Sustaining School Gardens

Food for Thoughts, University of Nevada Cooperative Extension school gardens program, has been in effect for more than seven years. During that time, staff has worked with 81 schools.  In all cases, the school established contact with the Extension office, looking for information or assistance in developing a garden, for ongoing guidance in its use, and/or for help with using it as an outdoor classroom. Sixty-six of the schools established gardens, 64 gardens were used as classrooms or as activity sites, and as of spring 2010, 54 were still in use. Some gardens were used for specialized topics (science, literacy, leadership) or for special education, but most were not earmarked for any particular subject.

Reasons for gardens not surviving varied, including environmental problems such as school renovations and irrigation problems. The loss of a key person (such as a teacher) was occasionally mentioned but lack of support from the principal was cited most often.

These results indicate that ongoing communication with teachers and administrators is critical to the sustainability of school gardens.