Unusual and Ornamental Edibles

Friday 18 October 2024

with Christopher Smith of Pennard Plants

10am - 4pm (arrive at 9.30 for coffee/tea)

Group Size 10 people

£120

Learn the art of growing a beautiful garden that also happens to be edible.

Gone are the days when the vegetable garden was considered the messy bit hidden away behind the ‘proper’ garden.   The edible and the ornamental no longer need to be separate entities.

Whether you are interested in exploring the more unusual varieties such as earth chestnuts, Szechuan pepper, yacon or wineberries or simply want to add a few edible varieties to your herbaceous border, this workshop will expand your ideas of using edibles creatively.

We will also look at common plants you may already be growing in your garden without realising they are edible.

Chris will discuss how to use the less familiar plants in the kitchen and you’ll have a chance to taste some of them too.

Christopher Smith runs the nursery at Pennard Plants, a 2 acre Victorian Walled Garden in south Somerset where he has specialised in unusual fruit and vegetables since 2006.  His business partner Mike Milligan runs the seed side of the business which stocks predominantly heirloom and heritage varieties.  They regularly showcase their range of edibles at the RHS shows where they have won numerous gold medals and Chris has been named as an RHS Master Grower.

Lunch 

Alison will prepare a simple vegetarian lunch including produce from the garden. We will round up the day with tea and cake. If you have any specific dietary requests do let us know on the booking form.

What to Bring

Check the weather forecast before you travel and ensure you bring appropriate clothing, whether that’s waterproofs or sun hats, or possibly both!  You may wish to bring a notebook, camera and water bottle.

Getting Here

Directions will be emailed to you a couple of weeks before the workshop. Use Damson Farm rather than the postcode on Google Maps.

Cancellation policy

As a small business it’s not sustainable to offer refunds. However if you need to cancel your place up to 28 days before the event you will be offered a credit towards another workshop.   After that time, the offer only applies if we’ve been able to re-sell the place. It’s not possible to promote cancelled places for re-sale less than 4 days before the event.