Garden & growing guides

School holiday garden & nature activities

'Fun and interesting gardening activities to do as a family during your holidays. Ideas based around gardens and nature that offer learning opportunities and fun': Growing activities - Crafting and creating - Wordsearches - Quizzes - Scavenger hunts - Crossword. Thrive.

Ultimate Beginners Guide to Starting an Allotment

Thorough guide including 10 Steps for Starting and Preparing an Allotment, Planting Guide: A Year on the Allotment, Regular Jobs, Rules and Regulations. Updated 3 November 2022.

Resources to support school gardens during COVID times

Links to a range of useful resources under the headings distance teaching resources; virtual gatherings; outdoor classrooms to support reopening schools; garden access, care & harvest; and an online forum. From the School Garden Support Organization Network (US).

Resources for Building a School Garden

'Want to start a school garden? Our lessons cover planning, building, and caring for your garden, plus a video on overcoming common student fears.' Teacher guides and videos, also covering habitats & pollinators, food and carbon, how dirt works and community gardens. Nature Conservancy (US), 2020.

Childrens Guide to Growing Fruit & Vegetables

Downloadable poster/infographic including planting & growing guidance, a celebration of garden insects and a rainbow nutrition chart. Learning Resources UK, 4 March 2019.

School Food Growing Resources

'All the resources you need to support food growing in your school. Whether you're just getting started, or have been going for a while, we have something for everyone. Outdoor learning by growing food can open up a wide range of opportunities for your pupils so take a look at our activity packs and resources that can be applied across the curriculum, from Early Years / Foundation Stage through to Key Stage 5 and beyond.' From The Food Growing Schools: London partnership, c2017.

Green-fingered teachers: how to grow fruit and vegetables in school

‘The joys of growing fruit and vegetables in school go beyond filling bellies, there are lots of educational benefits too.’ Includes how to grow in the classroom, growing on the school grounds & how to link gardening with learning. The Guardian, 29 June 2015.

The Edible Schoolyard Project

‘Our principles lay out the transdisciplinary pedagogy of our whole-child – and whole-school – approach to equity and learning in kitchens, gardens, lunchrooms, and classrooms.’
Huge library of free lesson plans and materials includes recipes and food prep, understanding natural processes, and growing, searchable by location, age, subject and more.

Allotment: getting started

RHS guide. "Finding an allotment and readying it for cultivation can seem a daunting task, but with these simple steps a productive plot is easier than you might think." Includes when to start, how to do it it and potential problems.

Creating Green Roofs for Invertebrates

A best practice guide. “This guidance is aimed at anyone who is considering installing or planning to install a biodiverse green roof. It specifically outlines how green roofs can support invertebrates, particularly those associated with wildlife-rich brownfield sites.” Includes a review of key research. Buglife, c2011 (pdf).

Getting Started: A Guide for Creating School Gardens as Outdoor Classrooms

‘The Life Lab Science Program distilled their years of world-wide school garden experience into a concise 50-page guide that asks and answers most questions you need to consider for creating an outdoor classroom garden. Items covered include your garden’s purpose; school staff, volunteers, and students; connecting with curriculum; site selection and design; theme gardens; fund-raising; public awareness; and more.’ Free download. Life Lab (US), 2007.

A Child’s Garden of Standards

Written to link school gardens to California Education Standards. Examines the benefits & concepts of school gardens, & offers garden-based activities linked to academic study areas & grade levels, with contributions from schools successfully using this model, with plenty of content transferable to similar projects on the UK. California Department of Education, 2002, on Green Schoolyard Network.

Five nearly free do-it-yourself playscape projects

“Five simple projects to start you on your way toward a multi-sensory natural playscape.” 4 of these are growing projects for your setting – bulbs, meadow maze, living willow hut and a sunflower house. Earthplay.