School gardens in Berlin

A teacher and pupils at an elementary school plant a tomato plant in the school garden.

The school gardens and gardening schools in Berlin are not just an educational tool. They also benefit biodiversity and climate protection.

Almost 300 schools in Berlin have a school garden (PDF). Some of them are small but beautiful, others have won prizes and are the school's flagship. What they have in common is the goal: to teach pupils about horticulture and agriculture, nature and the environment.

Sowing, planting, tending and harvesting are carried out under pedagogical guidance. Vegetables and herbs from the beds are often processed directly at school, and the fruit from the trees and berry bushes is simply eaten. The choice is huge. Many of the schools with their own gardens have planted apple, cherry and plum trees. Even the youngest children can get their hands on fruit from currant bushes and blueberry and blackberry bushes.

Berlin's first school garden

Berlin's first school garden was created around 1750 by Johann Julius Hecker, a Protestant educator and theologian. It was located between today's Potsdamer Platz and the Tiergarten. Hecker's aim in creating the school garden was to combine school and vocational preparation. The planting and care of mulberry trees played an important role. Silk growing was particularly encouraged at the time in order to meet the increasing demand for locally produced silk.

Today, Berlin's school gardens are dominated by low-maintenance vegetables such as radishes, carrots, tomatoes, pumpkins, potatoes and herbs. But beans, lettuce, eggplants, kohlrabi, celery, zucchinis, peas, chard and rhubarb also thrive here - often fed with compost produced in the garden and rainwater collected by the children themselves.

School garden competition of the Lenné Academy

The Lenné Akademie (LAGG) organizes an annual school garden competition in Berlin. The award-winning gardens are dedicated to new issues in school gardening in the 21st century. They place particular emphasis on the conscious and sustainable use of resources.

Among other things, the participating gardens focus on healthy and sustainable nutrition, produce Terra Preta, create scented beds or edible flower beds. Plus points include a variety of habitats on the school grounds, such as orchards and flower meadows, ponds and deadwood hedges. Beekeeping in school gardens is becoming increasingly popular, often in conjunction with a beekeeping club.

Gardening schools in Berlin

The 15 Gartenarbeitsschulen (gardening schools) in Berlin attract a somewhat broader audience. The schools in Neukölln, Wilmersdorf, Schöneberg and Steglitz form a network of green learning locations that give children and young people an insight into gardening and experiencing nature. The workshops, courses and projects are aimed at pre-school children and pupils who do not have their own school garden at their school.

The gardening schools usually have a working garden, a teaching garden and a delivery garden. In the latter, seeds and plants are produced and delivered for the Berlin school gardens. The children and young people learn how to grow and care for plants there. There are also open-air biology areas and places that offer space for observations, investigations and experiments. Environmental education is not neglected either. Topics ranging from animal husbandry to renewable energies offer links to almost all socio-political and ecological aspects.

School gardens contribute to climate protection

The importance of school gardens for climate protection and the preservation of biodiversity in Berlin should not be underestimated. They are important biotopes that provide shelter and food for insects, amphibians, rodents, birds and wild mammals in the city. The young gardeners support them by planting insect-friendly flowers, creating ponds and setting up insect hotels or nesting aids.

In the gardens, children and young people learn to produce food locally, seasonally and sustainably. Trees, shrubs and richly planted beds provide soothing shade, good air and more pleasant temperatures in hot city summers. The school gardens thus make an important contribution to climate education, climate adaptation and climate protection in Berlin.