Pacific Ridge School On-Campus Garden

 The organic garden is maintained by students in the AP Environmental Science class through a year-long research project in sustainability, complementing the curriculum. Next year there will be a Gardening Club for 90 minutes per week. Middle school students will also rotate through gardening activities throughout the year. Our garden will be used to teach sustainable practices through the implementation of practices like vertical gardens, integrated pest management, drip irrigation, compost fertilizer, and crop rotation.
We will be planting heirloom seeds in the garden in addition to starter plants grown by a local nursery. Students will study seasonal crop rotation as they decide which plants to grow and the reasoning behind eating different plants during different seasons. Students will also be encouraged to try the edible plants they have grown to introduce them to new foods. While gardening, we will discuss how fruits and vegetables fit into a healthy lifestyle.  For next year, we would like to expand our edible plant growing space from the current 3 raised beds to 6 total 8'x4' raised beds and fence the space in for pest management. We will also install vertical growing systems to grow lettuces and herbs and retrofit our irrigation system to include more drip irrigation. We will share our produce with the students and school community through monthly on-campus "Farmers Markets" after school.