Seed Sowing and Herb Cuttings- A weekend workshop on best practice vegetable and herb propagation

18th and 19th April – 10:00 am to 4:00 pm

Join us here at Asthall Manor for a weekend journey through vegetable and herb propagation for your healthy food-growing needs.

Complete beginners through to keen amateurs all welcome.

Good, home-based plant propagation is core to achieving the successful growing of healthy, nutritious food. It’s also a great way to save money, reduce your carbon footprint and minimise your impact on the environment. Starting a healthy new baby plant off in the best of conditions is one of life’s joys.

In this two-day deep dive, you will learn the fundamentals of different propagation techniques alongside a bit of helpful theory. This will include understanding and making your own seed compost, best practice seed sowing, root cuttings and softwood cuttings of herbs, along with tips for the aftercare care of your seedlings. During the workshop you will carry out some fun, practical work to embed your learning, taking a few of your sown seeds and cuttings home with you.

Places are limited to 10 in order to maintain a quality experience for those attending the workshop.

Tea, coffee and a wholesome lunch of soup, bread and kitchen garden salad will be provided.

Please dress appropriately for the weather with sturdy shoes or boots that don’t mind getting muddy.  Please bear in mind that this is a working production site and not a clinical classroom setting. And be prepared to get your hands dirty. Please do also bring a pen and note pad.

Please consider using public transport or bicycle to get here and if you’re coming by car, please park in the tree-lined avenue nearby, if there is space. Otherwise, we have limited space in our (often muddy) field. For travel information click here.

Accommodation Offer

In order to make our workshops more accessible for those coming from far afield, we are offering bed and a self-service breakfast in the Manor for the nights before, during and /or after the workshop.  If you wish to book a bed, as well as the course, then follow the instructions for Bed and Breakfast tickets too, selecting the dates you wish to stay over. Bedrooms will be allocated on a first come, first serve basis.

Once you’ve booked, we’ll then send you details for some of the many local places we’d recommend, so that you can book your evening’s food, drinks and soiree.

Asthall Manor Kitchen Garden is now working under the umbrella of the non-profit Asthall Wild Community Interest Company (Asthall Wild CIC) with the aim of helping to create a healthier, happier food system for all. We grow wildlife-friendly and people-friendly food using Organic methods and Permaculture principles. We grow for a small, local box scheme, for the occasional Potting Shed Café, for local chefs and for the Manor kitchen. We do this while providing a mixture of wild habitats for beneficial creatures to feed, hunt, sleep, bask, breed and hibernate in.

The funds raised from this workshop will go towards delivering the aims of Asthall Wild CIC. For more information, see here.

The course will be delivered by Tim Mitchell, a qualified Level 2 Organic food growing tutor with 10 years of teaching experience while working in community food growing and commercial Organic food production.