About Living Labs: School Gardens
A school garden can be a Living Lab, attracting butterflies and wildlife, and growing organic vegetables. A Living Lab can integrate native plants with other pollinators. A school garden can consist of edible plants in a container, colorful flowers, or a full vegetable garden.
Living Lab school gardens come in all shapes and sizes, depending on the school site, available resources and the needs of the students.
Research shows that student involvement in garden activities can:
- Boost academic performance
- Improve social skills and behavior
- Enhance nutritional preferences, and
- Increase self-esteem.
Creating Living Lab School Gardens
Want to develop a Living Lab, or turn an existing school garden into one? Butte County Master Gardeners have years of experience with school and community gardens. As part of our public outreach, we offer consulting services free of charge to any school in Butte County. We can also provide you and your students with workshops on all kinds of garden topics.
We can provide on-site consultations for your project in the short term and over time. We can help you plan strategies for most aspects of your Living Lab school garden, including:
- Classroom curriculum aligned with Next Generation Science Standards
- Site selection & construction
- Soil preparation (or refer you to a soil testing lab)
- Plant selection & seasonal planting themes
- Water management & irrigation systems
- Plant propagation
- Garden maintenance
- Recycling & composting methods
- Pest management
- Garden-related student activities
Contact us to set up an appointment by calling the Butte County Master Gardener Program Office at 530-552-5812.
Resources
Here are some useful resources and organizations that provide a wealth of information and guidance on developing a school garden.
Publications
- Gardens For Learning-Creating and Sustaining Your School Garden (PDF)
One of a series of free resources from the California School Garden Network - Plant a Seed, Watch It Grow—A Guide For School Gardens (Online hypertext book)
Master Gardener Association of San Diego County - Getting Started—A Guide for Creating School Gardens as Outdoor Classrooms. (PDF)
Center for Ecoliteracy /Life Lab Science Program - A Child’s Garden of Standards, Linking School Gardens to California Education Standards grades 2-6 (PDF)
California Department of Education, 2002. - UC Master Gardeners of Butte County The Real Dirt Blog, October 2021: From School Gardens to Outdoor Science Labs
- Impact of Garden-Based Learning on Academic Outcomes in Schools: Synthesis of Research Between 1990–2010. JSTOR