Grow Your Own Food

Registration is Now Open!

Join us for this season-long food growing course and gain hands-on experience in your own plot at The Sandown Centre for Regenerative Agriculture.

March 22 - Oct 11th, 2022. Tuesdays, 5 -7pm.

Course Outline

Come and learn how to grow your own vegetables, fruit and herbs, and discover the joy of time spent in the garden.

This is an in-depth course designed to help participants gain a holistic understanding of gardening practices, from design to harvest. We will meet weekly and classes will be a combination of lecture-style learning and hands-on work in the garden. Each student will have their own garden bed, decide what they want to plant and take home the food they grow.

Over the growing season we will cover the following topics:

  • Garden design and infrastructure

  • Soil Tests

  • Building raised beds & trellises

  • Irrigation

  • Soil health and the soil-food web

  • Regenerative and organic land management practices

  • Plant life cycles

  • Purchasing seeds - where, what and why

  • Starting seeds and caring for plant starts

  • Transplanting

  • Companion planting and polycultures

  • Weeding and maintaining the garden

  • Soil amendments and mulch

  • Common “pests” and what to do about them

  • Composting basics

  • Harvesting and storing your bounty

  • Saving seeds

  • Winter gardening

We will also have lots of fun working in the garden, exploring our food systems and building connections with the community!

Location

The course will take place at the farm, in the beautiful, rural setting of North Saanich.

The Sandown Centre for Regenerative Agriculture 1810 Glamorgan Rd. North Saanich, BC, V8L 5S9

Tuesday Evenings 5pm - 7pm March 22 - Oct 11, 2022

We will be meeting weekly in order to be able to maintain our individual plots. Some days will be more “class focussed” and others will be more about tending to the garden. If you need to miss a class or two, not to worry, there will be hand-outs to catch you up and help tending the land.

Course Fees/Registration

The course fee is $595 for the season. This includes your own garden plot, all seeds and soil amendments, and all the produce you grow. The registration fee is $100, and the balance can be paid in full one week prior to the start of class, or in three installments* of $165 due on March 15th, May 17th and August 9th.

*Please note that there will be a $20 administration fee added for paying in installments.

Registration is now open. Click on the Register Now button and send an email to register with the heading “Register for Grow Your Own Food”. You will receive an email confirming a space for you. $100 registration fee is due upon confirmation email. Thank you!

Cancellation Policy

·      Before February 20th – Full refund of registration fee.

·      February 20th – March 15th - 50% of registration fee will be refunded. 

·      March 16th – March 21st – No refunds of registration fee will be issued. Any additional tuition paid will be fully refunded. 

·      March 22nd onward – No refunds will be issued after the start of the course. Please speak to me personally for course withdrawal due to extenuating circumstances.

Covid-19 Safety

We will be meeting outdoors in all weather. Masks are optional outdoors, however, they are required when using the shared restroom facility (portable washroom on site), or the shared greenhouse. We will maintain social distance outdoors, and work hard to ensure the safety and comfort of all participants is upheld.