Organic Gardening

Portsmouth Public Library presents a comprehensive organic gardening course presented by an experienced teacher and commercial vegetable grower.

This is a six hour course taught in weekly, two hour sessions, to be held Thursdays April 8, 15 and 22, 6 – 8 PM.

FREE and open to the public. Registration required. Register below to receive the Zoom link.

The course will included practical tips on: how to create a new garden; soil preparation; seed starting; planting techniques; cultural techniques during the growing season (such as watering, fertilizing, and pest and weed control); how plants and soil interact; succession planting; planting multiple crops in the same space at the same time; how to compost; crop rotation; cover cropping; and mycorrhizobials.

There also will be discussions about our existing industrial food production system, including pesticides, genetically modified seeds, seed labeling & supplier concentration, globalization & famine, organic certification, and regulatory capture.

The instructor is Vincent Cirasole from Rochester. He has taught physical education and organic gardening in New York before relocating to the Granite State in 2013. He also is a Master Gardener, a commercial vegetable grower, and an organic growing enthusiast. Over a period of years, he has developed this course which has proven to be fascinating and popular with students. Cirasole has recently written a book entitled, How to Grow a Vegetable Garden that Cannot Fail.