Kitchen gardener
This workshop aims to teach you how to successfully grow fruit and vegetables, learn what works for your kitchen garden and what to grow to supply your family with fresh produce for the whole year.
Over 7 workshops you will learn the skills to be a confident gardener in your gardening space as well as meeting a new community of people who share the same love of all things natural.
The Kitchen Gardener workshop is normally run once a month on a Sunday from 14:00 – 15:30 over seven months. This will allow the learner experience the growth patterns of the different seasons.
Workshops for the Kitchen Gardener Price
The Workshops for the Kitchen Gardener series in 2020 is only €95 for the seven Workshops.
We do not offer the workshops individually – they must be purchased as a series of seven.
Workshop 1
- Vegetable Growing
- Gain an understanding of how best to grow vegetables.
- Understand the nutrients that vegetables need to successfully grow.
- Classification of vegetables and the families they belong.
- Produce a crop rotation. We will also discuss catch cropping.
Workshop 2
- Potato Growing
- Gain an appreciation of how to grow potatoes.
- Correct timing of planting and harvesting potatoes.
- Understand timing of planting both onions and garlic to crop twice a year.
- Be able to plant out seed potatoes, garlic and onions into allotment or garden.
- Plant potatoes using containers.
Workshop 3
- Sowing and Growing
- Understand the various techniques in sowing both under cover and in situ.
- Get to know the techniques to enable you to produce vegetables throughout the growing season.
- Avoid the problem of producing glut amounts of vegetables.
Workshop 4
- Weed Maintenance of Kitchen Gardens
- May is normally the time when a weed explosion occurs in the vegetable garden.
- Gain an understanding on how and why weeds tend to cause such problems; if we understand how they grow and reproduce, we can learn how to better to manage this problem.
- Understand and identify a selection of both annual / perennial weeds and the various approaches to controlling them.
Workshop 5
- Green Manure – How to condition your soil for the Winter and better retain soil fertility.
- What to grow in your allotment for the rest of the year.
Workshop 6
- Fruit Growing for the Kitchen Garden
- We will look at a selection of standard fruit trees and soft fruit, and you’ll gain an understanding on how to maximise crops by using the the right pruning technique and correct timing to prune.
- Gain practical experience into planting and managing a selection of top as well as soft fruit.
Workshop 7
- A Year in Review
- What worked well and what did not work so well in your Kitchen Garden.
- Question and answer session
We are also delighted to let you know that we will starting a new series of six workshops starting on the 2nd September 2021 every Thursday afternoon between 2.00 and 3.30pm in the Festina Lente Walled Garden.
All six workshops will cost 95.00 at a max of ten spaces per 6 workshops
Each workshop will be of a practical nature and in most cases will hands on learning. There will also be a short power point presentation to support the workshops which will be made available to participants.
There are a maximum of 10 spaces available. Cost of the series of six workshops is 95.00 euro.
Container growing workshop. Date 2/9/21
This will look at the different uses that containers can provide in a garden context.
What you can grow successfully from ornamentals to vegetables using containers. So if it’s just a balcony or window ledge that you have and don’t know what to do this workshop is for you.
Composting workshop. 9/9/21
This workshop will provide you with the basic skills that are needed to compost your own household and garden waste correctly. This no frills approach gets down to the main way in which to compost and will give you the basic tools and understanding. A practical will be demonstrated after presentation.
Rose Growing 16 /9/21
This course will provide you with advice on how to choose suitable roses for your garden; how you can use roses in your garden; how and when to plant them so they establish successfully and what ongoing maintenance is required, including feeding, deadheading and pest and disease control.
Autumn pest control Date 23/9/21 in the garden, what to look out for and suitable organic control, to use against the garden invaders. This workshop shall equip you to be able to identify the more important garden pests during the Autumn Season.
Herb growing 30/9/21
This workshop will equip the first time grower to a selection of both annual and perennial herb. We will look at their medicinal and culinary use and how we can utilize them in a garden context and be able to identify a range of pests and diseases that may affect your crop. We will finish out the workshop by sowing a small selection of herbs to take home.
Propagation 7/9/21
As autumn approaches it can be a great time to take advantage of increasing your plant stock within your garden.
A short presentation shall be given to equip the student with the basic knowledge required.
After which students shall utilise the gardens to collecting some material to propagate and to take home. A quick demo will be shown before students have the opportunity to do same with what they have collected from the walled gardens
Participants are advised to bring along a pair of gloves and a Secateurs for this workshop.