Gardening is for everyone. You don’t have to have a sprawling yard to hone your green thumb. Growing and caring for vegetables, herbs, and other plants can be done almost anywhere, even from your comfort. Explore any of our Garden Classes Online and get started.
Of course, it takes a little know-how for these plants to thrive, and this is where online gardening classes can help. Whether you’re a newbie or a seasoned planter, there’s always a new skill to learn. We’ve compiled the best gardening courses that touch on a variety of types of gardening and a range of different skills.
Gardening is a relaxing outdoor hobby that can brighten up a yard or patio, but it’s also another way to support yourself. Preparing meals using your own homegrown fruit or veg is very rewarding, and involving the kids in the growing process is a great way to spend quality time with the family.
If you want to start gardening but aren’t sure where to start, there are a wealth of online gardening courses available to you.
What are online gardening courses?
Online gardening courses are courses that teach topics related to creating, growing and maintaining a garden. These courses are taught through instructional videos and often include home projects, with some lessons offering peer or instructor feedback.
Who Should Use Online Gardening Courses?
Anyone can take online gardening classes, so unless the same applies to an indoor container garden, it’s important to choose a class based on a student’s existing skills, goals, and USDA plant hardiness zone.
How much do online gardening courses cost?
Online gardening classes come at a variety of prices. In this round-up, recommended courses range in cost from free to around $299. Sometimes, instead of a per-class fee, a general membership is required, which can incur higher costs.
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What are the garden classes online?
Let’s take a look at the garden classes online available for you. They include;
Ron Finley teaches gardening: Best Overall
Taught by Ron Finley, this MasterClass will help aspiring green fingers working with non-traditional planting sites learn how to cultivate their gardens.
In this 10-part course, Finley lays out how to grow everything from succulents to vegetables in any planting space, from sidewalk planters to rooftop pots.
The course lasts approximately two hours and includes sections on converting poor soil into fertile soil, maintaining compost heaps, planting and harvesting vegetables, and planting and tending an herb garden.
Sections are typically between eight and 21 minutes long, making them ideal for on-the-go gardeners.
MasterClass is an annual subscription-based membership that costs about $180 per year, billed in increments of about $15 per month.
This gives subscribers access not only to Finley’s gardening course but to more than 150 other courses taught by leaders in their fields. MasterClass also offers a full refund within the first 30 days of purchase.
Gardening 101-Skillshare
If you’re a beginner gardener, Skillshare’s Gardening 101: A Guide for Growing and Caring for Plants is an excellent place to get the ball rolling.
Gardening courses at Skillshare are just the beginning. The site is a one-stop-shop for do-it-yourself projects, full of ideas to recycle, upcycle and reuse what you already own.
Instructor Geraldine Lavin has taught gardening classes at Yale University and Bard College, as well as conferences, food co-ops, and many other venues.
The beginner class consists of 10 short video lessons of around 45 minutes and is designed for both city dwellers in apartments and those who have more space to grow outdoors.
The course is included with Skillshare’s premium membership, which costs about $168 per year (after a trial).
Best Organic Garden: Alison.com
Learning how to grow organically is an important skill for any gardener to help them lead a more sustainable lifestyle.
The course lasts one and a half to three hours and mainly focuses on growing organic vegetables such as carrots, cabbage, lettuce, beetroot, spinach, and celery.
Lessons are divided into modules containing short videos (about five minutes each) on specific topics that can be paused or repeated as needed.
The first three modules focus on growing specific groups of vegetables before moving on to tending the garden.
Crop rotation, soil testing, soil improvement, and composting are just a few of the topics covered. There is a final exam at the end of each Alison course.
In order to receive a certificate of completion, students must score at least 80% on the given test. Digital certificates cost around $25 (optional, but the course is free).
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Best Herb Garden: Learn with the Experts
Whether you’re a passionate cook who wants to grow your own culinary herbs, or you’re interested in herbs for medicinal purposes, Learning with the Experts’ Herb Gardening course will help you improve your gardening skills.
The trainer, Dr. Rachel Petheram, is a florist from Lincolnshire, England who also teaches at several established gardens and schools in the UK.
Petheram is an organic grower who shares her knowledge of how to use herbs and keep pests away naturally without the need for chemical sprays.
You can opt for the expert option of this $299 course, which includes personalized assignment feedback and a certificate of completion from Dr. Petheram includes, or for the peer option that doesn’t offer these additional perks, for $99.
The course begins with a history of herbs, followed by lessons on how they can help diversify the garden. Before delving into culinary herbs, medicinal uses, and multi-purpose herbs, determine where the best location is for growing herbs.
The courses are pre-recorded into a series of 30-minute videos so you can start, stop or watch the lessons as many times as you like (although it is recommended to devote two hours per week to the courses).
Best for Kids: Outschool
Stimulating an interest in gardening from a young age can help make children more aware of where their food comes from.
Outschool offers different types of gardening classes for different ages with topics ranging from terrariums to worm farms, and also gives back to the community by offering free classes to families in need.
In the Grow, it, Pick it, Eat it! In a Gardening Club class, students meet virtually every week for 45 minutes to share their interest in edible gardening and learn tips and tricks.
It is designed for eight to twelve-year-olds, with one to eight children participating in each class. In front of each, students can post questions for discussion or share photos or videos of their current gardening project to encourage social club-style learning.
During each interactive lesson, the teacher begins with an introduction, followed by a set topic to focus on for the week (which varies by season) before concluding with questions and answers. The cost is approximately $10 per course week.
Most gardening classes at the outschool are ongoing (meeting once a week), but when a busy schedule doesn’t allow it, there are a handful of one-off classes such as Margo Mejia’s Introduction to Edible Garden Design: a one-hour class for learning the basics of edible gardening.
Best Butterfly Garden: Udemy.com
The goal of the free course is to “conserve, observe and attract” butterflies so that it not only creates a thriving garden but also helps provide a habitat for butterflies native to your area.
Learn how to turn your garden into a whimsical habitat for butterflies with the Create a Butterfly Garden course on Udemy.com.
The beginner course lasts about an hour but is broken up into short video clips, beginning with an introduction to butterfly gardens, followed by an understanding of habitat and garden design elements.
It also examines 10 critical components, some challenges, and what not to do when you’re just starting out. The instructor, Jessica McAtee, is a butterfly conservationist who developed this free course for environmentalists, gardeners, and people who love the great outdoors.
More species-specific courses from McAtee, like Attract Monarch Butterflies to Your Garden or Attracting Florida’s Longwing Butterflies, cost $80 and last about 45 minutes to an hour.
All courses aim to help gardeners connect with nature and create a calm, peaceful environment.
Best for Urban Gardening: The Urban Farm
The Urban Farm’s mission is to help people become self-sufficient and aims to teach people to grow healthy food wherever they live.
If you live in a metropolitan area, The Urban Farm can show you how to use your available space with their online courses.
Founded by Greg Peterson in Phoenix, Arizona, where he managed to grow 70 fruit trees in a third of an acre, he has since offered a wealth of online courses on how to grow your own food.
The Jump Start Your Urban Farm program consists of five classes, each lasting about an hour and a half, starting with learning about healthy soil and regenerative design, to creating a plan for the size of the garden (or farm) you are growing want.
The course costs around $100 and also includes access to a private Facebook gardening group, question-and-answer sessions, and new weekly downloadable content.
Simplified Flower Gardening: Best Budget
Planting a garden can be expensive, but in this course, led by Kerry Ann Mendez, beginners will learn to design a garden while working within a budget. Mendez goes into the ins and outs of garden design before teaching students how to get the most bang for their buck.
Mendez shares tips on where to get cheap (or even free) plants that last longer than one season and how to save money when shopping.
Students will also learn which types of plants perform best in relation to light conditions and growing zones. This course also focuses on creating pollinator-friendly gardens that require less water and maintenance than traditional gardens.
Whether you’re working in a container garden or on the ground, these tips will help students stretch their money far since it only costs about $15. It’s a win-win situation.
Gardening 101: Best Introduction
In this on-demand Skillshare course, led by herbalist and gardener Geraldine Lavin of Suntrap Botanical, newbies will learn everything they need to get their garden going.
Whether in a container, community garden, or backyard, Lavin teaches everything from plant propagation techniques like seed set and divisions to harvesting.
Being a herbalist, Lavin also spends time explaining herbs for the home garden.
This Skillshare course is divided into 10 lessons lasting approximately 46 minutes in total. The class revolves around a project, propagating herbaceous cutting, but also teaches students how to care for their garden and proper storage methods.
It is also heralded in reviews from Skillshare users for its clear guidance and for inspiring students to take action in their own gardens.
In order to take the course, students must sign up for a Skillshare account priced at $12.99 per month with an annual subscription of $155.88 after a one-month free trial.
Plants the Piet Oudolf Way: Best for a perennial garden
Dutch garden designer Piet Oudolf, whose work is primarily seen along New York City’s elevated park The High Line; is known for his textural, contemporary design featuring perennial plants.
In this course hosted by Learning with Experts, Oudolf and British garden designer Dr. Noel Kingsbury explore the farmer’s family garden, Hummelo, as they unpack the structure, texture, shape, and color of the site and how they affect the designer’s garden aesthetic.
This is not a course for beginners, but for experienced green fingers who want to expand their garden planning knowledge.
The class is divided into four sections, with corresponding assignments examining plant structure, plant combinations, seasonality, and planting by region.
Learning with Experts offers two tiers of courses: For around $99, the peer option provides lifetime access to the videos, notes, and online classroom, as well as the course, assignments, and collaborative learning environment.
The Expert option for about $299 includes all peer-level benefits, but also comes with access to an online tutor for four weeks, who offers personalized feedback and coaching on assignments, along with Oudolf and Kingsbury marked assignments and a certificate of completion.
Introduction to Growing Organic Food Sustainable: The Best for Sustainable Food
This free course from Alison online course site teaches users how to grow organic vegetables with the least possible negative impact on the environment.
While it may seem counterintuitive that there can be environmental downsides to growing it, Growing Organic Food Sustainably discusses the basics of growing vegetables in an eco-friendly manner to ensure continued soil health.
Consisting of three modules, the on-demand course begins with lessons on growing over 20 different vegetables, from Swiss chard to field beans to onions.
It continues with a module on vegetable care including crop rotation practices, soil health and compost making.
During the “Introduction to Growing Organic Food Sustainable” students will get an insight into building raised beds and sowing seeds.
Classes last between one and a half to three hours, and students can receive a certificate upon completion (if desired). All in all, it’s a solid introductory course in growing food and learning about its impact on the environment.
The Cutting Garden: Best for bouquets
For those whose gardening goal is to make beautiful bouquets and floral arrangements, Charlie Ryrie’s ‘Learn with the Experts’ course, The Cutting Garden, is a great place to start. The course is suitable for everyone but is aimed at gardeners who already have a basic knowledge.
“The Cutting Garden” introduces students to a variety of plants suitable for garden cutting and explains how and where to grow them. It also teaches sequential sowing or staggered blooms to get two crops of fast-maturing annuals per year from a garden.
The course is divided into four sections, a practical guide to deciding how much time and effort to devote to your garden and how to care for a cut garden.
The Cutting Garden offers two tiers of courses: The peer option provides lifetime access to the videos, notes, and online classroom, as well as the course, assignments, and collaborative learning environment for approximately $99.
The Expert option includes all peer-level benefits, but also comes with access to an online tutor for four weeks, providing personalized feedback and coaching on assignments, Ryrie-graded assignments, and a certificate of completion for about $299.
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Online Basic Botany Course: Best Botany
Among their full list of online gardening courses, Oregon State University offers a foundational botany course to help any green thumb up their gardening game.
In this on-demand lesson, taught by master gardener Signe Danler, students will learn how to identify plants, tell monocots from dicots (and why it’s important to know), and recognize fungi, lichens, algae, and mosses.
By the end of the course, participants should be able to identify plants, name their basic parts and recognize the role they play in their growth and development, as well as a variety of leaf and root systems.
This on-demand course costs around $45 and lasts between four and six hours. This course is part of the university’s Master Gardener Short Course Series which, including the botany course, consists of 11 lessons on a variety of topics including plant pathology and pesticide safety.
If students wish to take more than one class, each additional class costs approximately $45.
Heritage Fruit & Veg by Dr. Toby Musgrave
Heritage Fruit & Veg is an online gardening course all about old-fashioned fruit and veg, created by Dr. Toby Musgrave being taught.
The Heritage Fruits and vegetable course covers the history of heritage/heirloom varieties, the stories of specific varieties, old-fashioned garden-to-the-table recipes, the importance of growing heritage/heirloom fruits and vegetables, and the benefits of these plant species.
The Cutting Garden by Charlie Ryrie
The Cutting Garden is an introductory course in creating and maintaining a flower garden for harvesting for arrangements taught by Charlie Ryrie.
This course covers the planning and preparation of your cut flower garden, growing ornamental flowers and foliage plants, seasonal specialty plants, caring for the cut flower, garden; and using your cut flowers effectively as a home florist.
FAQs
Skillshare offers online gardening classes, delivered in short 45-minute videos, for both suburban and urban dwellers. Beginners can learn key concepts taught by an industry expert, including propagation, planning, maintenance, and harvesting.
Many classes are video tutorials that provide information on what to do (or not to do) when working in your garden, so you often won’t need anything for the course itself until you’re ready to start growing.
Other ones encourage photo sharing of projects as you go, so it’s a good idea to have some basic gardening tools on hand. If you’re starting from scratch, you’ll need seeds, some quality soil, garden planters or small recycled cups, plenty of water, and a way to label plants (repurposed popsicle sticks are great for that)
If you already have a garden started, gardening gloves, pruning shears, a hand shovel, a spade, and a gardening fork are a few of the common tools you might use.
If you’re just getting started, there are a lot of free classes available, but the cost varies based on the type of website and length of the course.
Membership sites often offer access to a range of gardening (or other) topics and cost about $10 to $20 per month.
Other sites price the courses individually, with one-time courses costing between roughly $10 and $25, or longer, multi-session classes anywhere from around $100 to $200.
Conclusion
Chances are that you might have a little spare time on your hands, so why not use it creatively and constructively and finally get round to becoming the master gardener or garden designer you’ve always aspired to be?
Whether you’re considering retraining, looking for inspiration for your pots and borders, or simply want to give your houseplants some loving care, any of these classes will help you achieve that.
References
- https://www.thespruce.com/best-online-gardening-classes
- https://www.gardendesign.com/classes/
- https://www.treehugger.com/best-online-gardening-classes
- https://www.gardensillustrated.com/reviews/10-great-online-gardening-courses/
