August is a time to begin welcoming back our family of PLG students, teachers, and administrators.
In addition to your current harvests and winter garden guidance, we want to engage schools this Fall with high-impact activities and opportunities.
The theme this fall is: Guarding Your Garden! We’ll be partnering with and participating in CNN’s Call To Earth Day 2025: Guarding Your Greenspace.
All You Need Is… Pollinators
Essential to any garden, pollinators are a great way to both strengthen your garden and repel unwanted predators. Pollinators lead to increased fruit and seed production, and allow animals such as birds, bees, and butterflies to transfer pollen from one plant to the next.
A fundamental factor in sustaining your garden, pollinators also improve soil fertility and water quality by preventing runoff and erosion.
Looking for a natural, earth supporting way to reduce garden predators? At PLG, we recommend a non or slow-spreading perennial pollinator in the center of each of your garden beds. Some examples include lavender, echinacea, black eyed Susans and more. These plants can repel bugs and other animals through a variety of mechanisms, most commonly by cleverly releasing scents that are unpleasant, confusing or toxic to those pesky leaf eating munchers.
For more great information on Pollinators, visit our Pollinator Quest, where you can put in your zip code to find common pollinators in your area along with their host & nectar plants!
Free Pollinators and Contest Opportunity!
This Fall, thanks to a grant from Kellogg Garden Products (who also provides our PLG organic growing soil), ONE HUNDRED (100) new or returning PLG schools will receive pollinator plants to add to your garden! This will happen in five easy steps:
- Fill out the Back to School PLG Survey that will be sent to all PLG schools on August 19th
- CPF will send guidelines for CNN’s Call to Earth Day “Guard Your Garden” Contest for your school and students (Sept 5th)
- Receive the resources for your new pollinator plants (By October 1st)
- Get the students planting in the gardens; take pictures and send to CPF (by October 15th)
- Look out to see if your school is featured during CNN’s Call to Earth Day on November 6th!
Students at various PLG schools harvesting and attending to the plants in their gardens.