Time and Space Considerations

• Container gardens take far less time to maintain and require far less space than full-size, outdoor gardens. Tea cups, milk cartons, soda bottles, bowls, plastic pails, stone blocks, hollow logs, trash cans and storage barrels will support a wide variety of plants from seed to harvest. All but the largest containers fit on a windowsill or table, allowing the class full-time access to their plants. The larger containers may have to stay outside.
  
  

Curriculum Ties

• Due to pressure to keep scores on standardized tests high, teachers lack time for discovery-based learning unless it has clear ties to the curriculum. Container garden projects allow children to watch plant life cycles, graph growth, light and water needs and total food production, learn to prepare foods and encourage study of the historical uses of plants, according to Gardening with Children.
  
  

Adaptations

• Container gardens are more accessible for younger children and children with disabilities. Placing containers on wagons or scooter boards makes them easier to move around and brings them closer to chair height. The Missouri AgrAbility Project recommends filling a shaker container with small seeds and use child-size tools to assist children who are still developing their small-motor skills with planting.
  
  

Container Garden Possibilities

• Group plants by light and water needs first, to make them easier to maintain. For example, roots and leaves such as lettuce and potatoes can tolerate partial shade but fruit crops such as tomatoes or pumpkins need five to eight hours of sunlight. Make a pizza garden by surrounding a cherry tomato plant with basil, onions and garlic, or a taco salad garden with chili peppers, Roma tomatoes, cilantro and onions. Grow a squash plant, corn and beans together in a half-barrel to study Native American agriculture. An array of small containers or a single window box can house mint, chamomile, lavender and lemon balm for a tea garden.