School Garden

When starting your garden there are many options from very basic, to over the top production if you wish. If this is you first experience with starting something like this with your students, we have decided to provide a guideline for success. 

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The kit that is included in the training session contains everything you need to get started along with some suggested additional options you may require depending on you personal setting within your own schools.

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The kit comes with a large container that is capable of housing many different combinations of vegetables (to be outlined later) but will contain a Million Bell Tomato plant as well as an additional seed pack.  The images included are of the kit contents.

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Keys to Success

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 1. Be sure your container selection matches your expected outcome. The large containers we have selected could easily house:

2 large Tomato plants, or

3 Pepper plants, or

3 Cucumber plants, or

Many combinations of root vegetables (carrots, beets, parsnips, radish, etc.), or

Many combinations of Lettuce, or

A combination of the above listed items. As an example, you could plant 1 Indeterminate Tomato plants (vining, they grow vertical), 1 Pepper, and multiple heads of lettuce. Essentially, you could grow a basic salad in one container.

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If you are not using the large container that we have selected, it would be recommended to use a large pot (at least 15 litres for larger plants). 

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2. Have a goal in mind. We had a goal in mind of feeding a class of roughly 22 students a salad.  For our purposes, we would use 3 of the large containers and would plant 2 Million Bell Tomato plants in the first container, 3 pepper plants (red, green, and yellow) in the second, and the third would be used for the lettuce. 

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3. Lighting 

If you want to maximize the gardens potential you need to have an adjustable full spectrum light and a timer. Once programmed, the timer will ensure that your garden will get 12 hours of light per day. The full spectrum light will give the plants exactly what they need and remove any concerns you may have with the existing lighting in your space. Having the ability to adjust the light also prevents the plants from stretching out too soon and becoming spindly. Keeping the light close to the soil and adjusting as the plants grow allows for the growth of sturdy vegetables. 

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4. Soil

Having balanced soil is extremely important and if you are just starting out you really want to choose a " soilless mix ". Generally these are well balanced mixes that provide all the nutrients your plants need and are free of seeds, which means you do not have to weed your garden. This type of soil does have a lifespan and you should be able to get 3 winters out of your initial purchase. 

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5. Water

Since this is an inside garden, you should be able to establish a regular watering schedule with ease. 

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Just about anything can be grown inside in containers, but there are some limitations that are largely determined by the space and resources you have. If you are just starting out, keep it simple and consider joining us for our training session with an expert at the garden centre. 

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