Can Teachers Really Run a School Garden Solo? Here’s the Truth

If you’re an educator, you’ve probably had that spark of excitement at the idea of starting a garden project with your students. A place to grow food, make curriculum come alive, give kids hands-on experiences with nature, and so much more... You know the sky would be the limit!

But then reality sets in. You start picturing all the logistics:

Parent committees...

Volunteer schedules...

Grant applications...

Watering rosters...

and endless coordination with colleagues!

Suddenly the dream feels impossible unless you have a small army helping you.

Here’s the good news: that’s a myth.

You can run a school garden solo. You don't have to! But you can! It can just be you and your students. And not only is it possible, it can be one of the most empowering teaching experiences of your career and learning experiences of your students lives.

Let’s dig into what “solo” really means, how it works in both classroom and outdoor settings, and why you don’t need the village you might think you do. 

Why Solo School Gardens Work

When I say “solo,” I don’t mean you’re out there with a shovel doing all the work on weekends while your students watch from the sidelines. Quite the opposite. A solo garden means you lead the project with your students, without depending on other adults to carry the load.

The garden becomes part of your classroom practice, integrated into your teaching time, with students doing the planting, watering, weeding, and harvesting. Even designing and building the garden! You remain the guide and facilitator, not the sole gardener. In fact you only touch the garden to demonstrate to your students how to do things or how to work as part of a team. Otherwise you don't even need to touch the garden ever.

This approach gives you:

• Full control over what’s planted, when, and how it ties to your lessons.
• Less coordination with outside groups who may or may not follow through.
• More student ownership, since they’re the ones designing, building, and caring for the garden.

Starting Simple: The Classroom Garden

If the idea of an outdoor school garden feels intimidating, start indoors. A classroom garden can be just as impactful, sometimes even more so, with a lot less hassle and absolutely no summer maintenance.

All you need is:

• A sunny window <-- SUPER IMPORTANT!
• A few dollars’ worth of seeds and soil.
• Starter cups (dollar store options work great).
• My Indoor Seed Started Guide, again, just another few dollars.
• And lesson plans, which means, if you don't have the budget for my Oasis programs, you'll have to write your lessons yourself. Takes your time, yes! But you can do it solo!

That’s it. With this small setup, you can grow herbs, greens, or even fruit seedlings that tie beautifully into science, math, language arts, and health lessons.

The best part? No need for fundraising committees, volunteer rotations, or lengthy approvals. You can start tomorrow.

But What About Outdoor Gardens?

Outdoor gardens often get all the glory. They look impressive, create community visibility, and feel like “the real deal.” But the truth is, they aren’t drastically more impactful than classroom gardens when it comes to student learning.

That said, if you do want to create or maintain an outdoor school garden, you can still do it solo. Here’s how:

• Existing outdoor garden: If your school already has a plot in a sunny, accessible spot near water, you and your students can handle planting, maintaining, and harvesting on your own.
• Building a new garden: This is where you’ll need some approvals and funds, from your principal, school board, or parent community. Think of this step as more administrative than operational. Once you have permission and funds, the actual construction doesn’t require outside adults.

Students in grades 3 and up can use simple, fun permaculture techniques to design and build the garden themselves. And don’t underestimate the power of 20 enthusiastic kids with tools in hand. They can create a thriving space faster than you’d imagine.

Approvals vs. Ongoing Support

It’s important to distinguish between needing approvals and funds and needing physical support.

Yes, you may need your principal’s okay or a small budget release for supplies. Yes, your school board may have policies about outdoor spaces. But once those boxes are checked, you don’t need an ongoing team of adults to keep the garden alive.

The real day-to-day work... planting, watering, observing, harvesting, etc., is student-powered, if you are doing it right. You’re there to guide and connect the experience to learning objectives.

What about summer maintenance you ask? With the right design techniques, your garden will need ALMOST no summer maintenance. Only watering, and even that will be 80% less than any other school gardens if you follow my design advice. So yes, you'll need parents to bring your students, their kids, to water the garden twice a week or so during summer. But that's nothing in comparison to the physical support that everyone thinks they need.

Do you need to have a team ready for summer before you grow the garden? Absolutely not! You can easily recruit by sending one or two emails, after your students have raved about their garden at home for the entire season and parents have ween it grow in the yard all these months, with excitement.

Everyone wants to be part of a successful project after the fact and take some credit! 

Bringing It All Back to Learning

One of the most powerful things about running a school garden solo is how seamlessly you can integrate it into your curriculum.

A garden can become a hub for:

• Science – plant life cycles, ecosystems, soil health.
• Math – measuring growth, calculating area, charting data.
• Language arts – journaling, storytelling, research writing.
• Arts – sketching, photography, creating garden-inspired projects.
• Health & wellness – nutrition, physical activity, mindfulness.
• Social studies & citizenship – sustainability, community connections, teamwork.

When you lead the project solo, you decide how the garden supports your teaching goals. That flexibility means the garden doesn’t add “extra work”. It enriches what you’re already teaching.

Why Teachers Hesitate (and Why They Shouldn’t)

Many teachers hold back because they assume:

• “I don’t have time to manage this.”
• “It’ll be too much work without help.”
• “I’m not an expert gardener.”

But with a classroom-first approach and student-led outdoor strategies, those barriers fall away. You don’t need to be a master gardener — you just need to create the opportunity. Kids bring the curiosity, energy, and hands-on power to make it succeed.

You Don’t Need a Village — You Need a Window (or a Plot)

Running a school garden doesn’t require a massive volunteer network or complicated logistics. It requires your willingness to try, lesson plans, a bit of space, a handful of seeds, and the energy of your students.

So if you’ve been waiting for “the right time” or “enough help” to start your school garden, stop waiting. You already have what you need.

Ready to start your solo garden project?

Check out my Oasis Classroom and School Garden resources for guides, lesson plans, and support. And if you’d like to talk through your ideas, you can even book a Zoom call with me to get personalized advice.

Because yes — you can do this. Solo. And your students will thank you for it.

Want to go deeper? Listen to Episode 66 of my podcast, School Gardens with Ease, where I share even more stories and strategies for running a school garden solo.