Manchester Gardens for Learning
Address: 709 Roosevelt Trail, Windham, Maine
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From the beginning, students were actively involved in most aspects of the gardens when they were first started in 1999. Over the years, the school gradually added more raised beds, a hoop house with three indoor beds, a garden shed, small orchard, compost bins and grape arbor. Co-coordinator, Pam Lanz, not only involves garden planning, planting, maintenance and harvesting with kids and teachers, but also shares her knowledge with students and staff about composting, soil, pollination, seed starting, photosynthesis and more! Manchester School garden teachers hosted a literacy event in collaboration with Title 1 staff, highlighting agriculture and gardening topics and books. Four “Book Barns” were built and donated to the school and are now available to students and staff with books related to agriculture and gardening topics. The MGL group has worked with ReTreeUs and the Ecology School on educational programming to decrease the need for summer maintenance and to have more produce available for students to plant and harvest in the fall.