According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm to School Census, 39% of Minnesota schools are growing edible gardens. The resources below can help you start or maintain your own school garden.
Connect with an Extension SNAP-Ed educator or a Master Gardener in your region for advice and help with your nutrition, gardening and food safety questions.
Follow these steps to grow a garden that makes learning come alive for your students.
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Build a team — Identify key contacts to work with on this project.
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Identify goals — Gardens have many uses and forms. Work with your team to define the goals for your schoolyard garden. See this Determining Your Goals worksheet.
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Design your garden — Create a design that engages students and meets your shared goals. See the Slow Food USA School Garden Guide for ideas to design and build the garden.
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Find funding — Develop a creative approach to secure funds and materials for your garden. The Jeffers Foundation offers resources to develop school gardens.
The steps above are based on Creating and Growing Edible Schoolyards from Minnesota’s Statewide Health Improvement Partnership and Starting and Maintaining a School Garden from the National Farm to School Network.
Farm to School: Curriculum — These curricula will help make learning come alive for students of all ages and in many different subjects.
Food safety is an important part of a sustainable, well-run garden, and supports the use of fresh, healthful garden-grown produce within the cafeteria, classroom and the community. While there is always a risk of microbial contamination in garden-grown produce, some basic principles of prevention can keep the risk very low.
Download the Food Safety for School Gardens manual
The information in this manual is based on Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs), research-based operational principles for farms and gardens to reduce the risk of foodborne illness.
The manual can help school garden coordinators understand how to reduce food safety risks in school gardens. It is divided into sections on planning and managing a garden with a focus on food safety:
- Garden location and site assessment
- Hygiene, illness and handwashing
- Soil and compost
- Water
- Harvesting
- Washing, packing and distributing produce
- Cleaning and sanitizing equipment
- Records and the Food Safety Plan
- Conducting food safety training
Food safety plan templates for school gardens
After reading the manual you can use our templates to create a food safety plan that will help you assess your garden and take actions that will improve food safety. A food safety plan describes how things are done in your garden to prevent foodborne illness. It will include your protocols for harvest, washing produce, handwashing, etc. The Food Safety Plan template also includes log sheets to track important tasks and activities in the garden.
Download one of these templates to help you write your food safety plan.
Other resources for school garden food safety
- MN School Garden & Farm to Cafeteria Safety(2013) — Statewide Health Improvement Partnership
- Produce Safety Fact Sheets and Videos— Institute of Child Nutrition
See more information and upcoming GAPs training for farmers and gardeners.
University of Minnesota Extension: Connect with a SNAP-Ed educator or a Master Gardener in your region to kickstart a collaborative effort.
Minnesota Schoolyard Garden Coalition (MNSGC): Connect with other school gardens on the MNSGC website, at the annual conference in March, or via email at mnsgcoalition@gmail.com.
Reviewed in 2022