Where is this going to be at? Spicewood?

Wow, what a great plan, and what a wonderful teaching/learning experience this will be for the community.
The only thing I would suggest you add is a simple rainwater collector. Perhaps you could put guttering on the shed, attach a downspout flowing into a large plastic barrel set on concrete pavers, and do dip-and-carry watering. This is well within the budget and expertise of any of your students, and can be expanded and improved upon later.
Wishing you well with your fantastic project!

Yep, Wantonamara, it's at the Spicewood Community Library, up behind the building (you can see a sliver of the north wall of the building in my pic above, far right edge).

What an excellent idea, Marlingardener! A fellow board member has an extensive rainwater collection system on her house, so I can get her help with that. I'd thought we'd eventually cover the classroom area with a pole-barn type roof and put a rainwater collection system on that in a few years, but I didn't even think about putting a small one on the shed. Fabulous idea, and I can do it this year instead of waiting ~ love that. Thanks for the idea, Marlin, and the compliments.

What are you putting on your walkways? You might consider putting down a thick layer of straw or hay, just to keep the mud at bay. Especially in the wide row plot, since it will all be tilled.

It looks like a great plan! :) Wish it were closer to DFW!

It would be nice to have a roofed area in the class room area ( being a red head in Texas) to get out of the sun and to collect some water. Maybe not all of it , but part of it. It could be a long range plan.

Thanks, Prariepaintbrush. :) Yep, the paths will all be topped with granite gravel except the wide row plot of course ~ it'll be pine straw or oat straw most likely.

Great minds think alike, Wanton. I'm planning on that and the only thing that would stop that plan is if it shades the planting area too much. I'm going to measure out where the cover would be if we do install it and put up a pole the same height and see how much shade it casts. Hopefully not all the way to the veggie plots, and if so, hopefully not long.

Thanks again everyone for the compliments and the help! I really appreciate it.

Congrats on what you are doing Knittlin. It all looks very well thought out and extremely functional

The link I am including is amazing. I can't imagine how long this would take,it is just cool to imagine. I love it when people come together to do things
Good for you
jolana

Here is a link that might be useful: greenhouse

Now that is cool, Jolana! Very interesting. That's certainly something the school could do ~ I think I'll pass it along to a teacher there once we start working together more. And thanks for the compliments, Jolana. :)

Anyone else have any comments, corrections, input? I'd love to hear it.

Knittlin, way back , when my kiddos were in school we always had paper drives and then can drives. If they collected the soda bottles in school, you could have enough in no time, lol

Yep, bet I could! But in the teaching garden, I'm wanting to build a greenhouse that would be easy for anyone to build at home, so am planning the first one to be made of cattle panels like the greenhouse I have. I figure cattle panels are easier to come by for the average person than 1500 soda bottles! LOL!

But I still think the soda bottle one is nifty and has a place in the garden ~ just that the school can do it as a class project maybe. I don't think I can drink that much soda on my own. Ooof! But a greenhouse made of soda bottles surely would be an attention getter ~ might get more people interested in the garden just from having one out there.

Knittlin,

I've looked over your plan several times and think it looks like a great plan.

Could you show a photo of the cattle panel greenhouse? That sounds like something workable around here.

Shirley

Here's a blog post I made about my greenhouse some time back, Shirley. It's a sturdy thing and I LOVE it. Since I have it situated on the southeast side of my house and have that double-layer plastic "system" on it, my tropicals sailed right through last winter without any supplemental heat. If we get a harder winter this year, I may have to put a little heater in there, but not much of one. If you have any questions, fire away! I love talking about my greenhouse. :)

And thanks for the compliments, Shirley. :)

Knittlin,

Went and checked your blog and that greenhouse is a great idea because it's simple you can take it down when it's not needed. I keep getting plants that need winter protection, so will have to come up with something because they make a mess in the house.

I'm sending you an email about some other stuff too.

I guess you could take it down if you bolted it together at the ends, Shirley ~ I never thought of that. If you bolted the plywood ends to the cattle panel sides, you could just unbolt it. Nifty!

Wow! That looks awesome. What a fantastic teaching space.

You might think about a second gate in the back as a "fire exit" - in case you have a small crowd and the front gate is blocked for whatever reason.

Maybe this can go outside the fence, but you might also think about place for portable restrooms in case you have an event/festival down the road.

Will there be power installed for the teaching area? If so, you could throw a couple of lights on top of it too in case an event runs past dark.

Great suggestions, Matx. Thanks! I'm lucky in that there are bathrooms in the building not far from the garden (that's the edge of it on the far right in the first picture). On the lights ~ great minds think alike ~ the guy who's putting in the water line is going to lay an electric line as well. I tend to be long-winded, so lights in case we run late is a good thing. ;) Plus, it's sometimes only possible to garden after dark when it's cooler.

A "fire exit" gate ~ not a bad idea. I'm hoping that in the years to come there will be enough interest in gardening to build a community garden on the other side of the fence there (I own that land and am planning on keeping it open for that), so a gate would be handy...

Thanks for the compliments. :)