Skip to content

Welcome to

Cathie's Gardening School

The friendly Garden School

Hi, I’m Cathie, and welcome to my gardening school, based in Ash, Surrey.

We specialise in training and developing horticultural skills, from beginner ants to expert bees. 

We run a variety of workshops throughout the year, get away as a team and work on fantastic projects, I offer expert pruning training and a garden consultation service.

Cathie’s Gardening School is a place for gardeners of all levels to come and learn. We offer courses and classes for everyone, from beginner ants to expert bees. Our workshops are varied and interesting, and we always have something new to offer our students.

Our school is the perfect place to get away from it all and work on your gardening skills. We have a range of fantastic projects available, and our team of experts are always on hand to help you out. Plus, we offer expert pruning training and a garden consultation service – so whatever your needs, we can help!

Garden School
Garden School

A Holistic Curriculum

Cathie’s Gardening School provides a contemporary outdoor learning approach, engaging the hand, head and heart. The school’s curriculum is designed to inspire and educate students in all aspects of gardening.

The school offers a range of courses that cater for all ages and abilities, from complete beginners through to those with more experience. Our expert tutors will help you learn new skills and develop your existing ones in a fun and relaxed environment.

What is Cathie’s gardening school?

Cathie’s gardening school is a fantastic place to learn about all things gardening. Our courses and workshops are designed to give you the skills you need to be successful in your garden. Plus, our garden army team can help you maintain your garden!

We have been rated “outstanding” by our students, so you know you’re in good hands. Check out our course modules below and join us today!

Expert Advice

What are the core values of the garden school?

The Garden School is based on a set of core values that guide our work with students and families. These values include:

1. Respect for the natural world

2. Cooperation and collaboration

3. Creativity and exploration

4. Community service

5. Personal responsibility

Garden School
Garden School
Garden School

Horticultural classes

Courses and Workshops

Garden School

Cathie’s Gardening School offers a range of garden courses and workshops throughout the year, so there is something for everyone! Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced gardener, there’s a course or workshop for you.

Courses are available all year round, so you can learn at your own pace. Workshops are held on weekends, so they’re the perfect way to learn new techniques in a short amount of time.

Cathie’s Gardening School offers 10 fantastic gardening modules covering everything from plant propagation to organic pest control. Check them out below!

Part of the service that I offer for students of horticulture is the potential to become involved with the garden army team and subsequent maintenance of these gardens.

Cathie’s Gardening School’s courses and workshops comprise of 10 fantastic gardening modules. Check them out with link below.

Expert Advice

Gardening Consulation

I always start with a 2-3 hour visit to your garden to identify all your plants and their maintenance requirements.

I can discuss design ideas with you and provide an estimation of cost.

The consultancy is followed up with a written report to clarify everything covered if required. You might find this is enough to give you the enthusiasm and confidence to carry out the work yourself or we can help you further.

I can teach you hands on pruning techniques according to season and can subsequently work with you in your garden as a mentor or we can do the work for you.

Often clients start to prune and realise that additional help is required later on and we are delighted to help of course even if it’s several years later.

The consultation is followed up with a written report to clarify everything covered if required. This might be enough for you to feel confident enough to carry out the work yourself, or we can help you further. I can teach you hands-on pruning techniques according to season, and then work with you in your garden as a mentor. Often clients start pruning but realise that they need additional help later on, which we are more than happy to provide!

Garden School
Garden School

Practical training

Garden Mentoring

Garden School

If you’re looking for help in your garden, Cathie’s Gardening School can offer you seasonal assistance. I can work with you to prune roses or anything else you would like to learn in your own garden. Following the consultation, we can set up a plan of action to cover aspects such as lawns, vegetables, pruning and general maintenance. I can do, teach and observe offering encouragement and words of wisdom until you feel confident enough to do the jobs yourself.

Seasonal help in your garden. I can work with you to prune roses or anything you would like to learn in your own garden.

Following the consultancy we can set up a plan of action to cover aspects such as lawns, vegetables, pruning and general maintenance.

I can do, teach and observe offering encouragement and words of wisdom until you feel confident to do the jobs yourself.

A cut above the rest

Expert Pruning

Pruning is something that takes years to learn and become confident with. It is not a case of cutting everything with hedge cutters which should be restricted to hedges only.

We can undo bad pruning and are happy to do this for you.

We have become particularly expert in Wisteria pruning and have just tackled one that had never been pruned in 35 years and restored it beautifully.

A problem that often arises with Wisteria and wall climbers are the plethora of telephone and electricity cables running through them which can be severed unintentionally.

Fruit trees, roses and Clematis can cause concern and all require expertise and other trees and shrubs all have specific pruning requirements in order to thrive.

Often the pruning is divided into Summer and Winter depending on the plants you have.

Garden School

Testimonials

Garden School