A sunny spring day at Grow Wilder, an urban nature haven just outside Bristol city centre. The threat of rain always present, but for now we enjoy the sun warming our backs. The hedgerows heavy with blackthorn blossom see endless birds coming and going, busy nestbuilding. Today, however, my interest is with the equally busy Grow Leaders – 13 participants who are keen to learn about food growing, ecology, volunteer management, water, seeds and much more.

The studious bunch are gathered and ready to learn all about the subject of today’s session: irrigation, pests and diseases.  Have you ever had your great efforts in gardening cruelly halted by the presence of determined slugs? Today, the course participants are learning how to grow healthy crops without the use of harmful pesticides.

“Lots of people are realising that a sustainable future for our planet needs a land-based community approach,” says today’s tutor Ian Sumpter. “The Grow Leader course is so inspiring, you see lots of people who have a dream of setting up their own community projects, finding a piece of land of their own.” This is echoed by the participants I speak to who are excited to take everything they’ve learned here to their own patches.

The community aspect of the course is something people keep talking about as a real highlight. “The peer-to-peer learning and networking is so crucial to the course,” Rosa Beasley who runs the course tells me. “People leave the course with contacts all over the Bristol area to help them going forwards.” A current Grow Leader adds, “There’s a huge variety of people on the course, some are mid-career and taking career breaks, others making career changes and then there’s the energy from the younger people on the course who have so much enthusiasm for urban growing projects.”

With different tutors teaching every week it’s not only the participants who are a diverse group. A current Grow Leader tells me, “I’m really enjoying the variety of speakers who each bring a different perspective. I can learn about all the different subject areas but go off and do my own reading on the parts that really inspire me.”

We move over to a freshly revealed bare patch of ground after being covered over the winter, only a few, very tenacious, insipid thistles remain. The Grow Leaders set to work learning to use specific farming tools to hoe the soil and remove the weeds. A great sense of excitement and teamwork can be felt as everyone gets stuck in.

The current Grow Leaders will ‘graduate’ later this month and have varied hopes and dreams. From “building a community garden to teach children to garden for their mental health” to “having a shared farm in harmony with wildlife” or just to simply “rebuild their connection to the outdoors and nature.” The truth is that this course is for anyone who wants to be part of a greener future.