Frequently Asked Questions

CSGN is a project of the Western Growers Foundation. CSGN partner organizations represent a variety of state agencies, private companies, educational institutions and non-profit organizations all dedicated to the mission of creating and sustaining gardens in every willing school in California. The Network serves as a central organization to distribute school garden information, resources and support throughout the state. 

CSGN's mission is to create and sustain California school gardens to enhance academic achievement, a healthy lifestyle, environmental stewardship and community and social development.

We achieve our mission by providing on our web site the most complete source of school gardening resources in the State, by creating publications for teachers and others working in school gardens, and by serving as a hub for the various organizations dedicated to supporting school gardens in California.  Learn more about CSGN.

View and print CSGN Flier.

School Gardens can be used to enhance academic achievement, a healthy lifestyle, environmental stewardship, and community and social development. Visit our Why School Gardens page to see studies that show the value of school gardens you can also download summary briefs on the value of school gardening.

Read more from CSGN’s publication Gardens for Learning: Creating and Sustaining Your School Garden, Chapter One, Introduction to School Gardens.  Download or purchase the book at our Publications page.

View the Western Growers School Garden video, a nice piece on how gardens connect to food literacy.

Starting and sustaining a school garden is not a simple task. Most successful school gardens across the state have one or more "garden champions" that help to keep the project rolling. Parent and community volunteers, dedicated teachers and administrators, paid garden coordinators, and motivated student groups can all serve the role of "garden champions". This website was created to help you start and sustain a school garden. There are many free resources to help you plan your school garden program.

CSGN's Starting Out page lists some of the more popular guides to starting a garden.

School gardens range from a few plantings to elaborate programs. Cost will depend on the scope of your program and if you choose to employ staff to maintain it.

Download this School Garden Materials and Resource Guide to help you create a budget of school garden program supplies.

Visit the Starting Out Page to view more guides on starting a school garden.

Visit our Fund page for resources to help raise money for your garden program.

California is comprised of almost every type of climatic zone on the planet. When looking for gardening basics it is best to search locally. Most counties in California have a Master Gardener program whose purpose is to provide expert garden advice and support. Check www.mastergardeners.org to see if your county has a program and/or garden support hotline.

CSGN’s Local Networks page list organizations that provide support for school gardening.

CSGN's School Garden Planting Guide, pages 63-68, in Chapter 7 - Planting Your School Garden
This comprehensive guide includes suggested vegetables, herbs and flowers to plant in the fall and the spring. In addition the guide includes the following information: when to plant seeds indoors, when to plant outdoors (based on frost dates), depth to plant seed, spacing of plants, days to germination, days to harvest and nutrients content of vegetables. Find frost dates for California at the Victory Seeds Web site or contact your local Master Gardener.

See instructional videos at CSGN's Creating and Sustaining Your School Gardens video page

More information on vegetable, flower and herb planting, care, and harvest can be found at:

• Organic Gardening.com: Get gardening tips, sign up for monthly garden reports for your area, and simplified information on the care and harvest of garden plants.
• National Gardening Association's Food Garden Guide: Detailed information on planting, care and harvesting of garden plants.
• Burpee.com: Great information on gardening and seed catalog; sign up for regional garden reports, visit their "library" for plant care and harvest information and visit their "nutrition guide" for vegetable nutrient content and garden kitchen tips.
• Bonnie Plants: Simple and concise information on growing common vegetables and herbs. This site also has tips for harvesting vegetables.
• Life Lab's tips on Edible Crop Planning and Planting Perennial Plants

There are many general gardening books to be found at your local book sellers and used book stores.We suggest the Sunset Western Garden Book a great garden resource with thousands of plant descriptions and growing tips. Includes gardening instruction as well.

Remember gardening is a continual learning process….

Those interested in working with school gardens can always benefit from a bit of guidance from individuals and/or organizations that are actively involved in supporting school gardens.

At CSGN's Event Calendar you can browse upcoming workshop opportunities from across the state.

CSGN's Local Networks lists organizations directly supporting school gardening, and many of them provide training.

The following organizations provide professional development opportunities for educators across the state:

Life Lab - provides professional development using their K-5 curriculum and activity guides at their Garden Classroom Site or at your school site.

California Foundation for Ag in the Classroom - hosts an annual statewide conference in different locations each year on agricultural literacy topics, they also offer other professional development opportunities.

Occidental Arts and Ecology Center's School Garden Teacher Training and Support Program - offers 5 day summer intensive trainings on school garden skills and topics.

Fresh Fruits and Vegetables: A Centerpiece to a Healthy School Environment - these free day and a half trainings take place across the state, one day is focused on garden-enhanced nutrition education.

There is no “one way” to fund a school garden project. Most schools rely on a combination of support such as: grants, donations, parent/teacher organizations, and school budgets.

View CSGN’s Grants and Fundraising page where you can find the “Finding Supplies and Funding Your Garden”chapter of CSGN’s Gardens for Learning as well as other resources that schools use to support their gardens.

View CSGN's Finding Supplies for more ideas.

Depending on what stage your school garden project is at, funding a paid staff or support stipend might be a good idea. But keep in that many schools are scrambling just to fund current staff, so use good judgment when suggesting funding new programs.

I have seen many models where non-profit organizations partner will schools or districts to provide coordination, resources, maintenance, and instruction for garden programs. Often there are staff that share multiple garden sites.

Examples of non-profits that partner with school gardens: MEarth, Collective Roots, S'cool Food, Full Circle Farm.

Try looking outside of the box and think about who else might support garden related work. For example municipal waste reduction offices (composting), county health or health related organizations (nutrition education), after school programs, and watershed education (bay friendly gardens) are all models that I have seen fund or support garden programs. Although these models do not all provide staffing they do provide resources to support garden-related learning.

Examples: Silicon Valley Health Corps funds AmeriCorps Volunteers to support garden projects. StopWaste.org provides resources and training for bay friendly gardening and composting, Project Eat funds garden-enhanced nutrition educators through the Network for a Healthy California, Alameda County Office of Public Health provides support staff and resources for nutrition education, Ft Bragg School Gardens are a collaborative project funded by the Network for a Healthy California and their school food service, Ventura Unified Healthy School Program is a project of their school food service and the Network for a Healthy California.
View our Local Networks page to see organizations in your area that support school gardening efforts.

At one school I have seen a model where a supportive principal provides funds for 20 substitute days to allow a fifth grade teacher to run a garden program for all upper elementary students. The teacher coordinates the garden and a small group of docents to run the program. View Judy discussing her program.

In Santa Cruz, garden educators were written into a education parcel tax which funds general city school educational projects, gardens being a small part of it. Pretty cool, but not all cities have the potential to approve an education support tax. Start by connecting with your school board or education foundation to see if you have an existing parcel tax. Think about your community's needs. Your community might be interested in funding a food & nutrition education program, science education, after-school programming, or environmental literacy programs all of which could have a gardening component.

In San Francisco proposition A funded school greening which in many cases includes areas for outdoor learning. This doesn't exactly answer the question of funding support staff but it does demonstrate looking towards policy and thinking outside the box to make great change.

Grants are often thought of as a means to fund staff or support stipends but many of the popular school garden grant programs do not allow funding staff nor do they award enough money to support staff. This does not mean disregard grants as a potential funding source but consider grants as one of many options to find funding.

Of course bake sales, plant sales, fundraising, PTA/PTO all can be tapped but it is hard row to hoe to raise enough money for staffing and might be less sustainable than the models listed above.

If there is a will, there is a way. Start small and grow.

If you have other models or examples to share please let me know and I can add them to the list. John Fisher, Life Lab

Join the California School Garden Network email list to receive updates on funding sources, training opportunities, and additional support for school gardens.

Find organizations in your region and subscribe to their newsletters.

If you want more information related to school gardens there is plenty out there. Here is a list of school garden related E-updates that you might be interested in checking out:

California-Based

The Los Angeles UC Cooperative Extension Common Ground Garden Program provides various e-updates including "School Gardening--Non-LA County Resident". Yvonne Savio sends out timely grant announcement and other useful information related to school gardens.

The California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom's monthly e-newsletter is a great way to learn about grants, upcoming events, and programs related to Ag Literacy in California.

Life Lab's Quarterly E-News shares resources for garden-based learning four times per year. View past issues and subscribe.

School Garden Weekly is published in Los Angeles, California by George Pessin, Los Angeles County Certified Master Gardener and was created to allow students, teachers, parents, and volunteers the information necessary to start and maintain a successful school garden.

National Scope

The National Gardening Association's Kids Garden News monthly e-newsletter supports educators with thematic and standards-based articles, activities, and resources to foster their efforts in implementing school gardens. You can also sign up to receive regional gardening updates and on-line store specials. Browse their past e-newsletters for many grant listings.

Garden ABC's a comprehensive list of resources to support school gardens. Their monthly newsletter highlights resources and grants across the nation.