PHS Community Education offers seasonal programs designed to equip you with the skills, tools, and resources to start and maintain a community garden in your neighborhood. Discover how you can get involved, connect with fellow gardeners, and contribute to PHS’s mission of enhancing health and well-being through gardening.

Garden Tenders

Since 1995, our biannual program has empowered individuals and groups to create successful, self-sustaining community gardens. You'll learn essential skills in organizing, land selection, membership building, plant and soil care, and building partnerships. Whether you're starting a community garden or looking to grow, this program provides the guidance you need to create a thriving, community green space.

Spring Session

Learn about the logistics and dynamics of creating agricultural spaces in urban communities. Look for spring session dates and registration details in winter 2026.

• Six in-person gatherings held once a week.  
• Two additional gatherings will be scheduled by the group for hands-on Spring planting. 

Fall Session

This session will cover community outreach, activation, affinity building, and sustainable garden management. The summer sesssion ended in October. Keep an eye out for the 2026 fall session next year.

• Six in-person gatherings held once a week. 
• One of these gatherings will be for hands-on Fall planting 

Green City Teachers

This biannual workshop series is designed to support educators and community organizers working to engage youth in environmental education and activities. Through hands-on sessions and expert-led discussions, participants gain valuable tools and strategies for teaching environmental stewardship, sustainability, and green initiatives to young learners.

Summer Session

This workshop covers a range of topics, including basic horticulture, agriculture, natural resources like water, soil, and composting, as well as indoor growing techniques. Participants will also learn how to generate support for their educational projects. Graduates will receive materials and technical assistance to help bring their school garden ideas to life. The summer sesssion ended in June. Keep an eye out for the 2026 summer session next year.

• Three consecutive in-person, outdoor gatherings. 
• A potential for one virtual gathering, depending on weather and participant capacity. 

Fall Session

Join us for a step-by-step guide to setting up an indoor growing station. You can bring your own materials, or purchase a complete kit from PHS. The course has a $50 fee, with scholarships available. Look for fall session dates and registration details in summer 2026.

The Garden Stewardship Institute (GSI)

This 8-week hybrid program is a partnership between The Neighborhood Gardens Trust and the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, intended to strengthen community garden stewardship and leadership. GSI aims to equip community garden leaders with the knowledge and skills necessary to grow their gardening community and permanently sustain these shared public spaces.

At this time, GSI is accepting participants from sites which are in the PHS Community Gardens or City Harvest programs, or who are preserved by NGT (or in the process). As well as having interest in working on governance in their community garden or other community managed green space. Ideally, 2-3 participants from each garden, with at least one veteran garden leader and one newer garden leader, would participate and attend all 8 sessions.

If you are interested in starting a new garden group, or your garden is very newly established, please complete a Garden Tenders session before applying to GSI.

Over the course of 8 sessions, participants will learn how to:

• Engage with fellow garden leaders to address common concerns and celebrate strengths.
• Assess their leadership style and embrace ways to share power that uplifts community needs and the garden’s culture.
• Create welcoming and affirming third spaces that support community healing and hope.
• Grow community capacity and protect your garden through effective stewardship and communication of your “why.”
• Learn the basics of trauma-informed community care and how to foster transformation when conflict arises.
• Develop action plans for new initiatives, partnerships, and leadership succession.

Course Expectations and timeline:

• (9) Nine Course Sessions: (4) Four in-person and (5) Five virtual
• Course spans a total of (8) eight weeks

Contact the PHS Community Gardens Team at communitygardens@pennhort.org to learn more.