It’s hard to find a lot of positives about a global pandemic, but staying so close to home has a lot of people thinking more about gardening and local food production.
Wildsight Kimberley Cranbrook is all for encouraging gardening of any sort, and is offering bi-weekly garden workshops where gardeners can connect, and learn, from each other.
The workshops will align with the growing season.
Workshops cost $10 and typically run for 1.5 hours. All proceeds go directly back into supporting Kimberley Community Garden projects and workshops.
Upcoming workshops are:
Raised Beds
We need to construct a couple of big, raised beds at the Community Garden, so join us for the project and learn how to build your own. We’ll discuss the advantages of raised-bed growing and learn how to create soil that stays healthy for years.
When: Saturday, May 29th
Time: 2-3:30 pm
Location: Kimberley Community Garden
Vertical Gardens
When you don’t have a lot of room…or would like to put a fence or some small corner to use…growing UP is the way to go. We’ll learn the principles, look at a few different designs, and even build a couple of structures at the Community Garden while we’re at it. We’ll dig into some container gardening ideas as well.
When: Saturday, June 12th
Time: 2-3:30 pm
Location: Kimberley Community Garden
Rainwater Capture & Water Conservation
Learning how to capture and conserve water not only works for the environment but can save you some work as well…especially during our hot, dry summers. We’ll walk through a few techniques and basic principles of water collection, distribution and conservation.
When: Saturday, June 26th
Time: 2-3:30 pm
Location: Kimberley Community Garden
Irrigation
With a well-planned irrigation system, you can save water and time by targeting the parts of your garden that need it. This workshop will cover the range of systems and hoses, and you’ll learn which will work best for your growing space.
When: Saturday, July 10th
Time: 2-3:30 pm
Location: Kimberley Community Garden
Natural Weed & Pest Control Strategies
You don’t need chemicals to grow a successful garden. Here we’ll discuss a range of natural and organic techniques—from fencing and flowers to ladybugs and beer—that you can use to control the pests and weeds in your garden and grow healthy, thriving plants.
When: Saturday, July 24th
Time: 2-3:30 pm
Location: Kimberley Community Garden
Composting
In a wild place like Kimberley, it can be hard to compost scraps and keep the animals out. This workshop will cover all the key principles of composting, proportions of browns to greens, moisture, as well as some useful models for composting with bins, barrels and worms, too.
When: Saturday, August 7th
Time: 2-3:30 pm
Location: Kimberley Community Garden
Food Preservation: Canning
It takes some effort, but once you learn how to do it right, canning can let you enjoy the fruits of your field all through the winter. But fear not! For those of us who are complete beginners, we’re going to break down the process to its simplest steps with a seasoned canner at the helm.
When: Saturday, August 21st
Time: 2-3:30 pm
Location: Kimberley Community Garden
Food Preservation: Drying, Freezing, Cold Storage
Drying and cold storage have been used for centuries to preserve fall foods for the winter and modern refrigeration lets us freeze others. Learn how to turn your garden harvest into snacks, frozen meal kits, or ingredients for your winter soups and stews.
When: Saturday, September 4th
Time: 2-3:30 pm
Location: Kimberley Community Garden
Seed Saving
Not every seed grows the same, so it is important to save the seeds that perform the best in our unique climate and soil. We’ll cover the whole process for the selection, collection, cleaning, storage and archiving of your seeds. Take steps toward building a stronger food foundation in Kimberley!
When: Saturday, September 18th
Time: 2-3:30 pm
Location: Kimberley Community Garden
Winterizing the Garden & Overwinter Planting
Take the right steps—preparing and covering your soil, adding organic matter, and so on—at the end of the season and you’ll have a garden that’s ready to go in the spring. There are even a number of vegetable varieties that you can plant in the fall for an early harvest in spring! We’ll talk about indoor growing, too, so you can keep some of that summer fresh all winter.
When: Saturday, October 2nd
Time: 2-3:30 pm
Location: Kimberley Community Garden
You can register for any of the workshops at wildsight.ca
Wildsight thanks their funders and supporters, the Columbia Basin Trust and the City of Kimberley, who make the garden workshops and garden projects possible.
READ: Wildsight partnering Community Garden with Healthy Kimberley Food Recovery Depot
READ: Seventh Annual Harvest Party at Kimberley Community Garden
carolyn.grant@kimberleybulletin.com
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