Managing Your School Garden

Here are some resources and links to our School Garden Coach Manual as well as some of our partner organizations to help you manage the people power behind your school garden including teachers, school staff plus community and family volunteers.

Volunteer Management

How do you find volunteers to help in your school garden?  What can they do to help and how do you train them?  When you find a great volunteer, how do you keep them interested in the school garden project?  Does your school have a process for people to volunteer?  Check with the office to find out if there is a form or process for volunteers before you start recruiting and training volunteers.

A good place to start to recruit volunteers is right in your own backyard!

• Announce you are looking for volunteers on school bulletin boards, Facebook pages, newsletter, website as well as at assembly and PTO meetings.
• Organize and publicize a work day and ask for volunteers to attend.
• Post fliers at your local stores and Post Office.
• Contact your local chapter of the Garden Club Federation of Maine for help and suggestions.

Now that you have a couple of interested volunteers, schedule an orientation meeting and tour of the school garden either as a stand alone event or as part of a scheduled work day.  Think about what you need in terms of help in the school garden and make a simple outline of what you want to review with prospective volunteers.

• Are you looking for one time help at volunteer work days or ongoing support?
• Do you need help during the school year or just in the summer?
• What can volunteers do to help? Weed, water, plant, harvest?
• Do you have a way to capture contact information to keep in touch and schedule volunteers?

Consider hosting a simple thank you gathering at the conclusion of the garden season for volunteers.  You can combine it with a final work day or another school event.

According to the California School Garden Network’s Gardens for Learning Guidebook, “Volunteers contribute a wealth of experience and enthusiasm to a gardening program. They also bring abundant skills, fresh ideas, and extra hands to help with garden activities. There are a number of best management practices to adopt when working with volunteers, but communication is the key. If you effectively communicate your needs and expectations, provide volunteers with the information needed to complete their assignments, and follow up with clear words of appreciation, you will have strong volunteer relationships.”

In the MSGN School Garden Coach Manual, there is an example of a volunteer checklist which outlines expectations for maintaining work hours along with ideas on how to support the work needs of the garden. Providing checklists like this can help volunteers feel that their contribution is significant and can help you to track important engagement data.  There is also a Volunteer (one-time) Engagement Log and a Volunteer (repeat) Engagement Log form to help you keep track of volunteer hours.

Here are some links for more information to help you develop a viable volunteer program at your school garden:

• The Edible School Yard has a searchable Resource Library that includes areas such as Volunteer Management.
• LifeLab published an article that includes tips on promoting the workday and recruiting volunteers titled Steps to a Successful Garden Workday
• The California School Garden Network has created a Gardens for Learning Guide Book that includes a section on Working with Volunteers.

The Maine School Garden Network is always looking for volunteers to help us with our events and program committees as well as our Board of Directors.  If you are interested in finding out more about helping us to help you, please fill out the Sign Up To Volunteer form on our website.

Questions?  Contact us at info@msgn.org.

Questions? Please contact us at info@msgn.org.