Last week, Center High School’s garden club toured Kansas City Community Garden’s Beanstalk and greenhouse. Typically, we host tours through the Beanstalk between March and early November when the plants are alive and growing. Still determined to come out and visit, I warned them that the Beanstalk will look a lot different during the winter […]
A Big “Thank You” To Our Volunteers
As a gardener, you may know that amending soil with compost yields a healthier– more productive harvest. Here at Kansas City Community Gardens, we believe (as funny as this sounds) that “our volunteers are like compost to a garden”. With the help of our volunteers, KCCG’s mission is strengthened and continues to grow, reaching out […]
Cleaning Out Your Weedy Garden
As teachers start to head back to school, we get a lot of pictures of weedy gardens sent to us with questions such as ” Help! How do I clean out my gardens?” or “Where do I even begin?” We get that teachers are already so busy and adding, “clean out the garden” to an […]
School Spotlight: Olathe East High School
The Olathe East High School Interpersonal Skills (IPS) class sees gardening as an integral part of their curriculum. The IPS program combines students with disabilities with peer mentors to learn social and other real-life skills. Hands-on gardening can provide lessons in science, math, cooking, communication and more. The school partnered with the Kansas City Community […]
School Spotlight – Washington High School
This week’s school spotlight is Washington High School in KCK. Partnering with Schoolyard Gardens since 2015, Washington High School’s Wildcat Outdoor Learning Lab and Community Garden turned an old tennis court into an outdoor classroom where students are encouraged to study or just take a break and enjoy nature. Science teacher Karen Rogers leads the […]
Giving Grove Curriculum
In this time of physical distancing, we hope you’ve found ways to enjoy some fresh air outside. Maybe you’ve gone for a walk, done a spring scavenger hunt or even planted a garden. For those of you working hard to teach distance learning as well as those of you supporting your kids as they adapt […]
Schoolyard Gardens 2019 Community Impact
As growing season comes to an end, the garden to do list become shorter and we take inventory of 2019! In 2019, Schoolyard Gardens welcomed 17 new schools to the program. Making a grand total of 220 schools enrolled and actively gardening! This means 17,225 students learned about plant life, nutrition and trying fresh fruits […]
Covering Garden Beds and Jotting Garden Memories
There’s something bittersweet about covering Schoolyard Garden beds at the end of the fall into winter season. The Schoolyard Gardens team uses landscape fabric or burlap to cover garden beds after they’ve been cleared of garden debris to ensure that they’ll be ready for planting come springtime. The fabric suppresses any pesky weeds that inevitably […]
Schoolyard Garden Spotlight: Southwood Elementary Garden Club
Did you know that sweet potatoes are the most sensitive vegetable to freezing temperatures? If left outside in the cold the tubers become mealy and inedible. On the day Southwood Elementary planned to harvest their sweet potatoes, they were very aware that they only had a small window of time before that evenings freezing temperature […]
A Beautiful Night in the Gardens
Kansas City Community Garden’s annual fundraiser, Gardens at Sunset, is a night when friends of KCCG gather in the beautiful Beanstalk Children’s Garden and show their support in both the silent and live auctions. As our biggest fundraiser of the year, these donations will help plant orchards for neighborhoods, build gardens for schools and provide […]