Last week was an exciting one at PS29, as Mayor Bloomberg and Rachael Ray visited the schoolyard to hold a press conference announcing greater support for school gardensand school nutrition in New York City. Ray's Yum-o! organization addresses problems of childhood obesity and other diet-related illnesses by encouraging kids to develop healthier relationships with food.  Ray sees school gardens as logical starting places.  

Bloomberg joked that day that his favorite vegetable is "steak," but he also stressed the need to teach children where their veggies come from. He detailed a variety of resources that will help more schools build gardens, including "mini grants" and an informational website, scheduled to launch this fall, that will supply how-to's and links.

PS29, which participates in the Garden to School Café, has seen its garden program take off, thanks to dedicated parents, involved teachers and Emily Freund, an Americorps VISTAworker who spends time tending the garden and coordinating related programs.  On harvest day, kids learned about local food production and got to meet some of the people growing what they eat. Wherever possible, science teacher Tina Aprea-Reres uses the garden as a hands-on learning tool. Parent Alison Cohen, wrote in her blogat WhyHunger.org that "three years ago...we spent a few weekends hauling soil, building raised beds, planting basil, tomatoes and broccoli rabe. But what we really seeded-at least in our little corner of Brooklyn-was a movement." Indeed, what began as a simple feature of the blacktop has since become an integral part of  student life.<!--more-->

Down the street at the Brooklyn New School (PS 146), grants have made possible a garden with rainwater collection and composting systems, as well as movable beds called "Earth Boxes". PS 364 in the East Village uses converted pickle barrels as containers for growing vegetables. "Learning Gardens" have sprouted in City Hall Park, at Randall's Island, and Gracie Mansion.

But what if such programs aren't so easy to launch? As schools struggle with budget cuts, administrators may see a vegetable garden as a luxury, particularly if such basics as text books and copy paper are hard to come by. Space constraints may also be hard to get around, or there simply might not be enough momentum.

Adam Schwartz, a high school teacher at Academy of Urban Planning has been cultivating a garden on the Bushwick Campus grounds.  To promote the garden, Schwartz started the Bushwick Green Team with faculty from the other schools on campus -- Bushwick High School for Social Justice, Academy for Environment Leadership, and the New York Harbor School.  Despite the complex logistics of finding space and time to cultivate a garden on a campus shared by four schools, Schwartz has been able to build raised beds and recruit students to help out in gardens in the Bushwick community.  Teachers also chip in, often funding supplies out of their own pockets. 

Urban Planning has identified a possible space for a larger garden, but it needs funds for fencing and other materials. Student enthusiasm has taken root, and Schwartz hopes that grants will not be far behind.

Does your school have a garden? If not, what have been some of the obstacles in getting one going?