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| Photo Credit: Square Foot Gardening Foundation |
| These young contestants show off their finely built Square Foot Garden with its carefully measured squares. |
Are you looking for an interesting and rewarding way to introduce gardening to children and maybe earn some money for your classroom? Check out the School Square Foot Gardening Foundation’s Contest! This annual event is a fun way to introduce a well-tested intensive gardening method to children that will capture their imagination and inspire them to grow vegetables and flowers in their own gardens at home.
Mel Bartholomew, the creator of Square Foot Gardening, established the contest in memory of his daughter, Gail Bartholomew Osgood. Gail was a teacher who enthusiastically supported the Square Foot Garden school program. The contest (in which the winning classroom receives $300), is open to any teacher and class of seven or more students in a public, private or home school in the US or Canada. The gardens can be used as a teaching tool, a science fair project or even a display garden. | Add Photo to Journal |  | | Photo Credit: Square Foot Gardening Foundation | | Growing vegetables with children is a great opportunity to get them interested in where food comes from – the garden! |
All teachers who apply receive a lesson plan (for a small fee) that contains several projects. Teachers just follow the plan and use their imagination to create an opportunity for students to try their hand at gardening. The Square Foot Gardening Foundation encourages teachers and students to make their gardens innovative, colorful and creative, provided the 10 basics of Square Foot Gardening are followed:
1. Layout: Arrange the garden in squares in 4- by 4-foot areas.
2. Boxes: Build boxes to hold a new soil mix aboveground.
3. Aisles: Space boxes 3 feet apart to form aisles to work from comfortably.
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