Cultivating Futures – Pedagogical School Vegetable Gardens
💚 Do you want to start a school vegetable garden but don’t know where to begin?
🌿 Would you like to make your existing school garden more engaging and educational for your students?
🧠 Do you wish to bring more calm, connection, and well-being into your classroom?
🌍 Would you like to help your students understand sustainability through real-life, hands-on learning?
If you answered yes to any of these questions –
this Erasmus+ course is made for you! 💚
Why this course is perfect for you?
Our Erasmus+ Training Course – Pedagogical Vegetable Gardens equips you with everything you need to create a thriving school garden from scratch, whether you have a big outdoor space 🌱 or just a sunny windowsill 🌞
But it’s more than gardening. You’ll discover how to:
🌍 Connect your students with nature in meaningful ways
🧠 Use gardening as a tool to reduce stress and improve well-being
👩🏫 Transform simple seeds into powerful teaching tools across all subjects
💚 And use it as a powerful tool for inclusive education and special needs students
Because when we grow food together, we also grow awareness, resilience, and community. 💚
Our trainings are practical, friendly, and inspiring, creating a joyful learning atmosphere where teachers from all over Europe share ideas and experiences!
What can you expect from this course?
This is a hands-on course where you will learn by doing and gain all the tools to create and use a permaculture-based organic school vegetable garden.
We’ll inspire you to use the garden as an open-air learning lab – a dynamic, participatory, and interdisciplinary resource for all educational levels.
During our course we will:
🌱 Visit inspiring schools and learn hands-on
🌱 Support schools in underprivileged areas to develop and maintain their vegetable gardens – together we will plant seeds of change and create social impact!
🌱 Learn outdoors at our teacher-training garden in Lisbon and at the Pedagogical Farm.
🌱 Enjoy a cultural day in Belém, exploring Lisbon’s iconic sites and tasting the famous Pastéis de Belém.
🌱 Celebrate the week with a community picnic, reflection, and certificate ceremony.
🌱 Create beautiful memories and be part of an inspiring teacher community.
What will you learn throughout this course?
🌱 Understand the benefits of school gardens and explore inspiring real-life examples from schools across Europe.
🌱 Apply permaculture and organic principles to create a sustainable and productive garden.
🌱 Use educational tools and AI to create lesson plans and activities that connect your curriculum with the school vegetable garden.
🌱 Design your garden strategically – choose the right tools, containers, and materials, and understand key factors like sunlight and drainage.
🌱 Grow a garden anywhere – from a large schoolyard to a classroom windowsill.
🌱 Prepare the soil and build cultivation beds for optimal plant health and productivity.
🌱 Explore soil science – learn about nutrients, composting, and how to build your own compost bin.
🌱 Plan your crops with a personalised garden calendar (AI-supported) tailored to your local climate.
🌱 Master the journey from seed to plant, including sowing, planting, and propagation techniques.
🌱 Keep your garden thriving with eco-friendly practices like crop rotation, green manure, and companion planting.
🌱 Promote biodiversity by attracting pollinators and beneficial insects.
🌱 Identify and manage pests and diseases using safe and ecological treatments.
🌱 Use mobile apps to identify plants and species.
🌱 Take care of your garden, harvest your crops and bring your garden to the classroom table with microgreens and sprouts.
🌱 Use our AI tool to help plan, monitor, and maintain your garden efficiently.
By the end of this course, you’ll leave with practical skills, digital tools, and fresh inspiration to make your school a greener, calmer, and more engaging place to learn and teach.
Who is this course for?
This course was designed for teachers and other adults from educational organisations involved in formal, non-formal and informal learning.
🌱 Kindergarten and primary teachers who want to introduce nature-based and experiential learning from an early age.
🌱 Middle and high school teachers who wish to make their subjects more engaging through hands-on activities in the school vegetable garden.
🌱 Special education teachers looking for practical, sensory, and inclusive learning tools that support diverse students.
🌱 Other educators interested in vegetable gardens and professionals from non-formal and informal learning contexts who wish to develop educational projects.
🌱 School staff and Erasmus+ project coordinators committed to promoting eco-schools, sustainability, and well-being initiatives.
Don’t fit this exact profile? We also create customized courses for teachers and for NGOs, municipalities, and other organizations.
📩 Contact us: info@cultivatingfutures.eu
How can you get a course with us?
We have a few vacancies for our next date:
🌱 27th October – 31st October / 1st November (5 / 6 days)
🌱 3rd – 7th November (5 days – extendable to 6 / 7 days)
And next 2025 / 2026 dates to be confirmed soon!
Let us know when you can come, and we will confirm a new class!
To register or get more information, send us an email to info@cultivatingfutures.eu!
Are you not available on that date?
No problem! Send us an email with the dates you are free to come, and we will try to confirm a class.
Would you like to get a course with us but none of the ones we have available appeal to you?
Contact us, and we will design a course adapted for your group!
What investment do you have to make?
None! If you request an Erasmus+ grant or KA1 mobility, you don’t have to make any financial investment!
The Erasmus+ funding covers all transport, accommodation, and training costs.
The course fee is 400€ for a 5-day course or 560€ for a 7-day course.
Note that accommodation and meals are not included.
BENEFITS INCLUDED:
Certificate of attendance at the end of the course and Europass certificate;
Digital manuals with complementary materials;
Coffee break in every office session.
A Google map private List with all our favourite restaurants and places to visit in Lisbon and close to Lisbon, including the local secrets!
Photographic coverage during the course to share and remember our beautiful moments together;
Access to an exclusive community for Erasmus teachers to share experiences and activities;
What Differentiates Us from Other Erasmus+ Courses?
We’re specialists in education for sustainability and pedagogical vegetable gardens, not generalists offering hundreds of topics.
Our hands-on approach in small groups means every course is personalized to your specific needs and context. You’ll learn by doing, in real gardens, with real impact.
Your learning doesn’t stop when the course ends. Join our alumni community for ongoing support as you implement your garden project. Plus, access our exclusive AI tool – designed specifically to help you create and maintain your school vegetable garden year-round.
Every course creates ripple effects. The funding we receive helps us support schools in underprivileged areas, spreading sustainable education where it’s needed most.
Choose specialist expertise.
Choose personalized learning.
Choose lasting impact.
Ready to cultivate change in your school?
Email us: 📩 info@cultivatingfutures.eu
Or fill the google form – link
What other information should you know about this course?
Place
This course will take place in our office in Alvalade (Lisbon, Portugal), where we have a small backyard with a vegetable garden.
Course length
The course lasts 5 days (extendable to 7 days).
We believe that the future of education, and our well-being, depends on what we cultivate today.
Join us in spreading seeds of change!
💬 Reach out – whether by phone, message, or email: info@cultivatingfutures.eu
Or fill the google form – link
See what past participants say about this course!
