37: School Gardens: Vendor-Led vs. Teacher-Led

Welcome to Episode 37 of School Gardens with Ease! In this episode, I dive into a question I often get from teachers and principals:

"Can you come in and run the school garden program for us?"

My short answer? No. But there’s a deeper reason behind it, and today, I’m sharing why having an external vendor grow your school garden isn’t the best approach, and why you are the best person to lead this initiative in your classroom.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

🌱 Why I stopped running school garden programs myself and shifted to empowering teachers.
🌱 The challenges of having outside facilitators lead school gardening programs.
🌱 How the Oasis Series was born and why it attracts the right teachers.
🌱 Why students learn more, take ownership, and feel a greater sense of achievement when their teacher leads the school garden.
🌱 The key to making a school garden work: ownership, care, and connection to the curriculum.

A school garden is not just an extracurricular activity, it’s a powerful, hands-on teaching tool that integrates seamlessly with math, science, language arts, social studies, and more. And you, as the classroom teacher, are the best person to make it happen!

Join the Oasis Program!

The Oasis Programs give you everything you need: lesson plans, growing guides, and support, to make school gardening simple and successful. Doors close on February 21st, so don’t miss your chance to join! If you’re listening after that date, hop on the waitlist for the next round.

👉 Learn more and sign up here: https://www.kidsgrowingcity.ca/links-oasis-programs

Let’s grow a thriving, abundant school garden—together!

🎙 See you next week for another episode!