Class Descriptions
Urban
Gardening
listed alphabetically
GREEN means GO These classes are OPEN for registration
RED means STOP,THIS CLASS IS FULL contact us to get on the waiting list
GREY means NOT YET OPEN FOR REGISTRATION, please check back later.
Pre-registration is required and exact location is given once you have registered.
TO START YOUR REGISTRATION PROCESS PROCEED TO REGISTER HERE
Many classes will repeat if there is enough interest. If a class is past or you do not get in on time,
please contact us and we will let you know if another session is forming.
Classes are for age 12 and up unless otherwise
indicated.
All About Avocados
Saturday April 13, 2013 1-5pm
Instructor:Jillian Steinberger
Location: Tour starting in Oakland TBA
Cost: $40-70
In this class you will learn that yes, you can grow avocados. Well be carpool caravaning on an adventurous driving tour to visit vigorous avocado trees in the East Bay. Some people have planted with success and others have inherited established trees when they bought their property. Some established trees have 2’-3’ diameter trunks, are over 40 feet tall, and produce hundreds of pounds of fruit which can lend itself to neighborhood sharing and gleaning. We’ll address why so few have been planted here, and why experts are now recommending planting more. We’ll discuss best planting and growing techniques. We’ll also talk about the many varieties we can grow here – from Hass to Reed and many more – including which are hardiest for our microclimates, and how to plant for a year round crop. We’ll learn about pollination, cultivation, fertilization, pruning and harvesting. We’ll also talk about health benefits and culinary and cosmetic uses for avocados, and share recipes.
Agricultural Tool Care.
March 3, 2013 3-5pm
Instructor: Grant Marcoux
Location: Alameda
Cost: EBUUA members FREE, General Public $10
Tired of garden tools that bend and break? This course will introduce the urban farmer to the proper selection, use and care of agricultural hand tools such as shears, axes, shovels, machetes, hoes and garden forks. Students will learn about tool construction, proper use and care of tools and the use of tool maintenance equipment such as sharpening files, stones and lubricants. The goal is to provide you the knowledge to select and maintain tools commonly used in small-plot agriculture. Students should bring at least one tool to sharpen. Purchasing a tool file (about $10) and a "Canoe Stone" (about $10) is very helpful, but not mandatory(we’ll send information on where to purchase before the class)
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Raised Bed and Container Gardening: Edibles Sunday April 21, 2013 10am-1pm Sunday May 19, 2013, 10am-1pm Instructor: Kitty Sharkey Lcation: East Oakland Cost: $35-65 Growing edible plants in containers has many advantages for the urban gardener. Whether you have limited space, poor soil, or problems with gophers and other pests, container gardening may be a alternative solution to planting directly in the ground. In this class we will explore different types of planting containers including ones you can make yourself, growing vertically, soils and amendments, what types of plants to grow including annual and perennial fruits and vegetables, and caring for container plants. Seeds or starts will be available for you to take home and try in your own garden. |
Bare Root: Selection & Planting of Your Urban Orchard
Instructor:K.Ruby Blume
TBA February 2014
Location: North Oakland
$35-65
Enjoy the amazing taste of fresh sun ripened fruit from your own backyard! This course will lead you through selection and planting and general care of fruit trees and berries., including consideration of site selection, planting techniques, tricks for maximizing fruit production in small spaces and best varieties for our East Bay climate.
Dormant Season Fruit Tree Graft
Instructor: Asa Bradman
Saturday February 23, 2013 10am-1pm
Location: Berkeley
$25-45 plus $10 supply fee
Grafting is a wonderful way to make more from less in a small urban orchard and begin to explore the joy of variety in fruiting plants. In this class we will learn and practice methods which may be used for grafting dormant scion (cuttings) onto both rootstock and mature trees. You will gain an understanding of plant propagation and the role of grafting, the basic science of grafting, which fruits which are compatible, which take to grafting more readily and tools needed. We will then get hands on practice and each participant will go home with at least two grafted apple trees.
Floral Bounty: Useful Flowers and How to Grow Them
not currently offered
Instructor: K.Ruby Blume
North Oakland
$35-60
This class will focus you on the usefulness of native and horticultural flowering plants and how to select and grow them. Beyond their enhancement of the beauty of our urban food gardens, flowering plants can also be used as edibles, medicinals and insectaries to draw beneficial insects and deter pests. This class will give you the basics of flower cultivation including selection for sun and shade, drought tolerance, annuals vs perennials, edible flowers for food and medicine and how to create a native pollinator garden. We’ll discuss best flowers and cultivation methods for our area
Home-Scale Aquaponics and Organic Hydroponics
Sunday October 20 4-7pm
Instructor: Nathan Kaufmann
Cost: $35-65
Learn to garden without the use of expensive and environmentally taxing fertilizers! This class will introduce you to the theory and practice of low-tech home-scale aquaponics, a system of raising fish and plants together in a symbiotic relationship, where each supports the other. With an established, functional low tech system as our guide, we'll learn how it all works, including types of fish and plants well suited to the system, options for assembling your own home system from readily available materials and troubleshooting. You will receive a resource list and plans to take home.
Mushroom Cultivation Homestead-Style
Sunday July 14, 2013 2-6pm
Instructor: Patty $ Ray Lanier, The Mushroom Maestros
Location: West Oakland
Cost: $40-70 plus $12 supply fee in cash on day of class
Dive into the magical world of Fungi. They are deliscious, nutritious--they might even save the world! Mushrooms are known for their healing properties both as medicine for humans but also for the planet. They help plants uptake nutrients, clean-up toxic waste, compost entire clear cuts as have a host of other uses. In this class we'll focus on growing mushrooms, homestead-style! We'll see a working, off-the -grid inner city mushroom cultivation set-up. Then we'll learn which mushroom can be most easily cultivated at home both indoors and out, the difference between spores and spawn and what materials different mushrooms thrive on. We'll explore growing mushrooms on straw or sawdust or on cardboard as a means for innoculating wood chips in garden beds. Then we'll learn methods to prepare these substrates including heat pasteurization, fermentation, and soap techniques. We'll also cover wood chip spawn, log plugs and how to use spent mushroom kits in compost to get another "flush" while aiding the composting process.. Working with either oyster, shitake or king stropheria mycellium, students will then make a starter kits to take home.
Organic Gardening 101
Saturday March 30, 2013 10am -4pm CLASS FULL
Sunday May 5, 2013 10am-4pm
Saturday June 22, 10am-4pm
Instructor: K.Ruby Blume
Location: North Oakland
Cost: $55-85
This day long course will introduce you to the essentials and foolproof basics of organic gardening. In the first part of the day we'll learn about dirt, including soil types, tilling and amending,options for composting and sheet mulching, cover crops and more. In the second half of the class we will focus on plants: seeds and satrts, sun and shade, water, weeds and garden planning. There will be lots to touch and feel, garden tour, and break out exercises including hands-on work in the garden. Bring your questions and get your hands dirty!
This class is for beginning gardeners and those wanting to learn
more about organic perspectives and techniques
Organic Gardening for the Second Half of the Year (Late Summer & Fall)
Sunday August 4 2013, 10am-2:30pm
Instructor: K.Ruby Blume
Location: North Oakland
Cost: $45-75
This class will introduce you to gardening basics with a focus on what is happening in the garden from August through the following spring. We will talk about basic soil amending, sheet mulching, Fall and winter garden crops, Bay Area watering issues for summer and Fall and more. hands-on projects. Everyone will go home with couple 6-packs of early season seed.
Propagate! Make More Plants For Free
Sunday June 2, 201310am-3pm
Instructor: Anders Vidstrand
Location Emeryville
Cost: $50-75
Crash course in propagation. Nursery prices got you down? Is your plant habit breaking the bank? Now is the time to cut the ties and never look back ! In this class you will learn how to easily multiply plants in your own backyard, just like the pros.. We’ll take you step-by-step through best methods for seed saving and starting, cuttings, divisions, grafting, layering and everything else in between. We’ll cover timing, seasonality and materials needed and give you a handy list of crop to try.. We’ll break it up with hands on practice and you will take some plants and cuttings home with you.
Living Earth: Soil Health and Science for Gardeners
Saturday November 9 2013 12noon-4pm
Instructor: K.Ruby Blume
Location: North Oakland
Cost: $45-75
In this mini-intensive we'll meet the living organisms in the soil, learn what each does to enhance garden productivity and look at how to feed and proliferate life in the soil for specific results. We'll learn about how plants entice micro-organisms to meet their nutrient needs and different types of partnershipsWe will demystify the nitrogen cycle, learn about the differnt forms of nitrogen plants prefer and how to harness your soil food web to give plants their preferred nutrient cocktail using compost. mulch and compost teas. Participants will have the opportunity to mix up samples of their own soil and idenitfy who is living there using the microscope and we'll be mixing compost teas on site. Glossary, resources and recipes will be provided in a handout
Unusual and Perennial Vegetables
Sunday May 19 2013 10am-1pm
Instructor: Anders Vidstrand
Location Emeryville
Cost: $35-65
From the common Asparagus to the incredibly rare Ulluco, we’ll learn about the propagation, culture, and preparation of unusual perennial vegetables from around the world. Many of these strange, beautiful and delicious edible plants grow very well in the our unique Bay Area climate. Following an overview of the best species and varieties, including Andean vegetables and grains, ancient crops from Europe and Asia, and other tasty and productive plants we’ll learn how to integrate perennial vegetable crops into our landscape design, as well as how to how to propagate and grow them. Finally we’ll talk about how to prepare your unusual harvest with tasty recipes.
Unusual and Rare Fruit For the Bay Area
Sunday May 19, 2013 2pm-5pm
Instructor: Anders Vidstrand
Location Emeryville
Cost: $35-65
Some of the most attractive, productive and tasty fruit plants for the Bay Area are less familiar to the average gardener. From the more common Quince to the elusive Lucuma, we will survey some of the best species and varieties for our climate. Many of these plants are attractive and smaller than your average fruit tree and will integrate well into urban edible landscapes. Fruit for fog, fruit for shade, and fruit within a year from planting! We will look at Andean fruits, some standout subtropicals, a wide range of fruiting shrubs as well as a few uncommon trees. The course will include information on propagation and cultivation as well as taste, flavor and recipes.deepen your knowledge and appreciation of soil as the most important player in our garden.
Urban Berry Patch
not currently offered
Instructor: K.Ruby Blume
Location: North Oakland
Cost: $25-50
For many people fresh berries are a manna from heaven. If you like them from the store, you are going to be even more enthusiastic when you pick them right from your own berry plants, warmed by the sun! And lucky for us, many berries thrive in our area! This course will cover selection, planting and care of the major berries for our area. We will talk about Strawberries, Raspberries, Blackberries, Blueberries, Huckleberries and Mulberries as well as some lesser known berries.
Urban Orchard: Care and Pruning of Backyard Fruit Trees
September 23, 2013 10am-3pm
Instructor: Molly Bolt
Location: South Berkeley
Cost: $50-80
Do you want to get the most out of your yard? Are you thinking of adding fruit trees, or do you want to take better care of the ones you have? This class is for you! This full-day workshop will offer a comprehensive look at caring for your backyard orchard. Participants will learn basic tree identification, nursery specimen selection, desirable structure for mature trees, how to train young trees, pruning techniques, when in the year to prune each species, and how to diagnose and treat the most common conditions affecting orchards. Integrated pest management strategies will be covered, with a focus on preserving beneficial insects. We'll evaluate tree placement in the yard and discuss strategies for effective irrigation and fertilization. Participants are encouraged to come with pictures of their trees or drawings of their yards as examples to analyze. A large portion of the day will be hands-on practice doing mid-season structural pruning on plums and apples. Other species discussed may include citrus, olive, pomegranate, fig, apricot, persimmon and almond. Please bring hand pruners and a wood saw if available; instructor has extras if necessary.
Urban Orchard Care: Winter Pruning
TBA February 2014
Instructor: Molly Bolt
Location: South Berkeley
Cost: $40—65
This hands-on class will cover the basics of reconstruction, aesthetic and fruit tree pruning. Participants will practice assessment and pruning skills, as well as some common insect and disease identification. We will also discuss seasons for pruning, tree anatomy, and best installment practices. Bring hand tools if you have them. Class is outdoors. Raindate: Same time following weekend.
Urban Permaculture Crash Course
Saturday June 15, 2013 10am-4pm
Instructors: TBA
Location: West Berkeley
Cost:$75-105
Have you ever wanted to know more about permaculture, but can’t afford the time or money for a two week design course? This one day crash course will introduce you to the ethics and principles of permaculture and give you a taste of what it is all about. Contrary to popular belief, permaculture is not just about sustainable agrticulture. It stands for “permanent culture” and is a collection of three intersecting ethics and sixteen principles that can be applied to any system to close the loop and make it more self-sustaining. At its core Permaculture is about caring for and improving our world: leaving it in better shape than it was when we arrived, so to speak. Mixing it up with lecture, discussion, break-out groups, observation exercises and dynamic leadership, we’ll take you through the core concepts of permaculture using the Algarden and adjoining urban farm to observe permaculture put to practice. We’ll learn about stacking functions, slow and small solutions, urban food forests,, plant guilds and how to harness the power of nature to work less and produce more in our efforts to create a world of beauty and abundance.
Winter Gardening Essentials
TBA January 2014
Instructor: K.Ruby Blume
Location: North Oakland
Cost: $60-85
In the cold time of year time when the soil and plants are resting, there are still many important tasks to be accomplished in the garden to prepare for a spring and summer bounty. This class will cover winter gardening essentials including garden planning, bed preparation, seed selection & seed starting, bare root fruit selection & planting, dormant season care of perrenial fruit & shrubs, basic pruning, cover cropping, composting and basic mushroom cultivation. The class will include a tour of the winter garden, lecture & hands-on..