Growing people, not just plants: Gulfstream Goodwill and Blue Lake Elementary

A nursery is a good place to learn. The work is hands-on, the results are visible, and there is always something to do. This fall we have two projects that put that to use beyond our own customers: a new partnership with Gulfstream Goodwill's career academy, and a food forest at Blue Lake Elementary.

Both are about the same thing. We want SmartyPlants to be part of the community, not just a store in it.

Our partnership with Gulfstream Goodwill

Gulfstream Goodwill runs a career academy that helps people build the skills to join the workforce. SmartyPlants is now one of its partners in the county. Through the program, two junior team members, Jaden and Kerimar, are spending a few months working at the nursery.

They work alongside our staff in day-to-day nursery work: caring for plants, helping customers and keeping the grounds in shape. The goal is practical experience and skills they can take to their next job. Each of them works with our team on real tasks every day, which is the fastest way to learn how a nursery runs and what customers need.

What the work teaches

Nursery work covers a lot of ground. There is plant care, which means learning what each plant needs and noticing when something is wrong. There is customer service, which means listening to what someone is trying to do and helping them find the right plant. And there is the physical side: moving plants, setting up displays and keeping two acres looking right.

Those skills carry over. Showing up on time, working as part of a team and taking responsibility for a section of the nursery apply in any workplace.

A food forest at Blue Lake Elementary

Blue Lake Elementary now has a food forest, and a new student club to go with it: the garden club. Ryan Boylston, one of our co-owners and the CEO of Urban Abundance, introduced the food forest to students along with the new club.

SmartyPlants provided the plants and installed the garden. Vego donated one of the modern garden beds, and the school's PTA made the project happen.

Why a food forest

A food forest is a planting designed to produce food in layers, the way a natural forest grows: taller fruit trees, smaller shrubs, and herbs and groundcovers below. Once established, it needs less upkeep than rows of annual vegetables, and it gives students something to tend and harvest over the school year.

For kids, there is a lot to learn in one garden: where food comes from, how plants grow, what pollinators do and what it takes to keep something alive. For a home version, our beginner’s guide to growing vegetables in Florida is a good place to start.

More of this to come

These projects sit alongside the rest of what happens here: storytime for kids on Thursday mornings, garden club visits, events in the garden and weekly mornings for trade professionals. We think a nursery can be a place people learn and gather, and we want to keep doing more of it.

If you are part of a school, a nonprofit or a community group and have an idea for working together, we would like to hear it.

What a school garden needs to last

A school garden is easy to start and harder to keep going. The gardens that last have a few things in common: a group of students and adults who care for them, a schedule for watering and upkeep, and plantings that suit the school calendar. A food forest helps on that last point, since perennial fruit trees and shrubs keep growing over the summer break when no one is there to plant annual vegetables.

The garden club gives Blue Lake's food forest the first of those: students who own it. We hope it gives them a reason to be outside, get their hands dirty and see something they planted grow.

Ideas for families at home

Kids who get interested in a school garden can keep it going at home. A single raised bed or a few containers by the back door is enough to grow herbs, lettuce and cherry tomatoes in the fall. Let them choose what to plant, give them a watering job and show them how to harvest.

For younger kids, a butterfly host plant is a good first project. Plant milkweed or another host plant, and they can watch for eggs, caterpillars and chrysalises. Our post on host plants for Florida butterflies lists good choices. Our edibles section also stocks vegetable transplants and herbs through the season, and our team is glad to help a young gardener pick something to grow.

The people behind it

Projects like these depend on many people. At Blue Lake, the PTA organized and supported the food forest, teachers and families are helping the garden club get going, and Vego contributed a garden bed. At the nursery, our staff take time out of their day to teach Jaden and Kerimar and answer their questions.

We are grateful to all of them, and to Gulfstream Goodwill for the work its career academy does across the county.

Get in touch

To talk about a school garden or another community project, use our contact page, email hello@smartyplantsfl.com or call (561) 540-6296.

And if you see Jaden or Kerimar at the nursery, say hello. They are learning the nursery one section at a time, and they are glad to help you find what you are looking for.

Frequently asked questions