Details
General School Info: Desert Sands is an inner city school in Phoenix, Arizona. We have about 1400 students and 85% of them qualify for free and reduced lunches.
Here is our school website.
We want to be gardening by…We are gardening now, but want to expand the program and begin to incorporate more vegetables in the garden as well as spread the green over more of the campus.
Our gardening plan: Our campus has very little color and "curb appeal" so we are trying to add that to the area. Our garden is right off the main parking lot and we want to create a good impression for visitors as well as teaching the students that they can garden at home and provide food in a little space with a little extra care and work, as well as greening up the planet and the neighborhood. Any vegetables raised will be shared with club members and other families who may need food or help. (Our counselor will be helping with this).
Curriculum
Installation
Garden Location: We have a small plot of land near the parking lot that used to be a storage area and bicycle area.
Is it a wall or fence? Fence
What direction does the wall or fence face? East, with a building on the North and a parking lot on the South
How many hours of sun does it receive? This area is constantly in the sun, but we have planted fast growing shade trees that will be providing shade in the future.
How close is the wall/fence to a water source? The fence gate is about 10 feet from a outdoor spigot. We run the hose over there for watering, we have set up a drip system already in the existing planting beds.
Installation Plan: Zip-ties!
Watering & Maintenance Plan: Watering and maintenance is done by the gardening club and the gardening supervisor.
Planting
Climate Zone: 9a- Hot and dry, plants need to be drought tolerant
First Planting Date: The garden has been established for three years, but we are working toward expansion and major improvement so it can be used for classes schoolwide
What would you like to plant in your vertical garden? A combination of things - both flowers and vegetables.
Intended gardening seasons: Mostly during the school year, but items will be kept alive as long as possible into the summer, but that is difficult in Arizona.
Curriculum
Garden supervisor(s): Pamela Floyd, Science Department Chairman
Grades learning in the garden: Our school has 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. All are welcome in the garden, but teachers are still learning they can
use it for classes.
Do you plan on using the Woolly School Garden Curriculum? There are parts of it that will be used and other parts that will be expanded on. Our planning guides for curriculum are set by the district, but we are putting garden items in whereever they fit. I am also doing a grdening club this year - after school - so am incorporating some there as well.
Number of students involved: Our school has an enrollment of 1200. I have about 30 students involved in gardening club.
Details
How we plan to fundraise for our garden: Several ideas are on the drawing board. One of our most successful was selliing wildflower seeds we harvested from the garden last year. I am sure we will repeat that and then we also had a penny war on campus with the funds going towards the garden.
We have also applied for a grant from Lowes and some of that money will go towards our pockets.
Any specific dates for upcoming fundraisers: none at present
We've also applied to the Whole Kids Foundation Garden Grant Program!