AWARD IN FOREST GARDENING

**LATEST: Guest speakers confirmed**

Alys Fowler horticulturalist and journalist will be sharing her expertise in harvesting and preserving. As reflected in her best selling book, Abundance.

Alan Carter, one of Scotland's foremost forest gardeners and plant pioneers and author of new book 'A food forest in your garden'.

Jo Homan, The Orchard Project's own expert forest gardener and orchardist and a director and founder of forest gardening project Edible Landscapes London

Nenya Milne, Edinburgh-based permaculture designer, educator and forest gardener

Witchhazel Wildwood, one of The Orchard Project's new Welsh team, an experienced permaculture designer and educator and founder of Coeden Fach Community Tree Nursery.

Lewis McNeill, The Orchard Project's most longstanding orchardist and permaculturist. He has a passion for ecology and will be teaching about soil.

Learn all the skills you need to design, create and manage a forest garden by doing this accredited online course! It features the videos of Martin Crawford, author of several books on forest gardening and director of the Agroforestry Research Trust. The course is structured with weekly videos, handouts and online assessments, plus fortnightly group tutorials, leading to a Level 2 Award in Forest Gardening, equivalent to a level 5 in Scotland.

The Orchard Project developed the course in collaboration with Martin Crawford, and it is accredited by Crossfields Institute.

COURSE STRUCTURE

The course runs from the beginning of September until beginning of January 2022, with a three week break over the festive period. It requires around 6-8 hours of your time per fortnight. (This includes watching the videos, reading the handouts, attending the tutorials and doing the homework.)

It consists of 18 weekly teaching videos, various quizzes and some breakdown handouts. The online materials are unlocked as you make your way through. We will discuss the content of the videos at fortnightly online group tutorials. Your progress will be assessed via homework, which you will have a fortnight to complete. You will also have an assignment to design a forest garden, which our staff in The Orchard Project will assess.

The tutorials will take place approximately every fortnight on 9 Tuesdays: 19.00 – 20.30. Proposed dates for tutorials are:

- September: 7th, 21st.

- October: 5th,19th.

- November: 2nd, 16th, 30th.

- December 14th.

- January 4th.

COURSE CONTENT

This course will teach you everything you need to know about designing, planting and maintaining a forest garden, including:

•The characteristics of a forest garden •Useful trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants •Creating windbreaks and shelter •Managing different soils •Maintaining fertility •The role of mycorrhizal fungi •Carrying out a site survey •Propagating plants and edible fungi •Designing the different layers of a forest garden •Maintaining a forest garden

COST

Full fee – £550

Concessionary – £450 (In receipt of unemployment benefit, or enrolled as a full time student, or on low income, less than annual £18K. Note to enable the course to cover costs, there are limited places at the concessional rate.)

You can cancel your ticket up to 14 days before the start of the course. You will get a full refund for the cost of the ticket, minus the booking fee which Eventbrite charges.

For more course info contact Chris@theorchardproject.org.uk