VGN offers garden workshops on varying topics throughout the season. The best way to keep in touch and hear about workshops as soon as they are announced is by following us on Instagram (@vtgardens) and by signing up for our monthly newsletter (scroll down to the footer of this webpage to join our mailing list).
If you are interested in hosting a VGN workshop in your community, please email carolina@vtgardens.org and we’ll send you our menu of workshop offerings and fees.
______________________________________________________________________
We are proud to offer many opportunities to share our expertise on garden-scale food production.
We have at least one workshop scheduled every month from March through October!
Scroll down to view calendars for our Garden Like a Farmer workshops series & Greenhouse Spring events.
Keep scrolling down to read individual workshop descriptions and registration notes.
- Garden Like a Farmer Workshop Series – Tools, tips & techniques for gardening with climate resiliency in mind, inspired by lessons we’ve learned from the farming community and adapting our practices to the garden-scale.
- Monthly workshops will take place at community garden sites in the Burlington area.
- Free for everyone thanks to funding from the City of Burlington’s Conservation Legacy Fund!
- Workshops include access to gardening materials for participants to take home, for example: row cover to protect from frost, hoops & staples to properly secure row cover, pest id cards, planting date charts, packets of seeds, and more!
_____________________________________________________________________________________
- Greenhouse Spring Events – Monthly workshops, drop-in demos, and community events focus on seed starting, seed saving, season extension and growing culturally meaningful crops.
- All events will take place in the Greenhouse at Landry Park, in Winooski.
- Free for everyone thanks to funding from the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program!
- Select workshops will include language interpretation for non-English speaking community gardeners.
- In addition to workshops, event listings below also include Drop-In Demos (stop by for hands-on learning with our Greenhouse Team) and Community Events (celebrating seasons and sharing abundance).
_____________________________________________________________________________
Upcoming Workshops
Season Extension – Thursday, April 23, from 5:30-7pm, Starr Farm Community Garden, Burlington
Cool spring temperatures are ideal for growing many beloved crops (peas, spinach, broccoli, bok choy, cilantro, and more!), while others will need a little extra warmth and protection from potential frost. Join us for an exploration of row cover thicknesses, plastic and biodegradable mulch to warm up soil, and tarping techniques to eliminate weeds. These simple season extension techniques require minimal investment in materials to achieve a gardener’s dream of harvesting luscious spring greens, getting an early start on brassicas, and preparing soil to welcome warm season crops in a few weeks.
Register here
_____________________________________________________________________________
Drop-in Demo: Soil Blocking – Wednesday, April 22, 4-6pm, Greenhouse, Winooski
In an effort to reduce our use of black plastic trays and pots in the greenhouse, we use soil blocking for a portion of the starts we grow from seed. Join us to watch the process in action and practice using soil blockers for seed starting.
No registration necessary, just drop-in!
_____________________________________________________________________________
Watering in a Changing Climate – Tuesday, May 5 from 12-1pm
We are partnering with Burlington Area Community Gardens to offer guidance on best practices for gardening during unpredictable weather such as high precipitation, devastating flooding, and drought that we’ve experienced over the past three years. This workshop will go over water saving techniques such as how to tell if your garden needs water, proper timing for watering your garden, favorite hoses and watering cans, mulching with straw, rain barrels, and more. This Zoom webinar will offer a live and recorded version.
Register for the Zoom webinar here
_____________________________________________________________________________
Pest Management – Tuesday, May 12, from 5:30-7pm, Seedsong Collective Garden, Intervale, Burlington
Join us for a hands-on workshop to identify common pests in vegetable gardens and make a strategic management plan. We will explore how to select and appropriately apply various low-tech strategies such as: selecting resistant varieties, attracting beneficial predators, using row cover, and shifting your planting dates. We will focus on some of the most prevalent vegetable pests, including: flea beetles, leaf miner, Colorado potato beetle, cucumber beetle, swede midge, and leek moth. Come prepared to scout for pests and share your own experience dealing with pests in your garden!
_____________________________________________________________________________
Community Event: Spring Plant Giveaway – Saturday, May 23, Greenhouse, Winooski
One of our grant projects for the 2026 growing season focuses on growing culturally meaningful crops to support access to traditional foods for immigrant communities in Winooski and Burlington. At this Spring Plant Giveaway we will share a variety of crops from the African, Asian, and Latin American diasporas that are hard to find in Chittenden County (unless you are seed starting them yourself!). We will also have extra seedlings to share from varieties we grow for our collective garden sites in Burlington, including mostly vegetables, plus a few herbs & flowers.
This event is free and open to everyone! We will be limiting how many seedlings go home with each person, but we still encourage you to arrive early for the best selection.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Drop-in Demo: Growing Ginger in Vermont – Tuesday, May 28 from 4-6pm, Greenhouse, Winooski
We begin sprouting ginger rhizomes in late March, we keep trays on heat mats through April, and finally by late May its time to transplant ginger. We’ve successfully grown ginger at the garden-scale in Vermont and we are excited to share our experience with you.
No registration necessary, just drop-in!
Stay tuned for more updates and event listings for Summer and Fall!
Follow us on Instagram