[Online Course]
How to Grow
Sensational Salads
Without a Garden!
Learn to Grow Nutritious Salads Bursting with Flavour in Containers on your Balcony, Patio or Rooftop.
Starts 1 May 2024
Early Bird Price until 6pm BST / 12pm CT 29 April - £90 or 3 monthly payments of £30.
After 28 April: £120 or 3 monthly payments of £40
Put an end to limp, shop bought salad!
Learn to grow fresh, organic salad that actually tastes of something.
Why grow salad in containers at home?
Home grown salad can taste fantastic. Eating a range of different salad leaves is a great way to boost the number of plants we consume. It can look fabulous, too.
But salad available in our shops is expensive, loses flavour and nutrients quickly in the fridge, and often comes in plastic packaging. There’s no way of knowing when it was harvested, how far it’s travelled to reach you, and what kinds of chemicals or cleaning processes it’s been exposed to. There’s limited choice in terms of quantity and variety.
Growing salad at home guarantees that it’s fresh. You can harvest as much or as little as you need. You can grow unusual, delicious varieties that are almost impossible to buy – like sorrel, New Zealand spinach and edible flowers.
It’s not difficult to grow. It thrives in containers, only needs three to four hours of sun a day to do well, and can be grown and picked all year round in temperate climates. Growing salad at home allows you to access salad of the highest quality. Plus healthy salad plants look beautiful in containers as well as on your plate.
All in all, it's perfect to grow in a small space.
This course will teach you everything you need to know to grow your own salads in containers. And it’ll help you make the most of every delicious leaf and flower you grow.
What you'll learn
This is a practical, hands-on course in three parts.
1. How to grow the best salads without a garden, in containers
Start by growing!
We'll start by sowing some great leaves for bulk including lettuces, rocket / arugula, baby kale and pea shoots. We'll also grow spring onions / scallions & radishes; mint, chives, coriander & parsley; and some edible flowers including nasturtiums and pot marigold.
Develop your growing skills
You'll learn how to sow, water, feed and harvest salads - and how to space them for optimal harvests. You'll also find out how to re-use the same potting mix to grow salads multiple times.
Explore the more unusual
You'll find out about many unusual and tasty salads that are easy to grow but rarely seen in the shops including sorrel, orach, land cress and Scot's lovage. I'll show how to grow over 30 different salads in total!
2. How to combine them to make delicious salad dishes
Tasty salad dressings
A good dressing can make a salad. I'll share the recipes for eight of my favourites, and you’ll be invited to share your recommendations too.
Making a meal of It
Salad doesn’t have to be a side dish. You can add protein to make a substantial meal or transform low cost staples like rice and beans by adding a few home grown ingredients.
Texture, colour, flavour & scent
How to use herbs to transform simple salads. How to add colour, interest and texture with edible flowers and pretty leaf shapes.
3. How to grow salads through autumn, winter and spring
In September we look at extending our salad growing into autumn and, depending on your local climate, into winter and spring.
Early September sowings
I'll show you how to sow fast growing, cold hardy salads for winter, including rocket / arugula, land cress and mustards.
Tips for cool weather growing
I'll cover which salads grow well in winter, when to sow and how to care for them, and how to harvest winter salads.
Review progress
We review how your salad growing has gone, what you have learnt, and what you want to grow next year!
How the Course Works
- 'How to' videos: each week I introduce you to a variety of salads and how to grow them step by step: sowing, watering, feeding and picking.
- You grow: you choose the salads you want to grow and put your learning into practise.
- Live sessions: offer you the chance to meet other participants, share progress and ask me any and all questions! (dates below).
- Access to my expertise: ask me questions at anytime on the course website.
Course Dates
- The bulk of the video content will be made and uploaded in May enabling you to start growing great salads straight away.
- Between June and September you can continue to share your progress and ask me questions on the course website.
- We convene again in September to sow more salads for autumn and winter.
Live Sessions
- Meet other participants, share progress and ask me questions direct. Optional - but a nice chance to connect.
- There are three live sessions, all on Zoom, and each one is repeated three times.
The live dates are:
- Wednesday 8 May, repeated on Saturday 11 May.
- Wednesday 22 May, repeated on Saturday 25 May.
- Wednesday 4 September, repeated on Saturday 7 September.
Each session runs at the following three times:
- Wednesdays at 1pm BST / 7am CT
- Wednesday at 7pm BST / 1pm CT
- Saturday at 3.45pm BST / 9.45am CT
By the end of the course:-
- You'll know the ins and outs of all kinds of salads, from easy-to-grow ones to unusual ones.
- You'll have grown your own salads over the summer and sown some ready for the autumn.
- You'll feel more confident putting together and dressing a variety of simple and delicious salads - both as side dishes and main meals.
[Online Course]
How to Grow
Sensational Salads
Without a Garden!
Learn to Grow Nutritious Salads Bursting with Flavour in Containers on your Balcony, Patio or Rooftop.
Starts 1 May 2024
Early Bird Price until 6pm BST / 12pm CT 29 April - £90 or 3 monthly payments of £30.
After 28 April: £120 or 3 monthly payments of £40
What you will grow - a rainbow of salads!
The course covers a wide variety of different salads.
I'll give you information about each one to help you pick and choose those you most want to grow - and can squeeze in - this year. You will discover which you like to grow best and get plenty of ideas for others to try in the future.
Through the course, you'll learn about salads you can grow for:
- Staples. Tasty leaves you can grow in bulk and use as the base of your salad. These will include lettuce, pea shoots, and rocket / arugula.
- Flavour. Herbs and leaves to add a flavour or a spicy kick to your salads, including spring onions / scallions, mint, coriander, chives, mustards and sorrel.
- Colour. Make eye catching beautiful salads by adding edible flowers like Nasturtiums and Society Garlic, and colourful leaves like Orach Scarlet Emperor.
- Variety. Many tasty leaves and edible flowers are easy to grow but almost impossible to buy. I'll show you things like Scot's Lovage, New Zealand Spinach, Landcress, and Bucks-horn Plantain (popular in Tuscan salads!).
- For hot weather. Some salads grow better in hot temperatures than others, I'll show you which.
- For cool weather. I'll show you which salads can survive frost to grow in autumn and into winter.
Meet Mark, Your Tutor
I started growing salad on my balcony back in 2009. I quickly became a convert and soon found we were eating a home grown salad nearly every day. I was amazed at how much better they tasted than anything from the shops - and I loved the huge diversity of leaves and flavours that home growing enabled.
Over the years I have experimented with growing well over sixty different salads leaves, and continue to try new ones to this day.
I have extensive experience of growing in containers in small urban areas - first on a balcony and window sills in London, and then in various rental properties, and currently in a front yard in Newcastle upon Tyne, North England.
I've been teaching container gardening since 2010, running workshops and giving talks all over the UK - including for Kew Gardens, Hampton Court Flower Show, and Garden Organic.
My book, the Vertical Veg Guide to Container Gardening, won the 2023 award for the Best Practical Gardening book. The judges praised it as 'very accessible' and the 'most comprehensive' guide they had seen.
I love sharing my passion and learning with others - and I'd love to help you grow sensational salads!
Put an end to limp, shop bought salad!
Learn to grow fresh, organic salad that actually tastes of something.
Frequently Asked Questions
These are some of the questions people most frequently ask:
How much sun do I need to grow salads successfully?
You need at least three hours a day in the summer. If you have less than three hours sun, I recommend taking my microgreens course first.
How much time do I need to do the course?
You'll need about an hour a week in May to watch the videos and attend the two live sessions. Then you'll need time to collect what you need and sow your seeds - and a few minutes each day for watering. Salad is more work to grow than say Mediterranean herbs, but also more productive - it's one of the best ways to make the most of a small space.
Can I grow salads inside?
Yes you can, and many of the principles I teach in this course will apply. However, you may be better off looking for a course that is tailored more specifically to indoor growing (this one isn't).
How much experience is needed to take the course?
The course is for anyone who wants to grow a significant amount and variety of salad in containers. It's appropriate for both complete beginners and those with some previous growing experience.
“Well structured presentation, kept simple, beautiful and inspiring photos – and absolutely encouraging.”
Heike
Online Introductory Workshop for Bio Balcony in Germany
“I have just watched the workshop and it was fantastic!
Really well done, Mark. Very informative and extremely helpful going forward”
Joy
Online Workshop for Capital Growth in London
“As a recent convert to balcony gardening, Mark provided an analytical structure that I am confident will help me to take my growing to the next level. Not only wonderfully clear but the session was also presented with a wonderfully engaging and unassuming personality!”
Matt
Workshop at Regents Park Allotments, London
[Online Course]
How to Grow
Sensational Salads
Without a Garden!
Learn to Grow Nutritious Salads Bursting with Flavour in Containers on your Balcony, Patio or Rooftop.
Starts 1 May 2024
Early Bird Price until 6pm BST / 12pm CT 29 April - £90 or 3 monthly payments of £30.
After 28 April: £120 or 3 monthly payments of £40