Schoolyard Garden Designs: A Guide to Gardening with Children
O'Brien, John (1992).
Rochester: Praying Mantis Press; 95 pages. $9.95.
This self-published book is not a research work in the traditional sense of statistical surveys and double blind studies. It is instead research findings gleaned from years of practical experience. This type of research presents useful information for those interested in gardening with children.
As a community gardening professional, I am often asked for advice by teachers and community gardeners on how to garden with children in school settings or in community gardens. A considerable amount has been written on the subject in newspaper and magazine articles, booklets, chapters in books and curriculum guides but there are few books devoted to the topic. This book does an admirable job of filling the void.
John O'Brien, a teacher in the Rochester public schools, has used his experiences to write this book. He is a combination of cheerleader and voice of reason, at the same time encouraging others so inclined towards school gardening while making them aware of the pitfalls and obstacles involved in gardening with children.
Mr. O'Brien wisely gives only a couple of lesson plans- there are already many curricula available from the National Gardening Association, Project Learning Tree, and Cooperative Extension Programs in the U.S. He concentrates instead on the planning and preparations necessary to make a project succeed. This part of the process is important, especially to ensure longevity.
Planting a one-season garden is easy. Creating a sustained children's gardening project requires forethought and the support of a wide range of people. Everyone from the school principal to parents, neighborhood residents, custodial staff and the children themselves are crucial to the success of a school gardening project. In my experience working in the Council on the Environment of New York City's School Greening Program, the school custodian was usually more important than the Principal in terms of school facility use. While recently this strange juxtaposition of power has been rectified as custodians have lost some of their autonomy in re-negotiated contracts, custodians can still be very helpful in providing or storing tools and materials as well as caring for the garden in the summer.
Many requests for information I receive are very specific, such as: how many inches deep do I plant seeds; how far apart do I plant tomatoes; how much sun and soil do I need; how many days does it take to grow a radish; or how exactly do you thin seedlings? To many, these are basic questions while to others they seem beyond comprehension and could very well be the difference between success and failure. Mr. O'Brien answers some of these questions and gives the reader enough titles in the resource list to be able to research the answers to the rest. Answering such detailed questions is perhaps the greatest strength of this book. (Usually when I receive requests for information from teachers, I will ask the teacher specifically about his or her plans for maintenance and security. These two details are the toughest problems to solve and are often the points where projects fail.)
As for maintenance, a simple spring garden planted at the end of April and harvested by the end of June minimizes this problem to a great degree but limits what can be grown to a few vegetables. Even in this case, who will care for the plants over the Easter vacation or Memorial Day weekend? Planning a full season garden offers more choices in plantings and greater opportunities for lessons but points out the basic problem with school gardens -the gardening season is during school summer vacation. There are ways to deal with this problem. Mr O'Brien suggests heavy mulching; but even with heavy mulching, a garden left on its own for ten weeks will be overrun with weeds and have lots of dead plants and rotten vegetables. His other suggestion– to enlist the support of neighbors and school personnel in the project -is probably the best answer.
The other problem of security is one where hard, unwanted lessons are sometimes learned as plants are destroyed or stolen. The book does offer some good advice in terms of placement of the garden in secure, locked areas, using less attractive plants in vulnerable spots and involving as many children as possible to encourage pride and ownership to deter vandalism. Of course this doesn't take into account areas where plants planted with locks and chains or garden fences topped with razor wire are necessary. Again speaking from experience, places such as these may not be good candidates for successful school gardening projects. The garden plans included in the book are good examples for teachers to follow if they want a theme garden. Designing a curriculum around an ethnic garden, Native American garden or a courtyard ecosystem can be interesting and rewarding for both teacher and student.
John O'Brien has done a great service for teachers. In Schoolyard Garden Designs, teachers have a single source to get their garden in the ground. Following the steps outlined in this well-thought-out planning guide can assist teachers through the difficult decision making processes of the crucial start up phase of the project to the satisfaction of seeing children grow through gardening. It would also be an asset for any academic researcher interested in developing study projects in alternative learning environments, as well as providing a good understanding of what it takes to successfully garden with children.
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