Growing Together: Creating and Sustaining ECE Gardens with the Virtual Gardening Training Series
Bringing Gardening into ECE Programs with Professional Development & Technical Assistance
Gardening activities have been shown to be beneficial for young children in ECE settings, helping to build gross and fine motor skills as well as being a great way to introduce children to new fruits and vegetables. When starting and maintaining a garden, there are many questions and challenges that can arise – having a helping hand along the way can help a garden grow and thrive all season long!
Each month, Alabama Healthy Kids, Healthy Future hosts a virtual gardening training for early childhood educators across Alabama with gardening expert Bionca Lindsey. Each training in the series focuses on a different component of gardening with young children, providing participants with the information and skills they need to create and sustain a successful garden at their ECE program.
Training sessions cover a variety of topics, including:
The ABCs of Seed Starting and Planting a Pollinator Garden
Preparing for Our Spring Garden
Succession & Companion Planting
Container Gardening & Traveling Vegetables
And more!
Training topics are chosen based on the planting season and educators' feedback on what they would like to learn. There is also time at the end of each training for questions, as well as ongoing support available via email and phone for participants after the training has ended. In 2024, there were over 460 participants for 12 virtual gardening training sessions. On average, about 38 educators joined the live training each month.
Additionally, there are many participants who watch the training sessions on demand after the training – we have received over 1,000 views total on our recorded trainings!
When asked, “What is your biggest takeaway from this series?”, one participant responded,
“Many things, but I love that it doesn't have to be huge to start implementing these things into your curriculum”.
Many participants often share that Bionca creates an open and non-intimidating environment and shares about gardening in simple ways. This has encouraged many early childhood educators to make the leap and give gardening a try! After one of the training sessions, a participant shared,
“I loved the power point and information I [received]...I've never been one with a green thumb, but these courses really do give me hope.”
Garden Visits with Garden Expert Bionca Lindsey
In addition to the virtual gardening trainings, Bionca also provides in-person technical assistance and support for starting a garden. When early childhood educators receive a visit from Bionca, they receive encouragement, guidance, and support for creating a garden that can be enjoyed all season long by the children and families their ECE program serves. After this year’s spring garden visits, one participant shared,
“The children gained valuable knowledge about gardening while having a blast, and Miss Bionca's expertise made the experience even more engaging."
Not only does this support and guidance help create fun gardening experiences for young children, but it also helps early childhood educators sustain their activities for years to come. Each year, on average, 35 ECE programs have applied for and received Farm to ECE Sustainability Funds, which have been used to sustain and maintain ECE gardens across Alabama. Together, these efforts ensure that Alabama’s youngest learners continue to develop healthy habits and joyful connections with food from the very start.
