Upcoming Events
Seed Starting Demo
Join Alex from West Coast Seeds to learn all about the basics of starting your vegetables and flowers from seed! Topics covered will include how to select your seeds, different types of seeds, supplies you need for starting seeds, techniques for sowing seeds, when to start which seeds, how to pot up seeds once they have germinated and how to prepare seeds for planting outdoors.
This demonstration is free of charge and no registration is necessary. This demonstration will take place in a heated greenhouse.
Basic Fruit Tree Pruning Demonstration
Bernie Dinter will lead this demonstration of basic pruning of fruit trees and small fruits.
This demonstration is free of charge and no registration is required. It will take place outdoors so please dress warm!
For Kids - Create an Early Spring Planter
Join Angela for a fun morning creating an Early Spring Planter! This hands-on workshop will give kids a chance to develop their green thumbs as they choose from a selection of early spring bulbs and flowers to make their own unique planter.
This workshop is aimed at kids aged 5 to 10. Kids must have parent or guardian with them. Registration in advance is required as space is limited. This event is $35 + GST, which includes the plants, pot, soil, a selection of woodland creatures for decoration and 1 pair of kids gardening gloves to take home.
This event will take place in an outdoor area. Please Contact Us to register.
Soil 101 Seminar
Join Tamara Dinter to learn all about how to build healthy soil in your garden. Topics covered will include soil texture, structure, nutrients, pH, organic matter, soil ecosystem, and tailoring garden plantings to your soil type. Tamara has an MSc. in Soil Science and can’t wait to share her knowledge and enthusiasm for healthy soils with you!
There is a $10 +GST charge for this seminar. Registration in advance is required as space is limited. Payment can be given by credit card over the phone at time of registration, or visit us to pay in person. Please note we require payment to confirm registration.
Gardening with Native Plants
Native plants are beneficial to include in our gardens because they increase biodiversity, provide habitat for wildlife, attract birds, butterflies and other pollinators, are adapted to local soil and weather conditions and are hardier and more disease resistant.
Join us for a 2 hour in-depth seminar on native plants with Emony Nicholls, where you will learn how gardening with our local native plants can give you a water-saving, low-maintenance garden that brings colour all season long. Whether your garden conditions are wet, salty or xeric (dry, dry, dry) there are native plants that will thrive and support great pollinators and our local ecology too!
There is a $20 +GST charge for this seminar. Registration in advance is required as space is limited. Payment can be given by credit card over the phone at time of registration, or visit us to pay in person. Please note we require payment to confirm registration.
Bonsai Re-potting Demonstration
Are you a bonsai enthusiast looking for tips on your current project, or interested in starting your own piece of living art? We are pleased to announce we are hosting a bonsai re-potting demonstration on Saturday, March 15th from 10 am to 12 pm. Our resident bonsai expert will be giving a demonstration on re-potting a Japanese Maple. The demonstration will last from 10 am to 11 am. Bring your specimens and questions for open discussion between 11 am and 12 pm.
Important Notes: This event is FREE! No materials for bonsai are provided. No registration is required. Dress warmly as the event will be in an unheated space.
Tool Sharpening
Visit us on Saturday, March 15th or Sunday, March 16th, between 10 am and 3 pm to have your garden tools (and kitchen knives!) sharpened by Franz from Wooly Buggers Sharpening. This is a mobile blade maintenance service which will be available for our customers in our parking lot. Pruning shear sharpening starts at $10 and may be paid directly to Franz on the day by cash or e-transfer.
Tree Planting Demonstration
Join Nat, our resident Red Seal Horticulturalist, for a comprehensive demonstration on tree planting! Topics covered will include selecting the right tree for your garden space as well as a demo on hole digging, soil amending and planting techniques to best set your tree up for success. Planting techniques for both bare-root and potted trees will be covered.
This demonstration is free of charge and no registration is required. It will take place outdoors so please dress warmly!
Designing Gardens for Pollinators
During this workshop discover what all the buzz is about our pollinators! Learn about native pollinators, their importance to ecosystems and our food supply, and the issues they are facing.
Join us for a 2 hour in-depth seminar with Emony Nicholls to find out how these bees and butterflies and birds like to live and what they like to eat, as well as practical information on creating a garden in the southern Vancouver Island region that will be a pollinator paradise.
There is a $20 +GST charge for this seminar. Registration in advance is required as space is limited. Payment can be given by credit card over the phone at time of registration, or visit us to pay in person. Please note we require payment to confirm registration.
From Seed to Harvest: Making the most of your vegetable garden
The taste of home-grown produce is unbeatable but growing vegetables is also a great activity to reduce stress, spend more time outdoors, teach kids how our food is produced, reduce the grocery bill, and keep our food system more localized.
Join Monica, owner of Dockerty Gardens and avid vegetable gardener, as she teaches how to maximize your space, time, and money in the home vegetable garden.
Topics covered: growing vegetables starts from seed, making the most of your space year-round using succession planting, fertility needs of vegetables, common pests and how to prevent them, and the best way to keep gardens weed free.
There is a $10 +GST charge for this seminar. Registration in advance is required as space is limited. Payment can be given by credit card over the phone at time of registration, or visit us to pay in person. Please note we require payment to confirm registration.
Make Wildflower Mudballs - for Kids!
Join Mollie for a fun morning of making mudballs with wildflower seeds! Kids will receive hands-on instruction for making up to 12 wildflower mudballs to take home. These mudballs can be thrown around your yard at home and will germinate in a few weeks with beautiful wildflowers!
This workshop is aimed at kids age 5 to 12. Kids must have parent or guardian with them. Kids over 12 may attend on their own.
Registration in advance is required as space is limited. This event is $10 + GST, which includes all materials and hands-on instruction. This event will take place in an outdoor area. Please Contact Us to register.
Perennial Exchange
Join us for our annual perennial exchange. Bring your divisions or cuttings of perennial plants to trade with other enthusiastic gardeners. This is a free exchange of perennial divisions we facilitate for our community.
It will take place this year at 9:30 am SHARP on Saturday, April 5th.
Intro to Food Forests + Permaculture
Join Annie for this hour-long journey into the basics of using permaculture design principles to create your very own food forest. A food forest typically contains several levels of food-bearing and flowering plants, from ground covers to vines to shrubs to trees. Learning about food forest principles provides a great start to developing a productive and edible ecosystem right in your own backyard.
There is a $10 +GST charge for this seminar. Registration in advance is required as space is limited. Payment can be given by credit card over the phone at time of registration, or visit us to pay in person. Please note we require payment to confirm registration.
Rose Pruning Demonstration
Do you have a rose in your garden you would like to prune, but have no idea where to start? Join us for a free rose pruning demonstration by Nat, our resident Red Seal Landscape Horticulturalist!
This demonstration is free of charge and no registration is required. It will take place outdoors or in an unheated greenhouse so please dress warmly!
Tool Sharpening
Visit us on Saturday, February 15th or Sunday, February 16th, between 10 am and 3 pm to have your garden tools (and kitchen knives!) sharpened by Franz from Wooly Buggers Sharpening. This is a mobile blade maintenance service which will be available for our customers in our parking lot. Pruning shear sharpening starts at $10 and may be paid directly to Franz on the day by cash or e-transfer.