We Need Gardens Everywhere

Bob Ewing --Every school needs a garden. Many of the subjects on the curriculum can be taught in a garden whether that garden is indoors or out. We posses the technology to create indoor teaching gardens at a reasonable price. The garden, to be an effective learning tool, does not have to be large; it just needs to be accessible.

Community centres, government buildings, churches, and recreation centres are also good garden sites. In addition to the potential learning the garden will provide fresh food for local food programs, for example.

Across North America, many schools have incorporated gardens and many cities have community garden programs. Now it is the time to expand these programs towards creating community food security and environmental stewardship.



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What can gardening teach us; perhaps, the most important lesson we learn when we garden is patience. Plants do grow instantly, even radishes, which are fairly quick growing and an ideal plant for a child’s garden take some time; most varieties of radish mature in 28 days, fairly quick as vegetable grow.
Responsibility is another lesson the garden offers. Gardens demand care and attention, if this is not provided the plants will suffer and eventually die,
Both biology and botany lessons can be provided as the gardeners plant the seed, nurture it watch it grow, and harvest flowers, food and seed. The cycle of life is taking place right in front of us as we garden.
If we want we can learn some Latin as the plants’ official names are all in Latin. This can be useful when you want to be sure that you are getting the correct plant, using the Latin name will make this easier.

We can learn math and the value of measuring as we determine how many plants will fit in a row that is six feet long and each seed is plated six inches apart.

History is another lesson that we can experience in our gardens; roses for example have been around for many, many years and the story of how they traveled from China, for example, to North America can be a valuable history lesson.

We can learn how to grow, some or all of our own food and develop our ability to take care of ourselves and our families. This helps us move towards self-reliance and independence.

We begin to understand the complexity of the ecosystem that we inhabit as our understanding of how we are not alone when we garden but that we have many helpers working with us each minute, birds, bees, butterflies and millions of many very tiny beings who make our soil fertile and help the plants thrive.

Gardening enables us to put life into perspective as we begin to realize that we play a vital role in keeping our home, the Earth, vibrant through our gardens. We bring nature and civilization together and create a place where cooperation makes all beings prosper.

We can broaden and deepen our educational experience by setting up gardens at our schools, our vacant lots and our own homes. It is time to get back to the garden.

Get Your Garden Growing

Bob Ewing - It is snowing outside as I type this, for some, it may seem a bit too early to begin thinking about gardening; however, even though planting out season is four months away, it is time to make a plan. The garden plan does not have to be fancy. You do not need to be an artist to create one. All you  need to know is the size of your plot and what you want to grow.

My favourite gardens are a mix of vegetables, berries, herbs and flowers. If you include plants that are native to your area in the flower choices, you increase the odds of inviting the garden helpers who are needed to make you garden bloom. Herbs add fragrance to the air and flavour to the cook pot. Flowers add fragrance, beauty and call in the bees and other pollinators that all the plants in your garden need. When it comes to vegetables grow what you like to eat. Once you have tasted a tomato picked fresh off the vine, you will know what truly fresh food tastes like.

If you do not have a yard use your deck or balcony. All the plants I am referring to can be grown in containers, which can then be placed handily in your home so that maintenance is easy. Just take a few steps to water when necessary or harvest or examine the plants for unwanted creatures or diseases. Early detection is vital to keep your garden healthy.

If tomatoes a favourite but space minimal then choose cherry tomatoes. They can be grown in a three gallon container or any container that is at least 24 inches across and 18 inches deep. In fact most tomatoes can be grown in a pot this size. Add basil to the pot, tomatoes and basil make excellent companions both in the garden and in the kitchen. Nurture them and you will be able to enjoy tomatoes fresh from your own garden. As well as tomatoes, it is possible to grow cucumbers, green peppers and zucchini in the same size (24x18) containers.  A trellis is likely to be needed for both zucchini and cucumbers.

Organic soil is always the best and even if you have a container garden, you can add compost from a compost bin to the soil, just less than you would a garden bed. If you need to buy soil then buy organic. This way the plant roots will get fed properly right from day one.

If you are new to gardening and just setting out your first one, then start small. What are your three favourite vegetables, three herbs and three flowers. This gives you a total of nine containers or a small garden bed.
A garden journal is essential. This is where you put the garden plan, plant lists and any observations( what did well, what did not, for example) that you made over the season. Gardening is an interactive experience and the gardener need to take regular strolls through the garden to see how all is doing.
As your skills, time and interest grow so can your garden.

Happy growing!

It is time to get back to the garden

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Bob Ewing - Do you still marvel when you see a butterfly drifting from flower to flower? I do, while my reaction is not as intense as a child’s when he or she spots that first butterfly, I still stop and marvel at Nature’s design.

The look on the child’s face is how I would define awe, an emotion of respectful wonder and desire. Not to own the butterfly but to connect with it and understand what it is.

Education needs to inspire similar reactions in people; learning is exciting, intense and a library a place full of wonder and dreams.

Unfortunately, formal schooling seems to remove the wonder from the process and reduce it to rote, repetition, right and wrong. Learning demands experimentation and experiments are attempts to discover something.

Experiments involve observation and process, paying careful attention so you can note what took place. It is not a matter of right or wrong but doing, observing, recoding, analyzing, and starting over again.

If we are afraid to do, then we sit in our seats, heads down and education becomes an enemy, something to be endured rather than embraced.

Gardening can be the ideal learning experience. The gardener is in direct contact with Nature and works with her to make the garden grow. In a garden, not all efforts turn out the way we hoped they would. However, if we keep a journal and observe what is going on, carefully jotting down what is witnessed, learning will take place.

People learn by doing and in the garden there is always something to do. When theory and practice are brought together, which is what happens when gardening, a deep understanding forms, and while it may take time to be able to articulate what was learned, this experience provides an opportunity for self-expression, that is relating the experience in a poem, short story, essay, or a painting for example. It is not necessary to get it right but to bring the actions to life so they can be shared.

Schools need gardens and classes must be held outdoors, in the garden, as often as possible. Children in kindergarten through to grade 12 can benefit from spending time outdoors in the school garden, watching, interacting and recording. This activity will keep the brain fertile and provide a healthy foundation for knowledge to sprout and mature.

The garden is an ideal classroom and we need to return to it, as such, as soon as possible.