A national movement is underway to establish elementary school gardens, which can serve both academic and social purposes. These gardens can positively impact students' science achievement and provide the thematic and hands-on approach especially conducive to learning for students with disabilities. Garden-based learning (GBL) broadens the scope of school gardening to include tools and processes such as indoor seed germination and vermicomposting. Teachers at a suburban elementary school leveraged community resources and the assistance of parents to initiate GBL. They employed this strategy to provide standards-based science and cross-disciplinary instruction, as well as to facilitate inquiry and the development of related process skills. A collaborative fourth grade classroom engaged all learners in investigations about the decomposition of vegetable matter, worm populations, and the impact of fertilizer on plant growth. The experiential and interdisciplinary nature of GBL may make it one key to unlocking learning potential in students with disabilities. (Contains 1 table and 4 figures.)