Which are the best online gardening courses? Let’s find out.
Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, the stay-at-home rule became a platform for people to engage in new and exciting activities; gardening is one of them. From the crazy-busy routines before the pandemic, many gardeners now would swear they didn’t know they would find love in gardening.
Undeniably, caring for plants is both relaxing and fulfilling. Moreover, seeing a bright backyard is comforting and has more benefits than a plant graveyard. While gardening is for everyone, it can only get better for you to reap what you sowed with the proper knowledge and skills.
While normality is resuming and people are going back to work, others do not want to let go of their newfound love (gardening). So what to do? Remarkably, there are virtual lessons that have several easy-to-follow video tutorials on different types of gardening.
Fortunately, herein are top-notch reviews of the best online gardening courses. These will help you start taking it all seriously and have fun with plants. Read on.
Choosing the Best Online Gardening Courses
In the search for the best online gardening classes, there are several things one should consider. For instance:
Cost: Your budget determines the types of classes you will join. Therefore, it would be better to set realistic goals that will determine your budget. This way, you will know if you want something short-term or long-term. There are several gardening virtual classes, but you need to stick to your budget in selecting your pick.
Time commitment: As observed above, you need to establish your availability for the class sessions. If you are working, you could set aside few hours during your breaks or even after work to go through a few sessions. It is also important to note that your time commitment will result in progress and finally implement what you learn. So, look for a class that will accommodate your level of time commitment to the end and allows flexibility for you to start, pause or stop when necessary.
Diversity of techniques: Just like the proverbial saying, there are many ways to kill a rat; so are many ways to grow different plants. Every expert has a unique way of approach to get desired results. Therefore, you should look for one that shows a variety so you can learn more than just the usual. Besides, wouldn’t it be cool to show your friends a gardening hack they don’t know but discovered online? The more skills an expert can offer, the more convinced you are about their level of proficiency in the matter.
Also, the search included looking into classes that offered a wide range of growth environments like varying climates, containers, and even traditional gardens. In deciding on the best online gardening classes, student reviews and instructor credentials were also a big deal to look at.
The reviews below also include standard classes in diverse subject types suitable to all gardeners, whether it’s a person interested in learning urban or herb gardening.
Let’s find you a class!
Topping the least is the unique MasterClass by Ron Finley. Also known as the “Gangster Gardener” of south Los Angeles, Ron Finley takes credit for helping about 100,000s people start gardening by themselves. So, despite where you live or the size of your garden, he majorly deals with ambitious green thumbs that have non-traditional gardens acquire skills on how to cultivate their planting spaces.
In this 2-hour video, Finley elaborates how to grow anything commonly desired, from succulents to vegetables in any planting condition, either sidewalk planters or containers in rooftop gardens.
This 10-parts class also includes special sessions like; converting nutrient-poor soil into fertile ground, sustaining compost piles, growing and harvesting vegetables such as sweet potatoes and sugar snap peas, planting and caring for a herb garden, and how to divide and spread plants.
Remarkably, each session is approximately between 8-21 minutes long, perfect for gardeners with limited time and on the go. More reason to sign up for this class is that it comprises a workbook you can download that is full of home gardening tips.
So what are the payment terms you can’t wait to find out?
A MasterClass is roughly $180 as an annual subscription-based membership. This cost is also available in $15 monthly increments. So, if this is within your budget (which I hope it is), you will also get access to more than 85 other courses from other gardening experts in their fields as a subscriber.
Last but not least, MasterClass also offers a complete refund in the first 30 days immediately after purchase.
This is yet another worthy and exceptional online gardening course that will utilize raised garden beds for improved produces and ease of use.
Sunny Green, who is not only your expert guide but also a passionate gardener, loves to impact her knowledge and tips. Using several of her online classes, Sunny continues to inspire thousands of interested gardeners to join her bandwagon and learn more.
Some of the modules featured in this summarized class consist of equipment, leveling, supplies, planting, soil, and watering. Better still, you will also learn how to create your raised garden bed for just $10!
As for the payment, a Skillshare hosting allows its new users to freely this gardening class for free after signing up for the 2-month free trial! Moreover, this limited free trial also provides over 27,000 online lessons for their students.
While most aspiring gardeners fright at the thought of high expenses in starting a successful garden, Kerry Ann Mendez teaches beginners to design a garden within their budget. Mendez gets into garden design details in this class before showing her students how to get the most value for their money. Read on.
Furthermore, Mendez provides tips on where to get plants at low or free costs that will thrive for over a season; and shows them money-saving tips when shopping. Better yet, if you subscribe to her class, you will also learn the different types of plants that will work in regards to the existing light conditions and growing zones.
Amazingly, this course also pays attention to making pollinator-friendly gardens that need less water and care compared to traditional gardens.
However, a critical point to note is that this desired video class is suitable for students living in USDA plant hardiness zones 3-9. Therefore, whether you plan to start a container garden or the ground, Mendez’s tips will help students get more value for about $14. Isn’t that amazingly affordable?
The standard type of gardening that attracts people to venture into this lifestyle is growing herbs and vegetables. Undeniably, these are the must-have foods in most households, hence the need to have individual gardens.
Luckily, this course covers a beginner’s gardening guide and maximizes the smallest planting space available to yield tasty and fresh veggies. Well, you are not alone as nearly 2000 students are through with their modules in this class and given a 4.3 stars rating. What’s more?
Rick Stone, the course leader, is also a graduate of the Utah State University Master Gardener program. Therefore, his expertise in gardening made him love and qualified to impact his students growing methods for different climates and vegetables.
Rest assured that this 2-hour beginner class will be more than enough to give you a solid jumpstart. It features gardening basics, where what and when to plant, climates, soil types, and in-depth caring for the plants to improve growth.
As if not enough, this course also allows you access to downloadable resources, lifetime access, class projects, and a certificate of completion! Generally, if you are looking for an extraordinary class that teaches gardening from the word go to the last stage, this is it!
Well, good things can also be free! That is why this free class from Alison, an online course site, provides insight on growing organic vegetables with the slightest adverse environmental effect possible.
It is without a doubt unreasonable to state that growing can cause ill impact to the environment. Nonetheless, Introduction to Growing Organic Food Sustainably instills the basics of growing vegetables eco-friendly to guarantee sustained soil health.
The five-module, desirable course commences with sessions on how to grow approximately 27 different types of vegetables; for instance, Swiss chard, onions, and even broad beans, with a comprehensive lesson for each selection. Subsequently, there’s a module on the care and maintenance of vegetables, plus the application of crop rotation, soil health, and composting.
Another reason to sign up for Introduction to Growing Organic Food Sustainably is that you will also learn to build raised beds and sowing seeds. Moreover, the class can go for one and a half hours to three hours, with a certification of completion provided for any interested student.
Above all, this is a solid introductory course for growing food and learning about its impact on the environment.
In this popular Skillshare course led by Geraldine Lavin of Suntrap Botanical, herbalist and gardener, novices will acquire all they need to spur their garden. Whether you want a potted garden, community garden, or even a backyard, Lavin instructs on everything starting from plant propagation skills, for instance, seed starting and divisions to garnering. While she is also a herbalist, she explains more to the interested people for the home garden.
This Skillshare course features ten lessons that last up to 46 minutes. Even though the class focuses on propagating herbaceous cutting, it also teaches learners proper garden maintenance storage methods. A variety of Skillshare users give impressive reviews for its simple-to-follow instructions and inspire students to take action.
If you want to start on the course, you will have to sign up for a Skillshare Premium account which costs about $14 monthly for an annual subscription or $32 monthly for a monthly pass. The catch here is that both memberships feature a two-month free trial.
Undeniably, growing desired plants is a source of enjoyment and fulfillment for anyone, despite living in a house with a backyard or in a storeyed apartment building. Therefore, join this online course to find a perfect spot to grow and care for existing plants.
Chris Satch is the trainer for this online class and also a botanist, The Sill. This is a renowned firm that deals specifically with plant design, setting up, and repairing private homes and commercial offices.
This 30-minutes short class covers lessons in potting and repotting, problem-solving, watering, soil assessment, and how to nurture a cactus.
Over 9,000 past students for this short course include downloadable materials, class projects, and discussions in the community support. Better yet, there’s a 2-month free trial which allows students to access information freely.
For people looking forward to making beautiful bouquets and arrangements in gardening, Charlie Ryrie’s The Cutting Garden online course is the ideal starting point. While the system caters to the needs and queries of everyone, it focuses more on intermediate-level gardeners. These are gardeners who have the necessary information on essential skills already.
The Cutting Garden teaches students the wide range of plants suitable for cutting gardens, including explaining how and where to grow them. Students also learn to succeed in sowing or confounding blooms to get two crops of fast-growing annuals from a garden.
Charlie presents this course in a series of 4 sections. This primarily includes a practical guide to determine how much time and effort you are willing to spend on your garden and how to care for a cutting garden.
The Cutting Garden comes with two-course tiers: The Peer option consists of unlimited access to the online sessions, notes, and videos, not to mention class projects, and a combined learning setting for about$99.
Conversely, the Expert option comes with all the benefits of the Peer package and remarkable four-week access to an online tutor. This tutor will give the students individual assignment responses and training, assignments checked by Ryrie, and a completion certificate for around $299.
The Oregon State University provides an introductory botany class that will help gardeners activate their A-game. Master Gardener expert Signe Danler teaches this on-demand lesson on how to classify plants, differentiate monocots from dicots, and identify garden larks like moss, fungus, algae, and lichen.
In the final sessions, students will be ripe with knowledge on categorizing plants, naming their essential parts, how they impact their growth, and diagnosing a range of leaf and root systems.
This desirable course is affordable to cost you about $45, lasting four and six hours to complete. Remarkably, this course is a segment of the university’s principal Master Gardener Short Course Series which features 12 lessons of different themes.
If you also want to take more lessons, it will cost you around $45 for any extra course.
Many people live in towns and residences instead of suburban homes. Because of this fact, an aspiring gardener must learn how to create and plant a garden in their apartment. Besides, a more extensive selection of edible plants can thrive indoors with proper conditions and care.
Sunny Green is also the expert in this course, not a management consultant and back-to-basics enthusiast. This way, this course qualifies for a spot in this top selection of best online gardening courses.
Class sections consist of supplies and equipment, achieving indoor gardening, harvesting, cases and tips, and numerous additional recipes for your indoor eatable plants. Better still, it is beginner friendly lasting about 30 minutes of the requested video.
Moreover, you can acquire more materials by downloading them, class projects, and a community for about 1200 former students to provide a discussion area.
This class offers from A-Z of everything you need to know on starting your vegetable garden. Aside from the tutorials on planting in traditional gardens outside, you will also learn about growing on balconies and patios in apartments.
Teena Spindler is the gardening expert in this course and a consultant for Home Depot and Miracle-Gro. Moreover, she is the Chair for the Master Gardener of the Orange County Great Park’s Farm & Food Lab. She imparts gardening knowledge to anyone interested despite the age and lifestyle.
The beginner level has 3-hour sessions of on-demand videos covering topics like starting, finding a location, soil prepping, selecting plants, planting, care, reaping, and storage. Better yet, signing up will make you part of the 2000 alumni community. The course also comprises unlimited access on mobile devices, downloadable materials, and a certificate of accomplishment.
Conclusion
If you love gardening and want to explore further, the best online gardening courses will help you locate where you belong in the garden. Luckily, the lessons above are easy-to-follow that you can even learn with your loved ones, including your kids. Go ahead and plant away!
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