Grow Your Own
2022 Free Workshop Series
The workshop series is free, but please register to reserve your spot.
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
Join us on a full season journey from March to October, where we follow the planting season of Real Food CT, while gaining skills you can apply to your own home food gardens. Your garden can be any size, from a few herbs on your window sill, to some potted tomatoes on your patio, to a full garden in your yard. We will take you from planning, to planting, to maintenance, to harvesting, and finally putting your garden to bed for the winter.
If you’re new to food gardening, this is a great way to get expert guidance from our Master Gardeners and meet other gardeners in your area. If you’re an experienced food gardener, this is an opportunity to network with others in your community who share your passion, and help others who are just starting.
Each month will there will be two events: a food farming workshop and a field trip. The workshop is where our Master Gardeners will demonstrate the gardening topics that are relevant to that month, with hands-on exercises you can take home and apply to your own garden. The field trip will be to a place related to a local food including farms, plant nursery, and urban gardens, to keep us in touch with our local food economy.
You can use our Facebook page, “1,000 Garden Challenge” to ask questions, get ideas from others, and share your successes and challenges with the group throughout the year.
The workshop series is free, but please register to reserve your spot.
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
2022 SCHEDULE
Join us for ANY or ALL of the events during our “Grow Your Own” Season
Sticks and Stones – 197 Huntingtown Road, Newtown, CT 06470
For information email: sean@realfoodct.org
March 19, 2022 – Planning Your Garden
TIME CHANGE: 12:15pm – 1:15pm. Sticks & Stones
In this workshop, participants will determine their garden size (anything from windowsill plants to full outside garden), location, and what materials you will need to prepare your space for planting. After this workshop you should be able to begin marking out your garden space, decide what you will be growing and whether you plant seeds or starter plants, and what materials you will need such as pots, raised bed materials, trellising, fencing, and more.
Below is a link to this week’s summary plus links to the resources we talked about such as where to get soil samples, 1000 Garden Challenge community Facebook page, and over a dozen more gardening resources.
*** DOWNLOAD NOTES & RESOURCES ***
April 16, 2022 – Preparing Your Garden Space
11am – 12pm. Sticks & Stones
In this workshop we cover soil testing, placing seed orders, shopping for starter plants, watering methods, and preparing your garden. After this workshop, you should be ready to prepare your soil with any necessary amendments, place your order for seeds, or determine what plants to buy, determine how you will water your garden, and begin setting up your growing space.
BONUS: Get in our bulk supply purchase!
*** DOWNLOAD NOTES & RESOURCES ***
May 14, 2022 – Seed Starting and Transplants
11am – 12pm. Sticks & Stones
In this workshop we discuss indoor seed-starting methods, direct sowing into your garden, and transplanting young plants. Topics include growing media, choosing a pot, and timing your planting for our planting zone. There will be a hands-on demonstration of an indoor seed-starting method called “soil-blocking”.
BONUS: FREE Onion bulbs and seed packets to attendees.
*** DOWNLOAD NOTES & RESOURCES ***
June 11, 2022 – Garden Maintenance
11am – 12pm. Sticks & Stones
We cover natural weed and pest control, how to check for diseases and what to do about it, row covers, and watering.
July 9, 2022 – Harvest
11am – 12pm. Sticks & Stones
This workshop focuses on how to care for your plants as they begin to produce. We demonstrate pruning, staking, and how to know when your vegetables are ready to harvest. We also talk about how often to harvest to keep your plants producing, and how to clean and store your harvest.
August 13, 2022 – Succession Planting
11am – 12pm. Sticks & Stones
August is a great month to fill empty spaces that have been harvested with succession plants to carry you through next few months. We suggest fast-maturing plants that you can still harvest before the end of the growing season. We will also demonstrate cold-frames that you can set up to extend your growing season into the colder weather.
September 10, 2022 – Planting for Spring Harvest
11am – 12pm. Sticks & Stones
October 8, 2022 – Putting Your Garden to Bed for Winter
11am – 12pm. Sticks & Stones
Real Food CT is a non-profit organization based in Newtown, CT, founded on the belief that everyone deserves access to healthy food. We are working every day with every resource in our region to grow and collect locally grown food, and deliver it to food pantries, shelters, and others in need.
