Table 5 Summary of research and practice recommendations for garden-based interventions

Examine impact on specific subpopulations [30, 31, 49]

Comprehensive school garden interventions [27, 51]

Examine long-term impacts of garden-based interventions [30, 31, 48, 49, 51,52,53,54,55,56, 58]

Utilization of gardens as a way to improve nutritional outcomes via vegetable provision [31, 49, 52, 55, 58]

Include educational impacts of school-based gardens [27, 31, 54]

Integration of school-gardens into curricular instruction [27]

Assess impact of garden-based interventions on broader community [30, 51, 52, 54]

Develop age-appropriate garden-based curriculum rooted in age-appropriate evaluation tools [30]

Start up and sustainability of school-based gardens [30, 50,51,52, 54, 55, 58, 59]

Involve parents and staff to achieve buy-in and establish rapport [30, 84]

Enhanced rigor of study design including objective measures, power [27, 30, 31, 48, 50, 53,54,55, 57]

Multi-disciplinary collaboration, including engagement with local stakeholders and policymakers [51, 53,54,55]

Cost-effectiveness of garden-based interventions [48, 49, 51,52,53, 55, 59]

Focus on sustainable behavior change [49, 58]

Enhanced description of intervention methodology, standardized reporting process [27, 31, 55, 56]

Examine instructional quality in delivery of interventions [27]

Increased use of standardized measures of child health outcomes [30, 31, 48, 54,55,56,57,58]

Employ multicomponent interventions, particularly in child care settings [59, 60]

Include qualitative methods [31]

Include taste exposure as part of intervention [59]

Explore mediation effects [54]

Examine role in neophobia/fussy eating [59]