This is a vegetable garden-landscape design-construction workshop. Learn how to site your vegetable beds for maximum efficacy by taking into consideration factors such as climate, season, and sun exposure. You will learn numerous approaches to bed design, including methods that use straw wattles, recycled concrete, lumber, and cinderblocks.
You will also receive valuable information on what to fill your newly constructed beds with and how to do it properly. Not all soil is alike. We've got supplier recommendations for you that will save you money and give you maximum results due to superior soil fertility.
Topics also covered in class:
Starting out: Learn how to create a lovely vegetable garden on any surface, from an existing lawn to concrete.
Bed sizes: Proper sizing is important, from their height to their width. You want maximum workability and comfort to you, the gardener.
Paths: Considerations of path materials, cost, and efficiency.
Holding in your soil: From various types of lumber, to many other hardscape materials, learn what you can do and how to save money doing it. We will build a simple garden bed during class, showing you how to select lumber, cut the boards, and screw them together. We will also be installing the bed on a slight slope, showing you how this is done properly.
Filling your new beds: Top soil varies in vitality and usability. Learn how to get a deal from our most-preferred providers and the best start for your new plants.
Other important elements: Where are you going to put your hobby greenhouse? Compost pile? Worm bin? Do you have space for a small chicken coop or beehive? Where is the best place to put these important structures?
All these questions and more are explored in detail at this exciting workshop. Even if you've got an existing garden, it's not too late to tweak it to perfection.
This class is taught by Cynthia Sandberg, private farmer for Michelin-starred Manresa Restaurant for 11 years and is held at Love Apple Farms' nursery location: 5311 Scotts Valley Dr., Scotts Valley, CA.
ALL CLASSES ARE HELD RAIN OR SHINE AND REQUIRE ADVANCE REGISTRATION
April 6, 2025 (Sunday) 10:00 a.m - 2:00 p.m. $69 << Click on date to register
If the class date doesn't work for you or if the class is full, email us at [email protected] to request another workshop date or to be added to a waitlist.
Please read our cancellation policy in case you are not able to attend your scheduled class.
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Love Apple Farms gift certificates can be used towards classes, seedlings, and merchandise. They are available for purchase here.
Check out other classes at Love Apple Farms by clicking here.
Great class yesterday! Well organized and inspiring. This is just what we needed as we start planning our garden expansion. Thank you!
Posted by: Suzanne Suwanda | January 27, 2014 at 08:32 PM
I am a novice and this class was great. Just what I needed to get started. I just signed up for 4 more classes!
Posted by: Laurie Woolworth | January 26, 2014 at 05:32 PM
The class was everything I needed to know and more. I love all the contacts you sent after the class. Now I am ready for the carpentry class. I just signed up. Thank you for offering these classes. I am just too busy to sign up for a semester long class and I feel I get the right amount of information I need to proceed. Thank you Cynthia and all of the Love Apple Farm Staff!
Posted by: Kim Saldavai | February 07, 2012 at 03:11 PM
cynthia, can you add another "designing the perfect vegetable garden workshop?
Posted by: jean | May 04, 2011 at 03:41 PM
As an experienced gardener myself, I was not prepared for the extent of relevent and valuable information that was provided. The knowledge taught was not only learned and experienced but many, many years of re-learning had taken place and was being shared. A beautiful setting with a passionate educator. I am looking forward to attending the bee keeping and cheese making classes offered. Thank you from a new and committed student of Love Apple Farm and Cynthia.
Posted by: Helen Pastorino | March 06, 2011 at 11:40 AM
Wow, I attended this class yesterday on 3/5/11 and I learned a ton! Gardening is a tough prospect and generally you have 50-50 odds of success until you take a class like this one. Understanding that gardening is a lifetime of learning and that there are experts out in the world that will teach you so you can avoid the myriad of mistakes possible when planning and designing your garden very are reassuring. I suggest swallowing your pride and investing in your long term success by planning and designing the best garden you can by attending this class. I cannot begin to list all the things I learned, but I know that I have saved myself tremendous frustration when things go wrong in the garden and the garden fails meaning the garden failed because I located my garden in the wrong place or I purchased the wrong equipment. I highly recommend this class and I will be returning for many more classes and investing in myself and my future gardening success.
Posted by: Donald | March 06, 2011 at 07:51 AM
Learning this stuff is becoming a dying art. I feel that there is less and less interest in gardening with the young. Would love to attend this class.
Posted by: Topsoil Supplier | February 18, 2011 at 12:33 AM
Wish I could attend this and so many other workshops you are offering but i live on the East coast. Any chance you can televise them? Or record them and sell the DVDs!?
Posted by: Petrina Plecko | November 24, 2010 at 05:57 PM
January sounds like the perfect time to learn a good way to redo some parts of my garden!
Posted by: KD | November 16, 2010 at 08:59 PM
Ooooh, I'd love to take this! I'm hoping to buy a house soon, and this would be good info to have. Basically, I won't be able to grow anything for the 2010 season, so learning and planning instead is a good idea!
Posted by: Jenna | December 06, 2009 at 04:25 PM
Hmm, I wonder if I can get my husband to take this class? When we garden, he does all of the hard labor and I do all of the choosing and planting. I think I've got the better end of the deal!
Posted by: Indi | January 20, 2009 at 10:09 PM
This would have been a great class to take a couple years back when I was planning out our garden. Some of the things I did I now regret, but it would be too much work to pull out and start over! Oh well.
Merry Christmas to all!
Posted by: Nate | December 25, 2008 at 03:03 AM