Many kids hate to eat vegetables preferring candy, pizza, etc. If that student grows his own produce from seed, nurtures it along, and finally consumes it straight from the garden, he gets hooked. Once the students are hooked and have gained some basic gardening skills they can be introduced to wild plants. Some of the native plants in the school garden should be edible for cross over value, such as elderberry. Others fill different niches such as ornamental beauty or as a component of a school yard wildlife habitat.
Students spend one hour everyday in the school garden.
Visitors are treated to a multi-layered learning scene. Some students are picking and consuming strawberries, others are marveling at the hummingbirds sipping nectar from any of a number of natives like bladderpod, penstemon, and sage. Some are hand watering their salad greens while others are sowing seed for a salsa garden. Still others are digging in the ample mulch for bugs while some are evaluating the coast live oak seedling they grew from acorns collected on a fall field trip. A few leisurely take in the view from garden benches.