Central Park East II School Garden

The Central Park East II Garden Committee just completed building an outdoor garden, nestled atop a large concrete playground at 103st and Madison Avenue. It is currently comprised of a series of 10”-high raised beds, an inground perennial area and a digging bed for students to explore the magic and wonder of soil.   We are currently growing herbs, native perennials and a seasonal rotation of annual vegetable crops.

Central Park East 2’s garden serves as a tool for activities that span agriculture, ecology, biology, history and inquiry-based exploratory learning. We work with an outside organization, Sprout Farms to run our recess-based gardening programming.  Sprout Farms has provided support with garden design, and currently leads programming twice a week for students at recess. Sprout will continue programming through the growing season. During each recess session, a Sprout Farms Garden Educator supervises 8-12 students with an assistant, guiding students through a variety of seasonally relevant tasks. Students assert their agency by discussing and deciding the food plants to be grown, planning and planting the garden, cultivating the space and eventually harvesting produce to consume.

Future plans for the garden include developing a composting program and building a greenhouse for seed starting and tool storage.