About the workshop

This Spring & Summer Kitchen Garden Workshop is a special one. It will cover a range of kitchen garden information for spring plus there will be plenty of hands on experience too. You will learn how to start a newly built kitchen garden from scratch including preparing the soil, mulching, planting, fertilizing and maintaining.

About the Trainer

Penny Pyett BA (UNSW), Cert. Welfare Work (St George TAFE), Dip Hort Science (Ryde TAFE), PDC (Permaculture Institute).

Penny Pyett is the director of the Permaculture Sydney Institute, an institute she is currently developing with others as a permaculture education and demonstration centre on 55 acres in St Albans on the outskirts of Sydney. Penny has extensive knowledge and experience in permaculture, horticulture, community development, management and business. Over the last ten years Penny has been teaching permaculture and horticulture courses for community organisations and at various colleges for TAFE NSW including Introduction to Permaculture; Permaculture Design Certificate and Gardening for People with disabilities courses. Through TAFE outreach she also teaches permaculture design courses for school and community garden groups, facilitating groups with the design and development of their own school or community garden.

In 2002 Penny completed her PDC with Bill Mollison and since then has played a leading management role with Permaculture Sydney North (the leading group of Permaculturalists in the Sydney bioregion) on the management committee and as President (2005-09). She was one of the key initiators and the national coordinator of National Permaculture Day and convener for the National Permaculture Convergence APC9 in 2010.

In 1999 Penny designed and developed her own urban permaculture garden at Ryde, which has won numerous awards and acknowledgment for best sustainable eco-garden and edible landscapes.

A community development worker for many years, for both local government and the community services sector, Penny has worked with many individuals and community groups in developing programs and services for their communities as well as neighborhood precinct committees. She has provided facilitative training for community groups, schools and organisations for over 20 years.

As the sometime owner of successful secondhand businesses, Penny likes to reduce waste and re-use second-hand materials in landscape design that is functional and aesthetic.

As well as quality permaculture and sustainability education, the Permaculture Sydney Institute (PSI) also offers permaculture consultation, design and community development and group facilitation services.

Workshop Program

This workshop will include:

• Vegetables for Spring & Summer – the best species selection for spring; how to grow them;
• what grows well where; maintenance; organic pest and weed methods (and how to make your own organic pest potions);
• We will have a special look at the Solanaceae Family including potatoes and pumpkins & plant up potato patch.
• Propagation – how to do soft tip cuttings and seed propagation.
• Preparing soils – nutrition; composting; fertilizing (and how to make your own organic fertiliser).
• Water – how much a garden needs in spring & watering techniques.
• Harvests and how to use them – including weeds, herbs and vegetables (practical demonstration for lunch)
• Activities for Spring/Summer – develop your own spring checklist and systems.

If you haven’t done one of our seasonal kitchen garden series workshops then this is a great one to start.