Workshops

A truly sustainable garden is one that recycles all that it produces, and nothing is easier than recycling all those vegetables scraps, fallen leaves and spent plants. Yet as simple as it is there are a few tricks in having a happy composting experience, and this will be the place to learn them.

There really is a difference between a compost bin and a worm farm, and this workshop will help you to decide which is best for your household by explaining the differences between each method and how to gain the most benefit from them. This is recycling and self-sufficiency at its most basic. No complicated words, no special tools - just good sound advice on how to get it right.

So don’t give up if you’ve had an embarrassing composting experience, simply join in our workshop and let us turn you into a professional!

Learn how to identify and utilise growing spaces in your own gardens, giving you the opportunity to make use of all sorts of growing conditions. You’ll become skilled in learning what plants to put where as Permaculture is a basically a form of landscape design that focuses on sustainability within the garden borders. It also identifies the cycles which operate within these boundaries and how they can be used to your advantage. The end result is an energy efficient and self supporting ecosystem; highly productive yet producing minimal waste.

This workshop will give you all the information you need to adapt traditional agricultural methods to your needs while maintaining a philosophy of environmental responsibility, even in the urban backyard.

Your average urban chicken has fairly basic needs; food, water, shelter from the weather, space to move, and protection from any other chicken lovers in your neighbourhood.

Nevertheless keeping a chicken is a commitment, not simply something you do on a whim. So this workshop has been designed for all of you who have considered becoming primary producers but were, perhaps, too nervous to make that final commitment. These delightful birds are a great addition to the backyard providing you not only with fresh eggs, but pest control, waste disposal, and a complete composting additive.

This popular workshop covers all you need to know about different breeds, housing, feeding and general health issues, giving you all the advice and information you need to maintain a healthy, productive flock.

Do you tremble with the secateurs each time pruning season comes around?

Come to our next workshop and take the opportunity to learn from fruit tree pruning expert, Phil Shepherd.

Learn first hand just how to manage your own particular orchard trees. Phil will show you how to identify spurs and how to recognise the yearly growth patterns of a branch - all important if you want to increase the health and productivity of your trees.

You'll certainly leave with all the confidence you need to maintain and renovate your fruit trees and impress your family and friends.

Annual vegetables go through their entire life cycle in just one year, so they must be replaced with new ones each season.

Perennials are the stayers, the permanent residents of your vegetable garden which will reward you with years of production if cared for properly. They are the most reliable of plants and provide dramatic structure and variety, and include favourites such as asparagus, artichokes and rhubarb.

This is a wonderful opportunity to learn about these tough, over-achieving members of the edible garden and how to make them permanent residents of your own garden beds.

Many people are nervous about the subject of pruning their fruit trees so this is the perfect opportunity to learn from the professionals.

This workshop has been designed to take the terror out of training and the fear out of fruit tree management by offering advice in a safe and entertaining environment. No question is too silly, so take advantage of this opportunity to learn the real facts of pruning your fruit trees once and for all. Whether newly planted or established, all fruit trees will benefit from some formative pruning to develop a strong framework of branches and to increase crop yield.

So keep yourself warm this winter by getting out in the garden with your clippers and loppers with the sort of confidence that will not only amaze your neighbours but reward you with a professionally pruned and productive tree.

Espalier is an ancient form of tree pruning that not only allows many larger trees to be grown in a small space, but can actually improve the yield of a fruiting or flowering variety. In basic terms, trees are trained to a flat plane which can be used to insulate a wall, cover a fence or form a hedge or screen to create a private place.

This sort of pruning then focuses the plant’s development on flower and fruit production rather than bulk. So while espaliered trees reward their owners with a beauty that is hard to forget, on a practical side it is much easier to net and harvest fruit from a tree that has been trained this way.

Book early for this popular workshop and learn all the techniques used to identify the pruning and training of these beautiful forms and become an expert in a morning!

In Australia’s hot, dry climate we gardeners have a duty to select plants that are adapted to our conditions if we want them to thrive. This in turn gives us the chance to concentrate our time and resources on those other plants we grow that do need the extra attention. Both olives and figs have a drought tolerance that is truly legendary, and have been used as permanent structures in many of the gardens of antiquity. Perfect for us as all the trial work has been done - these plants have withstood all that nature could throw at them and have still survived!

However these trees are certainly more than tough survivors. Their fruits are the stuff of myths and legends and there is no reason why you shouldn’t be enjoying the sweet and savoury flavours of the ancient world yourself. Our workshop will teach you all you need to know to keep these amazing trees in the very best of shape in the toughest of drought conditions.

Those of us in cooler climates can still actually grow and harvest from quite a wide range of sub tropical fruit varieties. So if you have been bitten by the bug, come along to our workshop and let Diggers guide you through all the requirements your garden needs to grow this interesting group of plants.

Sub tropical fruit trees tend to have striking forms and larger leaf shapes making them a perfect contrast to the more usual fruit tree forms. As such they create a more glamorous and exotic feel to the garden and, in the process, will deliver some interesting fruit flavours and colours to your fruit bowl.