Garden Resource Guide

As part of our Whole Kids family, you join more than 8,500 garden programs in the US, UK, and Canada that are growing healthy kids! You can download a digital version of your garden resource guide here.

About Us

We believe in research-driven programs to create effective, lasting and impactful change. See below for a sampling of research that supports our programs – and can support yours, too!

Classroom Resources

Garden Partners

Gather Your Tools & Build Your Network!

Garden Guides

Network

Curriculum Resources

Garden programs that are incorporated into educational programming solidify kids’ learning, further influencing their lifelong healthy eating choices!

Elementary Education Only

Middle and High School Education Only

All Grades

Sustaining Your Garden

DIVERSIFYING FUNDING SOURCES FOR YOUR GARDEN CAN BE A KEY FACTOR IN SUCCESS. HERE ARE A HANDFUL OF GRANTS TO SUPPORT DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF YOUR PROGRAM!

APPLY FOR GRANTS

Additional grants can support different aspects of your program!

Fundraising

Company Profit Share

Reach out to local businesses and apply for a profit share. For example, Chipotle has a profit share opportunity where 25% of the profit will go to your cause.

Create a Wishlist

You can use Teacher Lists or Amazon Wish Lists to collect your garden classroom wish list and get it funded by your community.

GoFundMe

Use this easy-to-use fundraising platform to raise funds for your garden.

Green Fundraising with ECO lunchbox

Select from a couple of options to sell eco-friendly products at a discounted cost to support your school here.

High Mowing Organic Seeds

Sell seeds at a 50% profit for your school here.

Monetize your Garden

Consider selling garden produce (e.g. setting up a school farm stand), creating and selling products from your garden (e.g. basil pesto), creating and selling school garden merchandise.

Continuing Garden Education

Expand your garden knowledge, learn best practices, and connect with other inspiring educators like yourself through trainings and resources offered by these organizations
 

Reading Recommendations

School Garden books and printed resources:

  • Asphalt to Ecosystems: Design Ideas for Schoolyard Transformation by Sharon Gamson Danks
  • Creating Gardens of Goodness by Center for EcoLiteracy for Annie’s
  • Edible Gardening: 10 Essential Practices for Growing Your Own Food by Benjamin R. Eichorn
  • Getting Started: A Guide for Creating School Gardens as Outdoor Classrooms by the Center for EcoLiteracy
  • How to Grow a School Garden: A Complete Guide for Parents and Teachers by Arden Bucklin-Sporer and Rachel Kathleen Pringle
  • Slow Food USA School Garden Guide
  • Ripe for Change: Garden-Based Learning in Schools by Jane S. Hirschi
  • The Growing Classroom: Garden-Based Science by Roberta Jaffe and Gary Appel

Helpful Gardening Books:

  • Accessible Gardening for People with Physical Disabilities: A Guide to Methods, Tools, and Plants by Janeen R. Adil
  • All New Square Foot Gardening, Second Edition: The Revolutionary Way to Grow More In Less Space by Mel Bartholomew
  • Gardening at the Dragon’s Gate by Wendy Johnson
  • How to Grow More Vegetables by John Jeavons
  • Micro Eco-Farming: Prospering from Backyard to Small Acreage in Partnership with the Earth by Barbara Berst Adams
  • Step by Step Organic Vegetable Gardening by Shepherd Ogden
  • The New Organic Grower by Elliot Coleman

Community Engagement

It takes a village to support a garden...and enjoy it! Your community has a whole host of skills and passions that could grow and maintain your garden. Check out the following tips and resources to invite them in and share your story.