Our Schoolyard Gardens staff is often asked, “What happens during the winter?” Freezing temperatures and snow and ice may keep vegetables from growing, but there is still much to be done in January and February. Our staff uses these months to add soil amendments and compost to gardens, repair damaged beds, help schools expand their gardens, […]
This Winter, Make Garden Signs with Your Students to Prepare for the Growing Season!
Have you ever had trouble identifying plants in your garden, or forgotten what you planted in a bed? Plant markers help students and adults alike with vegetable identification. Rather than using the small plastic markers that can fall out or wash off, consider making larger, more permanent signs to make your schoolyard garden more informative […]
Season Extension Coming to Schoolyard Gardens!
Our schoolyard gardens team has worked creatively to fit the growing season into the school calendar. Unfortunately vegetable garden seasons do not fit into the typical academic year, so we try and work around this in a variety of ways! We encourage schools to plant crop varieties with shorter maturity times and have planted larger […]
Burke Elementary Schoolyard Garden Growing Strong for Seven Years
The vegetable garden at Burke Elementary in the Hickman Mills school district has continued to thrive over the last seven years thanks to the continued dedication of one teacher—Swapnam Kumar. Swapnam is a teacher for 4th grade English language learners. She is passionate about gardening and has partnered with KCCG since 2009, when the students […]
Indoor Celery Dye Experiment for the Classroom
As the weather turns cooler, and the days become shorter, it is hard to think about growing a vegetable garden! Both the soil and gardeners need the winter months to rest and replenish before the spring season. But winter and rest time can still excite students’ minds about the wonders of growing food! Use classroom time to […]
Sharing Veggies in the Spirit of Thanksgiving!
When I met with V. Lindsay Seventh Day Adventist School in Kansas City, Kansas this summer to plan their fall vegetable garden, they knew exactly what they wanted to do with their harvest. The teachers and students of this small K-8 school agreed to grow veggies to harvest and donate to the families living around […]
Sumner Academy Vegetable Garden Thrives Under Student Direction
The students in garden club at Sumner Academy of Arts and Sciences are a committed bunch. They have been single-handedly maintaining their four vegetable beds, their raspberry bed and their asparagus bed. The students come out regularly to water and harvest from their garden–this fall, they were harvesting their summer crops (tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers) […]
KCCG to Partner with The Family Conservancy
The Schoolyard Gardens program is excited to start working with The Family Conservancy’s “Growing Healthy Kids” project. The project will focus on healthy nutrition and physical activity by introducing the “ I Am Moving, I Am Learning” curriculum to students in local preschools. With the help and guidance of our program, the Family Conservancy will […]
How to Grow Great Garlic in Your Schoolyard Garden!
Garlic not only adds flavor to any dish, it also has many medicinal uses. It is antibiotic, antibacterial, antifungal and is said to lower blood pressure and even may prevent cancer! Kansas City Community Gardens offers two types of garlic: Softneck garlic is generally more productive than hardneck garlic and stores for longer, but it […]
Hogan Middle School Grow in the Garden
Students in Ms. Bodenhamer’s art class have worked hard all semester tending to their vegetable garden. This fall, Hogan Prep Academy Middle School participated in our Grow in the Garden program, a 9-week gardening series in which the Schoolyard Gardens staff visits the school every other week to conduct lessons on different themes, including thinning […]