Organic Pest & Disease Management

This is a course at our demonstration Market Garden at Hestercombe Gardens - public transport options are limited.

This course is for you if you would like to create a whole ecosystem in your garden, farm or allotment, and produce food without using chemicals.

Growing food crops can be a roller-coaster journey, often pitted with apparent bad luck in the form of pests and diseases. Learn some quick wins and some long-term strategies with us for successful and abundant crops! Suitable for all gardeners and food growers alike.

Topics include:

• Reducing the risk of pests
• Managing pest populations
• Reducing the risk of diseases
• Dealing with affected plants
• Increasing pollinators in your crops

Please note, as a small non-profit organisation, it's not sustainable to offer refunds.

If you need to cancel your place up to one month of the course, you will be offered a credit towards another workshop.

After that time, we can only offer a credit if we have been able to re-sell your place on the course.

Please wear sturdy footwear and dress for all weathers!

This course is delivered outside on site, and the ground is uneven. We will spend some time under cover in the polytunnel / grlasshouse.

The venue is rural.

The nearest train station is Taunton.

Don't suffer in silence!

We can teach you many solutions to manage Pests & Diseases without the use of chemicals in your growing space - whether it's a balcony or multiple acres!

By following our methods, you can create abundant harvests with less work, whilst creating a whole ecosystem.

We will talk about:

• building resilient plants
• deterring pests
• reducing the risk and spread of diseases
• our top plants for pest resistance

There will be time for discussion and questions throughout.

Whether you're a seasoned gardener, long time grower or just starting out, this event is a great basis for learning about pest and disease management in sustainable gardening and growing.

Suitable for:

Anyone who grows food at home or the allotment and struggles with pests problems, or diseases / deficiencies in plants.

About the event (including practical elements):

We will talk through our tried and tested methods for managing pests & diseases without chemicals. We will make some preparations for sprays and talk about strategy as well as fire fighting issues in the moment.

Next steps:

We offer training and support on site, as well site design and mentoring support for food growing

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TUTOR INFO

Rachel is a Landscape Architect & Urban Designer specialising in regenerative food production. She designs spaces for food, soil health and wildlife and biodiversity, as well as maximising harvests and reducing the work needed to achieve it.

She learnt to grow food from her Grandparents in Jersey who grew much of their own produce on their acre - including Jersey Royal Potatoes! Rachel still loves potatoes.

Growing food all her life, and commercially for the last 10 years, Rachel has worked with CSA, farms, market gardens, urban farms, community gardens and corporate businesses to increase food production and efficiency, whilst reducing labour and costs.

Georgina is an education expert who runs our school and family sessions as well as building our ponds and bog gardens for us. She is a specialist in song birds and wild mushrooms.

Rachel founded edge, a non-profit design agency, with the main aims of designing urban food production systems, growing food within whole ecosystems and educating others on food production systems and ecological farming practices.