This lesson is an opportunity to research and share a snippet about an indigenous species (plant, pair, share). Students are encouraged to begin the selection process in terms of what plants they will choose for their garden. Students can look to local supply prices (building and garden supplies) to test feasibility.

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This section contains videos and resources that may inspire you to adapt this activity in a way that works for you, these will mostly be focused on a variety of in-class and out-of-class school gardens which could provide exemplars for both teacher and students.

• An established budget value

Consider referring to this actual school garden budget. (Courtesy of John Cripps)

Alternatively, consider using a beautified budget:

Garden Budget Template

• Printed or digital copies of the Plant, Pair, Share handout to distribute to students
• Contact information for local nursaries and/or plant/seed providers

If you so desire, establish a knowledgebase in indigenous plant gardening. I especially like the Start Your Own Native Plant Garden resource.

• A species list for students to choose a species for ‘rapid’ research

1. Attendance
2. Shape of the lesson

• We’re going to talk about our garden budget
• We’ll do a research-pair-share activity so that we can narrow down to some of the plants we might want in our garden
• We’re going to try to source out costs and revisit our budget to come to terms with the scope of our garden

3. Budget

• Establish what the budget is
• Explain how after we have established the kinds of plants that we may like to plant, and their prices, we will look at their overall cost, and what kind of scope we might have in terms of the leftover budget for construction costs (lumber, landscaping fabric etc.)
• Show how the budget will be split between the cost of plants (seeds, trees etc.), soil (mulch, fertilizer etc.), other materials (ie. if we are making raised beds)

Here are some tips for staying on budget:

4. Plant, Pair, Share

• Grab a copy of the Plant, Pair, Share worksheet, or display it with a projector
• Choose a plant, especially from a recommended plant list.
• Rapidfire research means you only have 5 minutes to research your plant. Consider answering these questions:

1. What conditions does my plant like?
2. Do I like its aesthetics?
3. How could it benefit our garden?

• Now pair up / triple up and share your findings. As a group, decide which plant you like the best.
• Finally, you will have the opportunity to share this plant with the class, and we can add it as a potential plant to our budget list… but how much will it cost!?

5. Sourcing Plants (and Other Materials)

• Students volunteer to find price estimates for the plants which we have tentatively chosen
• Other students volunteer to estimate cost of construction materials
• Volunteers are added to the budget document / whiteboard illustration to establish the plan moving forward.
• Students may refer to an online pricing & availability list to establish likely costs. Part of this activity should be determining where seeds, plants etc. are available locally.

6. Wrap-up

• Discuss with students whether they have a sense of the scope of the garden project yet? Will they understand better once the budget is back? Once they start measuring out the garden in their next class?

7. Extension

• Students may be interested in conducting more thorough research on their chosen plant. Although I am skeptical as to how engaged students would be, an inquiry project which ends with them planting the subject of their inquiry might be an effective extension activity.
• Students could be introduced to the spectrum of indigenous plants at a local nursery by a gardening expert or a master gardener.
• UBC has some interesting initiatives which could potentially be toured, with content that overlaps with this unit.