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School Gardens - Definition
Advocates of school gardens differed on the amount of attention they placed on various program elements such as the scientific life of the plant, production of food, marketing food products, engaging with the natural world, being outdoors, or taking responsibility for a specific plot of land. Mary Louise Greene offered a succinct definition that touched on several of these essential elements:
"A school garden may be defined as any garden where children are taught to care for flowers, for vegetables, or both, by one who can, while teaching the life history of the plants, and of their friends and enemies, instil [sic] in the children a love for outdoor work and such knowledge of natural forces and their laws as shall develop character and efficiency."
Greene, Mary Louise (1910). Among School Gardens. New York: Charities Publication Committee, p. 3.