RHS unveils new green garden for sustainable skill sharing

RHS unveils new green garden for sustainable skill sharing: A new green garden at RHS Garden Wisley is to house and be part sustained by the charity’s first ever composting toilet.

The Greener Skills Garden, designed by award-winning designer Dave Green, is a joint collaboration between RHS science and the charity’s New Shoots initiative, which was created to promote careers in horticulture. The garden will be brimming with inspiration for planet-friendly gardening and will provide the perfect space for those interested in pursuing horticulture as a career to take their first steps in developing sustainable growing skills.

The off-grid space will show visitors and budding gardeners that how we garden impacts the environment, while providing examples of how to do so in a way that not only reduces waste but actively mitigates the effects of climate change and boosts biodiversity. The garden will be managed by aspiring horticulturists wanting to gain hands on practical experience that’s aligned with the latest RHS sustainability science.

No garden waste will leave the site; instead, everything will be returned to the garden via a complete composting system. This will include a composting toilet whose resulting humanure, once thoroughly decomposed, will be put back into ornamental areas of the garden as soil improver. Alongside the toilet, composting bays, homemade comfrey fertilizer, and dead hedging will all play a part in recycling organic materials. This full circle system will support soil health, reduce waste, and foster thriving plant growth without relying on external resources.

Elsewhere in the garden this circularity is reflected in the creation of a sustainable drainage system, which will channel water runoff from roofs and hard surfaces via rainwater storage into a wildlife pond. When the pond is full any excess water will flow on to what will be RHS Wisley’s first rain garden, which will be monitored and recorded as a living experiment. The rain garden will be filled with a variety of plants that can continue to provide ecosystem services whilst coping with water inundation, allowing excess rainfall to be used by plants while infiltrating the soil slowly.

The Greener Skills garden will not only be packed with inspiration for visitors but will function as an outdoor classroom for budding horticulturists engaged though the New Shoots programme, including school groups – teenagers from 14-years and older – and adults who are looking to change career. Volunteers through the programme will have the opportunity to practise propagation, grow and maintain plants, and create planting schemes in seasonal growing spaces.

Dr Chloe Sutcliffe, RHS Sustainability Fellow, said: “The benefits of gardening are well documented, whether it’s supporting biodiversity, improving health and wellbeing, or providing opportunities for learning new skills and even undertaking new career pathways. The Greener Skills Garden is a celebration of all these things; it will be a working, changing and growing space in which aspiring horticulturists can learn first-hand how to help the planet through gardening. Investing in horticultural careers in this way is a crucial component in ensuring a future where planet-friendly gardening thrives and continues to make a positive impact.”

Lewis George, RHS Horticultural Engagement Officer, said “We are looking forward to inspiring the next generation of horticulturists in this first of its kind space at an RHS Garden, which is aligned with our RHS Science sustainability knowledge. This space will be an all year round practical and supportive space for individuals from all backgrounds to start their career journey.”

Dave Green, award-winning garden designer, said: “Designing the Greener Skills Garden has been an incredibly rewarding experience. This space demonstrates how gardening can be a force for good – not just for people but for the planet, as it brings together innovative sustainable practices and hands-on learning. By empowering the next generation of horticulturists, we can inspire action and prove that even small changes in how we grow can have a big impact.”

The build of the garden itself will be carried out as sustainably as possible, with materials being sourced locally and the use of plastic minimised. Interpretation around the space will give visitors tips on how they can garden in a more planet-friendly way, from composting and water management good practice, to reducing single use plastics, and creating habitat for wildlife.

The RHS Wisley Greener Skills Garden will open to the public in summer 2025. A second garden is planned later in the year for RHS Garden Bridgewater, with other RHS Gardens to follow.

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