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I started a garden club at every Florida school I worked in and all of those experiences were very different. Here are 5 things you should consider before starting one yourself.

1. Student Interest: Is this garden club for Kindergartners or 5th graders? Considering the age of your students is very important because their abilities are different. You’ll need to adjust the size of the garden tools, the length of the club and the activities. I had over 50 students sign up at one school, grade levels K-3rd! At another school I only had 5th graders in the club. I have created a Garden Club Flyer you can edit to fit your school needs and you’ll be able to see which students are interested in joining the club:

2. Gathering Volunteers: With over 50 students showing interest in garden club, I had to gather some school volunteers who were willing to sponsor the club with me. Luckily I had about 10 teachers interested in taking part in the club. If you can’t find teacher volunteers then try asking other school staff, see if some parents would be interested. Of course if you can’t find anyone else interested then you will have to lower the acceptance number. In one of my schools I was the only one interested in sponsoring the club and my acceptance limit was 10 students. Which is why I made sure to include on the flyer that there is a limit and not everyone that applies will be accepted. I also had the welcome letter so that parents and students weren’t confused on who’s accepted.

3. Lesson Planning: What will you do each day? Does your school require you to turn in a lesson plan for school clubs? What if it rains, will you move the club indoors or will it be canceled for the day? There are so many things to consider when planning the club’s daily activities.   I made the decision to have the club rain or shine. I always had extra indoor activities planned just in case it rained. Here is an indoor activity you might consider for your club:

4. Funding: I’ve said it before & I’ll say it again, gardening can get pricey. Whether it’s a home or school garden, it will cost you a pretty penny to get started. So where are you going to get this funding for your school garden? Consider talking to your school bookkeeper, they might have some money set aside for school clubs. I’ve also received funding from our districts nutrition department. They even sent over some plants because they were running a healthy schools campaign. They were more than happy to buy us some plants, soil, among other things. I bought most of the items on amazon and used the schools or districts card to purchase it all. So please check with your school/district before your start spending your OWN money. Of course you can always try to raise money through school or online fundraisers with admin approval. Here are some amazon items you might consider purchasing for your club to get you started:

• Gardening gloves for students. These are for ages 9-12.

• Colorful trowels for yourself and students.

• I have so many more items you can consider for your school garden club which is why I made this amazon list for your convenience. Look through the list and see which items you might need. Of course always read the details and reviews to make sure this is the item you are looking for.

5. Clean up: Kids will get messy & so will you. Where will they wash their hands after? Will they have a change of clothes? Is garden club on the same day as picture day? Are you a uniform school? There are so many things to consider when it comes to putting away garden tools and making sure student clothes aren’t damaged. At one of my schools we didn’t have access to water outside so we had to go back to my classroom to wash our hands. We also had to use watering cans, fill them up in my classroom and then head back outside to water the plants. At another school we had a hose and it was easy clean up and watering. Think about the situation at your school and what plan can you set in action so everything runs smoothly. I also had to consider where we will store our garden tools at the end of the day. At one school we had to bring all the tools back into my classroom, which got really messy but at another school we had a small shed similar to this one.

It was a life saver because we didn’t have to spend a lot of time cleaning my classroom after. You might also consider getting a bench that has a storage compartment.

It will give you a spot to take a quick break and could also be used to sit during recess. I hope this list was helpful and gave you some ideas for your garden club. Please let me know if you have any questions or if there is something I can help with.

All the best,

Adela