Special Recognition Award
Meadow Pond Elementary
South Salem, New York

Though our new vegetable garden is only seven months old, it has had a huge impact on our school. First, students, parents, and other volunteers worked side by side to construct our garden, using materials donated from members of our school community. Together, we built a garden that is wheelchair-accessible and deer-resistant, with a system of raised beds, trellises, and paths organized to allow easy access by large groups, while enhancing our growing capabilities and reducing maintenance. Our garden also includes two raised beds on wheels, allowing wheelchair-bound students the same access to gardening as their more able-bodied classmates. Our garden is included in our school’s “Farm to School, Kids Growing Food” program, adopted by our district as part of our overall wellness policy.

Students are involved in all aspects of the garden, beginning with starting seeds. A variety of seeds were started in our greenhouse, while others were planted directly in the garden. Students planted companion plants, including tomatoes and marigolds, and the "three sisters" of corn, beans, and squash. We also practiced succession planting, replacing spring lettuce with summer vegetables, herbs, and flowers, which in turn were replaced with a fall planting of lettuce. We are protecting the lettuce from frost with a floating row cover. Soon we will be planting tulips in open garden beds for spring bouquets for our school. Students will be reviewing our planting plans to ensure proper crop rotation in advance of next spring’s planting.

Our seedlings were planted closely together to maximize garden space, retain moisture in the soil, and control weeds. As part of the garden installation, our garden design company partner, Teich Garden Systems, donated landscape fabric as a mulch, which they use in all their installations. Though we were pleased with the low-maintenance results, we plan to include organic mulches in the future and are using this as an opportunity to teach the students about the difference between organic and synthetic mulches and the value of using materials that break down naturally in the garden.

No pesticides are used in our garden. In order to replenish our garden soil, we hope to have a school-wide composting policy in place by next spring, incorporating appropriate kitchen and cafeteria waste, along with garden debris in a centrally located “composting center.” Until then, debris is being deposited in an area adjacent to our garden. Our garden is maintained by students and parent volunteers both during and after school hours, as well as on weekends. A big source of garden volunteers is our after school Garden & Greenhouse Club, which has become hugely popular. During summers and holidays, families take turns caring for the garden.

We had several special events organized around our garden, the biggest being Salad Day in the spring and Harvest Day this fall. Salad Day is a day of celebration, during which every member of our school community — approximately five hundred in all — shares in the bounty of our garden. The lettuce was harvested, cleaned, and dressed with a vinaigrette made by students. On Harvest Day, students harvested vegetables, gourds, and flowers. Working right outside the garden, each class helped to prepare the vegetables for our “Harvest Soup,” which was being cooked in the open air by parent volunteers. The soup was served the next day during lunch and was a great hit. Corn stalks, gourds, and pumpkins from the garden decorated the cafeteria, while bouquets of garden flowers, arranged by students, graced our tables. (This has proven so popular that student volunteers harvest and arrange flowers each week for use in our cafeteria, library, main office, and faculty lunchroom.)

The garden is also the focus of a variety of curriculum-based activities. Our kindergartners use the garden as part of their “5 Senses” curriculum. Our second graders harvested pumpkins to use for their “Pumpkin Math” segment. Studying the life cycle of butterflies is part of our third grade curriculum and we were fortunate to have an abundance of monarch butterflies for them to observe. Fourth graders used the garden as part of their plant cycle studies and colonial/native American period studies. Our fifth grade students applied their math skills in a variety of garden activities, including determining the quantity of lettuce needed to serve our school population, and converting recipes to feed five hundred.

Through being involved in seasonal garden activities and growing plants from seeds, students have learned a great deal about nature and the plant cycle. Eating student-grown food is a source of pride to students and has encouraged them to try new foods. Ideals such as leadership, teamwork, respect, and responsibility are reinforced. This coming spring, we hope to enhance learning opportunities in the garden by introducing our students to a wider range of organic growing methods.