Giving Garden

The Prairie School's Giving Garden, created by and for the students in 2000, is located in a courtyard setting and has two separate sections. One half of the garden is a butterfly garden and was designed and planted with perennials that attract butterflies and that bloom - for the most part - in spring and fall to coincide with the time that most students are in school. There is something in bloom throughout the growing season. Annuals are added to the front of the garden in pots to help extend the bloom time. Prairie's Giving Garden has been certified as a Monarch Waystation through Monarch Watch by meeting the group's requirements of adequate milkweed, nectar, and shelter.

The other half of the Giving Garden contains six raised beds, one for each grade level in our Primary School, for growing vegetables. Each grade level plants a different vegetable, something that connects with their curriculum, and then tends their vegetables. There are also three in-ground beds for vine crops and tomatoes. Early each spring, classes meet to start some of the vegetables and annual flowers in pots. These pots are then placed in the School's greenhouse until they are ready to transplant outdoors. Students take turns watering and thinning these seedlings. In May and June, as weather permits, the students have their outdoor planting sessions in the garden.

Students in Early School through Grade Four help with the upkeep of the Giving Garden by planting, weeding, and pruning plants in spring. Eventually, as the garden matures, our goal is to teach the students to divide and pot the perennials. Although the garden is tended by Primary School students, it is enjoyed by the entire School, from Early School students observing and studying butterflies to Middle and Upper School art classes who meet in the garden to paint and draw. Often classes just meet in the garden to read, write or have a quiet place to study. Besides the many educational benefits of the Giving Garden, the public is benefited as produce is given to Racine's Food Bank.

New to the Giving Garden is a composting system. As the School continues to do more with composting, refinements will be made. 

A Giving Garden Plant list is available upon request.

Garden contact information:  

Melissa Mills
Primary School Science Coordinator
(262) 260-1904
mmills@prairieschool.com

Garden location:

The Prairie School
4050 Lighthouse Drive
Racine, Wisconsin