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Garden Time

Submitted by sarahp on Thu, 04/25/2013 - 00:41

By:

NGA Staff

How can you tell time in the garden without using a watch? Check and see what’s blooming!

Flowers have amazing adaptations to attract pollinators. Their scent, colors, and shapes have evolved to draw these vital critters towards them, since in the process of collecting nectar, they also move pollen from flower to flower to ensure seed production and distribution.

Growing Plants on the Roof

Submitted by sarahp on Thu, 03/28/2013 - 00:55

By:

Sarah Pounders

Right Side Box:

Download this month's lesson What’s Up.

In small urban schoolyards, sometimes it pays to look up when searching for the perfect spot to grow plants. That is exactly how PS 41 in Greenwich Village began their journey to create their extraordinary Greenroof Environmental Literacy Laboratory (GELL).

Cylinder Gardening

Submitted by sarahp on Mon, 02/25/2013 - 00:52

By:

Sarah Pounders

Right Side Box:

Download the Cylinder Gardening Lesson for more details.

A big gardening program…in a little garden space. Cylinder Gardening uses bottomless cylinders (1/2 of a 5 gallon bucket) as small, individual gardens for growing vegetables. Perfect for schools with limited growing space and poor soil, cylinder gardens require little land and minimal pre-gardening preparation or experience. Once the cylinders are filled and planted, the only labor is minor maintenance, watering and harvesting. Recommended plant varieties mature from seed in 30 to 90 days to fit within one school semester.

Blooming Gifts

Submitted by sarahp on Fri, 11/30/2012 - 01:39

By:

Sarah Pounders

Blooming plants make wonderful gifts for special occasions. They add to the festive atmosphere of any event and when the blooms begin to fade, they can be enjoyed for their foliage or composted.

Let There Be Peace on Earth

Submitted by sarahp on Fri, 11/30/2012 - 01:15

By:

Sarah Pounders

Right Side Box:

2013 Muhammad Ali Center Peace Garden Grant

NGA is proud to announce the 3rd year of the Muhammad Ali Peace Center Peace Garden Grant program sponsored by Yum! Brands Foundation. In an effort to help all schools sow the seeds of respect, the Muhammad Ali Center Peace Garden is designed to help schools teach lessons of peace and hunger awareness through garden activities. As a global initiative, the United States and all international locations are eligible for participation. Grants applications are due on January 2, 2013. Apply online.

Read about one of our 2012 grant recipients: Twelve Stones Community Garden.

Plant the seeds for world peace in your garden. The garden offers a laboratory for students to observe how all living things are interconnected and must stay in balance to thrive. Here are a few peace related themes you can introduce through garden programs:

Know Your Food

Submitted by cynthiad on Mon, 08/13/2012 - 16:05

By:

Cynthia Domenghini, NGA Staff

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The 2012 Food Day School Curriculum was designed for educators as a Food Day resource that can be used in the classroom or to increase your own knowledge about what it means to Eat Real: Download the 2012 Food Day School Curriculum

Many times gardening is promoted as a way to teach youth where their food comes from. This phrase, “know where your food comes from,” is one that has received much attention and rightfully so.

Beat the Heat: Start Early, End Late

Submitted by RoseJM on Mon, 07/16/2012 - 09:51

By:

Rose Judd-Murray, NGA Staff

It can be difficult to get motivated about maintaining the yard and garden during one of the hottest and driest summer months. There are definite dangers for young children during the most intense temperatures of the day.

Keeping Pets Safe in the Yard and Garden

Submitted by cynthiad on Wed, 05/16/2012 - 08:39

By:

Rose Judd-Murray, NGA Staff

Wheatgrass and catnip are great options for plants your cat can safely enjoy.As families enjoy their garden together this summer, it’s important to recognize that our families are more than just parents or guardians and children.

Developing Character in the Garden

Submitted by cynthiad on Sat, 05/12/2012 - 07:39

Anti-Bullying Strategies

By:

Cynthia Domenghini, NGA Staff

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Creating a No-Bully Zone

Although the 2011-2012 school year is coming to an end, this is a great time to start planning an anti-bullying unit for the start of the 2012-2013 school year. Here is an activity to guide you and your students through the process of designing your own anti-bullying contract.

Download the Bullying Prevention Activity (PDF) »

Young gardeners contributing to the larger effort of beautifying the school.Within a garden live many individual plants. Each of these plants alone can be beautiful and unique, but as a whole, alongside all the other plants, they are so much more.

Growing BIG in the Great Outdoors

Submitted by cynthiad on Tue, 02/28/2012 - 10:12

By:

Cynthia Domenghini, NGA Staff

Right Side Box:

Bonnie Plants’ Third Grade Cabbage Program is a free program offered to third grade classrooms nationwide. The purpose is to support youth to eat healthy and be garden advocates. To support this purpose, Bonnie Plants offers resources online to help students grow their cabbage. In addition, lesson ideas and recipes are provided along with help for teachers and parents. Visit the Bonnie Plants Cabbage Program website for more details about registration.

You can also view a complete list of the Third Grade Cabbage Program scholarship winners for 2011 for each state.

Being outside has so much to offer; whether you are a gardener or not, there is a place for you in the Great Outdoors. Each year, thousands of third graders nationwide find a special place outside by participating in a program which challenges them to grow an oversized cabbage.