Spend a day out in CAT’s thriving organic gardens and explore soil health and composting on this one-day short course.

Healthy soil are vital for much more than providing an environment for plants to grow in as they help purify water, store carbon, and are an essential component of healthy ecosystems.

Start the day with a tour of CAT’s gardens, discover how we created the gardens on what was originally a barren ‘brown field’ site, how the health of the soil is nourished and cared for, and how we use various composting systems to constantly improve the health of the gardens.

This course is aimed at anyone with an interest in gardening, composting and soil health. No prior knowledge or experience is required.

Key information

• Duration: One day
• Upcoming date: Saturday 12 April 2025
• Start and finish times: starts at 9:30am and ends at 5pm
• Price: £125
• Includes: tuition, two refreshment breaks and lunch
• You’ll need appropriate footwear and clothing for a day out in the CAT gardens.
• No previous gardening experience required.
• Terms and Conditions: for full list of terms and conditions click here

What you will learn

Get hands-on with a variety of activities that will explore the building of compost heaps and dead hedges.

We’ll delve into the various challenges that our gardening team face and explore what lessons we can learn that are applicable to composting and gardening at home.

During the course you will:

• Learn about mulches, green manures, human manure and more with examples around the CAT site.
• Look at soil health through the lens of a microscope.
• Explore what composting system may be best suited to your own spaces and how each system operates and is maintained.
• Find out what materials are best suited, what to avoid and how to create habitat through compost building and dead hedging.

Tutor Details

Veronica has been CAT’s Gardens Ranger since 2021. Bringing a holistic approach to gardening, Veronica’s passion for creating thriving, biodiverse outdoor spaces that are accessible to all is infectious, and her courses are filled with a wealth of practical, seasonal gardening knowledge.