Intro to School Garden: Fall Coaching Session (Design, People Power, and Planting Plans)

Overview

Join us for the School Garden Partners ’26-’27 Coaching Sessions designed for educators and school staff at any experience level. Learn best practices for planning, planting, and maintaining a thriving school garden. Connect with fellow educators, share ideas, and gather tools to grow a garden that engages students and supports your school community.

Fall Session - Getting Started!

This Saturday session will cover the following topics, with ample space for discussion, Q&A, knowledge sharing, hands-on practice + free takeaways. Lunch is included, and the session will be in mixed indoor-outdoor classroom settings with a short walk in a garden.

• Garden Design and Youth Engagement

  If you could dream BIG, how would your school garden look and feel? In this session, we’ll explore creative and kid-driven ways to design a garden that reflects your school’s unique needs. We’ll share basic garden design elements, rules of thumb, and strategies for making sustainable choices that work for your space.

• People Power

  As we know, a great garden isn’t built on plants and pathways alone; it’s powered by people! We’ll talk through how to get buy-in from your school community, build a strong garden committee, and engage folks in ways that keep the garden thriving for years to come.

• Planting Plans and 3-Season Gardening in DC

  Wondering what to plant in your school garden come spring? Now is the perfect time to begin mapping out next season's planting plan, keeping sustainability at the forefront and integrating youth voice. We’ll share tips on what to grow when, resources to guide your planning, and strategies for making the most of your garden space.

Come ready to imagine, sketch, share ideas, and lay the groundwork that will support your school in keeping it's garden blooming. Participants will take home draft garden designs, lesson plans, key contacts, planting calendars, free seeds, and more!

All sessions will feature adaptable, kid-friendly activities and highlight curricular-connections; we request that you note via Humanitix if young people will attend with you + please share any additional accomodations we should consider to support your learning!

See you in the Garden 🌼