Guides to Farming

AboutGrowing your own food is important to more and more people as they try a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle for the reason of food intolerance or to go for a low-impact lifestyle. Vegetables and fruit are full of healthy carbohydrates and vitamins. Nuts are rich in oil and proteins and can be stored easily. Herbs and wild foraged plants are also rich in medicinal and flavouring properties.

How to Start: Just click on the Study Materials link.

Season: spring, summer, autumn, winter

Climate: temperate

Competencies and Skills: Sowing seed – rows, broadcast, Saving seed, Storing seed, Stratifying seed, Protecting seedlings – cloches, Erecting polytunnel, Pricking out, potting on, Hardening off seedlings, Making, using a cold frame, Making, using a hot bed, Measuring weather – temp, rainfall, humidity, Watering, irrigating, Taking cuttings – root, stem, Taking cuttings – hardwood, softwood, Grafting – fruit trees, Pruning – fruit trees and shrubs, Layering – runners, stools, Recognising ill health – virus, water, Making, using a propagating frame, Growing Artichokes, Growing Aubergines, Growing Beetroot, Growing Beans, Growing Cabbages, Growing Potatoes, Growing Carrots, Growing Tomatoes, Growing Turnips, Swedes, Growing Celery, Growing Salad leaves, Growing Onions, Growing Leeks, Growing Garlic, Growing Marrows, Courgettes, Growing Squashes, Pumpkins, Growing Melons, Growing Parsnips, Growing Peas, Growing Chilli peppers, Growing Peppers, Growing Maize, Growing Culinary herbs, Growing Medicinal herbs, Growing Apples, Growing Pears, Growing Apricots, Peaches, Growing Plums, Growing Cherries, Growing Currants – black, red, white, Growing Figs, Growing Grapes, Growing Gooseberries, Growing Raspberries, Growing Strawberries, Growing Hazelnuts – cobs, Growing Sweet Chestnuts, Growing Walnuts.

About: This course introduces the concepts around soil management. You will learn about the function of soil, differences between farming methods, nutrient cycles, food webs, composition, creating your own compost, and how to investigate your own soil.

Season: spring, summer,autumn, winter

Climate: temperate, tropical

Competencies and Skills: Building a compost frame, Making compost, Adding to compost, Making a soil stack, Making, sieving wood compost, Spreading compost, Recognising compost organisms, Recognising health, Sterilising soil, Making seed and potting compost, Using mulches – wood chips, straw, Making compost additives, Composting manure, Testing soil structure, fertility, Liming soil