As temperatures and energy bills rocket I want to help us think about the vital role that our outdoor spaces can play in responding to the social and environmental crises that we’re facing.
However big or small, our outdoor spaces can help us grow food, welcome wildlife and spend valuable time with friends and family. They can also dry our laundry without recourse to power, and even out some of the worst excesses of climate change, by capturing and storing water during times of flooding and providing welcome oases of shade and relaxation during heatwaves. Their potential is huge, and many of us have only just scratched the surface of what’s possible here.
Sadly, however, many of us grow up feeling like we can’t garden. Perhaps we’ve had some disasters in the past so we tell ourselves that we don’t have ‘green fingers’. Or we tried to grow veg during lockdown, only to feel overwhelmed by the time or labour commitment required. Maybe we’ve never tried because we just don’t know where to begin, or we don’t think it would be possible in our tiny concrete ‘yarden’.
The good news is that there’s another way and we’ve been doing it successfully for 11 years at Scotch Quarry Park, ever since the wonderful garden and permaculture designer Jennifer Lauruol came and taught us how. Now I want to show you how to do it too – that’s why I’ve created this monthly programme of seasonal workshops which will take you by the hand through all the basics that you need to know to get things set up for success in your own outdoor space.
Who is this for?
This programme is for you if you are:
- Worried about climate change and biodiversity loss and wanting to tackle this through your own outdoor space.
- Wanting to grow more of your own food but limited on time and unsure where to start
- New to gardening and don’t know where to begin
- Wanting to create a beautiful space for people and wildlife but struggling with a garden that feels too big or too small
- Used to traditional gardening methods and wondering how you can adapt your garden to be more climate resilient
What will I learn?
Each session will involve a mix of learning principles and practical skills as well as the opportunity to get coached on how to apply your learning to your own garden. So yes, you’ll get practical tips and tricks, like how to plant your fruit trees and make more herbs for free. However, most importantly, we’ll take the mystery out of gardening by taking things back to basic principles that will leave you feeling confident about what to do, and when. We know you’re busy, which is why each session is just 1 hour long.
Check out our monthly programme below which gives you a breakdown of the topics for each month. All sessions will be held on Sunday mornings at Scotch Quarry, unless the weather is truly terrible, in which case we will shift to Zoom.
Monthly course outline
March - Herbs for free. March is an exciting month when the garden really starts to wake up from it’s winter sleep. This time of ‘nearly but not yet’ in the garden is a great time to make further additions to your palette of plants. We’ll show you how to get more spring bulbs and groundcover plants – including herbs like chives and mint, by simply lifting, splitting and replanting.
March 5th, 9-10am in Scotch Quarry Park
April – Feed the soil, sow the seed. Looking after your soil is probably THE most important thing you can do to keep your plants healthy and happy and combat the climate emergency. Establishing a healthy soil microbiome through composting and mulching will keep your plants in tip-top shape and help conserve water in ways that are ever more important given the hot, dry periods we are increasingly experiencing so this is when you get to enjoy the pay-off from the composting work that you did last season. Of course, April is also a fabulous time to sow seeds, so we’ll be showing you how to do that successfully too.
April 2nd, 9-10am in Scotch Quarry Park
May – Friends in unlikely places: rethinking our approach to ‘weeds’ in the garden. While forest gardens are lower maintenance, they are not no maintenance and, at this time of year when plants begin to grow strongly, you’ll most likely find yourself needing to weed at least a bit. However, by shifting our approach from the thankless task of eradication to a more measured approach of creating balance within the garden, we can make the process a lot easier and more meaningful. And, by taking inspiration from foraging and rewilding agendas and combining that with an eye for aesthetics, you might even find yourself wanting to cultivate a little patch of dandelions!
May 7th, 9-10am in Scotch Quarry Park
June – Free food in 5 minutes: The garden is now coming into full flow, which provides us with yet more opportunities to make more plants for free. This time, we take a look at the process of taking softwood cuttings, a fabulous method for reproducing many plants like rosemary and lavender which takes literally 5 minutes (go ahead, time yourself!). We’ll also look at supporting both your plants and you(!) before the super abundance and overwhelm of summer kicks in.
June 4th, 9-10am in Scotch Quarry Park
July - Managing abundance and navigating chaos: If we’ve done our job properly then the chances are the garden will be blooming now, in all senses of the word. On one level, this is wonderful as you get to enjoy the fruits of your labours without the monumental workload that comes with a traditional allotment plot. However, especially if you’re new to this style of gardening, this is when things can start to feel more than a little out of control: in this session, we’ll help you figure out how to keep your garden abundant AND beautiful while thinking through some strategies for navigating the worst excesses of climate change.
July 2nd, 9-10am in Scotch Quarry Park
August – Saving seed: the best kind of investment. Saving your own seed is a fantastic way to ensure your garden stays resilient and healthy into the new year, and without spending a penny. This month, we look at some basic principles of seed saving and point you towards groups and resources that can help you learn more.
August 6th, 9-10am in Scotch Quarry Park
September – Bringing home the harvest. Chances are you’ve been enjoying the fruits of your labours for many months already now but, as the garden shows the first signs of beginning to slow down for winter, this is a perfect chance to take stock of what’s happened during the gardening year while things are still above ground and visible. We’ll come together to celebrate what worked well, what needs improving and what we learnt from nature. We’ll also consider any changes we may want to make during the winter ahead so the cycle can begin again, only better.
September 3rd, 9-10am in Scotch Quarry Park
October - Forest Gardens and why you should have one. A forest garden uses permaculture principles to combine many of the features that you may want to have in your garden, and all in a low maintenance way. So think food, wildlife value, beauty, medicinal plants, free herb teas etc etc. And you can do them in a really small space too!
Join us to find out how to design your own!
October 1st, 9-10am in Scotch Quarry Park
November – Lessons in the leaves: learning from autumn in the garden. This session looks at autumn through two very different perspectives. First up, we’ll learn practical tips for what to do in the garden at this time of year to set you up for success in spring (think composting, mulching and getting those bulbs tucked up for winter). Just as important, however, is learning how to let go of the gardening year that’s just past, so that we can learn how to do it better in future. What worked well? What was an abject failure? And what does this tell us about where we and our gardens need to change and grow?
November 5th, 9-10am in Scotch Quarry Park
December – Back to the drawing board: designing for success in the garden. In this session we’ll learn the design skills we need to make your garden a success. Probably as much as 70 per cent of the problems that people experience in gardening come down to bad design. A successful garden is about plants and people working well together as a team and we often set ourselves up to fail because we’ve got things in the wrong place at the wrong time or been unrealistic about what we’re able to achieve. In this session, we’ll look at your garden as a whole. Join us and we’ll help you figure out what changes you need to make now in order to make things a whole lot easier come springtime.
December 3rd, 9-10am in Scotch Quarry Park
Prices and booking
All sessions last 1 hour and must be booked in advance on Eventbrite.
Booking for the whole year (all 10 sessions) costs £120 or, if you want to book for three months initially, there's an option to do that also for £40. Individual sessions can also be booked for £15.
We don’t want anyone to be excluded from the programme for cost reasons: if you would like to take part but aren’t able to pay the full fee, please get in touch and we can discuss a skill share arrangement instead.