Module 3: The Three GTS Growing Methods

Module Overview

In this module you will be introduced to the 3 GTS growing methods. The three growing methods are used to maximize engagement with youth and agriculture on a daily basis. Three techniques are used so that this can be done inside of a classroom when the weather might not be ideal, while still keeping an outdoor component so students can still engage in ground growing. The essential methods for the GTS approach to schoolyear growing are:

1. Seed starting under LED lights
2. Raised beds with season extension
3. Indoor hydroponic units

In this module, our activities, content, and assignments will help you to be able to do the following:

• Briefly describe the 3 growing methods that support planting, growing and harvesting a different food each month of the traditional academic year.
• Identify the basic materials needed to support the 3 GTS growing methods.
• Recognize the 9 foods recommended for the GTS growing cycle and select which to grow at their own school gardens

 Roadmap

Here’s everything you need to do for this module. These items will all appear, in order, in the module.

• READ: Three Growing Techniques
• READ: August Planning and Preparation
• READ: Materials Lists
• ADDITIONAL RESOURCE: GTS Growing Techniques Example

Please click NEXT at the bottom of this page to advance through the module. To return to the list of modules, PC users click “Modules” in the top left corner, App users click the back arrow in the top left header.

Three Growing Techniques

To plant, grow, and harvest the 9 foods recommended for the GTS growing cycle you will need to use three growing techniques.

Seed Starting Under LED Lights

This is one of the most powerful tools as a grower by being able to grow individual plants to be taken care of on a daily basis using a stewardship model.

With a seed starting kit, you can germinate seeds and nurture seedlings until they are ready for transplanting or grow plants until ready for harvest.

This method is a way to learn basic techniques about plant germination, how to water a plant, how to fertilize a plant and how to observe growth and to engage youth in the biology of plants.

LED lighting is used for seed starting because it is the most up to date technology to grow plants in the horticulture and agriculture industry. LED lighting is a long lasting form of light that provides broad spectrum wavelengths to optimize plant growth so that we grow plants efficiently and as healthy as we can inside. This provides the light that the plants would otherwise get if they were growing outside in the summer. In most parts of the United States there is not enough sunlight in a sunny windowsill to germinate and grow a healthy plant during the academic calendar.

Indoor Hydroponic Units

Agriculture is where we grow plants using the most up to date technology that includes LED lighting, nutrients provided in the water and we grow plants without soil like they would be grown in a greenhouse in the hydroponic industry.

This emergent technology has a lot of opportunity for youth and workforce development down the line because the hydroponic industry in the United States is one of the fastest growing areas of agriculture.

Hydroponic units can be very engaging and very simple to use, but still provide a wide level of engagement with students to see things growing in a different way.

One of the greatest uses of hydroponics is to compare that growth under lights and in water to the growth that the plants would have outdoors and in soil.

Raised Beds with Season Extension

Traditional school gardening has focused mostly on outdoor production but it’s not always accessible to get students outside during the coldest part of the year or if it is raining or otherwise inclement weather.

We use this because it is 1 of 3 important ways that agriculture and growing plants is done.

Getting students outside and in the fresh air is a great benefit but also creates opportunities for more than just growing plants. Students are also engaging in valuable aspects of agriculture such as learning about soil health, how plants grow outside, identifying insects and whether they are helpful or harmful.

In order to grow outdoors during the academic calendar, we use an innovation from the nursery and landscape industry called season extension garden cover. This provides thermal protection to the plants but sill allows oxygen, water, and light through. When coupled with wise choices and cold tolerant plants, students can grow plants all the way through winter and harvest on a nice day or during the spring when the weather is warming up.

Please click NEXT at the bottom of this page to advance through the module. To return to the list of modules, PC users click “Modules” in the top left corner, App users click the back arrow in the top left header.

August Planning and Preparation

August is a great time to purchase supplies, prepare your growing areas, and prepare your students’ growing minds for what they’ll be planting and learning about throughout the school year.

Throughout September to May, you will have the opportunity to plant and harvest one plant each month.

To-Do List for August

• Verify administrative support for your school garden efforts.
• Ensure teacher buy-in; it’s best to assemble a team.
• Obtain all supplies on materials lists.
• Purchase all seeds for full year.
• Reference raised bed info sheet and video to create outdoor garden: see links page.
• Water and fertilize (see info page and videos).

Food Safety and Biosecurity Considerations

• Ensure proper handwashing station; wash hands before and after being in the garden.
• Make sure to sanitize pots and tools.
• Keep indoor soil inside and outdoor soil outside.
• See links page for safe school garden.

Please click NEXT at the bottom of this page to advance through the module. To return to the list of modules, PC users click “Modules” in the top left corner, App users click the back arrow in the top left header.

Materials Lists

Materials for Indoor Seed Starting Kit

1. 10″ x 20″ flat tray
2. 32 cell inserts
3. Humidity dome
4. LED grow light panel
5. Water-soluble tomato plant food
6. Timer
7. Spray bottle
8. Seed starting potting mix

Materials for Outdoor Raised Beds (4′ x 8′)

1. Three two-by-fours, 8′ long (one cut in half to 4′ lengths)
2. 3″ exterior (or deck) screws
3. Corner brace (optional)
4. 20 bags (1.5 cubic feet each) of raised bed soil
5. All-purpose plant food fertilizer
6. 4′ x 8′ raised bed frame with soil

Materials for Outdoor Raised Beds With Season Extension

1. Plastic cover (10’x15′ sheet for each bed, recommended thickness of 6 mil) OR fabric cover (10’x15′ sheet for each bed, recommended weight of 1.2 ounces per yard)
2. 5 ½” schedule 40 PVC pipe (10′ cut to 8′)
3. 20 of the ½” galvanized pipe strap with screws
4. Jumbo binder clips, smooth rocks, or other material to secure row cover to ground and ensure cold air stays outside.

Materials for Indoor Hydroponics

1. Aerogarden, including seed pods, discs and domes
2. Fertilizer
3. Narrow watering can or water bottle
4. Foil or a cover to block pod opening
5. Be the Bee Pollinator or a paintbrush

Please click NEXT at the bottom of this page to advance through the module. To return to the list of modules, PC users click “Modules” in the top left corner, App users click the back arrow in the top left header.

GTS Growing Techniques Example

The GTS Guide provides information on growing techniques for each month of the year. The following is an example of what the guide provides for each month. 

October Growing Techniques.pdf

For more, purchase the GTS Guide from Extension Publishing!

Please click NEXT at the bottom of this page to advance through the module. To return to the list of modules, PC users click “Modules” in the top left corner, App users click the back arrow in the top left header.