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Don't grow whatever whenever!
Seasons matter!
In this episode of School Gardens with Ease, Leila Mireskandari dives into a crucial aspect of gardening success: timing and seasonal planning. Whether you’re a teacher eager to grow educational gardens or a parent supporting a school gardening project, understanding the seasons is non-negotiable.

Leila explains why growing plants out of season (like tomato seeds in fall) leads to poor results and disheartened students. She stresses the importance of planning and preparation during fall and winter to ensure a thriving garden in spring.

Highlights:

• Why seasons are essential when planning and growing school gardens.
• Common mistakes like planting at the wrong time and how to avoid them.
• The importance of considering a plant's full lifecycle and teaching kids responsibility and care.
• Tips on how fall and winter are the ideal times for planning, gathering resources, and preparing for spring gardens.
• Details about Leila’s Oasis Fall and Winter Program and her upcoming free webinar on planning spring gardens (starting December 1st).

Links and Resources:

• GrowVeg.com – A helpful resource for seasonal planting.
• Oasis Fall and Winter Program – Check out this program for bringing gardening into classrooms during the colder months.
• Join the free spring planning webinar waitlist here.

Take Action:

• Teachers: Plan now for spring! Avoid the stress and disappointment of late starts.
• Parents: Use this season to talk to teachers and gather resources to support a successful school garden.
• Don’t wait! When spring arrives, it’ll be too late to begin planning.

Ready to start? Explore the links above and reach out to Leila now. Let’s ensure your school garden thrives with proper timing and preparation.
Saw this episode late? Still use the links above to add yourself to waitlists for next year.

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Let's welcome Lauren MacLean, a passionate children's author, educator, and outdoor learning consultant. Lauren’s books, including Me and My Sit Spot and Finding Common Ground, inspire young readers to connect with nature, and her work as an educator brings hands-on outdoor experiences into the classroom.

Lauren shares insights on integrating school gardens into the curriculum and offers practical tips for teachers looking to overcome common barriers, such as finding time for outdoor education. She explains how she creatively weaves subjects like math, science, and social studies into outdoor learning, making the garden a year-round, interactive classroom. Lauren’s journey from a former field hockey athlete to a teacher passionate about outdoor education highlights her commitment to fostering environmental stewardship among young learners.

Lauren also introduces her new book, Sitting with Nature: An Educator's Guide to Sit Spots, a comprehensive resource filled with weekly prompts and lesson ideas to engage students in nature-based activities.

Topics Covered:

• Lauren’s inspiring transition to outdoor education and how mentors influenced her teaching approach
• Practical advice on using school gardens to meet curriculum requirements in various subjects
• Addressing teachers' common concerns, like scheduling outdoor time and managing behavior in outdoor settings
• The concept of "sit spots" and how repeated visits to natural spaces build deeper connections to nature
• How Lauren's books bring the magic of nature into classrooms and homes
• The upcoming virtual launch for Sitting with Nature on November 26th—an event for teachers interested in outdoor education

Resources and Links:

• Lauren MacLean’s Website: Teach Outdoors
• Me and My Sit Spot - Amazon
• Finding Common Ground - Amazon
• Sitting With Nature: An Educator’s Guide to Sit Spots - Outdoor Learning Store

Connect with Lauren:

• Website: teachoutdoors.ca
• Join the virtual book launch on November 26th to celebrate Sitting with Nature!

Subscribe & Follow:
Don’t forget to subscribe to School Gardens with Ease and check out more resources on bringing gardens and nature into the classroom!

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Build a Resilient School Garden with Hugelkultur!
In this episode, Leila shares an innovative and regenerative gardening technique that can make your school garden more resilient, water-conserving, and low-maintenance — hugelkultur! 

Leila discusses how this permaculture technique, which involves creating a raised garden bed with a foundation of buried wood, can significantly reduce summer maintenance needs and provide long-term benefits to both the garden and the learning experience. Hugelkultur is not only water-efficient and nutrient-rich, but it also extends the growing season, supports local wildlife, and serves as a hands-on educational tool for students. This episode provides a step-by-step guide to building a hugelkultur bed with your students and highlights how this method can make your school garden more self-sustaining.

Topics Covered:

1. What is Hugelkultur?
   • Definition and translation of "hugelkultur" (mound or hill culture).
   • How to create a raised garden bed using layers of wood topped with soil.
2. Benefits of Hugelkultur Gardens:
   • Water Conservation: Wood in the bed acts like a sponge, retaining water and reducing the need for frequent watering.
   • Nutrient-Rich Soil: Over time, the decomposing wood enriches the soil, eliminating the need for additional fertilizers.
   • Extended Growing Season: Heat from the decomposing wood helps keep the soil warmer, allowing plants to thrive for longer in colder climates.
   • Biodiversity and Wildlife Support: Hugelkultur beds attract beneficial woodland wildlife and mushrooms, enhancing the ecosystem around the garden.
   • Resilience and Low Maintenance: Fewer watering requirements and built-in nutrients reduce the need for summer maintenance.
3. Science and Educational Value:
   • Opportunities for teaching students about natural water cycles, soil health, decomposition, and biodiversity.
4. Practical Considerations:
   • Recommended wood types (avoid chipped wood, willow, and black walnut).
   • Where to source whole, dead wood for building the bed.
   • Tips for constructing a stable, tidy hugelkultur bed with students.

Resources Mentioned:

• Guide to Building a Hugelkultur Garden with Students
• Oasis School Program, which includes step-by-step gardening lesson plans and resources:

https://www.kidsgrowingcity.ca/links-oasis-programs

• Guide to Setting Up a Watering Chest for Summer Maintenance 

Don’t Miss Out:
Leila shares her personal experience with hugelkultur and how it transformed her approach to school gardens. This episode is packed with practical advice and educational insights that will make your school garden setup a breeze!

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Let's tackles the "Expensive" myth surrounding school gardens: 
Drawing from over a decade of experience growing school gardens, Leila Mireskandari, reveals why the idea that school gardens are costly is often rooted in misconceptions, and how a well-planned garden can actually be both affordable and sustainable. 
From examining why people assume school gardens are pricey to offering practical, low-cost alternatives, Leila guides listeners through the steps to make school gardening an achievable goal. 
Discover the common pitfalls that lead to budget-busting gardens, the traps of unnecessary equipment, and the benefits of keeping gardens student-led, teacher-guided, and connected to the curriculum. By the end of this episode, you’ll be equipped with insights to build a garden that’s as cost-effective as it is impactful.

Key Takeaways:

1. Why People Think School Gardens Are Expensive: Leila explains the influence of social assumptions, flashy but unnecessary equipment, and past failures.
2. Three Reasons School Gardens Fail: Discover the main factors that lead to costly and unsuccessful gardens, including community-led models and gardens disconnected from curriculum.
3. Affordable Solutions for Effective Gardens: Learn how to use Permaculture principles, prioritize student involvement, and minimize expenses.
4. Avoiding Unnecessary Costs: Leila highlights items and features often mistaken as "must-haves" that can actually drive up costs without adding value.
5. The Value of Doing It Right: Gardens built with intention, sustainability, and the right support become worth every dollar.

Resources:

• Previous related episodes: Episode 6 and Episode 7 for ideas on classroom gardens.
• Links to more resources for teachers: https://www.kidsgrowingcity.ca/Gardening-for-Elementary-Teachers

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In this episode of the School Gardens with Ease Podcast, host Leila Mireskandari shifts focus to address parents who are eager to bring a garden to their child's school. While primarily aimed at parents, the episode offers valuable insights for teachers as well, particularly in building partnerships with parents to create sustainable, educational gardens.

Leila reflects on her own journey, starting as a concerned parent without a background in gardening, before transforming her passion into a full-time career. Sharing personal stories from her early days of volunteering for after-school gardening programs, she highlights the challenges and lessons learned along the way, including the reality of burnout and the lack of teacher engagement when gardens are treated as extracurricular projects.

Key Takeaways:

• Sustainability of School Gardens: The most effective and sustainable school gardens are those led by teachers, grown by students, and supported by parents. These gardens integrate seamlessly into the school day and curriculum, making them more impactful and easier to maintain.
• Parent Involvement: Rather than spearheading garden projects themselves, parents should focus their energy on supporting the garden after it’s established. Fundraising for supplies and lesson plans, as well as helping with summer watering, are the best ways to contribute.
• Avoiding Burnout: Leila emphasizes that parent-led after-school programs or garden clubs, though well-intentioned, often lead to chaos, exhaustion, and unsustainable projects. She advises parents to resist the urge to take on the full responsibility and instead collaborate with interested teachers.
• Lesson Plans and Support: Leila has developed comprehensive lesson plan packages and provides coaching for teachers to ensure that school gardens are educational and integrated into the curriculum. Parents are encouraged to help fundraise for these materials.

By the end of the episode, Leila urges parents to find a passionate teacher and send them her way for guidance and resources, emphasizing that this is the easiest and most effective path to a thriving school garden.

Resources Mentioned:

• School garden lesson plan packages and coaching support by Leila Mireskandari: https://www.kidsgrowingcity.ca/Gardening-for-Elementary-Teachers

Tune in next week for more tips on making school gardens easy and impactful!

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Welcome to School Gardens with Ease! I'm your host, Leila Mireskandari, and in this episode, I explore how food gardens can serve multiple purposes—beyond just growing food.

Last week, I spoke with Victoria Hackett from Outdoor Classrooms about her system for outdoor education, where she identified four types of gardens:

• Gardens that feed
• Gardens for art and beauty
• Gardens as outdoor learning stations
• Gardens that attract wildlife

If you missed that episode, I encourage you to check it out and connect with Victoria if outdoor education interests you.

A Food Garden That Does It All

In today’s episode, I discuss how the food gardens we create in my Oasis programs—like the Oasis School and Caja Oasis—can serve all four functions at once. Using Permaculture principles, we integrate multiple elements into our garden designs to meet diverse needs. Here's how:

1. Feeding People
   • The primary focus of my programs is to grow food during class time and align it with the curriculum, teaching students not just gardening but also math, science, language arts, and more.
2. Creating Outdoor Learning Stations
   • These gardens become living classrooms, providing hands-on learning experiences, even for older students up to grade 8.
3. Attracting Wildlife
   • Through polyculture and companion planting, our gardens invite beneficial insects like bees, butterflies, and ladybugs. Edible flowers like marigolds and nasturtiums add beauty and attract essential pollinators.
4. Serving as Art and Beauty Spaces
   • Inspired by nature, we design gardens with curves rather than rigid rectangles. These organic shapes—like circles and mandalas—add aesthetic appeal and mimic natural ecosystems, making the garden inviting and magical.

Permaculture Principles in Action

While I don’t teach Permaculture directly, its principles influence every element of my programs—from lesson plans and plant selection to student booklets and step-by-step growing guides. Concepts like valuing diversity and integrating elements ensure our gardens serve multiple purposes.

If you're curious about how the Oasis Program Suite can help you build a multi-purpose school garden with ease, check out the link below:
https://www.kidsgrowingcity.ca/links-oasis-programs

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In this episode of School Gardens with Ease, host Leila Mireskandari welcomes her first-ever guest, Victoria Hackett, M.Ed., an award-winning nature-based educator and advocate. Victoria shares her journey from being a parent envisioning a better outdoor space for her children’s school to becoming a leader in the creation of outdoor classrooms. Together, Leila and Victoria discuss the transformative power of outdoor learning and how it impacts both children and educators.

Key Discussion Points:

• Victoria's Journey: Learn how Victoria’s experience as a parent led her to create her first outdoor classroom, and how this inspired her to help educators integrate nature into their teaching practices.
• The 5 Phases of Outdoor Teaching: Victoria breaks down her approach to outdoor education, which includes creating the infrastructure, getting kids outdoors, teaching and learning in nature, embracing weather challenges, and ensuring sustainability in outdoor spaces.
• The 4 Types of Gardens: Explore the different types of gardens that can be created in an outdoor classroom: Gardens that Feed, Gardens that Attract Wildlife, Gardens for Art and Beauty, and Gardens as Outdoor Learning Stations.
• Overcoming Barriers: Victoria and Leila discuss the common challenges teachers face, such as lack of time and discomfort with outdoor spaces, and offer practical solutions to help teachers feel more confident about teaching outside.
• The Benefits of Outdoor Learning: Discover the numerous developmental and emotional benefits children experience when they spend time outdoors, from reduced stress to improved behavior and deeper connections with nature.

About Victoria Hackett, M.Ed.

Victoria Hackett is a passionate leader in outdoor education with over 30 years of experience in various educational settings. Through her work with educators and parents, she provides tailored support to help cultivate outdoor classrooms that enrich children's learning and well-being. She is the creator of the Outdoor Classrooms Podcast, CIRCLE membership community, and the upcoming Outdoor Classrooms Teacher Certification Program. Victoria is dedicated to combating nature-deficit disorder and fostering environments where children can thrive outdoors.

Connect with Victoria:

• Website: www.outdoor-classrooms.com
• Email: [email protected]
• CIRCLE Membership Community: Join Here

Victoria will be launching her new Outdoor Classrooms Teacher Certification Program in late December 2024/January 2025. Stay tuned for details!

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In this episode of School Gardens with Ease, host Leila Mireskandari reveals the biggest mistake teachers make when writing or finding gardening lesson plans. Spoiler alert: it's all about how you approach them!

Leila explains that many teachers start by focusing on their curriculum needs—like teaching math, science, or language arts—and then try to build a gardening lesson around those topics. While that method might work for some hands-on activities, it’s not the right approach for growing a garden. Leila breaks down why this strategy leads to scattered, non-cohesive lessons that won't help you or your students grow an actual garden.

Instead, Leila shares her expert approach: Start with the garden! From there, create a step-by-step list of tasks needed to grow your garden, then tie those tasks back to your core curriculum. Whether you’re planning a classroom, container, raised bed, or in-ground garden, this method ensures that your students grow a thriving garden while learning a variety of subjects in the process.

Highlights of this episode include:

• Examples of ineffective gardening lesson plans
• Why gardening isn’t a one-off activity like cooking
• How to connect gardening activities to multiple curriculum subjects
• The importance of proper timing and task management in growing a garden
• Leila’s secret for creating impactful, cohesive lesson plans for classroom gardens

Leila also introduces her Oasis series of programs, which offer ready-to-use lesson plans designed to help teachers grow a full garden during class time in just 10 hours over spring. Whether you’re new to school gardens or looking to improve your gardening lesson plans, this episode is packed with actionable advice.

Key Takeaway: Start with the garden and build your lesson plans around what needs to be done to grow it—then link those tasks to your curriculum.

Resources Mentioned:

• Oasis Series Programs: Find pre-made lesson plans and guides to grow your classroom garden effortlessly.
• Leila’s Recommended Seed List for Schools – Click here for a list of easy-to-grow seeds for your classroom garden.
• Learn the best technique for indoor seed starting for classrooms that guarantees your success in growing strong and health seedlings using this Indoor Seed Starting in Schools: PDF Guide

If you have any questions or need more tips, feel free to reach out to Leila for future episode topics. 
[email protected]

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In this episode, Leila dives into the single biggest mistake teachers make when starting a school garden. Drawing from over a decade of experience working with hundreds of teachers, Leila reveals why trying to grow a garden outside of class time is the number one error educators should avoid. She explains how this common misconception leads to frustration, exhaustion, and disengagement—and how to avoid it.

Leila emphasizes the importance of integrating garden projects into class time, making them a hands-on, experiential teaching tool that connects to various subjects like science, math, language arts, and social studies. With real-life examples and actionable advice, Leila shares how designing, building, and maintaining the garden as part of the curriculum can enhance student engagement and learning.

Key Points Discussed:

• Why growing a garden outside of class time is the biggest mistake teachers make.
• The misconception that gardens must be set up outside class before being used for education.
• The importance of connecting the garden to the curriculum as a hands-on teaching tool.
• How gardens can facilitate the teaching of subjects like soil science, water cycles, biodiversity, math, and social justice.
• The challenges of managing a garden grown outside class time, including coordination, time, and resources.
• The benefits of engaging students in every aspect of the garden, from design to maintenance, to foster a sense of ownership and responsibility.

Stay tuned for the next episode, where Leila will discuss the biggest mistake teachers make when writing lesson plans for school gardens.

Connect with Leila:

• Website: https://www.kidsgrowingcity.ca/
• Instagram: @kidsgrowingcity
• Twitter: @kidsgrowingcity
• Facebook: @kidsgrowingcity

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In this episode of School Gardens with Ease, Leila Mireskandari takes a step back from technical tips to bust the biggest myths about growing a school garden. If you've been overwhelmed by the idea of starting a garden at your school, this episode is for you! Leila goes straight to the heart of five common misconceptions that might be holding you back.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

• Myth 1: The more volunteers, the easier it is – Not necessarily! Learn why too much help can actually create chaos.
• Myth 2: School gardens are hard work – Only if you’re doing it wrong. Leila shares how to simplify the process.
• Myth 3: Growing a school garden requires extra time – Wrong! Discover how to make it part of your teaching without giving up your weekends or afternoons.
• Myth 4: Summer is the growing season, so school gardens don’t make sense – Leila explains why spring and fall are key, not summer.
• Myth 5: You need to know how to grow food to start a school garden – Find out why teaching skills are more important than gardening skills.

Leila shares her decade of experience, offering practical advice that will help you grow your dream teaching garden with ease. Plus, check out her Seed Starting Guide for schools, linked in the show notes, to help you get started strong.

Don’t let myths hold you back from creating an amazing teaching tool for your classroom!

Indoor Seed Starting in Schools guide:
https://www.kidsgrowingcity.ca/offers/pZ2cNrYj/checkout

My Recommended List of Seeds for Schools:
https://www.kidsgrowingcity.ca/get-seed-list-gift-for-teachers

To learn more about my Oasis Suite of programs you can visit the following link:
https://www.kidsgrowingcity.ca/links-oasis-programs