Community group Thurso Grows is launching a free online course to cultivate the skills of new food growers in the Highlands.

The virtual Get into Growing Group will run for five sessions, starting next weekend and continuing into February.

The community gardens in the Ormlie area of Thurso have thrived this year, despite the restrictions. Members of the team have worked with volunteers at the gardens growing large amounts of produce, joining forces with Highland Council to turn Sir John's Square in the town centre into a temporary community vegetable garden and running bi-monthly market stalls giving away locally grown veg by donation.

They also gave out 50 salad planters and countless tomato and chilli plants so that local people could get involved in growing at home and said they were overwhelmed by the response to getting growing.

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As well as practical gardening they have worked with some local groups on activities such as food courses with the job centre in Wick, potato planting with local schools and gardening with students at North Highland College, as well as running online cooking and waste-reduction sessions.

This year also saw the group work to promote healthy eating by giving out meal bags so that people could cook at home with them using delicious local ingredients.

Project co-ordinator Sharon Dismore said: “We are hoping the course will offer a small, supportive environment to local people wanting to get into gardening. It's going to be free, simple, fun and informative, and our aim is to plant a seed so people feel encouraged and enthused to give it a go – knowing they have a local support group that can help them as their journey begins.

"Even though January and February are the darkest months of the year, they are the best times to start planning for spring and imagining all the amazing food and fun you can have once the light returns.”

Thurso Grows is financed by the Scottish Government's Climate Challenge Fund, which allows the workshops to be provided free of charge.

Sharon added: "The only thing we are asking is for participants to fill out a short before-and-after questionnaire. This is vital to the project for funding to run future events."

The Thurso Grows community has saved over 212 tonnes of carbon emissions since the start of the project.

Get into Growing Group sessions will take place on Saturday morning from 10am via the online platform Zoom, most of them running to 45 minutes. They are:

• Saturday, January 16 – Intro to Veg Growing
• Saturday, January 23 – Tools and Techniques
• Saturday, January 30 – Site Design Choices
• Saturday, February 6 — Seeds and Plant Sourcing
• Saturday, February 13 – Gardeners' Question Time (one hour)

For more information and to sign up, email sharon@thursocdt.co.uk

Information about Thurso Grows is on the Thurso Community Development Trust website or on Facebook.

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