NEW START COMMUNITY GARDEN

The New Start Community Garden aka the Shark Garden is a nonprofit teaching garden in northern Burien, WA. It was started in 2015 as a school garden for New Start High School, a magnet school for at risk youth in the Highline School District (mascot the shark). Today, the 1.6 acre garden is a nonprofit learning space where the community can come to learn about growing food, environmental science, and cooking traditions from around the world. We are a unique combination of school, community, and botanical gardens. The community p-patch serves over 70 local families and the school garden area is managed by volunteers to grow hundreds of pounds of organic and culturally relevant produce for the White Center Food Bank.

The botanical garden collections focus on edible landscaping, native plants, drought tolerant plants, organic food gardening, and wildlife habitat. The dozen plus botanical demonstration gardens are used for teaching classes as well as harvesting. In 2023, we held 33 free classes, providing over 1,500 hours of class time and serving hundreds of people. In 2024, we held 41 classes and a dozen community events. Our classes are about organic gardening, cooking, and environmental science.