COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Reading, writing and arithmetic are still cornerstones of learning in any public or private school, but some educators are now advocating students need access to green space to relax and learn more about nature.

 No one knows this more than OSU Extension 4-H personnel, who will coordinate their seventh annual Ohio School Garden Conference on Oct. 22. This year’s theme is “Voices From the Field”.

 “Research shows that school gardens can support and encourage healthy eating as a key factor of children’s’ physical well-being, which can aid their social and academic success,” said Sue Hogan, Ohio 4-H youth development educator for Ohio State University Extension. 

The conference is hosted by OSU Extension 4-H personnel and will be held Oct. 22 from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Nationwide & Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H Center at 2201 Fred Taylor Drive on the Ohio State University campus.

The conference provides both a networking opportunity and a chance to learn from others who are actively engaged in school gardening and/or provide expertise and education to those who do, Hogan says.

 “There are amazing school gardeners in Ohio, and we are working together to make school gardening a solid part of the culture in our state,” Hogan said. 

One such school gardening success story can be found in Loveland, Ohio, where Loveland Learning Garden (previously named Granny’s Garden School) provides outdoor, schoolyard nature education programming that includes vegetable and floral gardens and a nature trail as environments for hands-on learning in the natural world.

Roberta Paola started Granny’s Garden School in 2004. Paola’s love for soil and gardening led her to create a community garden at Loveland Elementary School, where all the school children could have the chance to enjoy the simple splendor of the many flowers she grew around the school. Her original goal was to give the other children the chance to pick flowers, but it took on a life of its own and grew to be one of the largest and most comprehensive school garden education programs in the country.

In 10 years, Paola’s school flower garden blossomed to include 100 vegetable and flower beds, a small apple orchard and a three-quarter mile nature trail on the school property. Each week, students in grades 1-4 spent 30 minutes weeding, planting and harvesting in the gardens.

“This led to the development and sustainability of hands-on learning experiences for children through plant-based programs,” Paola said. “The focus then was education, not nutrition.”

Paola closed the doors to Granny’s Garden School in 2016 due to funding, but Loveland Learning Garden revived it. Hogan has seen growth in school gardens across the state and say it’s a win-win for educators and students alike. And that the Ohio School Garden Conference can help keep a good thing going.

 “By teaching adults to use gardening as a context for learning, we are providing skills for the youth who will benefit from participant knowledge to practice real-world science, among other topics,” Hogan said. “In fact, most seasoned school gardeners agree that almost any subject and live lesson can be taught in a garden and may also lead to workforce development.”

 Topics at the conference include herbal gardens, plant diseases, pollinators, farm-to-school, how to start a school garden, French immersion garden during a pandemic, school  gardening and autism, season extension, school garden stories from teachers and much more.

 “The conference is open to teachers, educational administrators, after-school staff, government employees, nonprofit personal, interested community members and others who want to start, maintain or support a school garden,” Hogan said.