As part of its community support  outreach  Rural Connect is working in partnership with the Scottish Allotments & Garden Society to run 2 gardening sessions over the coming months to encourage individuals and groups to develop their gardening skills and share knowledge.

The sessions are being held at SRUC Oatridge Campus Allotments and are free for all participants and will be held on:

Saturday 24^th May            9.30am till 12.30

Saturday 7^th June     9.30am till 12.30

Individuals will be able to choose three optional 50 minute sessions (maximum)  on each of the Saturday’s.

1. Getting ready for sowing and planting.

Preparing your ground for planting requires some forward planning and some basic knowledge in getting the  ground ready – no matter how small or big your growing area is. Whether you are maybe wanting to start preparing ground for next year or fancy giving it a shot this year their are several easy steps to make sure that ground will support growing of fruit and vegetables.

2. Growing in containers, vertical gardening, raised beds and trellis building.

If you have limited land area invention is the key here and there are several ways in which  you can still grow but with limited growing space; containers, supermarket bags, on vertical pallets, small raised beds. This session will show how easy it can be done.

3. Wee Green Fingers – ideas for gardening with children

Getting you children to grow their own vegetables or flowers is a great way of getting them outdoors and away from the games console and video games. Several easy ideas will be shared on the day as well as a free give away plant / seeds to get you started along with an information sheet for web sites and ideas.

4. Composting, feeding soils and organic pest control.

Making the soil productive is something every gardener looks at annually and this session will hopefully give you several simple ideas that you can incorporate into your garden / allotment of the coming months. The other important weekly task is keeping on top of the pest control

5. Vegetable Growing – advice and tips.

What type of vegetables do you fancy growing in your garden over the coming years. Getting the right advice can sometimes saves us time and money in the long run and ensure that we have some good results at the harvesting time.

6. Flowers and fruit growing – advice and tips

Nothing nicer that looking out at a garden in flower throughout the seasons and here is your chance to get some ideas and information to improve your area. From bulbs to tubers to seed to plugs – something for all. Imagine also picking up your next crop of blackcurrants and making jam for the next day. Some ideas also.