When you type 'greening school grounds' or terms like that into a search
engine, you can find beautiful architectural drawings of outdoor
classrooms or natural playgrounds, native plant gardens,
vegetable gardens and even ponds. Many of those ideas look
out-of-reach for many of our communities. They are expensive to install
and/or so high-maintenance in their upkeep
that they often end up looking neglected. Thankfully, naturalized
school grounds do not have to be elaborate to be educationally
effective.
I taught at a school that took a simple, low-maintenance approach by leaving a part of its school yard unmowed for a season, with mowed paths meandering through it. This was suggested as a naturalization option by Dr. Henry Kock (University of Guelph) in the book Greening School Grounds. I envisioned classes comparing soil from the mowed field to that in the long grass meadow. Or observing changes to the meadow ecosystem year after year. Students loved exploring and playing in the area during recess, collecting flowers, insects, woolly bear caterpillars and even baby garter snakes! Until ticks were spotted. Certain tick species carry Lyme Disease, nothing to take lightly. Safety first, so the area was mowed again. Back to the drawing board.
I moved away before I had the chance to be part of new school grounds development ideas, but I have since come across the following cheap and easy way to add a naturalized area to school properties instead.
Wood chips can be had for cheap. In the city where I now live, a landscaping supply company sells mulches for $20-35US per cubic yard, but Econochips (byproduct of tree trimming work) for $6 per cubic yard. It's also very possible to have a tree trimming company itself gladly deliver a load of wood chips to your school for free. They have to pay to dump it otherwise.
However, if your provider can't be sure about what is in the tree trimmings wood chips, and it's likely that children will play in the mulch (a fun added benefit, of course), choose the pricier playground mulch. It is guaranteed to be free from pressure treated wood, nails or poison ivy.
You will need to calculate/estimate how many cubic yards of mulch you will need. Here
is an online calculator for the job. Make sure to calculate for 8-12 inches of wood chips if you're
covering turf. Or 6 inches if you're using contractor paper to cover the
grass. You will also need a number of
volunteers for the day of the wood chip delivery. Of course,
you have a classroom-full. Treat it as a field trip, though, in terms of asking
for a few parent or adult supervisors. You'll need wheelbarrows and
shovels for the adults, and you need to have marked off the area
where the wood chips need to go. Count on an hour for two people to
move 5 cubic yards and for 4 students to move it around. Scale it up for
your project.
I taught at a school that took a simple, low-maintenance approach by leaving a part of its school yard unmowed for a season, with mowed paths meandering through it. This was suggested as a naturalization option by Dr. Henry Kock (University of Guelph) in the book Greening School Grounds. I envisioned classes comparing soil from the mowed field to that in the long grass meadow. Or observing changes to the meadow ecosystem year after year. Students loved exploring and playing in the area during recess, collecting flowers, insects, woolly bear caterpillars and even baby garter snakes! Until ticks were spotted. Certain tick species carry Lyme Disease, nothing to take lightly. Safety first, so the area was mowed again. Back to the drawing board.
The short version of the approach is to smother the grass with wood chips in the spring, and then do an initial planting of pioneer species in the fall. Alternatively, both can be done in the fall, but I recommend this two-step approach for elementary schools because it is a more manageable amount of work.
First of all, how do we choose the right spot? You have probably noticed that school properties (and many other properties) are planted with grass by default. Some of that lawn serves good purposes, including aesthetic purposes, but the rest is lawn for no good reason, and could be stewarded and used in better ways*. Notice which parts of the schoolyard are typically underutilized or ignored altogether. One of those spots is this year's project.
Simply designate that grassy area, however small, and arrange to have it covered with a thick layer of wood chips 8-12 inches or 20-30 centimeters deep. That's enough to smother grass. If that translates into too many cubic yards/meters of wood chips, cover the freshly mowed, short grass with contractor paper that comes in rolls at the hardware store. It's often even made of recycled paper. Combined with contractor paper, you only need roughly 6 inches of wood chips to smother turf.
Wood chips can be had for cheap. In the city where I now live, a landscaping supply company sells mulches for $20-35US per cubic yard, but Econochips (byproduct of tree trimming work) for $6 per cubic yard. It's also very possible to have a tree trimming company itself gladly deliver a load of wood chips to your school for free. They have to pay to dump it otherwise.
However, if your provider can't be sure about what is in the tree trimmings wood chips, and it's likely that children will play in the mulch (a fun added benefit, of course), choose the pricier playground mulch. It is guaranteed to be free from pressure treated wood, nails or poison ivy.
Spreading a thick layer of mulch can be an end-of-the-year school project. This will allow the mulch to smother the grass and enrich the soil all summer. Wood chips are great for that; in fact, wood chips are used in ecology restoration projects.
Your students only need gloves for their hands. Their job is to just
spread around the mulch, and it'll be fun (if they don't
throw it at each other! Recently, I had to get a speck of mulch out of a
child's eye... Safety first). You may want to arrange for water to drink and snacks. You might also
consider designating someone to document the good work for your school's
communications.
Before the work begins, have a short speech prepared explaining again why you're creating a mulched area and what the future plans are for it. Then explain the job. First, optionally, some adults or older students could dig an edge around the boundary of the proposed naturalized area to contain the mulch. One pushes a spade 45 degree angle into the turf; another does the same opposite the first so that the two spades form a V underground. The sod and soil dug up for the edging can be used to form a small berm. Meanwhile, other adults start bringing mulch to the area away from the edging until the edging is done. Then everyone brings mulch up to the edge.
So do we leave part of the school yard covered with just mulch until the fall? Sure! Mulch has a surprising amount of ecological benefits. Mulch absorbs a great deal of water during a rainfall, allowing it to percolate down and replenish groundwater. Many insects overwinter and reproduce in layers of decomposing material. And just think of the fun the kids can have digging in it. Add some logs and stumps! Once it's there, decomposers go to work. Bacteria, microbes, worms, beetles and mycorrhizal fungi start breaking down the grass, the paper (if you used it) and the bottom layer of the wood chips. In the fall, the area will have much improved soil for shrubs and trees.
By next school year, this mulched and newly planted area will be a surprisingly educational spot. Why would we teach about soil, decomposers and plants in the classroom when we can show and tell about them outside? Soon your students will be able to go on more field trips right in their own school yard.
Before the work begins, have a short speech prepared explaining again why you're creating a mulched area and what the future plans are for it. Then explain the job. First, optionally, some adults or older students could dig an edge around the boundary of the proposed naturalized area to contain the mulch. One pushes a spade 45 degree angle into the turf; another does the same opposite the first so that the two spades form a V underground. The sod and soil dug up for the edging can be used to form a small berm. Meanwhile, other adults start bringing mulch to the area away from the edging until the edging is done. Then everyone brings mulch up to the edge.
So do we leave part of the school yard covered with just mulch until the fall? Sure! Mulch has a surprising amount of ecological benefits. Mulch absorbs a great deal of water during a rainfall, allowing it to percolate down and replenish groundwater. Many insects overwinter and reproduce in layers of decomposing material. And just think of the fun the kids can have digging in it. Add some logs and stumps! Once it's there, decomposers go to work. Bacteria, microbes, worms, beetles and mycorrhizal fungi start breaking down the grass, the paper (if you used it) and the bottom layer of the wood chips. In the fall, the area will have much improved soil for shrubs and trees.
By next school year, this mulched and newly planted area will be a surprisingly educational spot. Why would we teach about soil, decomposers and plants in the classroom when we can show and tell about them outside? Soon your students will be able to go on more field trips right in their own school yard.
*Forty million acres of US land is planted in turf grass, much of it not serving any useful or aesthetic purpose.