Using your own home-made compost is the single best thing you can do to increase your garden's fertility, ward off pests, and keep diseases at a minimum. Worm castings have also been shown to be a similarly powerful tool. Great gardeners will have both an active compost bin and worm bin up and running at all times. They know the benefits to their garden are enormous. Using your own compost and worm castings will also drastically cut down on the amount of soil amendments, fertilizers, insecticides and fungicides that an organic gardener usually needs to purchase to maintain their vegetable plot.
Students will learn what these benefits are, how to properly build a compost pile (we build one ourselves during class), learn how to harvest it and use it on your garden.
The second half of the workshop is devoted to vermiculture: how to start, maintain, and use to full benefit a proper worm bin. See how we feed our worms, harvest the castings, and even make a fabulous worm tea for use as a supplemental fertilizer. Students will take home a worm bin, complete with starter worms!
This class is taught by farmer Cynthia Sandberg co-founder of the World Tomato Society, and is held at Love Apple Farms' spring plant sale, located at 5311 Scotts Valley Dr., Scotts Valley, CA. Read speaker and class reviews for Cynthia Sandberg here.
ALL CLASSES ARE HELD RAIN OR SHINE AND REQUIRE ADVANCE REGISTRATION
May 21, 2022 (Saturday) 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. CANCELED
Materials to bring to class: compostable materials. If you cannot bring these, we will provide them. For more information about how to prepare for class, CLICK HERE.
Please read our cancellation policy in case you are not able to attend your scheduled class. If the workshop dates don’t work for you, if the class is full, or if you’d like to request that another class be added, please email us at lo[email protected] and we’ll do our best to accommodate you!
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.
I set up a worm bin myself after taking the Master Tomato class. It is awesome and easy to maintain. Enjoy your class, you will get lots of great information.
Posted by: Mary Cooper | September 06, 2016 at 09:23 PM
Ms. Sandberg was referred to several times in the heirloom tomato class I took in Hercules, CA. Her website and garden tips were alluded to and we were encouraged to check out her information. Most recently, her helpful knowledge and advice regarding tomato growing was given me by my class instructor. Thank you, Ms. Sandberg for supporting gardeners everywhere!
Posted by: Steve Fox | August 02, 2010 at 08:24 AM
Some great info here! Am glad to see more and more people re-gaining the knowledge that has long been forgotten.
Fossil worm casts have been found dating back more than 600 million years. That's 300 million years before the dinosaurs.
Cleopatra declared earthworms as sacred, and forbade Egyptian farmers from removing them from the land. The Greek Aristotle called earthworms the "intestines of the soil". And Charles Darwin studied earthworms for 39 years. Darwin said "It may be doubted whether there are many other animals in the world which have played so important a part in the history of the world then the earthworm".
Kudo's on your terrific site and keep up the good job!
http://wormdigest.blogspot.com/
Posted by: Jerry Reeves | June 27, 2009 at 03:37 PM
I took the chicken raising class, can the dirty straw be used in a compost pile?
Posted by: Dorothy | March 03, 2009 at 09:04 AM
Earthworms are so cute!
Posted by: Ruth | January 21, 2009 at 07:04 AM
An earthworm can produce their own weight in castings every 24 hours that is 1/3 pound of fertilizer a year!
http://www.blogdivvy.com/growing-vegetables/earthworms-nature%e2%80%99s-composting-machines.htm
Posted by: jenn | January 02, 2009 at 11:09 AM