Do you dream of picking fresh fruit and vegetables from your home garden, but you aren’t sure where to start in actualizing this dream? This three part series will teach you everything you need to know to design, plan and install your own edible home garden. Topics covered in this class include lawn removal methods, choosing a site, designing garden beds, developing a soil health plan, drafting an irrigation plan, choosing plants, sketching a garden design to-scale, and writing a phased DIY installation plan. You will leave class with a framework design of your own edible garden. Take the whole series or choose an individual class that meets your needs.

Design Your Own Edible Garden Part 1: Choosing & Observing the Site
Saturday, October 19, 9:30am-12:00pm
You will learn how to identify the best site for your garden utilizing online tools like Google Earth, how to conduct a sun study of your space, how to assess the health of the soil, how to remove lawn grass and deal with invasive grasses and weeds. Participants will draw a scaled map of their space and create a list of elements to include in the design. The next class in the series will expand upon the design process, drawing more detail into the design and crafting a phased installation plan.

Design Your Own Edible Garden Part 2: Infrastructure Installation
Saturday, November 16, 9:30am-12:00pm
We will cover the different styles of garden beds and pros and cons of each, discuss building healthy soil on site and local sources of quality garden soil/compost, and irrigation choices and installation methods. You will review and add detail to your garden design with this new information, and begin crafting a phased installation plan for your garden. This class will also feature a hands-on garden bed preparation project at the American River Ranch where you will learn by doing!

Design Your Own Edible Garden Part 3: Planting & Maintaining an Abundant Garden
Saturday, December 14, 9:30am-12:00pm
Part three of this DIY garden series will cover plant choices that are best suited to our climate, when and how to plant them and where to source them. You will create an ongoing maintenance plan for your garden that includes fertilizing, pruning and seasonal crop rotation. This final class in the Design Your Own Edible Garden series will equip you with all the information you need to begin implementing your garden installation plant and grow an abundance of edible fruits, vegetables, and herbs!

Instructor: Jenn MacLeod, Owner, Sunflower & Sage

Price: $30

Location: American River Ranch, 2140 Chase Drive, Rancho Cordova, CA 95670

Cancellation Policy: No refunds. Must give notice at least 2 business days prior to class to receive a credit.