A school garden - raised beds full of vegetables and flowers in a fenced in area next to a one story brick school building

Pine Tree Elementary School Garden

A school garden - banner hanging on fence that reads 'Tractor Supply Co (logo), Proud to Support the School Garden at North Main Elementary School

North Main Elementary School Garden

School Garden - raised beds full of plants

Cornwall-on-Hudson Elementary School Garden

Kids sitting on a tarp in a grassy field watching a man talk about bees

Garden Experience with Master Gardeners @ the Orange County Arboretum

School and Youth Gardening

The Master Gardener Volunteer are here to help you with your school garden!  They act as consultant to help you plan your garden and also can also provide gardening lesson.  If you don't have a school garden, don't worry, most of these lesson can be done in the classroom. Here are the topics that we cover.

Plants

  • Parts of a Flower
  • Plant Maintenance in a Garden*
  • Plant Parts
  • Plant Propagation Techniques
  • Planting Times, Reading Seed Packets, Planting Zones
  • Plants Parts We Eat
  • Pollination
  • Seed Science
  • Starting Seeds
  • Three Sisters Garden*
  • Transplanting*
  • Types of Plants (i.e. annuals, perennials, biennials, bulbs, etc.)

Insects

  • Bees
  • Butterfly Life Cycle
  • Different Insect Mouth Parts
  • Good and Bad Bugs
  • Identification of an Insect
  • Metamorphosis
  • Pollinators and Beneficial Insects
  • Ticks

Soil

  • Composting / Vermicomposting
  • Soil Testing for pH
  • Types of Soil & Jar Test

Planning a School Garden

  • Information on Starting School Gardens & Sustainability
  • Site analysis
  • Planting guidance *

Other Topics

  • Putting a Garden to Bed*
  • Leave the Leaves to Protect Overwintering Insects
  • Birds and their Relationship to the Food Chain
  • Cold and Warm Season Crops
  • Environmental Stewardship
  • Container Gardening
  • Terrarium Gardening
  • Succulent Gardens
  • Fairy Gardens
  • AG Literature (a Master Gardener Volunteer visits your classroom in March every year to read the agriculture book for that year)

* denotes that this lesson requires a garden

Contact

Susan Ndiaye
Community Horticulture Educator
sgn32@cornell.edu
(845) 344-1234, Ext.250

Last updated September 29, 2023