The Easiest Way to Grow a School Garden, Learned the Hard Way!

Every year, around this time, teachers and parent councils start thinking about new projects for their schools. And for many, a school garden is at the top of that wish list (and unfortunately it stays in the wish list, from year to year to year.)

A place where students can get their hands in the soil, connect with nature, grow food, and learn life skills, all while meeting curriculum and learning expectations.

But there’s one question I get asked over and over again:

“What’s the easiest and most productive way to grow a school garden?”

It’s an important question, because most school gardens aren’t easy. They start with enthusiasm and big dreams. But too often, they fade away after a season or two.

In this post, I’ll share what I’ve learned after more than a decade of helping teachers grow food with their students, both indoors and out.

And to truly understand the answer, I want to start with a story.

🌾 The Night That Changed Everything

Many years ago, when my older daughter was six and my younger one was a newborn, I was awake one night after a midnight feeding, rocking the baby to sleep with one arm and scrolling through my Facebook feed with the other.

That’s when I came across a video that would change the course of my life.

It was a video of Bill Mollison, the father of Permaculture. I had never heard of him before, or of Permaculture for that matter. But something about that video caught my attention.

In it, Bill stood in a garden holding a newspaper. He said:

“Sometimes I get tired of bad news and would like to turn it into good news.”

Then he laid the newspaper on a pile of straw, placed a potato on top, covered it with more straw, and said:

“In about five weeks’ time, there will be a new set of potatoes growing here. And to me, that’s good news.”

That moment moved me to tears.

💚 From Bad News to Good News

I grew up in the Middle East, surrounded by civil unrest, war, and years of hardship. Even after moving to Canada, I was constantly hearing about poverty, hunger, and environmental destruction, the kind of bad news that feels too big for one person to change.

But as I sat there, holding my baby, I thought: What if it really is that easy to turn bad news into good news?

What if growing food could bring hope instead of helplessness?

What if everyone could grow at least some of their own food?
How many people would no longer go hungry?
How many children would grow up believing they could make a difference?

That simple demonstration in Bill’s garden became a seed of possibility.

🌻 My First Permaculture Garden

I decided to test it out for myself. I started learning everything I could about Permaculture, the philosophy of working with nature, instead of against it.

The results were incredible.

By following nature’s patterns rather than fighting them, my backyard garden started producing more food with less effort. I stopped tilling. I stopped spraying. I stopped fighting weeds and started understanding them.

And the more I worked with nature, the easier and more abundant everything became.

It was a revelation.
If growing food could really be this easy, why wasn’t this being taught in schools?

That question planted another seed, one that would grow into my life’s work.

🏫 Bringing Permaculture into Schools

I decided to help teachers bring food-growing back into classrooms and schoolyards.

After all, if students learned how to grow food early on — using nature-friendly methods — they could carry those skills for life.

But it didn’t take long for me to discover that school gardens are not the same as home gardens.

It seems obvious now, but at the time, it was a hard-earned lesson.

A home garden can be tended any day of the week, at any time.
A school garden has to fit into a tight schedule, depend on volunteers, and survive summers when no one is around.

And even more importantly, a school garden has a different purpose.

It’s not just about growing food, it’s about growing minds.

🌼 The Mistake Most Schools Make

Over the years, I grew school gardens in every way you can imagine. After-school programs, parent-led projects, summer daycare gardens, lunchtime clubs, community-led initiatives, and teacher-led classrooms.

And through all that, one thing became clear:

Most schools treat their garden like a community garden, and that’s why they struggle.

A school garden isn’t meant to be run like a community garden or a farm. It’s meant to be an educational tool, integrated into the school day.

That’s the key difference.

🌱 The Two Keys to a Thriving School Garden

After more than a decade of helping teachers grow food with their students, I discovered that success comes down to just two things:

1️⃣ DESIGN: Work with nature, not against it.

Grow your garden Permaculture-style. That means creating a mini ecosystem that supports itself, rich soil, companion planting, natural pest management, and thoughtful timing.

When you stop fighting nature, everything becomes much easier.
You save time, you save money, and you get more results.

2️⃣ LOGISTICS: Treat your garden as an educational tool.

Make it 100% student-powered and teacher-led.

That means:

• Designing, building, and maintaining the garden during class time

• Integrating garden activities into your lessons

• Using it to teach subjects like science, math, geography, art, language, and life skills

When the garden becomes part of your curriculum, it stops being “extra work”, and starts being the work.

🌿 The Joy That Follows

I’ve seen it happen again and again:
Students who struggle in the classroom come alive in the garden.
The quiet ones start leading. The restless ones focus. The anxious ones find calm.

Teachers rediscover their love of teaching.
Principals call back to expand programs.
Gardens thrive year after year because they belong to the students.

That’s what happens when we design school gardens with ease, intention, and purpose.

🌸 Your Next Step

If this resonates with you... if you’re ready to make your school garden easier, more productive, and more educational, I invite you to join me in the Free School Gardens with Ease Webinar, coming soon.

In it, I’ll share my full 2-phase plan for growing a thriving, low-maintenance, teacher-led, student-powered garden.

You’ll walk away knowing exactly how to plan your garden, get your students involved, and integrate it seamlessly into your teaching, without overwhelm.

Keep an eye out for registration details soon!

Together, we can turn bad news into good news, one school garden at a time. 🌎💚