Healthy, delicious food can come from anywhere. Explore the basics of container gardening and learn how to grow your own organic food in raised beds, veggie boxes, and pots!

Join us in our The Ecology Center’s container garden and courtyard to learn hands-on how to start and maintain your own container garden!

In this workshop, you will learn:

• The many benefits of growing your own food for you, your community, and the environment
• How to pick plants and pair them with the appropriate container size
• About different types of containers and how to maximize your yield of edible crops with each one
• How to maintain the appropriate soil mixture, water your containers, apply mulch, prune, and more
• Create a seasonal planting and care plan for your container garden

All attendees will receive an informational hand-out to complement the subjects covered in the workshop. Every participant will prepare and take home their own small potted garden!

When you garden in a container, you can grow your own food anywhere – front yards, backyards, paved walkways, patios, rooftops and window sills. Container gardening allows you to easily manage soil moisture, sunlight, temperature, weeds, and pests. With the right plants, container size, soil mixture, and watering schedule you can create an abundant harvest in even a small space.

Instructor: Lucian Toma

Instructor Bio: Lucian became a passionate organic gardener during his Master’s Program in Global Leadership and Sustainable Development. Currently he grows much of the vegetables and herbs consumed in his household in San Clemente, with surplus for sharing with neighbors, extended family, and local wildlife. To keep the garden thriving he has been maintaining and experimenting with a hot pile and worm composting system for the past 5 years. Professionally, he leads Public Programs at The Ecology Center and can be found in the gardens quite often.