Which means you can use the SUFS funds your homeschooled child receives towards organic gardening educational classes. 

We do seasonal organic vegetable garden plantings, and also offer weekly organic gardening educational classes for your home garden.

Every gardening course includes hands-on education to successfully grow vegetables including: How to plant and seed, how to water, learning sunlight requirements, organic pest management, pruning and harvesting, and monthly organic fertilizing.
Choose from the Seasonal Menu: www.simplyorganicgardens.com
We recommend 3-6 months of classes per student 2 times a year to learn each planting season: 
Spring and Summer Classes Starting in March, April or May through August.
Fall and Winter Classes Starting in September, October, or November through February .
Each season will require a separate Seasonal Planting Course.

Please reach out to us if you’re interested in learning more.

Tuition and fee schedule: 

* Additional Costs Family Specific

• Additional plant support may be required based on seasonal menu selection.
• $45 tomato cage
• $65 a frame trellis

Weekly Gardening Class Curriculum:

Seasonal Planting Class: 

• How to transplant 
• How to seed and seed spacing
• Creating your garden map
• Why do we plant certain veggies and seed others
• Seasonal vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers
• What makes healthy soil

Lesson Week 1: Where and when to plant your Spring Garden

• Finding the best garden location
• When to plant each season
• Judging sunlight in your area

Lesson Week 2: How to Amend soil to prepare for planting

• Importance of tilling soil
• What nutrients are essential for successful plant growth
• Balancing nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and micronutrients

Lesson Week 3: Square foot gardening and companion planting

• Learning Florida friendly plant varieties
• Companion planting
• Principles of square foot gardening

Lesson Week 4: Planting and transplanting Spring vegetables

• Planting from seed versus transplanting starter plants
• Seed depths
• How to properly transplant vegetable plants
• Garden moisture management

Lesson Week 5: Reseeding and succession planting

• What is succession planting?
• Thinning out seedlings
• Reseeding where needed

Lesson Week 6: Fertilizing the garden

• How to fertilize
• What to fertilize with
• Fertilizing vegetables versus herbs and greens 

Lesson Week 7: Pruning growing vegetables

• Best pruning practices for various vegetables
• Best pruning practices for herbs 

Lesson Week 8: Harvesting

• When to harvest vegetables, greens, herbs
• How to harvest 

Lesson Week 9: Organic pest management

• Treating caterpillars organically
• Treating aphids, thrips, whiteflies, spider mites organically
• Treating ants organically

Lesson Week 10: Fertilizing the garden

• How to fertilize
• What to fertilize with
• Fertilizing vegetables versus herbs and greens 

Lesson Week 11: Pruning growing vegetables

• Best pruning practices for various vegetables
• Best pruning practices for herbs 

Lesson Week 12: Continued education on pruning and harvesting mature plants

• Keeping plants in their allotted space
• Continuous harvesting versus replacements

Lesson Week 13: Midseason replacements

• When and how to replace your harvested plants

Lesson Week 14: Continued education on growing

• How to navigate seasonal weather changes
• Keeping the garden full with continuous seeding
• Learning your garden’s personality
• Adjusting moisture needs as plants mature
• How to utilize all of your harvest
• Determining

Lesson Week 15: Fertilizing the garden

• How to fertilize
• What to fertilize with
• Fertilizing vegetables versus herbs and greens 

Lesson Week 16: Pruning growing vegetables

• Best pruning practices for various vegetables
• Best pruning practices for herbs 

Lesson Week 17: Harvesting

• When to harvest vegetables, greens, herbs
• How to harvest 

Lesson Week 18: Reseeding and succession planting

• What is succession planting?
• Thinning out seedlings
• Reseeding where needed

Lesson Week 19: Organic pest management

• Treating caterpillars organically
• Treating aphids, thrips, whiteflies, spider mites organically
• Treating ants organically

Lesson Week 20: Fertilizing the garden

• How to fertilize
• What to fertilize with
• Fertilizing vegetables versus herbs and greens 

Lesson Week 21: Pruning growing vegetables

• Best pruning practices for various vegetables
• Best pruning practices for herbs 

Lesson Week 22: Harvesting

• When to harvest vegetables, greens, herbs
• How to harvest 

Lesson Week 23: Reseeding and succession planting

• What is succession planting?
• Thinning out seedlings
• Reseeding where needed

Lesson Week 24: Clearing Garden and Planning for Next season

• Determine what plants to keep and which ones need to be replaced seasonally.
• Make a plan for the next season’s planting. 
• Source seeds and plants for the next season.

Which means you can use the SUFS funds your homeschooled child receives towards a vegetable garden installation and organic gardening educational classes.

EVERY garden installation includes: The elevated cedar garden beds with organic soil hands-on planting in the students backyard. A wi-fi enabled timer and self-watering irrigation system, a tool kit, and the first seasonal planting of organic seeds and vegetables for the student with hands-on teaching.
As a Separate Service, we offer gardening classes each week to teach the student all they need to know to care for their garden organically. Including planting, pruning, harvesting, reseeding, fertilizing and organic pest management. 
We recommend 3-6 months of classes per student 2 times a year to learn each planting season: 
Spring and Summer Classes Starting in March, April or May through August.
Fall and Winter Classes Starting in September, October, or November through February .
Future seasons will require a separate Seasonal Planting.

Garden Installation Option 1: 4×8 Elevated Garden Installed on patio, or existing ground cover. $2,400
Garden Installation Option 2: 4×8 Elevated Garden Installed with mulch ground covering. $2,915
Garden Installation Option 3: 4×8 Elevated Garden Installed with small river rock ground covering. $3,280

Weekly Gardening Educational Classes $325/mo. (3-6 months of classes per season, recommended)

Seasonal Replanting for next (future) seasons $500  

Please reach out to us if you’re interested in learning more.

This spectacular garden is proof that great things can come in smaller packages! While the scenery is absolutely immaculate, the full sunshine this garden receives is key to its success. We utilize the 32 square feet to their capacity, and the yields prove it. 

Every garden has its own personality, and this beauty has absolutely thrived throughout the years. Being right on the lake, we deal with great winds and little protection from nature when storms roll through. Creative solutions like extra secures for tomato cages and trellises have kept our larger veggies stable and safe during hurricane season. In the more mild months, this garden receives full sunshine all day! Since we have worked with this garden for five years, we also understand its quirks. By dialing in the moisture level with smart irrigation, and fully understanding the shadows that are cast to tuck in the herbs and greens that prefer partial sun, we successfully grow a large variety of veggies here with very minimal issues. 

Not every family requires a massive garden to nourish them and bring joy. The true keys to gardening success are: selecting the right full sun location, maximizing yield with companion planting, and patience. Our gardens are alive! A new garden will tell you what it needs to thrive. It can take time, but through love, effort, and trial and error, anyone can dial into the needs of their veggies. Our mission is to help give insight into what your garden is telling you, so that we can all grow together!

Nestled into the heart of Orlando lives this bountiful homestead property. Their custom configuration of 96 sq. ft of garden beds is perfectly secured by a deer fence perimeter. This serves the obvious function of keeping critters out, but also acts as a safe home for the chickens and piggy that live here too! 

Aesthetics aside, the best part of having a large garden as your grocery store is you can grow a wide variety of veggies to nourish your family, while not having to sacrifice quantity. That’s where we come in with your garden plan. You can have an entire bed dedicated to growing potatoes, and leave the rest to us as we utilize the principles of square foot gardening to seed and plant every remaining inch! These gardeners have the flexibility of trying a bit of everything, while still being able to have multiple plants of the veggies they love most. 

One of the greatest contributors to the success of this garden is the wonderful family that is so involved. Their kiddo’s love coming out weekly to harvest their nutritious, delicious, organic vegetables! We get to help teach the kids the best harvesting practices, learn their favorite veggies, and give them confidence out in their garden. From plucking tomatoes, to pulling radishes, their positive energy overflows into these vegetables! We absolutely love this big and beautiful garden in the Lake Nona area.

This magical plant may sound familiar to you, but it’s not what you think. Plantago major does not produce yummy, banana-like fruits, but is actually a super nutritious weed! You may have pulled hundreds of them from your property thinking they were a nuisance, but herbalists refer to them as “the green bandage”. 

Used topically as a poultice or mucilage, the properties of plantain act as powerful pullers. If you find yourself with a bee sting, splinter, small spider bite, or other similar injuries, applying the herb with a wrap for several hours, or over night, will help to pull it right out of your skin!

The benefits don’t stop there! If you want to eat the leaves chopped in a salad, or brewed in a tea, they help aid digestion, and specifically help target clearing out the lungs. They also have anti-inflammatory, antiviral, and antifungal properties.

While they may be plentiful around you in the ground, keep in mind organic practices. The best option is to grow them in your organic garden, or make sure you’re only taking leaves from untreated soils. They thrive in Central Florida and beyond. I hope this has helped change your perspective on these prolific plants to see them not as pests, but powerful medicine. We don’t need to be afraid to eat these weeds!

Source: Florida Holistic School