Future Gardeners

Dear Gardeners,

It's now a period of potentially massive growth. One limiting factor is water, for most of us. Here we are watering with just one hose and no sprinklers, on half an acre / 2000 m². It takes time but is economical with water, and no dig helps by conserving water, as well as by conserving the mycelial and bacterial networks that find moisture (and food) for plant roots.

Another limiting factor is how much time you have available for all the jobs arising. Frequently I go into the garden with one job in mind, and end up three hours later having done several things which I noticed needed attention.

Sowing seeds is a top priority, to keep beds full and for the amazing amount of potential growth that can happen in July. Now is a good time to sow carrots, beetroot, dwarf French beans, chicories, endive, cauliflower for autumn and broccoli for both autumn and spring, lettuce, salad onions, celery and swede.

How long until you see the first leaves, after sowing? It varies according to temperature. For carrots in early spring it’s 14 days, but at this time of year, 10 days. Lettuce can be 3 days, celery 9-10 days. Most brassicas should appear quickly if the seed is viable, within five days.

Our featured garden this week is in the same climate zone as Homeacres, 8b, but it’s all the way over in the USA, about half an hour from Seattle. Do read on for the wonderful story of how two Mums got together to create a beautifully productive school garden, summed up perfectly at the end:

Gardens grow vegetables. School gardens grow children.

Happy gardening,

Charles

Nearly 5,000 miles separate Homeacres in Somerset from our little elementary school on Camano Island, Washington. Yet despite being on opposite sides of the world, our gardens share remarkably similar maritime growing conditions- planting zone 8b. That unexpected connection is one of the reasons Charles Dowding’s work has become such an inspiration to us.

Elger Bay Elementary School is home to about 360 students, tucked among the towering western red cedars on the southern end of Camano Island, about an hour north of Seattle. Our school sits beside the Elger Bay Preserve, where miles of forest trails wind through native plants and wildlife. It is one of the joys of being on the south end of Camano and a magical part of creating an outdoor education program for our students.

Our story began in the spring of 2024 with a conversation between two mothers during a PTA meeting. Soon afterward, our school offered us an abandoned kindergarten playground at the south end of the school. Where others saw an unused space, we saw possibility. With donated cedar from our local lumber company, cardboard, compost, wood chips, and an incredible community willing to help, we transformed that forgotten playground into an outdoor classroom. We built accessible raised beds with wide wood-chip paths so every child could comfortably explore the garden.

Building the garden was the easy part. Building a program was much harder. None of us started as educators, we began as two mothers and soon became four mothers who believed children deserved a place to learn outside. Looking back, our greatest accomplishment during that first year wasn’t building raised beds; it was getting every one of our 17 classrooms into the garden. Each class visited for a 30-minute lesson while our volunteer team led the activities alongside the classroom teacher. That simple approach changed everything. Teachers discovered they didn’t have to be gardening experts, saw how engaged their students became outdoors, and realized they had a team ready to support them. That first spring built something far more valuable than a garden, it built confidence.

When autumn arrived in our second year, the transformation was remarkable. The beds overflowed with flowers, herbs, vegetables, and pollinators. Children wandered the paths tasting sugar snap peas, smelling herbs, harvesting vegetables, and gathering bouquets to take home. Questions filled the air—“Can we eat this?” “Why is that bee covered in yellow?” “Where are the carrots?” “Can I pick flowers for my mom?” Their curiosity was contagious. And we still are wondering who picked our watermelon and took it home?!

As volunteers, we were learning too. Every season has helped us refine the program. One of the simplest changes has also been one of the most successful: planting themed beds. Instead of scattering crops throughout the garden, we’ve created a salsa bed with tomatoes, peppers, onions, and cilantro; a coleslaw bed with cabbage and carrots; and our new favorite the “Garden Taco”  bed, inspired by the wonderful team at South Whidbey School Garden. Themed beds help students connect what they’re growing with the meals they know and love.

To give children even more opportunities to connect with the space, we open the garden during recess one day each week. We call it Garden Recess. Some children water plants, others harvest vegetables, watch insects, or quietly sit among the flowers. Perhaps the greatest compliment our garden has ever received is seeing children choose the garden over the playground.

To help sustain the program, we also created an after-school Explorers Garden Club. Students spend Thursday afternoons for four weeks harvesting vegetables, cooking together, hiking through the Elger Bay Preserve to identify native plants, caring for the garden, creating nature-inspired crafts, and learning from local experts. Our most recent guest was a beekeeper who introduced students to the fascinating world of bees and pollinators.

Behind the scenes, we’ve written grants, organized fundraisers, partnered with local businesses, and leaned on an incredible community that believed in the same dream we did.

Because of all our hard work raising funds, this summer brings another exciting addition to our garden, we will be installing drip irrigation and building  a 16 × 24-foot polytunnel. Our hope is to extend our growing season so students can harvest carrots, beets, kale, cucumbers, and cherry tomatoes to enjoy during snack time and lunch at school. To us, that completes the circle. If children can grow food, harvest it, prepare it, and proudly eat something they nurtured themselves, we’ve accomplished far more than growing vegetables. We’ve helped them understand where food comes from, encouraged them to try something new, and shown them they’re capable of creating something meaningful.

Our vision reaches beyond the garden fence. We’re partnering with the Whidbey Camano Land Trust so students can help care for the Elger Bay Preserve through trail stewardship, native plant education, and invasive species removal. We’re also working with Sound Water Stewards of Island County so students can learn about our Salish Sea and the vital role salmon play in our ecosystem. We’re also collaborating with Puget Sound Public Farms, where students will learn how food is grown, harvested, washed, packed, and donated to our local food bank. We want them to understand that growing food isn’t only about feeding ourselves—it’s about feeding our communities.

We have the hope that one day every elementary school in our community will connect children to farms, forests, and the sea that surrounds us. Our vision for the future is to bring an outdoor education program to all five elementary schools in our district, giving every student the opportunity to learn about our great outdoors—because not all classrooms have four walls. If there’s one thing we’ve learned, it’s this: big things don’t always begin with big budgets or grand plans. Sometimes they begin with a handful of parents, a forgotten playground, and the belief that every child deserves to get their hands dirty.

We may be across this amazing world from each other, but every time a child joins us in our garden, we’re reminded that the joy of gardening speaks the same language everywhere.

Gardens grow vegetables. School gardens grow children.

Would you like to share your experience of growing and gardening with children?

However large or small your project, we would love to hear from you.

We hope that by showing what’s possible, others will be encouraged to get started with their ideas.

Please email Nicola: [email protected]

To help with the planning of a school garden, please see this page of my website.

For a Sowing Timeline in the Northern Hemisphere, please see this page, and for the Southern Hemisphere, please click here.

For starting a new no dig allotment or garden, this is the page.

First Tunnels offer schools a 20% discount. Do see their page here, where they feature the Future Gardeners Forum!

We would like this resource list to grow and turn into a toolkit to help set up and run a successful growing space for children, so if you have any resources you think would be helpful, please email Anna, [email protected]

Below are the contact details for the Future Gardeners Forum speakers, 2024 and 2025. Do follow along with their projects via Instagram or their websites.

Alby Jones, @nodigkid

Beth Rochford, @rootzup

Karen Waterston, @thegardenofideas

Helen Cross, @grow_cook_inspire

Tom Houghton, @thecommunitygrowers_cic, @thebostonmarketgarden

Hannah and Ross, @lettinggrow

Lara Honnor – Skool Beanz 
@skoolbeanz

Jess Creasey – Cornwall Grows CIC 
@cornwallgrows

Phil Brown – Headteacher, Bottesford Junior School 
Website: https://www.bottesfordjuniors.com/school-garden/

Sarah Alun-Jones - GROW
@wearegrow
https://www.wearegrow.org

Dan Romans-Hay – Woody School Farm, Streatham
@woodyschoolfarm
[email protected]

Matt Willer – The Papillon Project
@thepapillonproject
https://www.thepapillonproject.com