Table 3.

Effective strategies to improve health outcomes highlighted in reviewed studies. Strategies listed were included if they were mentioned in at least three studies, and are ranked in decreasing frequency of mention

Strategy	Description	Number of programmes	References
1. ‘Hands on’	Children’s hands-on experience planting, caring for and harvesting their own produce	13	2, 15–22, 24–28
2. Cooking component	Children participated in cooking and preparing the produce from the garden	8	15, 17, 19–21, 23, 24, 27
3. Instructor provided	Garden and/or nutrition lessons were taught by paid educators, provided by the research programme	7	2, 15–17, 20, 22, 23
4. Stakeholder involvement	Involved teachers, principals, community leaders in the development, dissemination and maintenance of the garden and garden activities	6	2, 17, 19–21, 25
5. Parental involvement	Included community workshops where parents could participate, newsletters and specific parental lessons	5	2, 17, 19, 23, 25
6. Food provision	F&V harvested from school garden were sold in farmers’ markets or used in school cafeterias	4	17, 19, 20, 26
7. Media promotion	Garden became focal point for whole-school activities, such as fundraising, media promotion and meal sharing	3	16, 19, 20

F&V, fruit and vegetables.