A Garden for Every School!
Scotts Canada Gro for Good – School Garden Edition
helps Year of the Garden Achieve Its Goal
By Karen Stephenson Director, Regulatory Affairs & Stakeholder Relations for Scotts Canada
It’s the Year of the Garden! For many of us who are avid gardeners or subscribe to the belief that garden projects can bring communities together, every year is a year for gardening. But with a light at the end of the pandemic tunnel and over 1.3 million Canadians trying gardening for the first time in the past 2 years, there is even more reason to be excited about the upcoming gardening season. In 2022, it is time to celebrate and appreciate all that gardens and gardening have provided for us over the decades and especially over these last few difficult years. We believe that Year of the Garden 2022 has come at an opportune time to help all Canadians emerge from the pandemic and celebrate together.
Scotts believes in the power of gardening, and that is why we have aligned ourselves with many of the objectives that have been set for the Year of the Garden 2022. One of the ways we are recognizing the Year of the Garden is with our Gro for Good – School Edition Grant program. This year in addition to our usual Gro for Good Grants, Scotts Canada has offered schools across Canada the opportunity to be awarded a special grant to build or expand a garden. This supports the Year of the Garden’s objective to see a garden at every school.
School gardens provide unique benefits for both educators and students. From an educator’s perspective gardens provide an action-oriented learning experience, allowing them to turn their school yards into outdoor classrooms. Numerous subjects can be addressed when engaging in gardening – topics ranging from plant biology to food sustainability. Used as a tool for learning, gardens can bring together many disciplines in a meaningful way, such as science, math, language arts, social sciences, and art.
Students also receive countless benefits from digging in the soil, nurturing seedlings, watching their garden grow, and harvesting their crops. School gardens can become vital learning environments that allow students to:
• Engage in hands-on learning about issues effecting plant nutrients, soil science, food production, and lifecycles;
• Get outdoors and engage in physical activity;
• Learn about nutrition, health, and food security;
• Build environmental knowledge and stewardship skills; and
• Foster collaboration, teamwork, and leadership in the community.
With so many benefits, it is no surprise that advocates for gardening and horticulture aim to have a garden at every school in Canada. Scotts Canada is pleased to be making a contribution to that goal with this year’s Gro for Good – School Garden Edition Grants. We are looking forward to a year long celebration of gardens and gardening. And whether you are young or just young at heart, everyone is welcome to join the gardening family!
