Experience with Garden Clubs in Cold Climates?

[Leah]

Good morning everyone,

It is our third year of having a school garden and I want to optimize children's exposure to it.

Our first year we had two classes responsible for the garden and we found most of the school had no idea we had a garden at all. The second year it was Eco-club and resource teacher facilitated who took interested classes to the garden and had general tasks for interested students during one of the 15 minute recesses about twice a week.

This year we were thinking a garden club or a station for free exploration at recess may be a good fit for us.

Does anyone have experience with a garden club (we are zone 5) and is 15 minutes too short a time frame?

Thank you for your time and thoughts.

Cordially,

Leah

[REBEKKA HENRIKSEN]

Hi Leah, I have been running a garden club for 10 years in my Zone 6 district (we used to be Zone 5 - thanks climate change!)  My garden clubs run for an hour to an hour and a half and take place after school. 15 minutes is too short for an actual club. For a garden based lesson/activity during school day, 30 minutes is usually what I get. If you are looking at 15 minutes, you can set up a Garden Task basket or station that has things like weeding, compost sifting, harvesting, seed collecting, pattern recognition, color identification, spontaneous garden poetry. Just short tastes. Hope this helps!

Rebekka Henriksen (she/her)
Farm to School Project Manager

Office of Innovation, Equity & Engagement
Schenectady City School District
https://www.instagram.com/schenectadyf2s/
518-949-0520 (work mobile)
518-929-8590 (personal mobile)
1880 Lancaster Street
Schenectady, NY 12308

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[Eric Williams]

Morning, I oversee a youth gardening program and at 2 of our 6 school partners, they host after-school garden clubs. It’s roughly an hour for each garden club meeting. In my honest opinion, I don’t think that 15 minutes is enough time to host a garden club. 

Within that hour that we use, we discuss prior activities/lessons, instruct students on what will take place during the day’s activities, conduct the activities, and have a close out. 

Eric Williams, MPH

Mobile: 571-226-6995

On Thu, Aug 13, 2026 at 8:30 AM Leah <leah.b.d...@gmail.com> wrote:

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[Erin Maidlow]

Hello!

We do both after school garden club, and garden recess. Our after school clubs are an hour but recessed are only 15 minutes, so those are less a “club” and more a walk-in situation. However, I do think you could make recess into a club. I’d still host a once a month after-school club meeting or something where you have more time to discuss what needs done and how to do it, but garden recess could be where you get the work done. We work with a high school who has their own “Green Team,” which is essentially a garden club. I hope to bring them to our elementary gardens to help them grow. 

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[Manzano Janelle]

Great tips, Rebekka! I'd suggest the same thing. I've also done short little "garden clubs" (or more so basic garden activities) during recess or during morning drop offs before class.

You can still create lots of magic moments in those 15 minutes. Whether it's simple harvesting, weeding, watering, exploring, smelling, dissecting, organizing, etc. Doesn't have to be as structured as a traditional garden club but just a time for students to help + interact in the garden 🙂 

One example: one of my schools does a morning garden "club" (students have the choices of this or running club). Students get to harvest produce and also taste the Harvest of the Month fruit from the cafeteria at this time. 

Hope this helps!

Janelle Manzano, MPH Farm to School Program Specialist Food & Nutrition Services San Diego Unified School District   Office: 858-987-5368 Email:  jman...@sandi.net   6735 Gifford Way, Room 5 San Diego, CA 92111   www.sandicoastcafe.com www.sandiegounified.org

 

 

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From: school-gar...@googlegroups.com <school-gar...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of REBEKKA HENRIKSEN <henri...@schenectadyschools.org>
Sent: Thursday, August 13, 2026 06:18
To: Leah <leah.b.d...@gmail.com>; School Garden Support Organization Network <school-gar...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: Experience with Garden Clubs in Cold Climates?

 

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[Leah]

Good morning,

Thank you so much for your advice everyone.

I can only run things during the school day; therefore, perhaps a 40-minute club once a month for more in-depth work and a walk-in/station setup for recesses could work.

Cordially,

Leah