The course
We fit a huge amount into a short space, so we can't go into every subject in great depth. What you will get is a good overview of how it all connects, and a clear sense of which parts to go and research for yourself. After forty years of growing, preparing and storing food, I am still learning. Leave here with the basics in place, and with confidence and enthusiasm, and the rest is an enjoyable, very abundant adventure.
Settle in and meet the place
3–7pm
Move into your accommodation, share a BBQ, and come and meet the beavers. Bring your garden plans and photos. There's an informal chat and help with your own garden through the evening.
Looking at land, soil and design
9am
We go round the group. What does each of us want from the weekend?
10am
10.45am
Large-scale planting, zoning the land, personal and emotional resilience, and the soil life and mycorrhiza that everything else rests on.
1pm
2pm
Proximity to towns and to the people you love, work, neighbours and livestock. Water supply, aspect, soil, pH, windbreaks and timber.
4.30pm
A simple design tool for reading a site: evaluate its Boundaries and Resources, work up a Design, and make your changes.
5pm
Soil health, no-dig, breaking new ground, mulching and creating windbreaks. An overview of irrigation and drainage, and zoning your site.
6.30pm
Sharon is around from 7.30pm for informal garden-design support and any questions, until 9pm.
Compost, sowing, planting and pests
9am
Practical considerations, pest defence and soil. Compost making and processing, hot compost, hügelkultur and hot beds for chillies and tomatoes. Sowing seed, hybrid versus heritage, labelling and cross-pollination, seed saving and successive sowings. Propagation: layering, cuttings, tubers, root cuttings, and grafting fruit trees onto rootstock.
11.30am
Soil compaction, and what the seed is telling you from its size and shape. Strong root systems, temperature, moisture and leaving space, and the pests that go for seeds and seedlings.
1.30pm
2.30pm
Tending the veg, working with brassicas, and getting the spacing right.
3.30pm
Slugs, birds, rabbits, mice, rats, dogs, and hungry children.
5pm
Are weeds helpful? Useful companion plants, and whether flowers are pointless. Beginning with chickens, simple aquaculture, and other sources of protein. Dry and cold-weather solutions.
6.30pm
More easy conversation from 7.30 to 9pm.
Harvest, storage and preserving
9am
Early or late varieties, and why it matters. Harvesting and storing kale, cabbage, squash and pumpkins, root veg, salads, onions and garlic, with some practical demonstration. Annual versus perennial crops, which ones store well through winter, and why that matters. Things we don't realise we can eat, exciting varieties you've never heard of, and which plants need support and how to give it.
11.30am
Root cellaring, with simple guidelines on building one. Garlic and onion plaits, Jerusalem artichokes, what to leave in the ground, and crops for early next season kept warm and sheltered. Fermenting, pickling, preserves, drying and dehydrating. Basic canning, and why it matters. Trade and barter.
1pm
2pm
Keeping in touch, book lists, seed suppliers, and where to go next.
The course fee is £200 per person, with a range of accommodation on site for the three nights. Places are arranged directly with Sharon by email.
