Educational offerings for councils

Since 2009 Very Edible Gardens (VEG) has worked with over 25 Melbourne councils, as well as libraries, festivals and community groups to deliver hundreds of workshops, presentations and community gardening blitzes. We reckon we bring real knowledge, humour and passion to our work. If you’d like

See below for:

courses we offer
our community engagement garden design processes
hands on permaculture blitzes and wicking bed building workshops

Course offerings

Quotes from past courses we have facilitated:

“Fantastic, potentially life changing”
“Lovely people, great communicators, infectious passion for gardening and another way of living.”
“Energetic, informative and empowering. And entertaining.”
“I expected enthusiasm and knowledge but didn’t really expect such good teaching styles.”
“Adam was hilarious, scientific and tremendously informative”

Shorter courses

These usually run for two hours but we can do shorter versions.

Edible Weeds Walks
Typical duration: 2 hours
Most common urban weed species of Melbourne are edible and can provide valuable and nutritious fresh food. Learn to enjoy dandelion, sow thistle, mallow, amaranth, wild onions, stinging nettle and many more (with seasonal variation). Most have interesting medical and cultural traditions. Learn too about some of the ecological uses of weeds as soil improvers, soil indicators and compost additives. (See also Adam’s popular weed hunting book The Weed Forager’s Handbook.)

Happy chickens roaming freely in an urban garden

The Power of Chook
Typical duration: 2 hours
Home chicken husbandry is making a global resurgence as people see the benefit of cheaper eggs, greater soil fertility and yes, even the companionship which comes from the having these vivacious ladies around the garden. But what if we can harness the power of chook to get them making compost, fertilising the garden, and doing pest and weed control? All while improving the quality of their lives? This workshop explains how while also covering the basics of chook care.

Meet Your Garden Life (and Organic Pest Control)
Typical duration: 2 hours
Come join us on a micro-safari! Meet some of the many marvellous creatures that already inhabit your garden: from mysterious soil microbes, to the herbivorous pest critters, and the ferocious tiny predators that prey on them. We’ll watch a visual feast of these little beasties while learning how to send an open invitation to the natural pest control species. Learn how to garden without sprays or disappointment and turn your backyard into a rich and balanced ecosystem.

“I am familiar with organic pest control options and today’s session explained why controls work and when to use them. I was blown away by the knowledge I’ve taken away about actual ‘pests’ in my garden. Especially parasitic wasps – who knew they were a positive contributor!! This session provided excellent knowledge passed on in a way that was informative and entertaining. My knowledge of predators and herbivores has definitely increased and will enable me to incorporate this knowledge in my planting and design – thank you.”
MaRIBYRNONG CITY COUNCIL COURSE PARTICiPANT

Know Thy Soil: Science of Soils Workshop for Gardeners
Typical duration: 2 hours
What is this mysterious substance called soil, which we grew up thinking of as mere ‘dirt’? And how do we create rich and healthy soils to support our plants? We’ll see soil under the microscope and get to know the fascinating microbes that inhabit it. We’ll learn about the rocks beneath our feet, Melbourne’s wild geological history and the kind of soils you get in different suburbs. We’ll cover pH, and how to deal with clay and sand soils. You can bring some of your own garden soil along, and we’ll investigate it together. We also cover dealing with contaminated soils, and mineral and organic fertilisers, compost and worms.

Drought Proofing Your Garden
Typical duration: 2 hours
Whether it’s a La Niña year this year or not, drought is set to be more the rule not the exception in the future. Yet, in the city we can still grow much of our own food through water efficient planning and gardening. Topics covered in this session include garden design for shelter from hot sun and winds, tank solutions, how to water at the right times, irrigation systems, working with slopes, greywater systems, water-hardy plants, and some innovative water saving solutions such as wicking beds. Covers the basics of everything you need to know to grow abundant healthy food while minimising water use.

Keep Your Cool with Trees & Vines
Typical duration: 1.5 hours
With a little garden design you can use plants to save the big bucks on house cooling in summer, lowering your heating bills in winter, and creating shady summer garden oases. We’ll think about sun, shade, wind to create comfy and mild year-round living areas, indoors and out for yourself, while fighting the urban heat island effect for all of us.

Beginners Guide to Compost and Worms
Typical duration: 1-2 hours
Learn the art and science of how to team with worms and microbes to turn waste into rich organic topsoil — the cornerstone of organic gardening and ultimately human health. The session includes all theory you’ll need to deal with most common problems, the many different ways of making compost and which one is right for you, and depending on the number of participants and location, we’ll usually have some hands on demonstrations with different materials.

Greywater for Food Gardeners
Typical duration: 1-1.5 hours
Water going down the drain is water wasted. But the right greywater system can not only save this water but make make your life easier. You’ll water the garden every time you shower or wash clothes without even thinking about it! This session covers health and safety, and harvesting and distribution techniques for greywater, especially those relatively simple and trouble free options.

Wicking beds
Typical duration: 1.5 hours

Wicking beds water from below, and are the most water efficient and probably easiest and most productive way of growing veggies at home. We’ve been making and refining them (including an innovation that’s now becoming industry standard) since 2010 (see www.wickingbeds.com.au) and we love teaching the basics, considering pros and cons, and correcting some of the less good advice that’s out there so everyone can have backyard abundance in this unpredictable climate. (Note: we can also facilitate community builds of wicking beds, see below.)

Growing Subtropical Food Plants in Melbourne
Typical duration: 1 hour
Did you know that with the right conditions you can grow all sorts of sub-tropical plants in Melbourne, like bananas, strawberry guavas, babacos and many many more. We’ll look at finding or creating the right microclimate and creating the conditions for them to thrive.

Longer courses

An Introduction to Urban Permaculture
Typical duration: 2 days
Permaculture is a broad design system for building sustainable human habitats, drawing inspiration from patterns in natural systems. Topics covered in this course include context and an introduction to permaculture ethics and design principles, illustrated with topics relevant to home food production and frugal resource use, such as garden design, water catchment and use, urban animals, companion planting, caring for soil. Includes case studies and design examples. Hands-on activities include marking out contours on slopes and making a good compost pile. The course material is broken up with illustrative games and group work. Participants receive a handout covering all the topics on the course and a certificate of completion. The course caters to backyard permaculture but also encourages people to look outside the home for opportunities and resources in the community, to visualise how we can create a healthier and happier urban environment. Also information about how to get involved in the Permablitz network.

https://www.veryediblegardens.com.au/images/courses/organic_gardening.jpg

VEG Intro to Organic Gardening
Typical duration: 2-6 hours
Everyone it seems wants to get started growing food, and most people want to do it chemical free. But where to get started? This course covers the basics of soil, waterwise gardening, companion planting and natural pest control, compost and worms, heritage food varieties, no-dig gardening, how to plant and propagate from seed, and how take those very first steps.

Permaculture Design Course
Duration: 14 days
This is not something we’ve run for councils, however we have had councils sponsor community leaders to attend. Check here for latest info.

A well-run Permaculture Design Certificate can be the most fun and intense learning experience you’ll ever have in your life! It can change the very way you look at the world. It can help you develop a framework for thriving in a changing earth. It can help you learn skills to heal damaged landscapes, while producing for your own needs. For us it was all of these things. And now, after years of designing and implementing permaculture systems as volunteers and professionally, we’ve developed a unique new structure to make this PDC even better. This is our flagship course but be warned – we unleash our unlimited passion and for many participants it is life changing – full details at pdc.veryediblegardens.com.au

Permaculture blitzes

Ok, courses are fine but nothing is rewarding or as educational as actually getting things done! VEG Director Adam Grubb and VEG founder Dan Palmer are co-founders of the global permablitz network. Permablitz is a network for edible garden makeovers mostly run by volunteers, but VEG sometimes runs similar events professionally for councils (such as through the My Smart Garden project). These are great ways to get people doing real, hands-on work while coming together as a community, building networks and sharing skills related to sustainable living.

“I attended the Whitehorse Permablitz a couple of weekends ago (I was one of the council staff members) and it was a really fantastic event to be a part of. I enjoyed getting my hands dirty in the afternoon. It was a real highlight of Sustainable Living Week. We also got feed back from residents that attended and it has all been very positive. I hope that I can attend another Permablitz in the future!”
~ Claire, City of Whitehorse

Part of the process for community areas is a facilitated design process, using the principles of permaculture. In the space of a 3 or 4 hours with a room full of people, we can tune into the wishes of the community, together survey the site through permaculture eyes, and make the first design decisions.

Check out the below video or some photos from an April 2014 event for the City of Whitehorse. (Image above is courtesy City of Whitehorse)

Community wicking bed builds

We also specialise in wicking beds (see our site www.wickingbeds.com.au) which grow healthy vegetables with less water, making them great on nature strips, in malls, carparks and anywhere irrigation is hard to get to, or watering may be irregular.

Jeremy explaining the wicking concept in the Box Hill Mall

When we’re building wicking beds for councils, community gardens, schools or other community spaces, there’s nothing we like more than doing so with the community involved, sharing the knowledge along the way. It’s a win-win: for not much more cost than the bed install itself, we can share the whys, why-nots and how-to’s.