Marquez Charter School Edible Garden

The Edible Garden Program at Marquez Charter strives to show children where their food comes from and encourages them to eat more healthy food. 

We have a Seed to Table approach where children plant, grow and then eat what they grow. Students taste from the garden whether it be chives, tomatoes, mint, arugula, lettuce or strawberry guavas, as well as cook such recipes such as salsa, pesto, or succotash.  

Over the years, our garden has grown from six raised beds to twelve. In addition to raised beds which are primarily used to grow vegetables, there is a butterfly/herb garden, a compost area, a teaching area and a potting area. 

Teachers are encouraged to align their crops with grade level curriculum. For example, kinders plant sensory/edible plants and study the parts of a seed. First and second study parts of the plant and plant seasonal vegetables. Fourth graders plant natives and make succotash. Fifth graders plant a Jeffersonian garden and learn what TJ's favorite veggies were!  Teachers are also encouraged to incorporate garden lessons with math, science and language arts. For National Nutrition Month, third graders collected data about favorite fruit and organized their findings on charts and graphs.