Innovative farmers and growers at the Real Food Garden near Wadebridge are set to launch their 2024 ‘Grow Your Own’ workshops. 

Head grower Amelia Lake will teach participants in the workshops how to grow their own vegetables organically and no-dig.

The Real Food Garden has been innovating new, regenerative ways of producing food since 2017 and provides fresh vegetables through their farm shop and veg and meat box scheme locally. 

The box schemes gives local people a connection to how food is produced, seasonality of veg and meat production and the real people behind the produce. 

But Chloe Bines and Amelia Lake want to take this a step further and help the people of Cornwall grow their own fruit and veg.

The two young farmers have reached carbon net zero, and have grown their market garden into a large, restorative farm with conservation grazing and closed loop systems. 

Their pioneering efforts in both conservation grazing with pigs and horned cattle and soil care techniques have seen them be awarded a Cornwall Sustainability Award and gain media attention nationally.

For five years Amelia has been showing keen gardeners how to get the most out of their garden, improve their soils and increase biodiversity whilst having an abundance of fresh vegetables. 

Amelia said: “As someone passionate about growing great quality food I know that people can achieve this in their own gardens. 

“Yes anyone can buy lots of amazing produce from our Farm Shop but you can grow some of that at home too. 

“We want to open up the farm for the workshops so people can learn how to grow their own vegetables organically whilst nurturing their soils and wildlife.”

The workshops take participants on the full journey from planning, sowing and knowing their soil type to dealing with pests, disease and weeds to get fruitful harvest all year round. 

“We’ve always been passionate about making our efforts count and spreading our impact through people’s gardens and allotments seems a good way to multiply our impact in the world.

“People want to know how to have success in their veg plots, how to feed their families with nutritious food and we can help them do that with the workshops. 

“Our ethos is to feed our local community and this is another way to do that, there will always be plenty of people who want our fresh, chemical-free vegetables and free-range meat!”

The first workshop kicks off in spring on March 24, it will see participants get up close and personal with their soil, plan their garden for the year and get the best results with sowing seeds. 

• To book a place at realfoodgarden.co.uk