Introduction training on organic gardening

This introduction course is for anyone who is interested in Organic Gardening.  Participants will learn the basics of organic food growing and will be shown how to grow your own fruit and vegetables in the organic way.  The course will cover the following:

• Getting Started - How to get your area ready for planting
• Your Soil - Understand different types of soil and how to make the most of it for your growing
• Planning your patch - How to encourage biodiversity and sustainability
• Organic Vegetable Growing - From the very basic seed sowing and propogation techniques to more advanced vegetable growing for the trickier vegetables
• Organic Fruit Growing - How to grow fruit in small spaces
• Maintaining and developing your produce - How to look after, harvest, and store your produce

Who is this course for?

We offer tailored versions of this course, that are aimed towards:

• Local residents across Manchester, Stockport and Tameside
• New and prospective allotment holders
• Housing or residents associations

Allotment holders - The allotment course (also known as 'Plotting for the Future) sessions are primarily for new allotment holders to give them the confidence, skills and knowledge to maintain a sustainable, productive and well kept plot. However, we find that existing plot holders also ask for training which we are more than welcome to provide.

Time Commitment

To get the most of these courses, we strongly advise participants to attend all sessions.  In order to build in some flexibility, the sessions are currently split over 2 days, 4 weeks, or 6 weeks.  However, the total course delivery is 12 hours.

We also do a shorter one day course (6 hours) that is designed to touch upon the topics more briefly, for those who want a shorter introduction or who have less time to commit.

Location

We have two beautiful locations to deliver the training.  Keep an eye on our upcoming training and events to see which one you would prefer to sign onto.  The two locations are:

Debdale Eco Centre - Debdale Park, 1075 Hyde Road, Gorton, Manchester M18 7JS
Hulme Community Garden Centre - 28 Old Birley Street, Hulme, Manchester, M15 5RG

Costs

See individual courses as advertised on our upcoming training and events page, or get in touch. We do offer subsidised places for those over 60 or on low income.

Booking

To book on, Please complete and return the two forms below to Marva Lashley (Debdale) or Katherine Moores (Hulme) on the contact details below:

Booking form - download

Equal Opportunities Monitoring form - Download

For more information/ contact:

Debdale Eco Centre - Marva on 0161 220 9199 or email marva@debdale-ecocentre.org.uk

Hulme Community Garden Centre - Katherine Moores on 0161 227 8198  thetrainer@hulmecommunitygardencentre.org.uk