Edgerton Elementary School

Mission:

To promote education, nutrition and environmental stewardship with the Edgerton School and Neighboring Community

The Children’s Garden is located at Edgerton Park, which is co-owned and operated by the City of Maplewood and Edgerton Elementary School.

History of Project

The Children's garden began in 2011 due to a mutual interest in children’s gardening between the city of Maplewood and Edgerton School. That year, school children invested 120 hours into the program. Knowing that we had a viable program, we decided to expand our program and our reach.

In 2012, the Edgerton Children's Garden received a $2000 grant from the Whole Foods Foundation. That season, each of the three Edgerton Elementary 6th grade classes adopted a 24 foot row in the garden. We increased the educational programming that children took part in, working with the school children in spring, summer, and fall. We also introduced garden work-nights throughout the summer to bring neighborhood children into the garden. This program facilitated 160 children and youth were engaged in garden programming for 432 hours.

In 2013, the Edgerton School PTA funded the program. In addition, 2 master gardeners helped facilitate educational programming. We expanded the number of community groups who came to the garden, thus facilitating 240 children taking park in almost 500 hours of programming.  

In 2014, the garden program move towards a vision of community and school empowerment.  Garden care was done by the community, while the Edgerton students planted and maintained the garden.

In 2015, The City of Maplewood and a team of Edgerton staff and students are maintaining the children's garden and donating the produce to a local foodshelf.