Qualities, Activities and Modes of Operation of Well-Integrated New York City School Gardens

Abstract

Objective: New York City School Gardens are highly varied in their characteristics, activities, and how they operate within a school. This study aimed to describe the qualities of well-integrated school gardens. That is, those who have a physically maintained garden that students visit regularly and has become a sustained part of the school culture. Design, Setting and Participants: School gardeners from 21 schools in New York City participated in a survey, observation(s), a semi-structured interview, and a concept mapping exercise during the 2013-2014 school year. Photographs were taken of gardens and additional documents were collected for analysis (when available). OutcomeMeasures andAnalysis:Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the survey and qualitative techniques, including pattern matching, explanation building, and cross-case synthesis were used to analyze the qualitative data. Finally, multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analysis was used to assess and synthesize data collected from the concept mapping exercises. Results: A rich description, supplemented with images, of each school gardening program was constructed that describe each schools unique coupling of School Garden Integration Framework (SGIF) components to meet their special needs and sustain the garden (e.g. a school with a greenhouse-enclosed rooftop hydrofarm classroom operationalized the SGIF very differently than a school with outdoor raised beds). Taken together these data illustrate the variation in how the SGIF can be used to overcome barriers and effectively integrate a school garden. Conclusions and Implications: Lessons learned from each school may be helpful for other urban school gardeners and can be used to develop guiding principles and policies for schools with similar gardening needs or requirements. Funding: None.