January

CGDT:  Getting Started:  The Community Garden Site & Administration

Wednesday, January 11, 6-8:30pm
Instructors: Peter Huttinger, Madeline Dorger & Cara Hague
Cost:  Free (please register for series)
Part 1: Review and complete mission statements
Part 2: Administrative models: meeting structures, by-laws, agreements, decision making (including consensus), lease & insurance information and an introduction to non-profit organizations.

Vegetable Garden Planning

Saturday, January 14, 10am-Noon
Instructor:  Charles Griffin, Enright Ridge Urban Ecovillage CSA Coordinator
Cost:  $10 (free for CGC volunteers)
Now is the time to plan your crops and order seeds for this season’s vegetable garden!  Charles will walk you through garden lay out and timing your plantings to help you have an extremely productive, healthy, three season garden.

Build a Picture Frame Planter

Saturday, January 14, 2012, 1-3 pm
Instructor: Ryan Mooney-Bullock, GLS Coordinator
Cost: $35
Use materials you can find at the hardware store to plant a garden to hang on your wall.  Class participants will construct their own picture frame planter and plant it with shallow-rooted plants that will thrive indoors.  Class size limited to 15 people, so register early and no later than January 6.

Vermicomposting

Tuesday January 17, Noon-1pm
Instructor:  Madeline Dorger, Youth Education Coordinator
Cost:  Free
Learn how worms work fast and furiously to break down your kitchen scraps, and how you can set up this extraordinary composting system right in your own home.  This system is excellent for apartment dwellers, office kitchens and anyone who wants to make more compost! Click here to register.

 

*CGDT:  Sustainable Practices for the Community Gardener

Wednesday, January 18, 6-8:30pm - SORRY THIS CLASS IS FULL
Instructors: Peter Huttinger, Madeline Dorger & Guest Speaker
Cost:  Free (please register for series)
Part 1: Seasonal cycle of soil preparation - composting, green manure and cover crops.
Part 2: Sustainable Practices, an introduction to rain water harvesting, mini-passive solar cold frames, overwintering crops, woody perennials, Permaculture, and more.

Seed Starting Basics

Tuesday, January 24, 6-8pm
Instructors:  Paul Koloszar and Cara Hague, Horticulturists
Cost:  $10
Get a head start on the gardening season by planting seeds!  Paul will discuss how to start seeds for perennials and other plants, and Cara will cover starting vegetable seeds indoors.  There’s also an easy way to start seeds outdoors (winter sowing), which will also be covered. 

*CGDT:  Healthy Traditions: Perspectives on Nutrition, Food Preparation & Local Food

Wednesday, January 25, 6-8:30pm
Instructors: Peter Huttinger & Guest Speakers
Cost:  Free (please register for series)
An overview of local food issues, healing properties of plants and alternative perspectives on meat and vegetable-based diets.

*Open to the public. Click here to register.

Pollination Fascination and Appreciation

Tuesday, January 31, 6-7:30pm
Instructor: Eileen Frechette, native plant expert and co-owner of Keystone Flora
Cost:  $10 (free for CGC volunteers)
By now, we’ve all heard about the honeybee crises that is sweeping the nation. But it’s not all bad news. From rooftops in Brooklyn to backyards in Birmingham, pollinator fascination is growing to epidemic proportions! You don’t have to wear white suits and netted hoods to do your part to restore pollinator habitat. Join native plant expert and pollinator steward, Eileen Frechette, to learn what you can do to promote pollinator proliferation in your backyard and beyond.

 

February

Urban Beauty: Tough Plants for City Conditions

Wednesday, February 8, 6:00-8:00pm
Instructor: Paul Koloszar, CGC horticulturist
Cost: $10 (free for CGC volunteers)
There are more than a few plants that have what it takes to persist in the city, so the city gardener can choose from more than justTree-of-Heaven (of “A Tree Grows In Brooklyn” fame). Join Paul for a slide tour that shows which ones not only survive but thrive and look good doing it!

Permaculture Series: Introduction to Permaculture

Thursday, February 9, 6-8pm
Instructor: Sam Dunlap, CGC School Garden Coordinator and Permaculture Educator
Cost: $10 (free for CGC volunteers)
The first in a series of permaculture workshops in the spring of 2012 offers an exploration into a vision beyond sustainability. That’s right: beyond sustainability. What are the ingredients of a regenerative relationship between humans and our ecological support systems? Join us for a lively and interactive evening in which we’ll discover and discuss permaculture principles, examples and strategies and how to apply them in our households, yards, businesses and communities.

*CGDT:  Basic Organic Vegetable Gardening

Wednesday, February 15, 6-8:30pm
Instructor:  Dave Koester, Campbell County Extension
Open to the public but pre-registration required
Topics: Timing the vegetable garden, seasonal considerations, fall gardening, variety selection and intensive gardening techniques, succession planting and companion planting.

*Open to the public. Click here to register.

Seed Exchange

Wednesday February 22, 6-7:30pm
Cost: Free
Bring the seeds (and stories) you have saved from your garden (all kinds welcome) to exchange with other gardeners. Light refreshments will be provided, feel free to bring something to share, including your own tea blends (we’ll provide the hot water). Open to all of our CGC friends: teachers, community gardeners, home gardeners, urban farmers and more!

To register click here.

 

March

Permaculture Series: Edible Forest Gardens

Thursday, March 8, 6-8pm
Instructor: Sam Dunlap, CGC School Garden Coordinator and Permaculture Educator
Cost: $10 (free for CGC volunteers)
Edible landscaping is building up quite a buzz in the gardening community these days. Food in our yards? What a great idea! Edible forest gardening takes this concept a step further by mimicking the structure and functions of healthy forest ecosystems to add natural resilience, stability and abundance into our edible landscapes. Learn how to make your landscape into an abundant food-bearing system that increases in yield and requires less maintenance over time!

CGDT:  Garden Site Visits

Saturday, March 10, 10am-1pm
Instructor:  Peter Huttinger, NG Coordinator
This CGDT class will visit garden sites to be developed by CGDT participants and an established community garden.

How to Build a Rain Barrel

Saturday, March 10, 1:00-2:30pm
Instructor: Jerome Wigner, CGC Volunteer
Cost:  $10 (free for CGC volunteers)
FREE WATER for your plants! Come learn how to construct and use a rain collection system from Jerome Wigner, rain collector extraordinaire! A rain barrel is a great way to help with storm water runoff and save a little money spent on summer watering. Jerome has tips that will help you install a barrel at your home.

Vegetative Propagation; Plant Cloning Made Easy

Monday, March 12, 6:00-8:00pm
Instructor: Paul Koloszar, CGC horticulturist
Cost: $10 (free for CGC volunteers)
With patience and care, any gardener can reproduce almost any plant. Join Paul to learn how you can make more of the plants you love.

Get a Jump on the Season: How to build and use cold frames and low hoop tunnels

Saturday, March 17, 10 am – 1 pm
Instructor: Peter Huttinger, Community Garden Coordinator
Cost:  $10 (free for CGC volunteers)
Harvest cool weather crops sooner this spring by protecting them from the weather with a cold frame or low-hoop tunnel. In this hands-on workshop you will learn how to design and build a system that will work for your vegetable garden. You will also learn strategies for using hoop tunnels and cold frames successfully, and ideas for where to find materials at low cost.

 

Master Composter Series

Master Composting is a three part series.  Participants who take all three classes and complete 15 service hours can be certified Master Composters.  In this class, we will be learning about how compost works, how to get started, different kinds of compost systems, how to maintain a pile, and how to analyze how your pile is doing.

To register click here.

Master Composter Series: Composting 101
Wednesday, March 7, 6-8:30pm
Instructor:  John Duke, Master Composter, Master Gardener & Founder of American Compost Society
Cost:  Free

Master Composter Series: Compost and Properties of Soil
Wednesday, March 14, 6-8:30pm
Instructor:  John Duke, Master Composter, Master Gardener & Founder of American Compost Society
Cost:  Free

Master Composter Series: Vermicomposting
Wednesday, March 28, 6-8:30pm
Instructor:  Alex and Amy McDuffie, owners of Alex’s Worm Composting
Cost:  Free

CGDT:  Designing Your Community Gardening Project

Wednesday, March 21, 6-8:30pm
Instructor:  Peter Huttinger, NG Coordinator
This CGDT class will feature a hands-on design session of CGDT participants’ community garden sites.

Fruit Tree Pruning

Saturday, March 24, 1-3:30pm
Instructor:  Dave Koester, Campbell County Extension
Cost:  $10 (free for CGC volunteers)
An introduction to the cultivating and pruning of fruit trees for the homeowner and community gardener.  This class will include a classroom presentation and an onsite pruning demonstration at a CGC community garden.

Homegrown Tomatoes

Tuesday, March 27, 6:00-8:00pm
Instructor:  Jack Bishop, 40+year seasoned vegetable gardener
Cost:  $10 (free for CGC volunteers)
A guide for the tomato gardener in the quest for the perfect tomato and the beginner tomato gardener!  Grow varieties with superior flavor and color that you can’t find at your local supplier.  Topics will include origin & history, soil fertility, seed and plant variety selection, growing & harvesting, pests, saving seeds, starting plants from seeds, seed and plant suppliers.

 

Fruit Tree Pruning

Saturday, March 24, 1-3:30pm
Instructor:  Dave Koester, Campbell County Extension
Cost:  $10 (free for CGC volunteers)
An introduction to the cultivating and pruning of fruit trees for the homeowner and community gardener.  This class will include a classroom presentation and an onsite pruning demonstration at a CGC community garden.

 

April

*CGDT:  Basic Botany & Seed Starting

Wednesday, April 4, 6-8:30pm
Instructors:  CGC Horticulturist & Peter Huttinger, NG Coordinator
Open to the public but pre-registration required
Part 1: Basic Botany:  Learn what you need to know to grow healthy plants in your garden.
Part 2: Seed Starting:  Learn the process of starting plants from seed indoors and out.

To register click here.

Beyond Rain Barrels: Creative ways to store water in the landscape

Thursday, April 12, 6-7:30 pm
Instructors: John Bentley, FASLA and Pam Simmons, LEED and ARCSA AP
Cost: $10 (free for CGC volunteers)
Rain barrels can be a great first step into capturing rain where it falls, but there is so much more you can do to store stormwater on your property! John Bentley and Pam Simmons will share a wealth of ideas about beautifying your property with plantings and infrastructure that not only look good but solve stormwater runoff problems as well. 

Organic Vegetable Gardening

Tuesday, April 17, 6:30-8pm
Instructor: Melinda O’Bryant, Education Director at Turner Farm
Cost:  $10 (free for CGC Volunteers)
Spend an evening learning how to grow vegetables without chemical fertilizers or -cides.  You’ll learn how to care for your soil and plants using compost, organic fertilizers and pest controls, and weed suppression techniques. Pick up some great ideas for planting to maximize yield and minimize maintenance from Turner Farm’s experienced farmer and educator.

CGDT:  Construction Techniques for the Gardener

Saturday, April 28, 10-1pm
Instructors:  Peter Huttinger, NG Coordinator & Jerome Wigner, CGC Volunteer
This CGDT class will cover basic construction techniques and procedures for gardeners, including how to build a raised bed, cold frame and trellis/climbing structures.