We’ve put together some commonly asked questions, but if there’s anything else you need to know, please get in touch
Yes, our workshops are suitable for beginners, amateur gardeners and professionals. Contact us to find the right workshop for you.
We don’t offer formal qualifications yet, only Certificates of Attendance, but we can guarantee you’ll learn an awful lot!
No, our courses will benefit you in whatever order you do them.
All you need is an interest in gardening and nature, and an enthusiasm to learn.
Our current workshops are all in-person, but we have online courses coming soon. Sign up for our email list and be the first to know about the launch of our RhizoPhyllia Online Course.
We aim to run our workshops whatever the weather—we have a purpose-built gardening studio and the option to race undercover to our summerhouse. In the interests of safety, if there is a severe weather warning, we may have to adjust our arrangements accordingly.
Except in limited circumstances, and only in agreement with the owner of RhizoPhyllia, namely Eddie Bailey, through [email protected], workshop places you order from us are non-refundable. However, you can amend your booking to a different date, at no charge, if we have received written notice at least 28 days before the start of the workshop.
If you need to amend your booking for a workshop less than 28 days and at least 10 days before the start date, you may transfer to a new date of your choice subject to an administration fee of £25.00.
With less than 10 days’ notice, we can either change the name on the booking or attempt to resell your place(s). If we are successful in reselling your place(s) we can transfer your booking to a new date of your choosing, subject to an administration fee of £25.00 once the workshop has taken place. If we are unsuccessful in reselling your place(s) you will not receive a refund or transfer.
Yes, our delicious, whole-food, plant-based lunches are all part of the experience. We serve lunch in the Gardening Studio or out on the patio, depending on the weather. Please let us know any special dietary requirements when you book.
We can provide GF food options upon request. Please let us know any special dietary requirements when you book.
Our food is plant-based and vegan and prepared by our Vegan-Natural Chef, Courtney.
Please wear clothing and footwear suitable for gardening. In both wet cold and hot/dry weather Please also bring gloves as you will be handling compost and soil.
Each of our Soil Food Web workshops includes an opportunity to look at soil under a microscope. The RhizoPhyllia Microscopy Workshop is designed for growers thinking of purchasing a microscope to undertake their own microbial investigations.
The RhizoPhyllia Composting Workshop demonstrates how to create biodiverse ‘designer’ composts to feed the microbes that will support your plants. You will also learn how to produce biologically rich extracts and teas.
You can learn how to make compost teas on our RhizoPhyllia Composting Workshop.
We teach Soil Food Web Gardening which is a much more holistic approach because the Soil Food Web underpins all life on Earth. Tilling damages or destroys the Soil Food Web habitat/ecosystem.
Yes, the Soil Food Web approach supports the healthy growing of plants, vegetables, fruit, and flowers.
Let’s start with a food chain. A food chain shows how plants and animals obtain their energy— these are called trophic levels. It starts with a ‘producer’, such as plants, which are then eaten by an animal, the ‘consumer’. An animal that eats the consumer is a ‘predator’. This is the food chain.
A food ‘web’ describes a community of organisms where chains cross-link. The Soil Food Web is the community of organisms living all or part of their lives in the soil. The main characters are microscopic and include bacteria, archaea, protozoa, diatoms, nematodes, fungi, and microarthropods. Macroscopic players include worms and larger arthropods, but also creatures such as moles. Plant shoots and roots are also part of the Soil Food Web.
The bacterial and fungal trophic players work to produce the sugary glues and strands that pull soil particles together giving healthy soil its finely granular, but strong, structure. This provides plenty of pore space between soil particles for organisms and roots to breathe freely. A good structure is also essential in preventing compaction and waterlogging.
This is very important! The result of constant predator-prey activities provides the soil with ammonia-rich ‘poop’, an essential fertiliser in its natural form. Bacteria and fungi also provide vast arrays of plant-growth-promoting substances and services, something they have been doing for 470 million years!
Yes! Healthy soils are home to billions of microorganisms that unlock nutrients for plants, allowing food to become nutrient-rich. Nutrient-dense food provides nourishment and promotes better health.
As bacteria metabolise, they excrete nitrate. When grazers such as protozoans and nematodes eat bacteria, they excrete ammonium. Depending on the plat and where they fit into ‘succession’, they grow best with specific amounts of nitrate and ammonium. Weeds prefer nitrate; old-growth forests prefer ammonium.
The Soil Food Web approach advocates no chemicals, whereas organic gardening still allows certain chemical biocides and chemical amendments.
Please contact us directly so we can better understand your needs and we will gladly try to accommodate.
Access to our garden and studio can be wheelchair accessible.
There are a few spaces on the drive which you are welcome to use. If the drive is full, there is plenty of parking in the estate opposite.
Unfortunately, payments cannot be split without incurring additional processing charges.
Unfortunately, we cannot offer discounts.
Not yet! Please get in touch and we’ll see what we can do.
Except in limited circumstances, and only in agreement with the owner of RhizoPhyllia, namely Eddie Bailey, through [email protected], workshop places you order from us are non-refundable. However, you can amend your booking to a different date, at no charge, if we have received written notice at least 28 days before the start of the workshop.
If you need to amend your booking for a workshop less than 28 days and at least 10 days before the start date, you may transfer to a new date of your choice subject to an administration fee of £25.00.
With less than 10 days’ notice, we can either change the name on the booking or attempt to resell your place(s). If we are successful in reselling your place(s) we can transfer your booking to a new date of your choosing, subject to an administration fee of £25.00 once the workshop has taken place. If we are unsuccessful in reselling your place(s) you will not receive a refund or transfer.
A compost bin is a container that holds organic waste such as fruit and vegetable wastes, grass clippings, and leaves, and eventually turns the waste into compost. To learn how to make ‘designer’ composts, check out the RhizoPhyllia Composting Workshop.
Ideally, start clearing your allotment in autumn and winter when plants are dormant, and start growing in spring. We recommend preparing your soil for winter by keeping it covered by mulch, or better still, a green ‘manure’.
The nutrient cycle is the process by which elements are exchanged between living and non-living things, allowing essential nutrients to travel through the environment, and provide every organism with what it needs to live. It is nature’s recycling system—it aids in the functioning of ecosystems and restores ecological balance.
The no-dig method avoids disturbing the soil structure by breaking it up, lifting or turning it. Instead, soil is prepared by covering the ground with organic matter, such as compost. Plants are then grown in this healthy, top layer.
The idea is that worms and other organisms are not disturbed, and the soil’s ecosystem remains intact. However, it is extremely important to consider the soil type and former land use of a no-dig plot in case the soil microbiome requires intervention and rehabilitation.
You can’t go wrong with homemade composts made from woodchip and meadow hay blends.
We teach a year-round compost and extract regime because the soil is a habitat and the life in the soil requires regular food and water like any other society. Please sign up for our Composting Workshop<link to Composting Workshop page> to learn more.
Not yet but it’s in the pipeline. Sign up to our newsletter to be the first to know when we do.
No, we focus on educational workshops. Our workshops offer guidance to questions on soil health.
Yes, because the Soil Food Web underpins the key concepts of permaculture. For example, in designing a new settlement one should consider the effects on the soil ecosystem as a primary aim.
Please get in touch—we’re happy to help.
