THE COLUMBUS BACKYARD GARDEN CLUB
Learn how to cultivate your own backyard farm to grow with joy and confidence this year
Have you ever wished you could sit down with an organic farmer and soak up everything you need to know about growing your own garden?
Now’s your chance.
Join our cohort and get…
Weekly live Q&A sessions with instructor
7 Live & Recorded Classes that take place throughout the season
Private online forum with cohort to share, discuss, and get feedback directly from instructor
Support all season long, April - October, 2024
Exclusive access to our in-person spring launch and autumn celebration events
Guidance, resources, and information specific to Central Ohio
Discounts on A-La-Carte Add-ons for more one-on-one support in your personal garden
Weekly Newsletters with timely PDF resources, deep-dives, and bite-sized garden demo videos
Want a taste? Grab a free copy of our Month-By-Month Planting Calendar.
One of the many valuable resources you’ll get lifetime access to when you join the Columbus Backyard Garden Club.
Do any of these sound like you?
Interested in the way fresh, organic, hyper-local fruits and vegetables can impact your life
Looking for connection into a community of other growers to learn alongside
Already have garden beds in your yard, but just don’t know where to start
Tried to grow your own food before, but got overwhelmed or things didn’t work out so you stopped
Want to be able to grow some of your own nutrient dense produce
Want to maximize the amount of food you can grow in your space
Want to get children in your life connected to an outdoor space and give them a chance to learn about where their food comes from
Hope to bring beauty and abundance into your landscape
Want an expert to help guide you step-by-step through growing an amazing vegetable garden
You don’t have to figure it all out on your own.
Think of us like professional backyard farmers: we’ve helped hundreds of clients in Central Ohio grow fresh, organic food in their backyards. After years of experience, we found one request coming up again and again:
“Something like a Vegetable Garden Master Class, but specifically for Ohio”
You asked, we listened.
The Columbus Backyard Garden Club is Central Ohio’s first yard-to-table, season-long course designed to empower you with the skills and know-how to grow organic food and help you reap the bounties of your backyard.
Take it from our clients, this program is best investment you can make in your yard & garden
“After we both retired from teaching, my husband and I downsized our family home to a smaller house with ample green-space for a garden. I’d always wanted to grow some of our own food, but a busy teaching life never seemed to have room for taking the “garden” leap. Enter Katie. I signed up for her spring mini-course that year, which was the best first step I could have taken! Over several cold, cloudy weekends, Katie helped each of us plan every step of our home gardens-to-be, from yard placement and soil preparation to plant choice and seasonal gardening activities. By the course’s end, I was so excited to literally “dig in” to our yard and get growing.
In late May, I hired Katie to mentor me as I got our home garden got underway. She came to my house three times over the summer, teaching me about planting, garden management, organic pest control, and even a bit about installing an irrigation system. It was wonderful to have Katie sit with me and chat about what she was seeing in my garden as we spread compost, staked plants, planted the next crop of seeds, and harvested herbs and vegetables together. I ended the summer so excited about all I had learned, and spent the following winter planning my new spring crops.
Whether you are a novice, a hobby gardener, or have some experience under your belt, Katie is sure to provide the support and expertise you need to successfully create your own foodscape. Best investment ever!”
Beth, Blacklick
Our goal?
To help you become a backyard farmer.
From April through October, you’ll learn the art of organic gardening and everything you need to know to plan, prep, grow, maintain, and troubleshoot your own vegetable garden with a small cohort of like-minded gardeners in the greater Columbus area.
From finding the best spot for your garden, building a healthy soil, creating intensive planting plans, implementing organic pest management, fertilization methods, and more - we’re with you every step of the way to ensure you have the confidence, skills, and knowledge to ensure your garden is an abundant oasis for years to come.
"Katie is so knowledgeable and personable. She wants to see you succeed and truly enjoy gardening. Katie shared seasonal tips to help us maximize germination in the spring and protect our plants against frost in the fall. She also provided recommendations on where to find supplies locally, like compost and row covers by the foot. With Katie’s help, we’ve built and maintained a bountiful and beautiful garden!”
- Nicole, Columbus
What You’ll Learn
In The Columbus Backyard Garden Club, you’ll learn how to:
Use the unique seasons in Central Ohio, and how they serve as a foundation to success in your garden
Plan, prepare, & plant your garden for maximum production
Select the right soil & soil amendments for your garden
Water and irrigate your garden using a variety of techniques
Use basic plant anatomy to know what plants need
Make a garden plan, totally customized to your garden, for each season
Troubleshoot common garden issues, like drainage, soil concerns, diseases, pests, and more
Avoid the most common mistakes new (and even seasoned!) gardeners make
Maintain your vegetable garden like a pro
Start plants from seed
Seed & transplant plants (and the difference between them)
Select nursery stock, and specific local nurseries and seed companies we recommend
Use organic pest control: how to recognize the most common pests and invite “good” bugs
How to use insect netting, row cover, plastic, and other materials to protect your garden
Use season extension techniques so you can harvest well into the winter using using affordable, easy-to-find supplies (yes, you can harvest spinach and carrots in December and January with our techniques!)
Plan and plant both in-ground and in raised beds, key differences between the two methods, and ways to maintain them
Prune, fertilize, and care for over 70 of the most common fruits, vegetables, and herbs
Use companion planting in your garden to promote growth, attract beneficial insects, and grow more food
Incorporate pollinator plants into into your garden
And much, much more
Our Promise
By joining our 2024 Columbus Backyard Garden Club cohort, you will finish the season inspired, confident in your ability to grow your own food, and feel so much more connected to your land and to others in our community.
"Katie Carey is the 'real deal' when it comes to a caring, attentive instructor. She knows gardening inside and out, has endless patience for newcomers and brings a sense of true joy to her work”
- Shelly, Executive Director of Highland Youth Garden
What Makes Our Course Different?
Other Courses:
X Feel impersonal, are just videos that don’t include interaction with instructor or other students
X No opportunities to get one-on-one, specific feedback about from professionals or instructors about your space
X Are too general and focus on both ornamentals and food crops
X Not specific to your area, so you’re left googling how to transfer that knowledge to where you live
X Are just pre-recorded videos, sometimes with outdated information
X Don’t include any kind of visual/printable resources, so you're left to do all the note-taking
X Focus on non-organic methods, which can leave you and your family swimming in toxins
The Columbus Backyard Garden Club:
✓ Focuses specifically on culinary gardens: growing herbs, fruits, vegetables, and flowers.
✓ Is specific to Central Ohio and give you an opportunity get connected to folks in Central Ohio
✓ Invites you into a private cohort of gardeners in Central Ohio for shared stories, inspiration, tips & tricks, and more
✓ Includes a-la-carte add-ons like one-on-one garden coaching sessions that take place in your garden or Garden Design specific to your space
✓ Aligns perfectly with the growing season in Central Ohio, so you get the information you need to tend your garden, exactly when you need it
✓ Includes suggested homework that you can get direct feedback from instructor with years of professional gardening experience
✓ Is a highly individualized program with a flexible curriculum, based off of your tastes, your gardens’ needs, and where you are at in your learning
FAQ’s
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This season-long program is intended specifically for our local community, which includes Columbus, Ohio, and the surrounding suburbs/areas (like Hilliard, Lewis Center, Worthington, Reynoldsburg, Grove City, Dublin, Powell, New Albany, etc.). If you’re interested in joining but not sure if you’re close enough, reach out! We can help you decide if it’s a good fit. Those who are outside our service area will likely still be able to join provided they are comfortable traveling to Columbus for in-person sessions, which take place once a month during the 8-month program.
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Our season-long program goes far beyond a regular online course: it includes in-person sessions, community events like tours and dinners, and a hybrid online/in-person course series.
The Columbus Backyard Garden Club is both a “master class” style course as well as a program that builds community within it’s members and in the greater area.
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The Columbus Backyard Garden Club program takes place March - October of 2024.
In February, you’ll get materials in the mail from us like your customizable Garden Binder. From there, we’ll dive into course material several times a month, have live Q&A sessions and demos, and enjoy in-person community events like garden tours, 1-1 garden coaching sessions, and more.
The timing of sessions will be based on when the majority of our cohort are available, which we determine by sending out a survey before course material starts.
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We do recommend you have an existing garden area with at least one or two beds. The season-long program is designed to be both informative and instructional, so you can directly apply what you’re learning to your own space.
Don’t have a garden space? We can help with that! Get started with a New Garden Consultation & Design.
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All of our online course classes, which happen twice monthly, are live but recorded, so If you miss a session or just want to review the content again, you are welcome to watch recordings.
The live, in-person events, like garden tours and our 2 dinner events, are not recorded.
The 3 hours of in-person Garden Coaching that takes place one-on-one in your garden is scheduled at your leisure.
There is no requirement for how many sessions you need to attend in order to be a participant.
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If you are not satisfied with the course for any reason, you have until March 31st (the end of the first month of our program) to request a full refund. No hard feelings!
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If you participate and attend most of the class sessions and at least a few of the in-person events, you will receive a certification for completing the program when it wraps up in October.
The Columbus Backyard Garden Club
$800 for Full-Season Support & Education
✓ Full-Season support, April - October
✓ Access to Private online community, shared with a cohort of other Central-Ohio Gardeners
✓ 8 Live & Recorded Classes designed to teach you how to grow food (also recorded so you can re-watch)
✓ Weekly Live Q&A sessions with instructor and cohort to get your questions answer when it matters most
✓ Two Exclusive in-person events: our spring launch party and an autumn harvest dinner to get to know and celebrate with your cohort
✓ Exclusive weekly newsletters and bite-sized videos about pertinent gardening topics, specific to seasonality and Central Ohio
✓ An easy-to-understand, science-based curriculum to learn how to grow food
ABOUT YOUR INSTRUCTOR
Hi! I’m Katie Carey, owner and founder of Columbus Foodscapes.
I’m a certified Permaculture Designer, Master Gardener, Master Urban Farmer, and Garden Educator. I’ve been lucky to grow food professionally on half-a-dozen different farms and large gardening projects and have worked with hundreds of clients here in Central Ohio to help them grow fresh, organic food.
The Columbus Backyard Garden Club is the course and community I wish I had when I was learning to garden a decade ago: Specific to my area. Packed-full of information and hands-on techniques. Science-Based. Easy to understand. Beautifully presented. Led by an expert.
My promise is that by joining our 2024 Columbus Backyard Garden Club cohort, you will finish the season inspired, confident in your ability to grow your own food, and feel so much more connected to others in our community.
My life’s work is to help folks grow their own organic, delicious fruits and vegetables close to home, in any space, and at any level of experience. I’m so excited you’re here, and I hope you join me!
Still not sure?
Have lingering questions?
Book a free, one-on-one 20-minute exploration video call with Katie to ask questions, chat about your garden, and learn more.