amazing How To Guides about a wide variety of topics, including designing Garden and Food Justice curriculum, a harvest guide, and master crop plan.
Growing up Organic has some wonderful resources about crop planning with your classroom, including crop planning cards to use with the square foot gardening method, and lesson plans for crop planning with your class grades 3-5 or grade 5 class.
Additional Resources
- Creating an Outdoor Classroom – LifeCycles
- Patterns Through the Seasons – LifeCycles
- Pollinator Curriculum (grades 3-6) – North American Pollinator Protection Campaign
- Vegucation – Richmond Food Security Society
- Think&EatGreen@School Food Garden Management Guide & Food Garden Management Plan
- West Coast Seeds – Gardening Guide 2017
- West Coast Seeds – Planting Guide for Fall/Winter Harvest
- West Coast Seeds – Regional Planting Charts
- West Coast Seeds – How to Grow Guide
- Winter Harvest Planting Schedule (Lower Mainland)
- Vancouver School Board School Garden Policy
- Food Garden Management Guide
- School Garden Management Schedule (Lower Mainland)
- Project Garden
- Plant Menu (Lower Mainland)
- Planning your Garden Curriculum
- Chartwells Garden Guide
- Container Garden Guide
- Activity: Mini Greenhouse in CD Case
- Square Foot Gardening Information
- Veggie Garden Planner
- Building your Garden Curriculum
- Grow Me Instead, avoiding invasive plants
Seed Saving
Planting for Pollinators