Space is limited to 30 participants so register early. Groups of 3 or more are eligible for a discount.

Overview

Why is maintaining a landscape and growing food so much work? Is it possible to incorporate edibles into your landscape without annoying neighbors? What about shade, clay soil and pests?

This class shows you how to establish a beautiful, low-maintenance, organic landscape that provides an abundance of food for you, your family and your neighbors while asking little of your time, energy and money. Using your aesthetic and nourishment goals as a  constant guide, you will learn how to easily start new garden beds, create nutrient-rich soil, and cultivate a wide variety of vegetables, herbs, fruits and nuts. Topics include creating an implementation plan,  creating compost, caring for a worm compost bin, remediating soil with mushrooms, starting seedlings and selecting plant species for a wide range of conditions.

Tom Wahl, owner of Red Fern Farm, will lend his fruit and nut growing expertise to the class. Tom has more experience growing and propagating unusual fruits than anyone else in the region, and has been a leader in introducing the idea of tree crops and agroforestry here. He grows and sells aronia bushes, hazelnuts, paw paws, persimmons, improved black walnuts, butternuts, improved edible acorn, chestnut, and hardy kiwi. Among his many projects, he is working to develop a chestnut industry in southeast iowa, and started a collective of growers called the Southeast Iowa Nut Growers (SING), modeled after the Southern Ontario Nut Growers (SONG).

At the end of this class you will be able to:

• Create an implementation plan.
• Choose plants that help create a self-maintaining landscape.
• Make compost and vermicompost.
• Make compost tea.
• Bioremediate soil with fungi.
• Start a new garden bed.
• Understand the benefits of organic food.
• Grow vegetables and herbs.
• Grow fruits and nuts.

Handouts and Materials

• Create a Regenerative Landscape: Step-by-step instructions for creating an ecologically-balanced landscape
• Create a Garden Guild: Step-by-step instructions for choosing plants that will maintain themselves
• Create a New Garden Bed: Step-by-step instructions for easily starting a new garden
• Starting a Worm Bin: Step-by-step instructions for creating an indoor vermicomposting bin
• Permaculture Principles: Principles and guidelines for creating regenerative systems
• ISU Extension and Arbor Day Publications: Extensive instructions about cultivating fruits and vegetables