GET INVOLVED

Book a Child & Youth Workshop

Looking to bring hands-on environmental education into your classroom? Look no further than our workshops for children and youth!

Book a child and youth workshop in your classroom, or come visit our teaching gardens! We offer a variety of programming for learners from preschool to grade 12. Inquire about the possibility of French composting workshops for immersion classes from kindergarten to grade 8!

Accessibility Information

Our educators aim to make our workshops accessible and enjoyable for students with diverse needs. Get in touch if you have students who may benefit from accommodations so that we can best prepare for your workshop. For information about accessibility on our site during visits, see here.

Testimonials

“It was very apparent that the kids and their parents thoroughly enjoyed the program. The day after the program I had one little guy, who attended the program, ask me to find him books on composting as his family were going to build a compost!”

“I liked how experiential the tour was for the children. The facilitator was skilled at maintaining the children’s attention and keeping them interested.”

“Elora was very interactive, engaging, and fun! She noticed when the children needed to move and was willing to respond to many questions, comments, and student inquiries!”

Spring Plant Sale – May 9th, 2026

Save the Date! The Spring plant sale will be held on May 9th, 2026 from 10am-2pm. The plant sale will take place in Haegert Park (1202 Yukon St.) one block from our site on North Park street. Bring a blanket or a picnic so you can enjoy the music in the shade of the giant…
Save the Date! The Spring plant sale will be held on May 9th, 2026 from 10am-2pm. The plant sale will take place in Haegert Park (1202 Yukon St.) one block from our site on North Park street. Bring a blanket or a picnic so you can enjoy the music in the shade of the giant Sequoia tree. Entry by donation. No one turned away from lack of funds. Dogs welcome.

The Spring Organic Plant Sale features local farmers offering a wide variety of organically grown vegetable, flower and herb seedlings to get you off to a successful start this growing season.

What you can look forward to:

• The largest selection of organically grown heirloom tomato varieties all in one place for easy shopping

• Organically grown vegetable starts from arugula to zucchini

• Native plants for your low maintenance garden

• Perennial edibles like berry bushes and other fruiting shrubs

• Medicinal herbs like English lavender, chamomile and yarrow

• Culinary herbs like Genovese basil, dill and chives

• Companion plants like marigolds, sweet cicely and comfrey

Accessibility Information

The sale will be happening in Haegert park which is grassy and slightly sloped, there are curb cuts at various entrance points to get into the park.

Visitors can park at the Vic High parking lot between Gladstone Avenue and Grant St. The parking lot is a 200m walk from Haegert Park.

Thank you to our sponsors:
- Hatchet & Seed
- LADR Landscape Architects
- Biophilia Collective
- Country Grocer
- Cold Comfort
- Habit Coffee
- Patagonia Victoria
- The Private Network
- Zero Waste Emporium
- Chek News
- West Coast Seeds
The Compost Education Centre is located on unceded and occupied Indigenous territories, specifically the land of the Lekwungen speaking people—the Xwsepsum and Songhees Nations. These nations are two of many, made up of individuals who have lived within the porous boundaries of what is considered Coast Salish, Nuu-Chah-Nulth and Kwakwa’wakw Territory (Vancouver Island) since time immemorial. At the CEC we seek to respect, honour and continually grow our own understandings of Indigenous rights and history, and to fulfill our responsibilities as settlers, who live and work directly with the land and its complex, vital ecologies and our diverse, evolving communities.
We’re open for sales & online workshops! Click here to learn more.

The Compost Education Centre office is currently closed, but staff are on site for contactless sales Wed-Sat, 10am – 4pm and we have instructional workshops online at various times (check our Eventbrite page for more details). We sell composters, composting accessories, online workshops, memberships (which include a free workshop and 10% off at select…

Chris teaches an online sheet mulching tutorial

The Compost Education Centre office is currently closed, but staff are on site for contactless sales Wed-Sat, 10am – 4pm and we have instructional workshops online at various times (check our Eventbrite page for more details).

We sell composters, composting accessories, online workshops, memberships (which include a free workshop and 10% off at select local shops), seeds and native plant knowledge cards.

Give us a call, 250.386.WORM (9676), to place your order and arrange a pickup time at our gate

As always, feel free to peruse our fact sheets for info about everything from best practices for urban gardens to how to DIY your own greenhouse.

Regretfully, we do not sell worms or compost from our site currently.

Compost on!

#growyourownfood

#composteducation

#COVID19
We’re Taking Our Workshops Online!

On Saturday, March 21st, we’re offering Planning Your Year Round Veggie Garden (Paid, $20, 10am-12pm) and Worm Composting (FREE, 1-3pm) online. This means we’re opening up lots more spaces and, depending on interest, more workshops that you can attend (and ask us questions) from home! Link to tickets can be accessed here: http://tiny.cc/p4gllz

On Saturday, March 21st, we’re offering Planning Your Year Round Veggie Garden (Paid, $20, 10am-12pm) and Worm Composting (FREE, 1-3pm) online.

This means we’re opening up lots more spaces and, depending on interest, more workshops that you can attend (and ask us questions) from home!

Link to tickets can be accessed here: http://tiny.cc/p4gllz
Retail and Workshop Updates
CEC, COVID-19 Preparedness and Flattening the Curve

The Compost Education Centre is currently doing its part to respond to COVID 19 concerns and working to “flatten the curve” of the outbreak. Although policies and events are evolving rapidly we are currently: You can connect to trusted information via the Office of the Provincial Health Officer or the BC Centre for Disease Control.
The Compost Education Centre is currently doing its part to respond to COVID 19 concerns and working to “flatten the curve” of the outbreak.

Although policies and events are evolving rapidly we are currently:
- Maintaining a healthy work environment with posted information about how to stop the spread of illness.
- Encouraging employees, visitors and workshop attendees to stay home when ill, having traveled to one of the countries on Canada’s advisory list or having had recent contact with a sick person.
- Promoting proper hygiene (hand washing, coughing and sneezing etiquette) and social distancing among employees, visitors and workshop attendees.
- Ensuring easy availability of soap and water, or alcohol-based hand sanitizer products.
- Expanding and establishing policies and tools that enable employees to work from home.
You can connect to trusted information via the Office of the Provincial Health Officer or the BC Centre for Disease Control.
Healing City Soils Applications Are Open!

For more information or to fill out an application, click here.

For more information or to fill out an application, click here.
2020 Adult Workshop Programming

2020 programming is live! Head on over to our Eventbrite Page, call 250 386 9676, or come in to the office during our operating hours to register and buy tickets for our year of events.

2020 programming is live! Head on over to our Eventbrite Page, call 250 386 9676, or come in to the office during our operating hours to register and buy tickets for our year of events.
Healing City Soils 2019 Update

The Royal Roads University Student Team, GVA Soil Solutions, has wrapped up their work with Healing City Soils for 2019. This year the team continued their focus on testing and mapping soil quality in the West Shore Communities, but also received many applications from all over the CRD. Their final report, with many illuminating results,…

The Royal Roads University Student Team, GVA Soil Solutions, has wrapped up their work with Healing City Soils for 2019. This year the team continued their focus on testing and mapping soil quality in the West Shore Communities, but also received many applications from all over the CRD. Their final report, with many illuminating results, can be read in our office located at 1216 North Park.

The updated soil quality map, which includes 2019 soil test locations ranging from Sooke to Sidney, can be found here: https://compost.bc.ca/healing-city-soils/victoria-soil-quality-map/

Applicants can expect to receive their test results this fall as well as notifications on how to access to the free workshop “Understanding and Addressing Soil Contamination for Gardeners”. This workshop, led by soil remediation and mapping expert Steeve Deschenes, assists applicants in making sense of their test results and then making a plan for their gardens should they have higher-than-normal levels of heavy metals in their soils.