Gardening for Biodiversity Training Course
Monaghan Integrated Development has again teamed up with Flynn Furney Environmental Consultants to deliver training (one evening per week across 3 weeks and 1 Saturday session) that aims to empower and equip individuals and local community groups with practical learning on how to conserve and protect the biodiversity in their local area and in their garden.
The training is open to everyone, from representatives of community groups, Tidy Towns groups, allotment groups, resident associations, volunteers, landowners (who provide public access), environmental groups, multicultural groups and the general population who have an interest in improving local biodiversity and habitats.
Please note that this is the same training as the ‘Gardening for Biodiversity Training’ delivered in Clones and Doohamlet during July 2026. This new round of training in Monaghan Town is aimed at participants who did not attend the training during July.
Course Details
The training will include:
- An introduction to gardening for biodiversity and garden design
- Understanding biodiversity, including the definition and importance of biodiversity and benefits of promoting biodiversity in gardens
- The role of native plants, including a definition and the significance of native plants, with examples of native plants for different areas and how native plants support local wildlife
- How to choose and integrate native plants into garden designs and how to create diverse habitats to support a wide range of wildlife.
- Criteria for selecting native plants, planting for year-round interest and support for wildlife and resources for finding native plants
- Creating plant communities, layering plants for habitat complexity and designing for colour, texture and form
- Importance of habitat diversity (e.g. meadow, woodlands, wetlands), designing water features and other habitat elements, incorporating nesting sites, shelters and food sources
- Sustainable garden practices including water conservation techniques, organic gardening practices, and composting and soil health
- Garden implementation and maintenance including steps for preparing and planting the garden, seasonal maintenance tasks, monitoring and enhancing biodiversity over time
- Exploring citizen science and how to record it through online platforms and apps. Acquiring practical skills in documenting species and actively contributing to citizen science, understanding the landscape of citizen science in Ireland, exploring existing citizen science schemes and their significance
- Interactive sessions including analysing garden spaces, sketching garden spaces, identifying existing elements and potential areas for biodiversity improvement, plant selection and designing specific habitat features for gardens and how to integrate sustainable practices
- Refining garden designs with fine-tuning plant selection and placement, ensuring a balanced and cohesive design and troubleshooting common design challenges
We are inviting applications to participate in this training. The course is FREE and is funded by the 2023-2027 LEADER Programme.
The course will run on the following dates:
- Wednesday 16th September, Wednesday, 23rd September, Wednesday 30th September 2026 from 6:30pm to 9:00pm.
- There will be a class outing on Saturday 26th September (start time to be confirmed)
For more information, contact LEADER@midl.ie or phone 042 974 9500.
Application Form
To request your place, please complete the application form below and provide your contact details.
** Closing date for applications: 5pm Monday 7th September 2026 **
Note: The information you provide in this application will be retained by Monaghan Integrated Development and shared with the training provider, the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht, and Pobal. Monaghan Integrated Development may retain your personal information in order to contact you in the future with information regarding events and training that may be of interest to you. Your data will be stored securely and processed in accordance with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). You have the right to access, correct, or request deletion of your data at any time. A copy of MID’s Data Protection Policy is available upon request.
We plan to take some photographs during the training for use on social media and for promotional purposes. If you would prefer not to be photographed or have your photo used in reporting on the course or publicising future courses, please do let us know. The training is for adults/aged over 18 years only.