Prepping To Plant in 5 Steps

This week has been all about preparing the garden to plant with kiddos. Here are the steps I followed along with a few tid-bits of advice that I learned through the process:

1. Choose a space to plant your garden and get it approved.

I lucked out with finding 12 beds in a perfect "outdoor classroom" location right outside of my school's cafeteria. Since, I have 8 rotating groups in my after school program, I decided that each group will have their own bed and I will use the remaining beds to experiment with.

It is important to get permission from administration and make sure that no one else is using the beds before begin weeding/planting. Other teachers may be planning on planting during a future lesson or the school may have been hoping to relocate the beds - best to avoid stepping on any toes as much as possible.

2. Scope out what you need.

Check out the structure of the beds. Will they be able to handle another season of pulling, pushing, and stepping on?

Do you have access to tools? Gather those first and lay them out. Visualize what you will need for the day of garden repair. How many volunteers will you have? What will they be working on individually? Are your tools in good condition?

How is the soil? Dig in and figure out if you will need bags of soil, compost, or other organic additives?

3. Buy/Find your goods.

I was able to get a donation in the form of coupons from The Home Depot -they had been a previous donor to our school's garden projects. I wrote a letter, printed out pictures, and chatted with the manager in person. Most businesses will want a tax number to document for donations, so make sure you get that beforehand.

Make a list an email out to faculty and staff - you'd be surprised what people hold onto!

Drive to a small gardener's store or small farm. The most expensive part of this project for me was soil, compost, and tools. Assuming you won't need much (I only used two bags for 10 beds) you may mostly likely be able to ask for a donation. Community members LOVE supporting school gardens.

4. Soil!

One of the most important parts to prepping your garden is ensuring that the soil is healthy and ready for growth.

You can buy soil pH tests at any garden/DIY store that are easy to use. This will give you tips about possible organic additives to include into your garden. Do a simple google search to figure out what is common in your area and what kind of pH levels the plants you are planning to grow like the best.

This is a fun activity and great learning experience to do with your students! I did a lesson from "Life Lab" about parts of soil and what healthy soil looks likes before our planting activity. I did the pH test myself and shared the results with the students.

5. Get to work!

Decide who your garden clean up team will be. Is this a project the students can help you with or do you need a team of experienced adults?

I chose to work with a volunteer from the local college because I wasn't so sure what I was getting myself into and was worried about the 7 year olds trying to pull out the huge rosemary bushes that had taken over. I did, however, leave two beds "messy" so we can go over the weeding process in a future lesson.