Come on a mini-beast safari and learn more about the creatures, who may call your garden home!

Pest control becomes easy when you change your perspective from having a garden to having an ecosystem. Develop understanding of population dynamics and pest predator interactions and how nature corrects imbalances.

Look at how common pests can be managed with minimal effort. Improve the resilience of your garden through making a few small changes or implementing a simple project or two. Explore how flowers can increase the resilience of your garden, as well as appreciating their aesthetics.

Topics:

Good vs Bad Bugs
Population Ecology
Building Resilient Garden Ecosystems
Flowers for Attracting Beneficial Insects
Pest Control Methods

This workshop in the Science of Edible Gardening Series, looks at how you can enhance your garden so that it becomes a resilient ecosystem. It involves a combination of theory in a classroom setting, demonstrations and hands-on practical activities including:

• Exploring our six acre property to discover and identify some of the wildlife and insects

• A garden tour to look at some of the specific plants and methods used to increase resilience

• A hands on, practical activity to increase garden resilience (this activity will change from year to year as each new project is implemented)

By the end of the class you will have a greater understanding of the ecology of your garden. This underpinning knowledge is important for all aspects of gardening. You’ll never look at ‘pests’ the same way again!

What to Bring:

• Enthusiasm for learning

• Your lunch

• Water bottle

• Notebook and pen

• Closed toed, practical shoes (consider bringing gumboots)

• Appropriate Clothing as Kyneton can be cold and wet in autumn

• Any insects or bugs from your garden that you wish to identify or chat about (optional)

The Science of Edible Gardening Workshop Series

These events are being run as part of The Science of Edible Gardening Workshop Series from Leaf, Root & Fruit. The series has been designed to give you an overview of how plants grow and interact with the environment. This understanding makes decision making, planning and garden maintenance straightforward. Observation and understanding of natural ecosystems and phenomena can help you to be a more successful and fulfilled gardener.

Each workshop is based around a theme that will integrate into the entire series. There will be minimal repetition of content across each event, although certain important ideas will be revisited from time to time. We anticipate most attendees will complete the complete series. However, you can book in for each workshop individually to pick and choose the ones relevant to you.

The 8 workshop topics are:

Nutrients and Fertilizers: Growing Nutrient Dense Food (Held each March)
Population Ecology: Pests and How to Control Them (Held each April)
Reproductive Genetics: Seed Saving, Grafting and Pollination (Held each May)
Plant Physiology: Pruning and Plant Manipulation (Held each June)
Seasonality and Timing: Environmental Gardening Influences (Held each July)
Carbon and Nitrogen Cycles: The Science of Compost (Held each August)
Ecological Succession and Soil: Edible Forest Gardens and Weed Control (Held each September)
Photosynthesis: Irrigation, Rainwater Tanks and Sunlight (Held each November)

See our dedicated web page for more information on The Science of Edible Gardening workshop series:

https://www.leafrootfruit.com.au/science-of-edible-gardening-workshop-class/

Population Ecology: Pests & How to Control Them (as part of The Science of Edible Gardening Series)