Got Dirt?: A Creative Garden Initiative

Author: Bill Wright

Obesity is a nationwide problem, especially among youth. Research shows that increased fruit and vegetable consumption is a viable strategy for fighting obesity and provides additional health benefits, as well. The Got Dirt? garden initiative, funded by a three-year grant from the Wisconsin Partnership Program, is working to increase fruit and vegetable consumption in children ages 2-12 by facilitating the creation of youth gardens at schools and childcare facilities throughout Wisconsin.

Early in the program, surveys identified common obstacles to starting a garden, including lack of space, time, funding, and assistance. Wisconsin’s short growing season is also challenging for schools. In parts of northern Wisconsin, the school year is nearly over before a garden can be planted, resulting in the additional need for a summer garden caretaker. Some schools use parent volunteers to cover summer garden care, but that prevents many students from experiencing the full garden program. The Got Dirt? initiative believes that to understand the connection between planting seeds and eating fresh vegetables, students need to experience the entire gardening cycle.

The initiative’s foundation is its Got Dirt? Toolkit,a manual and training program that provides teachers, childcare providers, and after-school coordinators with the knowledge and skills to plan, start, and maintain a garden at their facility. The training sessions also include hands-on activities such as how to plant seeds and how to transplant seedlings. The toolkit was created in collaboration with the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, UW-Extension’s Horticulture Team, and others, and includes additional manuals that help participants overcome a variety of obstacles associated with traditional in-ground gardening and offer ideas for incorporating gardening into existing programs and curricula.

For example, the manual on container gardens highlights how easy and cost-effective these gardens are to plant, manage, and locate (even on paved surfaces!). The cold frame manual describes how to plant cool-season crops as much as 4 to 6 weeks earlier in spring and extend the growing season the by same amount of time in fall. The Microfarm manual offers ideas for year-round indoor gardening. Microfarms (portable wagons with florescent lights) allow students to grow a variety of greens in the classroom and can be shared by several classrooms, reducing overall program costs. The Got Veggies? manual provides teachers with lesson plans and ideas on how to incorporate gardening and nutrition into the curriculum.

The Got Dirt? initiative includes an in-depth program evaluation that measures the effect of gardening on children’s knowledge about vegetables, children’s attitudes and willingness to try new vegetables, and changes in children’s consumption of vegetables. The results of this study will be published late in 2010.

For more information about Got Dirt?, contact Bill Wright, Community Garden Coordinator, Brown County UW-Extension, 1150 Bellevue St., Green Bay, WI 54302; wright_wp@co.brown.wi.us. The initiative’s Web site (www.gotdirtwisconsin.org) is under development and will be updated as the project progresses.

Bill Wright is the community garden coordinator for Brown County University of Wisconsin Extension. He is also project manager for Got Dirt?, a statewide initiative to train teachers and childcare providers to start gardens at their facilities, and the principle investigator for G.R.O.W., a research project that uses social marketing techniques to increase fruit and vegetable consumption among elementary school children.

Bill is a member of the Kidsgardening Advisory Board. These youth gardening experts and advocates from around the country provide NGA staff with ideas, suggestions, and feedback for kidsgardening.org