Students will need guidance and instruction in how to work cooperatively and safely in the garden.
Working Together
Just as there are expectations for classroom behavior, there also need to be guidelines for students working in the garden. They will need rules to foster safety, teamwork, and good horticultural practices. Working together and helping each other will establish a genuine spirit of cooperation and fun. Lead students as they help establish the rules.
Ask them to think about working in groups in the classroom and how they think that might translate to working in the garden. Help them visualize working in the garden and elicit suggestions for individual behavior. They might suggest:
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- Be fair and courteous.
- Water your plants, not your friends.
- Help keep litter and trash picked up.
Expand their horizons by describing garden situations such as intended use of pathways, planting beds and tools. Guide them to include:
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- Taking care not to step into the beds and crush the plants or compact the soil. (Roots need to breathe air just like people. Stepping on soil squeezes air out of the soil and makes it harder for roots to breathe.)
- Watering gently so seeds and plants are not washed away.
- Planting in the soil, not playing with it.
- Sharing tools.
- Cleaning tools after each use.
- Returning tools to their designated areas.
- Touching everything, but picking nothing without asking the teacher first.
- Being aware and watching things happen. Bugs, birds, and butterflies visit gardens and are fascinating.
Using Tools Safely
Expand the classroom discussion to include safety guidelines for using tools.
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- Keep tools below your waist.
- Stay in the garden with your teacher.
- Walk. Don’t run in the garden.
- Put sharp points down when tools are not being used.
- Keep tools out of pathways.
- And one final rule: Have fun.