Register for any of the classes below by calling (415) 731-5267, by email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or register in the garden on the day of class. All classes will be offered at Garden for the Environment, a half-acre organic demonstration garden in San Francisco on 7th Avenue at Lawton Street. You can join Garden for the Environment or find out more at www.gardenfortheenvironment.org
URBAN COMPOSTING
Date: Saturday, July 14th, 2012
Time: 10am - 12pm
Location: Garden for the Environment, 7th Ave at Lawton Street, San Francisco
Cost: Free
Give your summer garden a boost that will guarantee vibrant colors and tasty veggies for the months to follow! Aside from encouraging beneficial soil organisms and conserving a non-renewable resource, composting makes an excellent fertilizer that releases nutrients slowly at a rate which the plants can use them. This fun, hands-on class teaches methods for backyard and worm composting for home and community gardens. Come learn what you can do to improve your garden and prevent organic waste from ending up in the landfill! Rot on!
GROW YOUR OWN FOOD! Seasonal Organic Vegetable Gardening in July
Date: Saturday, July 14th, 2012
Time: 10am - 12noon
Location: Garden for the Environment, 7th Ave at Lawton Street, San Francisco
Instructor: Carey Craddock, Organic Gardening Instructor
Cost: $25 or $15 for GFE Members
Year-round vegetable gardening is integral to creating a foodsystem whose values reflect seasonality, locality and clean food. To take full advantage of the unique gardening climate in San Francisco, it’s important to know your vegetable garden’s needs each month. Join GFE and local gardener Carey Craddock as we take a closer look at what to do in your garden in July to ensure you reap a harvest that will afford you Victory Gardener status. Its summer in San Francisco! Which means one thing - FOG! This month will focus on garden troubleshooting, fertilization, managing weeds, as well as a tour of what’s growing at the GFE in July. Join us on the 2nd Saturday of every month to learn seasonal tips for year-round vegetable garden! Bring on the bounty!
GROWING EDIBLES IN CONTAINERS
Date: Saturday, July 21st, 2012
Time: 10am - 12pm
Location: Garden for the Environment, 7th Ave at Lawton Street, San Francisco
Instructor: Johanna Silver, Sunset Magazine Test Garden Coordinator
Cost: $25 or $15 for GFE Members
Are you thinking farming your fire-escape, tending herbs on your windowsill or growing edibles on your patio? This class is for you! Learn how to choose the right pot, the right soil, and most importantly – the right crops for your containers. Instructor Johanna Silver experiments with all sorts of containers in Sunset Magazine’s test garden, from homemade self-watering ones, to galvanized steel, to turning straw bales into planting space. Yes, you too can grow food in even the smallest urban spaces!
FROM GLEANING FRUIT TO HOME MADE JAM
Date: Saturday, July 28th, 2012
Time: 10am - 12pm
Location: Garden for the Environment, 7th Ave at Lawton Street, San Francisco
Instructor: Lauren Anderson, Founder, Produce to the People
Cost: $25 or $15 for GFE Members
Maybe you've got a prolific plum tree, or a friend up north with an apple orchard, or you just tend to go overboard when strawberry season hits at the farmer's market? This workshop will discuss how to make the most of seasonal fruit by preserving it into jam! We'll cover the basics of making homemade jam with a focus on making jam on the fly- adapting recipes for surplus fruit and adding your own special touches with ingredients from your garden and cupboard. We'll talk about fruit selection and preparation, adding herbs and spices, sweeteners and pectin, and canning vs. freezing. The workshop will conclude with a jam tasting and all participants will receive a jam how-to pamphlet. (Images: Produce to the People)
URBAN BEEKEEPING!
Part III - Honey Extraction
Date: Saturday, August 18th, 2012
Time: 10am - 12noon
Location: Garden for the Environment, 7th Ave at Lawton Street, San Francisco
Instructor: Paul Koski, San Francisco Beekeepers Association
Cost: $25 or $15 for GFE Members
Join GFE and local beekeeping instructor Paul Koski of the San Francisco Beekeeper Association for a very hands on Part III of our Urban Beekeeping Series. If all goes well, an urban honeybee colony should produce about 30-40 lbs of excess honey by the fall of each year. This workshop will discuss the factors that affect honey production, honey extraction and timing, and how to assess how much honey a colony will need for winter. This workshop will also present the varied methods of honey harvesting and discuss the pros and cons of each. Depending on the amount of honey produced in the GFE hives and how it is stored in the honeycomb, we will demonstrate several honey harvesting methods including cutting the honeycomb into chunks, crushing and straining, and uncapping and extracting the honey frames. Come join us, it is going to bee sweet!
