The Summer School Garden Problem (and How to Fix It for Good!)
Mar 31, 2025Summer is the ultimate test for a school garden.
The students are gone. The teachers are taking a well-earned break. And the garden? Well… it’s left to fend for itself, and sometimes get tended to by volunteers.
And the results aren’t pretty.
🌱 Weeds take over.
🔥 The heat dries everything out.
🐛 Pests move in like they own the place.
🥀 By the time fall rolls around, the garden looks abandoned—or worse, completely dead.
It’s frustrating because no one wants their school garden to fail. But keeping it alive during the summer feels impossible without a full-time volunteer crew.
So the big question is: Can you really grow a school garden that survives summer with little to no maintenance?
The Short Answer: Almost.
The long answer? It requires a big mindset shift about how school gardens are designed in the first place.
Most gardens are built with good intentions but bad systems. They assume that:
❌ Weeding is just part of the deal.
❌ You’ll need to water constantly.
❌ Pests and diseases will show up no matter what.
But what if the garden took care of itself?
The Key: Work WITH Nature, Not Against It
The secret to a low-maintenance school garden is smart design. When you set things up correctly from the start, the garden becomes resilient, requiring minimal human intervention.
Here’s how it’s possible:
✅ Living mulch & ground cover to suppress weeds naturally
✅ Self-sustaining soil health so there’s no need for fertilizers
✅ Drought-tolerant planting & water-conserving techniques to cut watering needs in half
✅ Companion planting & biodiversity to keep pests and diseases at bay
✅ A strategic planting calendar so the garden still produces food when students return
I’ve used these exact methods to build school gardens that need almost no summer maintenance—just a little watering (as little as twice a week!) and occasional harvesting.
Want to Learn How to Do This?
I’m hosting a low-cost webinar on April 2nd where I’ll show you:
🌿 How to design a school garden that thrives with little upkeep
💧 Water-saving techniques to cut down summer watering
🌼 How to eliminate weeding, fertilizing, and pest control
📅 Webinar Date: April 2nd (4 time slots available)
💰 Early Bird Price: Just $14 CAD until March 31st! (Only $28 after)
🎁 Bonus: Includes 2 implementation guides worth $38
If you’re reading this after April 2nd, let me know—I might bring it back!
Let’s make school gardening easier, not harder. Your future self (and your students) will thank you!
