Many NYC students grow up with little hands-on access to plants and green space. Our educators find that 80 to 90% of new students have never planted anything. That holds true even in high school. The Hort has been working to change that since the 1980s.
Take PS 206 José Celso Barbosa in East Harlem, which serves a large special education population. We’re in our tenth year there. The garden began as five rows of planters (made from recycled water bottles) attached to their chain-link fence. It’s now seven vegetable beds in a new outdoor space. We built it with the school and several partners, including the Department of Health. Today, the school puts $31,000 of its own budget toward the program.
Last school year, we built gardens at 13 other schools. Five schools chose our Urban Agriculture Starter Kits through the NYC Public Schools Office of Sustainability. The starter kits give schools with no growing space a ready-to-plant garden with clean soil and site-specific seedlings. Our horticulture team assesses the site and installs the beds. Then students plant them with our educators. We also train teachers, with courses that count toward NYC Public Schools professional development credit.
Student lessons and activities are organized by season. In the fall, that means activities like planting garlic and exploring compost. Each lesson is complete on its own, so a student who misses a week can join right back in the next. Younger students learn how to water plants and sing songs about plant anatomy in English and Spanish. Middle schoolers make simple recipes like cucumber salads, herby dips, and seasoned pumpkin seed snacks. Older students focus on plant-based foods and garden maintenance, including cover cropping and soil health.
On a recent visit to one of our learning farms, a student harvesting eggplants stopped and realized he had planted that eggplant himself in the spring. For many students, a first experience like that can spark an interest in the natural world that lasts well beyond the lesson. We want every student to leave seeing plants as the source of their lunch, their clothes, and the air they breathe. Schools interested in bringing The Hort to their students can email education@thehort.org.