Discover how to grow delicious fruit and vegetables and make the most of them in the kitchen too!
In September I’m excited to be launching a new venture, Pot to Pot, a series of half-day workshops with cookery writer CJ Jackson. Pot to Pot was an idea drawn up over a cup of coffee after a chance meeting during a school drop off. Having grown up only a few miles apart, CJ and I now live on opposite sides of the Bourne Valley in the Kent countryside.
I’ve been growing fruit and vegetables for many years now, but my skills very much stop at the kitchen door. CJ, on the other hand, is expert at turning home-grown harvests into gourmet feasts so we’ve decided to team up for some half-day workshops, showing just what you can grow and how to get the best out of it in the kitchen. You’ll learn from me what varieties to go for, get some great growing tips and plenty of inspiration from our showcase vegetable container garden where we’ve been growing everything from squash to cape gooseberries, watermelon to sweet potatoes. CJ will then show you how to turn these potted wonders into gourmet fabulousness.
Pot to Pot workshops 2014
September 8th 10am-2pm, £55
September 15th 10am-2pm, £55
September 22nd 10am-2pm, £55
September 29th 10am-2pm, £55
Email Alex [email protected] or call her on 0795 1742101 to book or find out more
Pot to Pot workshops will be held at The Coach House, Long Mill Lane, Crouch TN15 8QB, Kent (near Sevenoaks) and the price includes coffee and homemade cakes on arrival, lots of growing tips, a tour of our jam-packed container vegetable garden and a delicious lunch prepared from seasonal homegrown produce by CJ. You’ll go home with a goody bag including seeds and our Pot to Pot booklet of recipes and growing tips. It’ll be fun, informal and, hopefully, you’ll learn a little bit too.
How to find us
The Coach House is about 40 minutes drive from London, 20 minutes drive from Sevenoaks and just 10 minutes from junction 2 of the M20. Nearest train stations are Borough Green & Wrotham (10 minutes) or Sevenoaks (20 minutes) Click here for a map for The Coach House
About Alex and CJ
Alex Mitchell is a journalist, author, lecturer and gardener. For five years Alex wrote a column for The Sunday Telegraph about growing fruit and vegetables. She writes features about gardening and food for The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph, Gardeners’ World and any other publication that will have her, with a particular interest in how to get the most out of small, urban spaces. She has written three books, The Girl’s Guide to Growing Your Own – Or How to Grow Fruit and Vegetables Without Getting Your Hands Too Dirty, The Edible Balcony and The Rurbanite: Living in the Country Without Leaving the City. Alex is a lecturer at the online gardening school MyGardenSchool with her course Edible Gardening Made Easy. In March 2014 she graduated with distinction from The English Gardening School with a diploma in Garden Design. She is currently working on her latest book, Gardening on a Shoestring. She lives in Ightham.
CJ Jackson is a cookery writer, creative product development consultant, teacher and demonstrator. She trained at the Cordon Bleu School in London, where she worked as a teacher before moving to Leith’s School of Food and Wine in 1989 where she eventually became Vice Principal. CJ then ran her own freelance food consultancy for several years until taking on the running of Billingsgate Seafood School where she still works as CEO and Principal. She has written and co-authored a number of books including both The Leith’s Fish Bible and Leith’s Seasonal Bible (Bloomsbury) both of which highlight her passion for seafood and enthusiasm for cooking with seasonal produce. Other publications include The Ration Book Diet, The Times Food for Feasts and Festivals, The Billingsgate Market Cookbook (New Holland) and Dorling Kindersley’s Fish. She has a keen interest in food and travel and has organised and run cookery courses in Australia, the Middle East, Spain, Morocco, Italy, Singapore and Kenya. She lives in Crouch.