Gardening Talks
Find out more about how Natural Gardening can work for you with a range of gardening talks on this theme. With down to earth ecological and horticultural science and illustrated by real world examples and garden case studies, my gardening talks give plenty of food for thought for the aspiring Natural Gardener.
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Upcoming talks are listed below, or to find out more about booking a talk, scroll to the talks info beneath it or click below.
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I make a range of free handouts available for attendees to my talks, with an exclusive, password protected download handouts page, which can be linked to below. Please contact me if you would like more information about this.
Talk Schedule
25th Nov '25 / Wildlife Gardening
Orleton and District Gardening Club. 8pm
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9th Jan '26 / Secret Life of the Soil
U3A Pontesbury 1.45pm
9th Jan / Secret Life of the Soil
4th Feb / Connecting with Nature in the Garden
Middle Marches Community Land Trust, Edgton, 6.30pm
12th Feb / Secret Life of the Soil
Burwarton and District Gardeners Club, Stoke St Milborough 2.30pm
3rd March / Wildlife Gardening
23rd April / Secret Life of the Soil
13th May / The Forage Garden
Tenbury Wells Gardeners Group, 7pm
22nd Oct / Connecting with Nature in the Garden
Ironbridge Gorge Garden Group, 7.30pm
Talk Topics
If you would like to book me to come and talk at your event, the following topics are currently available. As always, you are most welcome to get in touch to talk this through.
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​NEW FOR 2026:
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The Secret Life of the Soil
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The Meadow Garden
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The Forage Garden
OLD FAVOURITES:
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Wildlife Gardening
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Gardening with Wildflowers
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Connecting with Nature in the Garden
Find out More
Further information about each talk is detailed below. You can also download this information as an emailable Talk Guide. Click below to download a copy.
The Secret Life of the Soil
Find out all about the hidden life of the soil and what every gardener needs to know about this fascinating realm of life. Learn about recent studies into plant to plant communication, how to cultivate self-feeding flower beds and how to harness healthy soil for increased drought tolerance and for plants with natural pest and disease repelling qualities.
This talk includes up to date science, along with tales from Nancy’s home project, bringing the near-dead and heavily compacted soil beneath a concrete covered farmyard back to life, creating from it a thriving garden, full of food, flowers and wildlife.
Connecting With Nature in the Garden
Wildlife gardens present us with an opportunity to get closer to nature, in a way we can never achieve in any nature reserve. This is ‘our’ nature, our home is also theirs. There is an opportunity here to feel a part of something larger than our household, to become a part of the wider ecology of this beautiful planet.
This talk explores the many ways that gardens can create a space for connection and interconnection; ways to become embedded into your flower beds and enwildened by your wildlife zones.
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Meadow Garden
Design, create and care for your own mini-meadow paradise. Meadow gardening is a trend being picked up by top garden designers and institutions, with wildflowers and naturalistic planting featuring in show gardens at top flower shows, while beautifully styled meadow planting is being incorporated into popular visitor gardens up and down the country.
Find out how to design your own garden meadow, curating beautiful plant mixes to stunningly blend with existing planting or to create a feature in its own right. Learn how to sow, plant and care for this timeless, yet bang-on-trend garden feature.
Wildlife
Gardening
This overview of wildlife gardening practices takes the mystique out of this rewarding way of growing a garden, offering clear steps that gardeners of any ability can take to add wildlife benefits to their existing garden.
Wildlife gardening can work for every gardener and every style of garden, whether neat or wild and whether you have lots of time to devote to it, or barely any time at all. Find out which practices will work for you and look forward to the welcome buzz of a thriving wildlife haven.
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Forage Garden
Since ancient times, people have created edible landscapes, from ancient Egyptian gardens and food-filled desert oases dating back thousands of years, through to the modern day, where the creation of Food Forests, or ‘Forest Gardening’, is a rising trend for sustainable gardening enthusiasts world-wide.
Find out how to create your own edible garden, integrating native and non-native perennial edibles into your garden. No vegetable garden is required, yet still the garden can be filled with tasty treats, integrated into flower beds, mixed borders, shrubberies, garden meadows and even full ‘food forest’ style orchards. Hear how, with very little work involved, this really is food for free, packed full of nutrients and in a garden that is naturally supportive to wildlife.
Gardening with Wildflowers
Learn about using wildflowers in a range of different situations, from traditional beds and borders, to more naturalistic settings – including garden meadows and woodland inspired areas.
The secret to working with natives is in choosing the right plants for each situation. Gain important plant know-how, along with suggestions for the type of wildlife your efforts may support.