Babylonstoren hold regular workshops on a variety of topics related to gardening, including vegetables, herbs, beekeeping and more. These full-day workshops are inspiring, educational and excellent value for money.
What is it?
I attended the asparagus workshop, but Babylonstoren hold regular workshops on a variety of topics. These include The Secret Life of Bees, Herbs for Health, Natural Pest Control, Chickens At Home, Growing Summer Salads, Indigenous Succulents and A Guide to Pruning, along with breadmaking and soapmaking. Click here to see their workshop schedule.
Where is it?
Babylonstoren, Klapmuts (Simondium Road), Western Cape
How much does it cost?
The asparagus workshop cost R600. This was for a full day affair, including an informative walk through the gardens, asparagus growing tips and hands-on learning about sowing, planting and harvesting, along with refreshments and a four-course lunch with a recipe or two.
Why should I go?
For a start, their workshops are extremely good value for money. I can honestly say that it was the best R600 I have spent in a long time! Not only are the gardens beautiful and inspiring for those of us who have embraced vegetable gardening, I learnt a great deal about asparagus and all sorts of other helpful tips. What’s more, I left feeling quite confident about growing my own asparagus which I certainly wasn’t beforehand. And then there’s the lunch…
Contact details
Telephone 021 863 3852, www.babylonstoren.com
On a whim a few months ago I bought 18 asparagus seedlings at my local garden nursery. I love asparagus and seeing as it is always so expensive to buy, I thought it would be a great idea to grow my own, now that I am sowing my first urban vegetable garden. What I didn’t realise is that asparagus seems quite finicky to grow and I couldn’t really figure out what to do as the next step. Everything I read made it seem terribly complicated! So they sat in their pots in the greenhouse for months while I tried to figure out what I was going to do with them all!
Then I stumbled upon the vegetable growing workshops at Babylonstoren and it turned out that they were having an asparagus one! It seemed quite fortuitous as September is my birthday month, so as a birthday present to myself I signed up for the workshop. Being a freelancer, it felt like quite a splurge at R600 to learn to grow asparagus, seeing as some other smaller courses I have done were less than half that price. Having now attended the workshop, I can honestly say it was the best R600 I have spent this year and worth so much more than the cost.
I am not going to go into great detail about how to grow asparagus (that is going to now be my best-kept secret as I am going to sell the asparagus to you!), but rather share my day with you in pictures. No other workshop will be the same as this one, but you are guaranteed a fantastic day out exploring the fascinating world of Babylonstoren while learning a great deal about your chosen interest, along with enjoying a magnificent meal at the end of it all.
The best part is I now have the confidence to actually plant all my asparagus out and I will have my first crop in spring next year! It’s also comforting to know that I can ask for advice on their Babylonstoren Gardening App (free download) if I run into any problems. As one of our instructor’s said, “We will help you as much as we can because we want you to succeed”.
I hope you enjoy the photo journey through the asparagus workshop and may it inspire you to sign up for one of their future workshops. I cannot recommend them enough!
“Growing your own food is like printing your own money.” – Ron Finley
A walk through the gardens
Growing and harvesting asparagus
Asparagus dishes for lunch
Published October 2017 | Own cost