New online course fuels school and community garden success

A new online course from Cornell Garden-Based Learning aims to help educators and organizers make their school and community garden programs more effective.

Planning a Successful School & Community Garden Program is a six-week course that focuses on the foundations and benefits of garden-based learning, and provides the tools, resources, and collaborative support needed to plan, organize, and develop a successful and sustainable gardening program. It will be offered for the first time starting June 27.

“We are excited to offer this new course to Cooperative Extension educators, teachers, volunteers and others who are working to make sure that their garden programs fit the needs of their organizations as well as their students and gardeners,” says Ashley Helmholdt, who leads Cornell Garden-Based Learning and is an Extension Associate in the Horticulture Section, School of Integrative Plant Science, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

“We’re also excited to welcome Donna Alese Cooke as instructor of the course,” adds Helmholdt. Alese Cooke, who also teaches Cornell Garden-Based Learning’s online courses in Organic Gardening and Garden Design, began her horticulture career in her family’s nursery and landscape business and her own businesses in floral and garden design.