Home gardeners, school garden teachers, urban agriculture leaders, take note: A new, comprehensive organic gardening course is being offered at UC Santa Cruz this summer, starting September 7 and running for nine weeks on Saturdays and Wednesday evenings.
Taught by staff and graduates of the renowned UCSC Farm & Garden Apprenticeship Program of the Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems, along with invited experts, the “Garden Cruz: Organic Matters” course will provide a solid foundation to further your lifelong study, enjoyment and practice of organic gardening and is timed to take advantage of the fall gardening season.
This nine-week course, being offered on Saturdays and Wednesday nights to accommodate busy work-week schedules, is the first of its kind in our region. Through lectures and hand-on practice, this intensive organic gardening course will immerse you in the basic skills and knowledge you need to develop your own organic garden “from the ground up.”
The course is ideal for community members and students involved in campus and community gardens, or looking to enhance their ability to grow food and flowers at home and develop their urban homesteading skills.
Topics will range from compost preparation, soil analysis, bed preparation and planting, to sexual and asexual propagation, irrigation, pest and disease control, and fruit tree care, and will include workshops on individual crops, backyard chicken and duck raising, bee keeping, and more. A complete list of classes is posted at http://casfs.ucsc.edu/garden-cruz-organic-matters-class-registration-now-open.
Classes and hands-on activities will take place at the UCSC Farm and Alan Chadwick Garden on the UC Santa Cruz campus on Saturdays from 9 a.m.–4 p.m. and Wednesday evenings from 6:30–9 p.m. The course combines lectures with hands-on instruction in the gardens, greenhouses and orchards of the Chadwick Garden and UCSC Farm. Enrollment is limited to ensure a high quality learning experience.
The course will meet on nine consecutive Saturdays and five Wednesday evenings starting with an orientation and introductory session on Wednesday, September 7, and will end on Saturday, November 5. Cost of the course is $1,200, with a $100 discount for Friends of the Farm & Garden members (memberships available starting at $20). Sign up for the course by August 10 and receive an additional $50 discount.
To register, please contact Amy Bolton at 831.459-3240 or casfs@ucsc.edu. A $300 deposit is required to hold a place in the class.
