Last year, in March, on the first beautiful day, Charlotte immediately received three requests from schools wanting a school garden. And that is difficult, because by that time her schedule is often already full. This is despite the fact that there is still a great deal to arrange at that point, such as clearing the land, fertilising it, laying paths, applying for funding, creating a design and, very importantly, building support within the school. Unfortunately, the school garden therefore sometimes ends in disappointment.

School garden mistake

Charlotte still remembers the school where things went wrong. “There was a super enthusiastic headteacher who had a huge vegetable garden in mind. I would give masterclasses for the teachers. But after a while, she realised that the teachers could not take it on as well. It also turned out that there was no budget to provide lessons for all the classes, but only for one or at most two classes. The headteacher had assumed that the teachers could provide the rest of the lessons themselves. In the end, I was completely on my own.
Unfortunately, you see this more often: a school misjudges what having a school garden actually involves. They have seen the film ‘The School Garden’ and do not realise that behind the scenes, six people are busy maintaining it and teaching lessons.”

Dare to be critical

Charlotte’s biggest mistake as a vegetable garden coach was that, when she had just started, she often went along with the enthusiasm of the one person at the school. She did not want to spoil the fun and was not critical enough. “Of course, you also want to get started yourself, but ultimately it is important to be realistic and protect a school from itself. A school garden is living teaching material. It is not ordinary teaching material that you put away and take out of the cupboard in the same condition when you need it. A lot of small amounts of attention are continuously needed to maintain the school garden. I always say: creating a school garden is sexy, but maintenance is not. So, together with a vegetable garden coach or another expert, such as the local NDE centre, consider what is feasible at your school.” It is better to have a smaller school vegetable garden that looks good all year round than a large ‘must-have’ garden that gets out of hand, especially during the summer holidays.

Do not focus on the harvest, but on the learning experience

Charlotte also urges schools not to focus blindly on achieving the biggest possible harvest. “It is about the learning experience. And that learning experience is actually easier to achieve in a somewhat smaller vegetable garden.
In a large vegetable garden with too few helping hands, all lessons are often swallowed up by activities such as sowing, planting and maintenance. In a small vegetable garden, there is room left for, for example, lessons about insects and carrying out fun soil tests. Ultimately, that is much more valuable for the children.”

Active three-way partnership

Nowadays, as Charlotte puts it herself, she is fairly uncompromising when there are plans for a school garden. There must be an active three-way partnership at the school that is involved with the school garden: the headteacher, a caretaker or someone else who waters the garden, and a teacher from the class receiving the lessons. This prevents the success of the school garden from becoming dependent on one enthusiastic person.

Charlotte’s tips

  • Start preparing and involve a vegetable garden coach in the autumn. Pre-sowing vegetables often starts as early as February/March.
  • Start small, for example with a few planters in which you also install a climbing frame. Would you still like a larger vegetable garden? Then plant perennial fruit bushes or trees alongside the annuals. Strawberries are also a smart choice. They require less maintenance than annuals.
  • Have the vegetable garden created by a vegetable garden coach, NDE centre or a landscaper who understands the soil and how to make it healthy, rather than by a paver.
  • Would you like the teachers themselves to provide the lessons? Make sure there is sufficient support and give them enough hours for it.
  • Make sure you have financial resources not only for the start, but also for the years afterwards.
  • Involve the parents by organising a collaborative workday once or twice a year. Include a budget for this in your plan.