The Professional Ecological Gardener - CPD For Gardeners & Designers

With: Sid Hill
Date: 27th June 2023
Times: 10am - 4pm
Venue: Bath City Farm, Kelston View, Whiteway, Bath BA2 1NW.
Parking: There is a small car park on-site. Lift sharing is encouraged where possible.

The landscape industry is rapidly changing towards a focus on sustainability and ecological approaches. As professionals and business owners we need to adapt and up-skill to keep up with industry and do our part for the climate and ecological emergency. My focus has been on practical sustainability, ecological gardening and design throughout my life and career. After 15 years running a landscape business and being passionate about the subject, I want to support other landscape professionals to transition and up skill to do this important work.

On this course:

• We will explore ecological principles for gardeners and how this relates to our gardening and design practice. Discussing vegetation turnover, environmental stresses and disturbance and how ecological understanding can transform how we interact with plants and the land. We will delve into the fascinating world of soil and how it affects plant behaviour and plant community dynamics. Importantly for professionals, we will cover how to get the client onboard with ecological approaches.
• We will cover practical approaches to creative ecological gardening, because ongoing management is vital for the success of garden designs. We will discuss thoughtful management plans that take inspiration from rewilding, creative horticulture and conservation management to tend gardens over time, while working towards our goals.
• We will discuss design, practical implementation and management of ecological plantings and meadows. Building on the learning throughout the day, this lecture will delve into the creation of new gardens and plantings and how we take ecological principles into our planting designs and landscaping. We will cover how to establish, manage, enhance and troubleshoot ecological plantings.

Questions we will cover:

• How do we implement ecological theory into our gardening and design practice?
• How can gardeners and designers be ecosystem engineers, creating beautiful landscapes that thrive with biodiversity and produce food for people?
• How can we create thoughtful, clear and effective management plans that work towards our goals for the land, while taking into account the dynamic nature of plants and ecology?

The instructor:

Sid Hill is a multi-award winning ecological designer and gardener based in Cornwall, whose passion is to create landscapes and plantings that echo wild plant communities, meadows, woodlands and wetlands, whilst producing food, restoring environments and improving peoples lives.

Programme: Arrive at 9.30am for a 10am start
Items to bring: notepaper, pencil, packed lunch optional as there is a cafe on site.