Yellow Tractor Program (YTP) is a non-profit organization dedicated to creating and facilitating the use of vegetable gardens for school age children. By partnering with various volunteer organizations, YTP hopes to promote school and community garden projects. We can provide the gardening organization, and resources needed for volunteers and communities who want to establish or maintain a garden project. We also provide garden-related curriculum meeting national standards in Math, Science, History, Art, Social Studies, Language Arts, and Health and Nutrition. As subscriber to YTP, discounts to certain suppliers can be accessed with some discounts up to 30%. The Yellow Tractor Program advocates for sustainable growth by clearing a path for food security, building opportunities for healthier life skills, and providing a safe place for children to grow not only food, but themselves.

The inspiration behind the Yellow Tractor Program comes from the desire to help children eat healthier, thinking about what is good for their bodies, and providing the opportunity to make healthy choices for themselves. This creates the essential fuel needed for a food-secure and nutrition-rich community. The growing garden movement recognizes the importance of promoting a connection to the earth, to our food, and to preserving outdoor space for students. Raising eco- and agriculturally-literate children, who understand the connections growing gardens can make, is the focus of the Yellow Tractor Program. Implementing the Yellow Tractor Program program helps to encourage healthy eating at home and at school; a significant strategy for health organizations and school wellness programs. We call this the “Circle of Health.” Yellow Tractor Program provides a platform for additional learning: science, math, the values of respect, responsibility and cooperation, and the sense of accomplishment that can be gained individually and as a group.

The list below is the core points to consider when starting a garden project.

• Desire


• Location: 6-8 hours of sun daily, close to water source


• Size: 16 feet x 20 feet


• Supplies and Volunteers


• Volunteers needed to sustain a garden project


• Consider who needs to approve



A desire within the community for a healthier, more sustainable lifestyle will drive the successful implementation of your garden. It may be a desire to eat healthier or less expensively, by growing our own fruits and vegetables. It may be a way to give back to the community through teamwork. All you need is a plot of land, a rooftop, a sunny windowsill, or even numerous pots on steps. Yellow Tractor is geared toward digging and planting a garden size approximately 16 feet x 20 feet. It requires approximately two (5-hour) days of work outdoors and perhaps a day of planning (depending upon how extensive the garden will be).

When starting your garden, the location needs to be decided first. The garden must be close to a water source and get between 6-8 hours of sun everyday. Generally, a garden in most areas of the country runs for between 6-9 months out of the year. The busiest times of the gardening season are April through October. Garden development includes digging the garden space, preparing the soil, ordering and planting seeds or plants, tending the garden (weeding and watering), harvesting the garden, and finally preparing the garden for rest (usually winter).

It takes about 5-10 volunteers (the more the better!) to dig a 16 x 20 foot garden. Double digging garden beds will ensure good plant development and increase your harvest. (Plan on two days for this digging work.) You will also need a rotating group of volunteers like students, teachers and/or parents to tend to the various duties of the garden. A supply list can be found in the navigation above.

A group of at least 20 volunteers can easily run a garden with one or two leaders. Some schools structure their garden by grade level and have each grade care for a row, or build a specific part of the garden, or perhaps attend to a certain function of the garden (i.e. watering, weeding, compost pile, etc).

Developing your garden space may require approval from various entities depending upon its location. Please check with your local administrator whether it is a school principal or landlord. Many free resources may also be available from local nurseries, agricultural extension offices, and other gardening schools

• Individual schools or school districts (PTOs and PTAs)
• After school programs (Kids Café) implementing a garden and utilizing YTP curriculum.
• Corporate sponsorship and donation partnered with labor sources (volunteers, local farmers, employees, etc ) for needy areas.
• Alignments with various outreach community organizations (like Boys and Girls Clubs, Boys and Girl Scouts, Rotary, etc.)
• Interfaith Organizations.
• Sister church alignment and partnership.
• Sister school alignment and partnership.

• Kids café programs (1400 centers across the country serve millions of children)
• Food banks
• Senior citizen centers
• Soup kitchens
• Farmer’s markets
• Directly home in backpacks
• Partner school
• Interfaith organizations

Yellow Tractor Program would like to emphasize what we call the Circle of Health. This is the concept of creating a circle that fulfills itself by providing a range of behaviors and connections. These components intern benefit a child's health. By exploring what we eat, how we learn, and the impact it has on how we live, the Circle of Health can provide a natural and easy path for a child's healthy lifestyle.

Children start with the creation of a garden, which involves going outside, using hard work to plant seeds, weed, and tend the garden. Along with all of the things that can be learned from the actual garden, students benefit body and mind from experiencing nature and being outdoors.

Children like to eat what they grow. Food grown in an organic garden is free of pesticides and chemicals. Children get to know that vegetables actually taste good, creating a healthy attitude about food. When children eat a healthy diet they are less likely to be overweight and more aware of the positive choices of good nutrition. On a larger scale, this reduces the burden on our healthcare system.

Circle of Health

• Students outdoors
• Gardening equals exercising
• Food grown by students, more likely to be eaten by students
• School garden grown vegetables are free of pesticides and chemicals
• Eating more vegetables creates healthier palates
• Healthier eating means healthier bodies
• Reduces the burden on the healthcare system