EP307 - Grow Your Own Workshop Launch 2026

After a few years of procrastination and hiding I am delighted to launch my grow your own food workshops for 2026. Two dates 21st February & 21st March are the only two dates for this workshop in 2026. 

Ready to turn gardening advice into fresh salads, sweet strawberries, and a steady stream of herbs from your own space? We’re opening two small-group Grow Your Own Food workshops this spring, built for beginners and seasoned gardeners who want practical, no-nonsense results.

Across a relaxed day in the polytunnel and garden, we’ll show the essentials that actually move the needle: reliable seed sowing, simple no-dig bed setup, correct fruit tree planting, smart spacing, and succession strategies that stretch your harvests. Bring photos and questions from your garden, balcony, or allotment. We’ll troubleshoot anything you are struggling with so you leave full of confidence.  

Expect simple grounded information a light lunch, and time for one-to-one help so you leave with a clear plan for the season ahead. 

If you’ve been meaning to start or want better, longer harvests with less stress, this is your spring reset. Secure your spot, invite a friend, and come away ready to plant with confidence. 

To book your workshop visit the link: 

https://subscribepage.io/growyourownfoodworkshop

I look forward to welcoming you to my garden. 

Chapters

• 0:12 Why An Unscheduled Update
• 0:59 What The Workshops Cover
• 2:25 Who It’s For And Testimonials
• 4:07 Dates, Format, And What To Expect
• 6:41 Booking Made Easy And More Courses Coming
• 8:55 Final Details And How To Get In Touch
• 12:06 Closing And Invitation

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:12

How's it going everybody and welcome to episode 307 of Master My Garden Podcast? Now, this episode is going out, it's an unscheduled one, and the reason for it is that finally I have the Grow Your Own Food Workshops, which are due to take place in the spring. They're now ready to go. Um, so I've been talking about this for a while, mentioned it on the Christmas gifts for gardeners, but the dates weren't finalised, and the biggest struggle I've had with you know with these workshops has been the tech behind the scenes, you know, to be able to have a link that someone can buy through, and all of that side of it has daunted me for the last couple of years. So I ran these workshops about four or three years ago, and they were you know really well received. I absolutely love doing them myself. So that's basically where I bring people to the garden here to the polytunnel, and we basically go through start to finish how to grow your own food, uh, covering everything from vegetables, fruits, herbs. And the big thing with this is that we kind of troubleshoot what it is that you're struggling with in your own garden. And so if you're starting off and you've never grown before, you know, we're able to look at pictures maybe from your site, answer your questions, show you how to set it up, and then get you going so that you can walk away with relative confidence to start growing. But also, if you're already growing and you've been growing for a while and you have certain things that you struggle with, we troubleshoot that as well. So that even if you're growing and you're you know you have the basics, it really sort of hones in your skill and allows you to become a lot more competent, a lot more efficient, and to have crops over a longer period of time. So previous previous um participants, some of them have never gardened before. And you'll see when you go through the link, there's you know, testimonial from Root, who had never grown before, and then came to the workshop and was leaving full of enthusiasm and full of confidence to be able to go and start herself. Uh, Barry was the same, he'd never gardened in a relatively new house, wanted to start growing his own food. And yeah, two two complete beginners. And then also we had Siobhan who you know was growing and is a very good grower. She's been you know a supporter of the podcast for a long time, very good grower, grows lots of her own crops, but was struggling with certain aspects, and so we troubleshoot all of that. So it's very, very personalized. It's um limited to a maximum of 14 people. Typically, you know, we'll we'll have a very intimate day where we'll talk about your garden, go through all the basics, and it really is it's a nice day, a nice kind of atmosphere added. You get a lot of one-to-one personalised attention, and yeah, we troubleshoot everything, and it's a you know, it's it's a it's a nice day because people share information with each other, and everybody there is you know has the same goals, which is to grow their own food for for themselves and their families and so on. And so, yeah, it's it's a really nice day. Um, as I say, ran those a couple of years ago, and between one thing and another, I haven't done it for a couple of years, and it's something I've really wanted to get back at. And so now I'm delighted to have those dates nailed down. And thanks to the great work of Lauren Kavanaugh, I have the back end of the you know, the tech side of it sorted so that you know when you do purchase everything is run smoothly, and you know, it makes it a seamless and I I suppose an easier process for you booking through. And then from my perspective, it's it's done right and done properly. I I don't like doing things that are sort of a bit of a botch job. So yeah, this is this is uh thanks to Lauren, as I say, the back end of it is is all working really well now. So the two dates that that way that I have are Saturday the 21st of February 2026 and Saturday the 21st of March 2026. And so two Saturdays, the timing of it is 10 in the morning on till three. We'd encourage people to come a small few minutes earlier, we'll kick off at 10, and it'll be very much you know, it'll be a practical, uh no nonsense, fun and really easy to follow sort of instructions as to how you grow your own food. And it'll be between a polytunnel garden and potentially you know a little classroom style um day, light lunch provided, tea and coffee on arrival, so you know, a very, very relaxed atmosphere. And yeah, we'll show you all sewing, planting of fruit trees, setting up of no-dig beds, and all of that sort of stuff. So basically you can go home afterwards and you know be able to get up and go straight away, improve what you're doing, or start from scratch, whatever the case may be. So, yeah, when you click through, you'll see testimonials from several of the people who were on those previous workshops. Uh, Keane, Siobhan, Shane, and Emer all kind of you know, giving their quick sort of video testimonial of the day, and then Ruth and Barry who left you know written testimonials after. Um, but for any of you that listen to the podcast, you know, it'll be the same style. It'll be no nonsense, nothing too nothing too technical, but very, very practical and very grounded type information, which is kind of what I try to deliver all the time through the podcast and so on. Um You know, we look at seed sowing, we look at bread bed preparation, we look at what fruits to grow, how to grow them, as I say, we'll show the actual planting of trees and so on. We'll talk about everything that you need to be successful growing your own crops. And if you're in a really small space, if you're in a big garden, we'll look at all those. If you're if you are coming, any pictures, any sort of information or notes that you have on your current setup, they'll be useful because what we'll do is we'll look at those, we'll look where we can tweak them and improve them and help you going forward. Uh so as I say, the day is totally about you. Um price of the tickets is 97 euro, and as I said, that includes steak coffee and arrival and light lunch, which is provided on the day. So, but a lovely, nice, friendly, relaxed atmosphere, and you know it's a it's a nice Christmas gift. I had, as I said, planned to have it out and ready in time for the Christmas gifts one, but I didn't have all the dates, definitely didn't have the tech set up in the background. Uh so I didn't I mentioned it, but I didn't have any great detail to give out. But now, yeah, that's that's nailed down. What I am going to be doing is a lot more workshops as well. So these are the first two to start off, but there's other workshops in the planning, they'll definitely be of interest to you know other people as well. So this is very much grow your own food. The next workshops are more on the ornamental side and some of the medicinal sides as well. So there's there's different types of of workshops coming through. Uh, now that the the back end or the the ordering process is sort of tidied up, thanks again to Learn, then I'll be able to sort of do these and you know deliver workshops and be able to have a seamless sort of booking in process, which I haven't had up until now. Um delighted to be getting back at them. A little bit daunting because I suppose it's like any of these things when you launch something, it's um you know, you want it to be well received and you want uh you want people to to book on, obviously, you know, but it's from my perspective I really looking forward to getting back at it and getting getting my teeth teeth into that hands-on sort of one-to-one type um workshops, which yeah, I really loved doing that the last time, and as I say, a great vibe at it. Um so yeah, 20 Saturday the 21st of February, Saturday the 21st of March. Definitely they're only going live today, so basically anyone that wants to book through, just book through on your preferred your on your preferred dates. Don't be afraid to share it with your friends. You know, people the at the last workshops, people, a good few people came in twos and threes, actually. So, you know, people uh like-minded friends or whatever, they booked on together and made a day out of it and so on. So yeah, there's the dates. Link is in the show notes. I'll be sharing the link in you know social and email and all those places over the over the coming week. Um, but again, hopefully it's in time for some of you for Christmas gifts, or maybe you know somebody who might want it or like it as a Christmas gift, so it gives you an opportunity there. Um but yeah, looking forward to getting back at it. And two dates coming up, more to follow for a different type of course. The the grow your own food will only be on those two dates after after the end of March. It's you know, it's not too late, but it's to give the whole process, it's getting a little bit late for a workshop. So definitely those two will be the only grow your own food workshops in the coming year. The other workshops will follow on month after month after that, uh, and they will be you know various types and various subjects, various topics, various durations, might do some shorter workshops and some sort of longer day ones as well. So yeah. 21st February, 21st of March, 10 until 3, lunch included. Uh, the only thing that you kind of need to do or need to bring is that obviously February and March, just weather-wise, just make sure you're appropriately addressed. But you'll see all when you go through the to the booking page, all the information, frequently asked questions, all those things are answered there. If you do have any questions, direct questions that you want to ask, or if you're booking through and you want to sort of forload me with the with the questions for for your garden for the day, be sure to do that as well. Or if you have any questions about the day, it's info at mastermygarden.com. I'm happy to answer any of those queries, questions, or whatever it is. But for now, those workshops are live. Link is in the show notes. Please share it with your friends. Looking forward to hopefully seeing some of you on either of those two dates. And yeah, looking forward to getting back at it as well. I really enjoyed them when I did them last time. And unscheduled episode, it's uh not a full episode as such, but it is it is an important one that I wanted to wanted to get out there. So, yeah, that's been this week's unscheduled episode. Thanks for listening, and until the next time, happy gardening.