This course introduces the learner to best practice in cultivating gardens and growing plants, to minimise pests and diseases using plant husbandry. We will look at identification of common pests and diseases, information about their life cycles and will consider the best methods for treatment. Sustainable garden practices and the need to treat pests and diseases with environmentally friendly methods will be the focus.

Part 1
Location: online
Date: Saturday 17/04/21
Time: 10am-1pm

The first part introduces learners to growing fruit and vegetables. Detailing how to select a perfect site, plan and optimise harvest from the fruit and vegetable plot, learners will gain detailed instruction on growing a variety of vegetables from seed sowing through to harvest. Information regarding the cultivation of top fruit and soft fruit will enable you to be confident in cultivation for the coming season.

This online session introduces learners to growing fruit and vegetables. Detailing how to select a perfect site, plan and optimise harvest from the fruit and vegetable plot, learners will gain detailed instruction on growing a variety of vegetables from seed sowing through to harvest. Information regarding the cultivation of top fruit and soft fruit will enable you to be confident in cultivation for the coming season.

This virtual workshop will introduce you to the weird and wonderful world of spices.  We’ll take you on a journey to far flung places to find out where our familiar and not so familiar spices come from.  We’ll explore the different plants and plant families they come from and learn a bit about their history.  What’s the difference between herbs and spices?  How do spices pack such a punch of flavour?  What’s the best way to use and store your spices at home?  Which spices are easy to grow for yourself?  Find out these ans

In this course you will explore how key plants and their products, such as sugar, cotton, coffee and rice, have become global commodities. We will follow the journey from wild species through domestication and cultivation to commercial production. How each plant fits into its eco-system, and how humans have interacted and exploited the plant will be considered. Similarities and differences in the use of these plants between cultures will be discussed. We will also discover how the chemistry of the plant has influenced and impacted its uses in the world today.

Join artist and tutor Nabil Ali for this fascinating online course revealing how paint and ink can be produced using plants and other organic ingredients. The paint making processes are inspired by historical recipes selected from key technical manuscripts and classical sources, using forgotten craftsmen techniques and concepts.

This online course gives an introduction to the anatomy and physiology of flowers, pollination and how seeds are formed, as well as the science of germination. Participants will compare the benefits and limitations of propagation of plants both sexually and vegetatively. Instructions will be provided on how to sow seeds and take successful stem cuttings.

Celebrating the ‘flower that comes before the swallow dares’ we will dance with Wordsworth’s daffodils and sigh sadly with Lenten Lilys. Welcomed in from the wild in the 16th century forms and features proliferated through unstable couplings, with the ‘Great Yellow Spanish Bastard’ and ‘Parkinson’s Double’ delighting the florists of old, whilst ‘Van Sion’ travelled to America with the colonists to multiply in their gardens.

The architect and designer Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, born in 1716, is credited with formulating the iconic English landscape garden. Even today, his rolling lawns, scattered with tree clumps and ornamented with glittering lakes, continue to define our perception of rural Britain. As a result, his hundreds of landscapes have eclipsed the study of eighteenth-century garden history almost entirely.

Has your garden or local park inspired you to want to write?  The natural world is a great spur to creativity and whether or not you have ever tried writing before, this half day workshop could be the key to getting you started.  Whether it’s a memory of a childhood garden, a poem, or a piece of prose about a landscape you have visited, writing about gardens could be the key to unlocking your writing ‘voice’.  During this 3-hour session, participants will have a chance to craft and read their own work, and the tutor will engage in guided exercises and offer advice.