Garden Clubs: Patriots STEM Elementary

One of the ways garden clubs can help sustain a school garden is that they can provide ownership. Garden “ownership” ensures that the garden will be maintained, planted and harvested. Whoever the owner of the garden is has a vested interest in its upkeep. While a garden club may serve as the “owner” of the garden, their tutelage offers unlimited opportunities for subject area teachers to use the garden for classroom instruction.

• School name: Patriots STEM Elementary
• Club name: Garden Club
• Club advisor: Maria Murray

Q: How long have you had a garden club? 

A: Last year (2022-23) was our first year as a garden club! We started small (quite literally) with microgreens and moved on to kale and radishes in the garden. We successfully grew sweet potatoes and harvested them in September.

Q: Tell us about the Garden Club at Patriots.

A: We just kicked off the 2024 club in October and we meet the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of each month throughout the school year. 

Q: Who are the garden club members?

A: We invite 3rd – 5th graders to complete an interest form and offer membership to the first 30 who turned in the form. We also have 3 volunteers to help manage the club.

Q: How does the club use the garden? 

A: The club helps with the upkeep of the garden, including weeding, planting, maintenance, research and planning for new areas. In addition to the club’s garden use, the STEM class uses the garden and other teachers are encouraged and welcome to bring students to observe the garden throughout the year. We offer the garden harvest to staff and parents.

Q: Do you utilize fundraisers or sponsorships to support the garden? 

A: At the moment our funding comes from school funds, donations and money raised from sweetpotato harvest sales.

Q: What are the benefits of the garden club, from your perspective? 

A: The garden club allows students to have a more hands-on experience in the garden. The club members can help to plan the garden logistics and learn about plant growth and gardening benefits.

Q: What is a memorable experience you’ve had with the garden club?

A: We are currently expanding our garden to be able to produce more and expanding the pollinator garden. We harvested about 400 sweetpotatoes this year. All the students were able to have some part in this process. In fact, we were able to offer a tasting for the entire school (nearly 1,000 students). The students voted by class on how they would like them prepared, and with help from another teacher, we prepared them as desired and delivered them to each class. It was a great experience! I want to add more types of produce throughout the year for the students to have more harvest experiences.

One of the less stressful aspects of using the school garden with a garden club is that the teaching/learning can be much more informal than in a class setting. Maria has observed an increased opportunity for experiential learning in the garden.