Buttonball Lane Elementary

The Buttonball Courtyard began its transformation into an outdoor classroom in 2012. A courtyard committee was formed that included the school principal, classroom teacher representatives, parents, school custodian and members of a local gardening group.
We sought space within the school grounds that weren’t already over-scheduled that could be used for hands-on student gardening, outdoor activities and general recreation. The school day has become increasingly structured and there is a real need for interaction with the outdoors as a means of learning and relaxing.
We have transformed the area from an undesirable spot filled with overgrown bushes into a welcoming learning environment.
The changes have included the following:
• Removal of invasive bushes
• Transformation of 2 large grassed areas into perennial beds
• Installation of edible fruit bushes-blueberry, cranberry and blackberry
• Installation of four 4’ X 8’ raised beds for student gardening
• Basic drip Irrigation system for raised beds on a timer.
• Replacement of old unsafe picnic tables with new park grade tables with umbrellas

Students have enjoyed planting and harvesting from the garden.• Planting lettuce, broccoli, tomatoes and herbs in raised beds. .
. Project Objectives: (Desired end results)
We would like to increase the number of beds from 4 to 12 and extend the growing season for the raised beds. We plant lettuce, broccoli, in the raised beds as soon as danger of frost has passed. We change crops to tomatoes and herbs as we harvest the previous crop. We would like to be able to plant earlier in the Spring and for longer in the Fall to extend our growing season during the typical school year. This impacts not only the amount of the same crops that can be harvested for cool weather crops such as lettuces, spinach and broccoli but also the ability to see other crops through more of their growing process such as tomatoes. We have had good success with individual teachers using the courtyard for student gardening and have begun to see whole grade projects done. Extending the time that growing can be done will help expand the number of students that can use the raised beds.

The Spring safe planting date can be particularly late when compared to school getting out for the summer.(approx June 15) This has resulted in us using already established tomato plants with cherry tomatoes already set on in order to have students be able to plant them and see some development.