Container Gardening at Schools: Make Your Own Mobile Planter, Buy Earthboxes and Tower Gardens - and Lesson Plans

Got some blacktop playground, 28 or so students and wondering how to garden?

Make Your Own Mobile Planter
Here's a YouTube from The People's Garden, and USDA experts at a DC school, working to make a mobile planter at a DC elementary school - from a 100 gallon plastic tank....

http://youtu.be/FoNneXBW4BI


EarthBox
Not feeling crafty - and haven't got time to make a "self-watering" planter?
Then you can buy smaller EarthBoxes for about $60 online at http://earthbox.com/

Tower Gardens
If going outside seems too difficult and you want to maximize success for indoor gardening - try a Tower Garden https://www.towergarden.com/ 
Growing veggies, herbs and flowers aeroponically without soil might just be the approach that you need to get your class going growing. The tower is easy to assemble and works with very little water/nutrients and a recirculation pump.  You can then grow vegetables indoors at a time that suits you and your class. Costs about $ 550 - 1000 for the full kit.

See how the Tower Garden works commercially at Chicago's O'Hare airport - delivering fresh local produce to airport staff and travelers.





Easy Care Native Plants for Low-Watering
The tank mobile planters, EarthBoxes and Tower Gardens work well for growing vegetables and flowers.
If you are not at school during the summer and need low-maintenance watering - try planting your Earthbox or planter with native plants such as Rudbeckia Black-eyed Susan and Echinacea Purple Coneflowers. These flowers will attract lots of pollinators and are "easy-care".

Lesson Plans
Got the box and now wondering what to teach?
Earthbox sells curricula pre-K-12 linked to standards and STEM
http://earthbox.com/edu-curricula-guides

With your Tower Garden - check out ideas for teaching from Stephen Ritz and the Green Bronx Machine http://greenbronxmachine.org/

A Herb Garden at the Doorstep...

In Greece and other countries, people often grow Basil by the front door of the house - to bring good luck.

Recently I visited several affordable housing complexes with a property developer. Staff and I talk about ways to bring gardening opportunities to residents.  "Why not begin with growing some edible and pickable herbs within easy reach of the office - out there in a pretty pot by the door?" I've been dreaming too: "How about growing something munchable in a pot or two close to the kitchen door - some herbs to graze on, to pick for salads, to flavor my cooking."

As an experiment, I'm making 4 or 5 container mini-gardens or pots full of herbs.

I already grow a selection of mints in a medium-sized pot and an Earthbox.  Mints are shallow-rooted, and grow well in cool temperatures.  Mints can crowd other plants out and grow well alone in confined spaces - like a pot. Mint has the refreshing toothpaste taste, and comes in several kinds and flavors.  Try them and grow your favorites.  As a woman at the apartments told me:  "Nothing is better on a hot day than making tea from your own homegrown mint!"

 

I plant Italian parsley in another small pot - with a saucer. Parsley likes to have water constantly available from below - so I will try to keep the saucer full throughout the summer.

Each of these pots will tell a story, a story about the ecology of the plants, culture and cuisine...

The big resin pot I decide to plant with Mediterranean herbs: lavender, thyme, rosemary and oregano.  These scented herbs thrive in the dry, limestone rocky mountain landscapes that remind me of my childhood in Greece.  To select the herb types I am inspired by Adrian Higgins' article in The Washington Post - and go shop for herbs at DeBaggio's.

To fill the pot I make a quick-draining mix of equal proportions earth, mulch and a bag of 3/8" gravel (you could use chicken grit).

The herbs I buy for this big pot are:

• Golden Lemon Thyme, Thymus x citridorus
• Caraway Thyme, Thymus herba-barona
• Prostrate Rosemary, Rosmarinus officinalis
• French Lavender, Lavendula stoechas 'Mulberry Ruffles'
• Nastursium - Alaska Mixed
• Hot and Spicy Oregano, Origanum "Hot and Spicy'
• Alpine Strawberry, Fragaria vesca
• Dwarf Sage, Salvia officinalis 'Nana'

Here's how to plant.  Take the plant from the pot, tease apart the roots, dig a hole in the soil in your pot, fill with water and put in the plant.  Tamp the soil back around the plant - making sure the plant is neither to deep or too shallow.

I cover the soil with 3/8" pebbles to help drain after rains.

Where's the integrated STEM Learning in growing herbs?

Plan a series of lessons about the senses and observation: one lesson could be about the nose, tongue and taste and scent.  Bring a bunch of triple-washed herbs for each child to try a leaf or two.

• Math: budget the cost of the project, calculate ratios for the earth mix.

• Technology: How are the pots made? How do the pots perform (plastic or resin, unglazed earthernware or glazed pottery)?  How do you water (irrigation, sumps, overhead)?  How do you provide the necessary light and warmth for the herbs to thrive? 

• Science: Observe the weather, the insects and animals around your herb garden.  You will be interested to see what happens over the year. Chemistry: Discover the phytonutrients and chemicals in each herb, research their history, folklore and medicinal uses.

• Engineering: How would you do this better next year?  What tools help?

• Social Studies: Research the global spice and herb trade connections, routes and commerce.  There is Colonial history curriculum about the herbs that were grown in Virginia and used by native Americans, and other herbs that were imported by early settlers from England and the Mediterranean. Celebrate Colonial Days at your school with activities that evoke the C17: From lavender flowers in your garden you can make scented lavender sachets for your closet, and you can mix chopped green herbs like chives and thyme into cream cheese to taste with crackers.

Make some mint tea - and enjoy exploring the herb garden world at your doorstep!