Volunteers Bring School Garden Back to Life

School gardens provide an outdoor classroom for nutrition and other learnings at area schools, but pandemic closures and social distancing took a toll, and many campus gardens have withered and died. Now, Fort Worth ISD’s Morningside Elementary—home to what some say was one of the city’s largest school gardens—is about to see new life.

On April 29, volunteers from Blue Zones Project and Alcon, the Fort Worth-based leader in eye care got their hands dirty rebuilding and renewing the school’s garden, in honor of Earth Month and National Garden Month. Alcon provided gardening materials and equipment, and the Botanical Research Institute of Texas and the Tarrant Area Food Bank donated seedlings (including tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant) for the project.

Volunteers cleared out the old garden beds and assembled new beds. They planted seeds and plants and mulched everything to ensure that the delicate baby plants were protected. Then they marked the various plantings with painted river rocks.

According to research compiled by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, school gardens encourage children to eat fruits and vegetables, provide opportunities to get active, and promote better grades. Gardens are also linked to happier moods and interpersonal skills, lower rates of obesity, and healthier habits lasting into adulthood. With help from a host of community partners, Blue Zones Project currently supports 20 school gardens, most located in under-resourced communities with higher rates of obesity and chronic disease.