Positive Ecology

This is the first in a series of workshops called Eight Steps to a Blue Mountains Food Garden. They can be attended as a full course, as stand-alone workshops or in any combination. You choose where you need help. The series as a whole is aimed at guiding novice gardeners at their own pace from their first box-garden of vegies to a year-round harvest of vegies and fruit.

The presenters are Susan Girard (Diploma in Permaculture and Diploma in Conservation and Land Management) and Lizzie Connor (Permaculture Design Certificate and Masters Degree in Applied Science). We concentrate on the factors that influence food-growing in the Upper Blue Mountains (and similar climate zones), drawing on the experience we have gained in establishing, modifying and maintaining our own gardens and in helping to re-establish a kitchen garden at a local primary school.

Workshop One is called " Cool Season Annual Vegies from Seedlings - in planter-boxes and/or pots", and is designed for people who want some hands-on guidance before they start growing their own food, or before they have another try at growing food. We begin with box-gardens because it’s a good way to simplify the various tasks that you have to learn, eg setting up the garden; selecting plants; planting, watering and feeding them; minimising damage from weather/pests; and harvesting them.

For more information (including a brochure outlining the series as a whole) email Lizzie Connor, lizzieconnor@bigpond.com.