This series of basic gardening sessions will allow you to learn new skills and gain confidence in your gardening and food-growing ability in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere.

Learn everything you need to get started with organic food growing straight away!

Learn everything you need to get started with organic food growing straight away!

This series of basic gardening sessions will allow you to learn new skills and gain confidence in your gardening and food-growing ability in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere.

Learn everything you need to get started with organic food growing straight away!

Learn everything you need to get started with organic food growing straight away!

Learn everything you need to get started with organic food growing straight away!

This series of basic gardening sessions will allow you to learn new skills and gain confidence in your gardening and food-growing ability in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere.

Learn everything you need to get started with organic food growing straight away!

Learn everything you need to get started with organic food growing straight away!

Learn everything you need to get started with organic food growing straight away!

This series of basic gardening sessions will allow you to learn new skills and gain confidence in your gardening and food-growing ability in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere.

Increasingly we have hot summers and weeks without rain, and it can be a nightmare for gardeners. In this session we will look at practical ways to reduce your need to water plants. We will also brew up some natural fertilisers to use on tomatoes and squashes so they produce tastier and larger fruits.

Is it a weed or a plant?This is a common question that gardeners ask themselves when expecting seedlings to sprout. We will take a look at what’s growing in the garden and help you distinguish between the weeds and wanted plants. We will also explore natural pest control methods to help you protect your crops without polluting them.

You don't have a garden but want to grow food? 

In this 2-hour session we'll be looking at small scale garden solutions from mini garden beds to growing on a windowsill and making the most of what space you have. We'll be planting up trays that can fit into any space, so that you can try your own food growing at home.

Forest gardens can give a multitude of yields while supporting biodiversity and a number of other ecological functions. With this session you will get an overview of the main characteristics of forest gardens, what to look out for when designing your forest garden as well as some practical skills for maintaining the existing forest garden at Glengall Wharf. 

In some cases digging is necessary. In most cases it disturbs soil life, lessens soil moisture and causes weeds to grow. This two-hour session is an introduction to the why and the how of no dig gardening. Participants will walk away with a clear idea of how to start a no dig garden as well as how to maintain it.

In the soil care and composting session, we will examine what the components of good garden soil are, how we can keep it healthy for producing food and flowers and how to improve it using different composting methods. We'll explore techniques that are applicable on different scales, from the community garden to the back garden or the balcony.

Pest or guest? In this two-hour session you will become familiar with common garden pests and diseases such as slugs, aphids, blight and pigeons. We'll be looking at practical tools and strategies to overcome these unwanted visitors, including some companion planting ideas, and implementing some tried and tested techniques to help prevent them.

We will examine what the components of good soil are, how we can keep it healthy for producing food and flowers and how to improve it using different composting methods. We'll explore techniques that are applicable on different scales, from our community garden to containers of pots on a balcony.

The workshop will explore what type of vegetables are suitable to grow late in the year, which ones can be planted from seed and which ones as young plants. In a practical exercise we will prepare the ground, sow and plant and plan how we will need to care for them as they become established.

In this two hour workshop we will explore some of the design principles that can help us create low-maintenance edible landscapes using perennial fruit and vegetables. These edible landscapes, on a larger scale also forest gardens, can provide food, but also other resources such as timber and firewood as well as valuable habitat for wildlife.

This two-hour session will make you familiar with common garden pests such as slugs, aphids, blight and pigeons. We'll be looking at practical tools and strategies to overcome these unwanted visitors, and implementing some tried and tested techniques to help prevent them.

Come join the Open Orchard and Social Landscapes for a session on Orchard Care and Maintenance in Hillside Gardens Park.

Some trees need summer pruning, others need mulching; we will plant russian comfrey around them to help build healthy soil and reduce the cages of larger trees to free up the crown.