Learn food gardening basics from instructors who are experienced.
These BASIC gardening online recorded sessions are FREE, so everyone who is interested in food gardening can get started.
These online workshops are produced by Community Gardening Network at Just Food, in partnership with community partners and garden instructors.
How to plan and grow a small garden on your balcony or pot/container – Urban Organic Vegetable and Herb Gardens Part 1/2
To watch in full screen, click the 
icon in the top right corner of the video.
Rob Danforth, a gardener of over 45 years, shares his experience on growing food in a small and limited space, from planning, choosing a location, to tools and soil to storage and winterizing. A well-thought-through guide with many practical tips for growing food in Ottawa.
ABOUT
Workshop Facilitator:
Rob Danforth, experienced urban organic vegetable/herb gardener:
- Backyard (45 yrs. & on-going)
- Gloucester Allotment Gardens (14 yrs.)
- Arrowsmith Community Gardens & Gloucester Emergency Food Cupboard garden (7 yrs.)
Instructor (seminars, articles, workshops, & consultation booths) for:
- Just Food Community Garden Network (8 yrs.)
- Canadian Organic Growers Ottawa Chapter (9 yrs.)
- Senior Organic Gardeners (3 yrs. + on-going advisor)
- and private bookings (7 yrs.).
Rob’s published gardening articles on Canadian Organic Growers since 2016 can be found on https://www.cog.ca/ottawa/down-to-earth-newsletter/
COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2022 Just Food Ottawa and Rob Danforth. All rights reserved.
Music used with royalty-free licencing.
Food gardening in your backyard and front yard? urban organic vegetable and herbs grown at home part 2/2
“Gardening takes some time and efforts, but the rewards are many! Lots of flowers and organic food! Anyone can do it! So get a pot or plot, and enjoy gardening!” – Rob Danforth
To watch in full screen, click the icon in the top right corner of the video.
In this very informative session, Rob Danforth shares his extensive knowledge and experience to help build a successful home good garden in a backyard or front yard. Community gardeners who grow in-ground, in raised bed or box bed will find the information very useful as well.
Rob started with home garden basic requirements, how to choose growing spots, water arrangement, tools, composting and storage. Then he discusses garden planning, different kinds of garden plots and beds, common garden best practices. Rob goes through the whole process of starting seeds to fertilizers to watering to garden maintaining to harvesting to final clean up. Packed with insights and useful information, this session is suitable for both beginner and experienced gardeners.
ABOUT
Workshop Facilitator:
Rob Danforth, experienced urban organic vegetable/herb gardener:
- Backyard (45 yrs. & on-going)
- Gloucester Allotment Gardens (14 yrs.)
- Arrowsmith Community Gardens & Gloucester Emergency Food Cupboard garden (7 yrs.)
Instructor (seminars, articles, workshops, & consultation booths) for:
- Just Food Community Garden Network (8 yrs.)
- Canadian Organic Growers Ottawa Chapter (9 yrs.)
- Senior Organic Gardeners (3 yrs. + on-going advisor)
- private bookings (7 yrs.)
TO LEARN MORE
Rob’s published gardening articles on Canadian Organic Growers since 2016 can be found on https://www.cog.ca/ottawa/down-to-earth-newsletter/
COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2022 Just Food Ottawa and Rob Danforth. All rights reserved.
Music used with royalty-free licencing
Indoor Seed Starting
To watch in full screen, click the icon in the top right corner of the video.
Have you started your seeds? Mat Levinson, founder of Capital Greens Urban Farm, recorded this video with presentation and demonstration in a home setting. Learn how you can start seeds indoors, and get nearly 100% germination, and how to create the ideal conditions for your seedlings to grow into strong, healthy, high-yielding vegetable crops!
ABOUT
Workshop Facilitator: Mat Levinson is the founder and owner of Slow Roots Farm (formerly Capital Greens Urban Farm), a sustainable, organic vegetable farm that specializes in growing high-quality, pesticide-free veggies right in the city of Ottawa. Learn more about Slow Roots Farm at https://slowrootsfarm.ca/
COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2022 Just Food Ottawa and Mat Levinson. All rights reserved.
Music used with royalty-free licencing.
Natural Pest Control for a Healthy Organic Garden
To watch in full screen, click the full screen icon in the top right corner of the video.
This workshop is all about bugs in your garden – pests, predators and pollinators. A healthy organic garden is about how to live with bugs, rather than eliminating them. In this session, Rob explains three lines of defence of an organic garden when it comes to natural pest control, in this order:
- maintain healthy soil and healthy plants;
- encourage helpful insects and critters;
- manage hurtful insects and critters, diseases, invasive plants, weeds and climate.
A gardener will find many very practical ways for building a healthy garden, planting plants to attract pollinators and predators to elevate a garden’s immunity to hurtful bugs. Last but not least, Rob walks through the most common encounters with bugs in a garden (spoiler – Japanese beetles!) and offers many valuable tips to get them under control.
Topics in This Workshop:
Introduction – (0:00): Includes the basics on how to keep your garden healthy and how bugs interact with your garden.
Attract Pollinators – (6:49): This section describes the different types of plants that attract helpful bugs to your garden.
Bees – (10:28): Information on the vast amount of bees and how they contribute to your garden.
Bug Hotels – (12:56): Instructions on how you can go about creating habitats for bugs.
Predatory Insects – (17:30): Identifying the insects in your gardens that will prey on other insects to help control pest problems.
Predatory Attractors – (20:24): Specific plants that will attract predatory insects to your garden.
Managing Harmful Insects – (23:00): Strategies that you can use in your garden to keep your plants safe from harmful insects.
Insect Discouragers – (28:37): A description of plants that keep insects away from your producing plants.
Insect Management Sprays – (29:58): Different types of sprays and solutions to keep harmful insects from damaging plants.
Deterring Slugs and Snails – (41:32): Multiple ways to stop snails and slugs from getting into the garden.
Aphids and Ant Ranches – (44:23): Using sacrificial plants to control aphids and managing ant hills.
Cutworms – (47:45): Information on Cutworms and how to manage them in your garden.
Colorado Potato Beetle – (50:34): Information on the Colorado Potato Beetle and various methods of controlling them.
Flea Beetle – (53:41): Information on the Flea Beetle and ways to protect the leaves on your plants.
Japanese Beetle – (55:19): How to deal with Japanese Beetles, one of the most bothersome insects in a garden.
Cucumber Beetle – (1:00:16): Methods to keep your squash and melons safe from this beetle.
Earwigs – (1:01:41): Details about this helpful composter and plants that attract and control them.
Wasps – (1:04:16): Keep your composter safe from Wasps and advice about handling nests.
Leaf Miner – (1:06:32): How to use sacrificial plants to keep Leaf Miners off your plants.
Onion Maggot and Squash Vine Borer – (1:07:23): Protect the stems of your onion and squash plants from these insects.
Green-Leaf Eating Caterpillars – (1:09:30): Keep caterpillars from eating away at the leaves of your plant.
ABOUT
Workshop Facilitator:
Rob Danforth, experienced urban organic vegetable/herb gardener:
- Backyard (45 yrs. & on-going)
- Gloucester Allotment Gardens (14 yrs.)
- Arrowsmith Community Gardens & Gloucester Emergency Food Cupboard garden (7 yrs.)
Instructor (seminars, articles, workshops, & consultation booths) for:
- Just Food Community Garden Network (8 yrs.)
- Canadian Organic Growers Ottawa Chapter (9 yrs.)
- Senior Organic Gardeners (3 yrs. + on-going advisor)
- private bookings (7 yrs.)
TO LEARN MORE
Rob’s published gardening articles on Canadian Organic Growers since 2016 can be found on https://www.cog.ca/ottawa/down-to-earth-newsletter/
COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2022 Just Food Ottawa and Rob Danforth. All rights reserved.
Music used with royalty-free licencing.
Critter Management
On this slide show, generously donated to Just Food by longtime gardener Rob Danforth, Rob explores well established practices for dealing with larger critters that can have negative impacts on your gardens. The critters that Rob addresses are: Squirrels, Cats, Dogs, Chipmunks, Groundhogs, Rabbits, Deer, Voles, Birds, Mice, Raccoons, and Skunks. Rob also covers some of the more helpful critters to your garden including various bird species and other beneficial animals.
ABOUT
Author – Rob Danforth, experienced urban organic vegetable/herb gardener:
- Backyard (45 yrs. & on-going)
- Gloucester Allotment Gardens (14 yrs.)
- Arrowsmith Community Gardens & Gloucester Emergency Food Cupboard garden (7 yrs.)
Instructor (seminars, articles, workshops, & consultation booths) for:
- Just Food Community Garden Network (8 yrs.)
- Canadian Organic Growers Ottawa Chapter (9 yrs.)
- Senior Organic Gardeners (3 yrs. + on-going advisor)
- private bookings (7 yrs.)
TO LEARN MORE
Rob’s published gardening articles on Canadian Organic Growers since 2016 can be found on https://www.cog.ca/ottawa/down-to-earth-newsletter/
Colorado Potato Beetle – Summer 2016, page 7
Box Beds – Winter 2017, page 7
In-door Germination – Spring 2017, page 4
Composting – Fall 2017, page 8
Bug Hotels & Restaurants – Dec 2017
Weed Wisdom – March 2018
Mulch, pluses and minuses – June 2018
Cutworms – Dec. 2018
Self-watering Containers – March 2019
Eco-friendly watering – June 2019
The Cold Frame, a Gardening Advantage – Sept 2019
Garden Tools – Dec 2019
Planning for no-till gardening – March 2020
Beetle Battles (Japanese, cucumber, & flea)- April 2020
Read more on Front Yard Edible Gardening from Just Food website HERE.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2022 Just Food Ottawa and Rob Danforth. All rights reserved.
Music used with royalty-free licencing
