Before you stick your first seed in the ground this long weekend Jim Bennett will take us through the stages of expansion and contraction and how your garden can feed the multitudes or just become a place of peace.
He will share his learnings on how you can start small with pots, move to raised beds, move to hoop houses, and end up with a greenhouse you’ll enjoy all winter.
Nothing goes to waste, it is just reinvented.
1. How a garden can expand and contract in stages from year to year based on your time and energy.
2. Growing in pots- pros, and cons
4. Enjoying an orchard in a limited space
5. Reducing water use while keeping your produce flourishing
6. Value and use of hoop houses
7. Greenhouse – do you really want a greenhouse? If so, what should you look for?
Date: May 18
Time: 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM
Location: Invermere – location and parking instructions will be provided with your ticket.
Cost: Members: $20; Non-members $30; (includes refreshments)
Note: During the last 30 minutes of the tour refreshments will be served during the Q&A and you will have an opportunity to talk to your fellow gardeners and learn from them and share your own experiences.
Things to bring: water, comfortable shoes for standing and walking, dress in layers, bug repellent, sun screen, Garden Journal (if you don’t have one please let us know as you can buy one at the event from Groundswell – $10).
In one garden you will learn from Jane the basics of how you take a Monty Don idea from Small Spaces, Big Dreams, and turn it into your dream garden. Jane will share the basics of preparation, the core elements of English cottage gardens, and how to get started. She will do an orientation on her three years of hand-drawn designs, choosing plants, the principles of organic gardening and how to think about creating drifts of plants, choosing what works for our area, and talking about the combination of perennials and annuals and how to think about transformation on a budget and all that this entails.
And Doug will introduce a different kind of gardening with a similar theme but a totally different ecosystem based on working with glacial silt, plants that do well with dry conditions, and the principles of drip irrigation as a means to transform a large space with minimal water and an emphasis on avoiding weeding, and maximizing effect. He has a degree in horticulture and will speak to techniques like working with shrubs, grasses, and almost xeriscape environments. He will also speak to building standing beds, espalier techniques for fruit tree growing where you can do little maintenance and achieve the effect the Romans developed when they first espalier fruit.
Date: June 24
Time: 10 AM to 12 PM
Location: Invermere – address will get given to you with your ticket purchase
Refreshments: drinks and fresh from-the-garden nibblies will be available while you ask questions of your hosts and enjoy the knowledge that always comes from being with a group of people interested in gardening.
Things to bring: water, comfortable shoes for standing and walking, hat, sunscreen, bug repellent, dress in layers, and your garden journal (if you don’t have one you can purchase one from Groundswell for $10).
You may even get to help build a Hügelkultur bed.
