a bit about me....

Hello! As the owner of Cathy Miner Design I want to thank you for visiting my website! I am a solo-preneur gardener, designer and more recently a youth garden educator, I wear many hats! But all the hats are related to a mission of helping people connect with and learn to care for nature in their own backyards, schools and communities. For inquiries about any of my services below, please email me at catherine.miner@gmail.com.

Here's the gardener and designer part...

I have 20 years experience designing and caring for residential gardens in the Boston metro area. I traded a writing career for gardening after realizing I loved working outdoors. Before starting Cathy Miner Design in 2002, I was a lead designer and project manager for a design/build firm in Cambridge. I also trained hands-on with horticulturists and studied at The Landscape Institute at Radcliffe. I believe each of us can connect to and become an environmental steward of that land we live on.  In every project, I encourage and favor the use of native plants to eco-friendly practices.

And here's the garden educator hat...

In 2019 I was inspired to become a garden educator after watching my 5-year-old son's eyes light up picking snap peas.  I went on to teach children's outdoor nature and garden classes for Tinkergarten and Waltham Fields Community Farm. In 2020, seeing how families needed Covid-safe ways to get their children playing and engaging outdoors, I started Peapod Garden Playdates, offering parent-child garden and nature classes in my own home gardens (see more below!). Currently I am the garden educator at an elementary school in Arlington where I run a pilot program for weekly k-2 outdoor education classes.  

Peapod Garden Playdates are designed for private groups of families and friends. We dig, plant, harvest and taste. We play, explore, create and problem-solve. My goal is to give children (and grownups!) more opportunities to play and learn in gardens and natural spaces. So far over 40 pre-k and elementary age kiddos have attended, in all four seasons.