Maricopa County Cooperative Extension Home Horticulture:
      Environmentally Responsible
      Gardening & Landscaping in the Low Desert


      Youth Gardening in Maricopa County

      INDEX
      • References on School Gardening
      • References on Vegetable & Herb Gardening in the Low Desert
      • Seed Sources
      • Sources for Organic Matter
      • Technical and Educational Assistance
      • Internet Connections
      • Sources of Funding
      • Events
      • Examples of Youth Gardens
      • Specialty Gardens

      References on School Gardening

      "ACGA Multilogue"

        American Community Gardening Association, ACGA Journal, 325 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106

      "Africanized Honey Bees on the Move" lesson plans can be selected according to grade clusters K-3, 4-6, 7-8, 9-12, and include information sheets, activity sheets, pictures and illustrations, games, puzzles, songs & stories. Each section includes over 50 pages of colorful, well-written, informative, and FUN things for children to do while learning about these important pollinators. The page is maintained by Roberta Gibson, Entomology Research Specialist for the University of Arizona, Agricultural Research Center.

      "Careers in Horticulture" kit available for $24.95 from Main Landscape and Nursery Association, Route 2, Box 1584, Turner, ME 04282 is designed to interest high school students in advanced horticultural training. Included in the kit are a videotape on career opportunities, brochures for students, and a list of US and Canadian schools with 4-year and graduate horticultural programs.

      Children's Gardens; A Field Guide For Teachers, Parents and Volunteers, by Elizabeth Bremner and John Pusey, University of California Cooperative Extension, Common Ground Garden Program (213) 744-4341

      The Growing Classroom: Garden-Based Science: Roberta Jaffe & Gary Appel ISBN 0-201- 21539-X

      "Growing Ideas" A Journal of Garden-Based Learning. Published by the National Gardening Association, 180 Flynn Ave, Burlington, VT 05401, 1-800-538-7476, email: eddept@garden.org

      Learning Through Landscapes: Using School Grounds as an Educational Resource, ISBN 1- 872865-04-6

      Let's Grow! Linda Tilgner ISBN 0-88266-470-0

      National Gardening Association's Grow Lab: A Complete Guide to Gardening in the Classroom ISBN 0-915873-31-1

      The National Gardening Association Guide to Kids' Gardening Lynn Ocone ISBN 0-471-52092-6

      Plant & Grow: Teacher's Guidebook for an Outdoor Children's Gardening Program for Elementary School Classes: Garrick Beck & Paula Hewitt, The Trust for Public Land

      "Resource Guide for Teachers, Parents, and Youth Leaders" compiled by Cynthia Davis Klemmer for the American Horticultural Society

      Special Places; Special People: The hidden curriculum of school grounds ISBN 0-947613-48-X

      Success With School Gardens: how to create a learning oasis in the desert: Linda Guy, Cathy Cromell, and Lucy Bradley ISBN 0-9651987-0-7

      The Wonderful World of Wigglers, A Common Roots Guidebook

        by Julia Hand ISBN 1-884430-00-7

      Using Live Insects in Elementary Classrooms, The Center of Insect Science, The University of Arizona

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      Sources for Seeds:

      America the Beautiful Fund

        725 15th Street, NW
        Suite 605
        Washington, DC 20005
        (202)638-1649 (office)
        (202) 638-2175 (fax)
        (800) 522-3557 (toll free)
        gabrielle@america-the-beautiful.org


        A non-profit group which receives large seed donations from major seed companies, such as Park, and Thompson and Morgan. America the Beautiful supplies seeds to community and school garden projects nationwide. Sets of 50 mixed packets of seeds, including vegetables, flowers, and herbs, are available for the cost of postage and handling. Larger quantities can also be obtained. Write for an application or download and print Free Seed Application

      Asgrow Seed
        P.O. Box 1087
        Tracy, CA 95376
        (213) 835-1359
        Seeds are available twice per year for donation. Bulk quantities only (one pound cans for tomato, carrot, etc,. 50 lb. bags for corn, beans). All seed is treated with fungicide; children should be supervised.

      Burpee
        Warminster, PA 18974
        1-800-888-1447
        http://www.garden.burpee.com
        1. Distributes catalogs to schools across the USA
        2. Children's Seedling kits, comlete with trays, seeds, instructions, coloring sheets and markers.
        These "Funseed" kits complement a line of "Funseed" packets that use playful images to convey the double meaning of the flowers' and vegetables' variety names
        3. Spanish language seed packets
        4. Burpee Gene Garden. This is a kit with a tray, soil and packet of 300 seeds from a "mother" coleus plant, illustrated on the packet and in related literature. This special mother plant, or seed parent, has been selected to produce seed which when sown in the classroom, produces young plants that display eight combinations of three distinct traits (color, color pattern and leaf shape) in precise Mendelian ratios of dominance and recessiveness. Therefore, the difficult, yet very important subject of plant genetics can be taught, and learned, in a vivid, "hands-on" demonstration. After germinating and growing the plants to early maturity , the students sort them, take the information from them, and analyze the results with the plants before them - a very special classroom experience. After the classroom lesson, the students can take the plants home to their gardens. This is an effective way to familiarize students with Mendel's laws of inheritance.

      Neuman Seed Co.
        P.O. Box 1530
        El Centro, CA 92244
        Will donate seeds in bulk quantities of 1/2 pound or perhaps smaller. Untreated seed available.

      Northrup-King & Co.
        3701 Aminicol Hwy.
        Chattanooga, TN 37406
        Will sell individual packets of seed for educational or civic proposes for 65% off the retail price. Minimum order 50 packets.

      Petoseed Co.
        P.O. Box 4206
        Saticoy, CA 93007
        Seed available in bulk quantities only. Both treated and untreated seed.

      Stokes Seeds, Inc.
        Box 548
        Buffalo, NY 14240
        (716) 695-6980
        http://www.stokeseeds.com
        Annual flower seeds

      Tsang and Ma International
        P.O. Box 5644
        Redwood City, CA 94063
        Sometimes able to donate individual seed packets, mostly or oriental specialty vegetables, to school and community projects.

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      Sources for Organic Matter

      Maricopa County Fair Grounds

        Bill Roller, Operations Department at State Coliseum
        (602) 252-6771
        Request possible delivery of animal bedding/manure after fairs and livestock shows

      Arizona Public Service, Line Clearing

        Arizona Public Service Forestry Division
        PO Box 53933, Phoenix, AZ 85072-3933
        Contact: Maria Alvarez, (602) 371-5229
        Call to request a truck load of wood chips from limbs removed by the utility line clearing crew.
        When they are working in your neighborhood they will drop it off at your garden free of charge. A note about this
        source: the content of mulch delivered may include thorny cactus, oleander, palm an
        mesquite. It is not recommended for delicates or playgrounds.

      Check the "Yellow Pages" for:
        Eggs (source of chicken manure)
        Fertilizers (source of bulk or bagged soil amendments, manure, etc.)
        Landscape supplies
        Gardeners (source of grass clippings & leaves be sure to find out what, if anything, has been sprayed on grass)
        Lawn & Grounds Maintenance
        Dairies
        Horse Stables

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      Technical and Educational Assistance:

      Maricopa County Cooperative Extension

        Urban Horticulture
        4341 E Broadway Road
        Phoenix, AZ 85040
        (602) 470-8086

      National Gardening Association
        180 Flynn Ave.
        Burlington, VT 05410
        (802) 863-1308
        http://www.garden.org
        Email: eddept@garden.org
        Offers many helpful books on youth gardening; publish a monthly gardening magazine that includes information on children's gardening programs nationwide.

      National Wildlife Federation
        1400 16th Street NW
        Washington, D.C. 20036
        1-800-822-9919 Office
        Http://www.nwf.org
        Has a section on Schoolyard Habitats and a comprehensive guide to programs related to schoolyard habitats. Schoolyard Habitats and Workplace Habitats programs create wildlife habitat learning places, respectively, at educational institutions and corporate locations nationwide.

      Polaroid Education Program:
        Each participant receives a free Polaroid 600 camera, a Lesson/Plan Activity Book and membership in P.E.P. Each participant must bring Polaroid 600HD film

        Visual Learning Workshop: This hands-on two hour workshop teaches innovative techniques for using instant photography in all areas of the curriculum. Registration fee: $10

        Module Series (each of the following is a $15, 3 hour workshop)
        Project Portfolio "Telling Our Stories": Visual Portfolios
        The Poetic Image: A Visual Learning Workshop with a focus on writing
        Seeing Numbers: Imagery and Mathematics
        Science and the Visual Environment
        Contact Ann & Dalton Cason, Regional Coordinators (602) 833-0164

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      Internet Connections

        Email listserves

          School_garden@ag.arizona.edu
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          Community_garden@ag.arizona.edu

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        Web Sites

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      Examples of Youth Gardens in Maricopa County:

        The Miracle Garden - An organic market garden where young people in the inner city are raising cut flowers and gourmet vegetables to sell at area restaurants, at Farmers Markets and to provide fesh vegetables to the needy.

        Lowell Elementary School - 1120 S 1st Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85003 . Tierra Buena: The creation of an Urban Wildlife Habitat in an Elementary School in the Inner City received an international award

        Mendoza School - 5831 E. McLellan Road, Mesa, AZ 85205. Since opening 11 years ago, Mendoza School has received over $40,000 in grants in the last 6 years; was named an A+ school in 1976 by the Arizona Department of Education; was selected as a Blue Ribbon School by the US Department of Education; and won the President's Award for Environmental Excellence by Valley Forward Association.


        Mountain View Elementary - 1502 W Mountain View Road, Phoenix, AZ 85021. In 1998 this school garden received an award from the Community and School Gardening conference for outstanding creativity in a school garden. Their first garden began in 1994 and now covers over 18,000 square feet of soil. All the work has been done by students in grades 3 through 6.


      Do you have a youth garden you would like referenced? Contact us to let us know.

      Events

        "Growing Awareness" - School and Community Garden Conference
        Friday, February 22 - Sunday, February 24, 2002, Phoenix, Arizona


      To Home Horticulture in Maricopa County, AZ

      Youth Gardening in Maricopa County
      visitors since July 30, 1997
      Last Updated March 25, 2009
      Web Site Manager: Jo Cook, Program Coordinator, University of Arizona Cooperative Extension, Maricopa County
      Reference: Much of the information for this site was taken from Guy, L., Cromell, C. & Bradley, L. (1996) Success with School Gardens: How to Create a Learning Oasis in the Desert. Phoenix: Arizona Master Gardener Press
      © 1997 - 2009 The University of Arizona, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cooperative Extension, in Maricopa County
      Comments to Maricopa-hort@ag.arizona.edu

      http://ag.arizona.edu/maricopa/garden/html/youth/youth.htm