School Gardens with Ease

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Short answer: No. But the longer answer might surprise you!

Summers can be tough on school gardens—drought, weeds, and neglect often leave them struggling. But what if your school garden could be designed to require almost zero summer maintenance?

In this episode, I break down how Permaculture techniques can help you create a thriving school garden with:
 ✅ No weeding
 ✅ No cleanups
 ✅ No fertilizing
 ✅ No pruning
 ✅ No pest or disease control
 ✅ Much less watering

Yes, it’s possible! I’ve done it many times over the past 11 years. And now, I’m sharing how you can do it too.

🎉 Join My Low-Cost Webinar! 🎉
I’m hosting a special webinar to teach you exactly how to build a school garden with almost no summer maintenance. Plus, you’ll get two implementation guides worth $38!

💰 Limited-Time Offer: Get 50% off until March 31st—only $14 CAD!
📅 Webinar Date: April 2nd (4 time slots available)
🎥 Recording available for registrants only

🔗 Grab Your Spot Here!

If you're listening after April 2nd, let me know if you're interested—I might bring it back!

Let’s make school gardens effortless this summer. 🌱

Resources & Links:
🔗 Webinar Registration: https://kids-growing-city-edec.mykajabi.com/almost-no-summer-maintenance-webinar-registration

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🌱 Welcome to another episode of School Gardens with Ease! I’m your host, Leila Mireskandari, and today’s episode is a special one—part of the Podcasthon movement, where over a thousand podcasts highlight a charity of their choice.

💧 In this episode, we’re talking about water—clean, accessible water—and why it’s critical for school gardens, communities, and the world.

🌍 What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• Why Charity:Water is my favorite nonprofit and how their 100% donation model builds trust.
• The biggest summer maintenance concern for school gardens—and why watering can’t be eliminated.
• How good design can reduce watering needs by up to 80%, but never fully remove the need for water.
• The impact of clean water on food-growing and why it matters for your garden.
• Why water education belongs in your classroom—from the water cycle to human impact.
• Shocking water facts—Did you know 703 million people lack access to clean water?
• How regenerative gardens positively affect global water cycles.

💡 Take Action Today!

• Support Charity:Water and help solve the global water crisis: charitywater.org
• Explore more amazing causes through Podcasthon: podcasthon.org
• Get ready for my new course on school gardens with almost no summer maintenance—stay tuned!

🎧 Listen Now & Share
If you found this episode helpful, share it with a fellow educator! Let’s grow gardens—and awareness—together.

🔗 https://www.kidsgrowingcity.ca/school-gardens-with-almost-no-summer-maintenance

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🌱 Happy Spring Equinox! As gardeners, we’re excited to welcome spring, but before you grab your rake and start clearing up your school garden, pause and listen to this episode first!

In today’s episode, I’m talking about one of the biggest mistakes school gardeners (and home gardeners) make—cleaning up too early in spring! Many beneficial insects like ladybugs, bees, and butterflies are still taking shelter under leaves and dead vegetation. Clearing your garden too soon can harm biodiversity and reduce the natural helpers your garden needs to thrive.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

✔️ Why early spring clean-up is a big no-no for your garden
✔️ The best time to start clearing and prepping your school garden
✔️ How delaying clean-up supports beneficial insects and biodiversity
✔️ A fun science lesson idea to teach students about working with nature
✔️ A sneak peek into my new class on school gardens with almost no summer maintenance (stay tuned for the link!)

Let’s work with nature, not against it, and teach our students to do the same. Don’t be a clean freak—be a garden protector!

💚 Happy Spring! I’ll see you in the next episode.

🔗 Links & Resources:
👉 School Gardens with Almost No Summer Maintenance Class: https://www.kidsgrowingcity.ca/school-gardens-with-almost-no-summer-maintenance

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Welcome to School Gardens with Ease! I’m your host, Leila Mireskandari, and in this episode, we’re diving into an important and sometimes controversial question: Should we use plastic to grow food?

In This Episode:

• Why I still use plastic party cups to start seeds in my Oasis programs.
• The dilemma of balancing environmental responsibility with practical classroom gardening.
• The importance of sub-irrigation and why paper, clay, or biodegradable pots don’t work in a classroom setting.
• My ongoing search for a viable alternative to plastic that is moisture-resistant and flexible.
• How my philosophy of making a green handprint outweighs an unavoidable footprint.
• A call to action for manufacturers or innovators to help find a better solution.

Key Takeaways:

• Environmental responsibility is a priority, but practical limitations in schools mean we sometimes have to make trade-offs.
• Over or under-watering is one of the biggest causes of failure in classroom gardening, and sub-irrigation is the best way to prevent it.
• Plastic is currently the best available option for sub-irrigation, but I’m always on the lookout for alternatives.
• We should strive for solutions but never let the lack of a perfect option stop us from growing food and making a positive impact.

If you or someone you know has a solution to replace plastic in classroom seed-starting, I’d love to hear from you!

Let’s continue the conversation. You can reach out to me through my website or social media.

Thanks for listening! See you next week for another episode of School Gardens with Ease.

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Are you passionate about transforming education by humanizing learning? If so, this episode is for you!

In this episode of School Gardens with Ease, I introduce you to Thinkering Collective—a movement dedicated to empowering students to become changemakers in their communities. Their work is all about fostering curiosity, redefining academic success beyond grades, and making real-world impact.

I’m excited to share that I was recently interviewed on their podcast, Thinkering Minds! Instead of a full episode here, I encourage you to head over there and listen to our conversation about the role of school gardens in humanizing learning.

🌱 Listen to my interview on Thinkering Minds Podcast 👉 https://open.spotify.com/episode/41tbcZFolMFgytmHzkj41Y

But that’s not all! I’m also thrilled to announce my new partnership with Thinkering Collective and an amazing opportunity for educators. I have 12 nomination spots available for their Fellowship Program, which is designed to equip educators with the tools, support, and community they need to lead real-world change in their schools.

🚀 Interested in the Fellowship Program? Learn more here: https://thinkeringcollective.org/introducing-the-thinkering-collective-fellowship/

📩 Want to be nominated? Email me at [email protected]

I can’t wait for you to check out this episode and explore the incredible work of Thinkering Collective! See you next week!

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Are you an elementary or middle school teacher eager to grow a thriving classroom or school garden, without extra work outside of class time? In this episode, I break down the four programs in the Oasis Program Series to help you find the best fit for your students, space, and level of commitment.

🌱 In This Episode, You’ll Learn:
✔️ Why school gardens should be student-powered, teacher-led, and curriculum-connected
✔️ A breakdown of each Oasis program:

• Oasis Kinder 1 & 2 – Perfect for K-2 teachers or special needs classrooms
• Oasis Classroom – Grow food indoors with just a sunny window—no outdoor space required!
• Caja Oasis – Combine indoor growing with an ultra-low-maintenance outdoor planter garden
• Oasis School – Create a full-scale regenerative school garden, designed and built by your students

🔍 Want a sneak peek? Check out episode 37 for a full walkthrough of one of our Oasis lessons!

🎯 Next Steps:
📅 Deadline Alert! Book a free Zoom call with me before February 21st to ask questions and find your perfect program.
💡 Already know which program is right for you? Join today:

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

Let’s get your students growing! 🌿

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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!

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Let's delves into the common misconception that funding and approvals are the primary obstacles to creating a successful school garden. How about some insights on how to make the most of available resources and an emphasis on the importance of a well-connected teaching plan over physical garden infrastructure.

Key Points:

1. Funding Myths: Addressing the false belief that money and approvals are essential for starting a school garden.
2. Common Mistakes: Highlighting the pitfalls of investing in unnecessary tools and expensive setups.
3. Classroom Gardens: Demonstrating how impactful gardens can be created indoors with minimal budget.
4. Outdoor Gardens: Discussing how to utilize Permaculture techniques to build gardens without a big budget.
5. Focus on Education: Emphasizing the importance of a cohesive teaching plan that integrates the garden with the curriculum.
6. OASIS Programs: Introducing the OASIS lesson plans and their benefits for educators.

Resources Mentioned:

• OASIS Programs: Ready-to-use lesson plans with a success guarantee. Open until February 21st. Join the waitlist if you missed the deadline: https://www.kidsgrowingcity.ca/links-oasis-programs
• Episodes 33, 34, and 35: Detailed guides on how to write effective lesson plans for school gardens.

Connect with Us:

• Visit our website: https://www.kidsgrowingcity.ca/
• Follow us on Instagram @kidsgrowingcity and @schoolgardensforteachers
• Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@KidsGrowingCityGardens

Call to Action: If you're passionate about creating a school garden, focus on building a solid teaching plan first. For more tips and ready-to-use lesson plans, check out the OASIS programs. Let's grow an educational garden together!

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In this episode, I’m pulling back the curtain to give you a sneak peek into one of the gardening lesson plans from my OASIS programs. If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to seamlessly integrate gardening into your curriculum while engaging your students in a hands-on and meaningful way, this episode is for you!

Join me as I walk you through the essential seven layers of a successful gardening lesson plan, and stick around to see a practical example featuring the "Sunlight and Sunflowers" lesson from our OASIS Classroom program. Whether you're growing an indoor or outdoor garden, this framework ensures you’re set up for success.

Resources Mentioned:

- Check out the visual version of this episode on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/mvpKszVOuKw
- Visit Kids Growing City and explore the OASIS programs to see how these tools can transform your teaching:
https://www.kidsgrowingcity.ca/links-oasis-programs
- For seed timing and planting information, visit GrowVeg.com.
- For my recommended seeds list go here:
https://www.kidsgrowingcity.ca/get-seed-list-gift-for-teachers
- For the two previous episodes go here:
https://youtu.be/heJjOhYvFOE

Ready to create your own garden-focused lesson plans? Tune in now and let me show you how easy it is to connect gardening to your curriculum while keeping students excited to learn. Don’t forget to subscribe for more practical tips to bring gardening into your classroom with ease!

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Welcome back to School Gardens with Ease! In this episode, we’re diving into part 2 of writing effective lesson plans for your school garden project. If you haven’t listened to Episode 33 yet, make sure to go back and do that first! It’s packed with essential information on how to map out the tasks required to grow a garden with your students.

This episode focuses on how to turn garden tasks into step-by-step activity guides that make gardening fun, hands-on, and educational. I also share how we’ve structured the lesson plans inside the Oasis programs to connect gardening activities with key curriculum concepts. 🌻

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

✅ Why you should start with garden tasks and build lesson plans around them
✅ The difference between activity guides and full lesson plans
✅ How to create a 10-15 week program to grow a garden during class time
✅ The key concepts students should learn, from germination and soil health to the water cycle and biodiversity
✅ Ways to make learning fun and practical through hands-on activities like building water filters, sundials, and sub-irrigated planters
✅ How to incorporate science, geography, history, math, language, and arts into your garden lesson plans

Why This Approach Works:

Creating a school garden is about more than just growing food, it’s about helping students build a deep connection with nature while making core subjects engaging and tangible. 🌎 By using gardening as a tool for learning, you’re showing students that what they learn in class has real-world applications.

To find out more about our Oasis Series of Lesson Plan Packages and Programs go HERE:
https://www.kidsgrowingcity.ca/links-oasis-programs