“To nurture a garden is to feed not just the body, but the soul,” said the English poet, Alfred Austin. Gardening is a relaxing and fulfilling activity, which can enrich your life with the bounty that it yields, and enrich your mind with the gratification it provides.
But many of us do not put the intent of growing a garden into action, because we view it as a daunting task. The fear of failure holds us back.
However, with these free online gardening courses that are carefully designed to get you started or advance you to a higher level of gardening ability, you can conquer that fear and begin developing that green thumb you may not be aware you had.
⭕ Note: ratings updated at Fall 2020.
Introduction to Growing Organic Food Sustainably
To grow an organic vegetable garden
This is a comprehensive course on growing and maintaining a vegetable garden. It is ideal for beginners who want to learn gardening basics and also for seasoned gardeners who may be new to the concept of sustainable gardening practices and growing vegetables.
The course is divided into six modules. The first three modules deal with instructions on how to grow more than 25 different vegetables. This enables you to get right down to business and allows you to practice as you learn. Your garden can begin to take shape before you have completed the course. This structure keeps things interesting, especially if you would rather not learn a whole lot of theory before you you start getting your hands dirty, so to speak.
The latter part of the course teaches you how to rotate your crops, improve your soil, test your soil and make your own compost. These are invaluable practices when it comes to organic, sustainable gardening. It also teaches you vegetable gardening basics such as building a raised vegetable bed and the proper way of sowing seeds.
Once you complete this basic gardening course, you will be armed with all the basic information you need on how to create and maintain a healthy garden with organic gardening practices.
? Offered by: Alison Courses
? Publisher: Grow it Yourself
⌛ Duration: 1.5 to 3 hours
Certification: An assessment is done at the end of the course, in which a score of 80% or higher is required for certification. Certificate is available for purchase. Learner Record or Learner Achievement are accessible for free from the course dashboard.
Rating: 5/5 and favorable feedback by students
Enroll here: https://alison.com/course/introduction-to-growing-organic-food-sustainably
Garden Tutor Course and Kit
To plan and design a garden layout
This award-winning gardening course is one of the best free online gardening courses. It is best suited for the visionary gardener in mind. If you are new to gardening and want to plan and create a garden with visual appeal, this course is the right fit for you.
The eight modules of this course contains gardening lessons for adults. It will begin with the first step of gardening, which is assessing your site and its characteristics like soil and climate. The next module helps you conceptualize and create a layout for your garden. After that, you will choose the plants that fit your design. The next step is about converting your vision into reality by drawing up plans. The rest of the modules will coach you about preparing the site, planting and maintaining your garden.
The tool kit includes a pH test kit, compass, testing jar, measuring tape, layout graph paper and more. The kit is available for purchase and the accompanying course is free.
With detailed instructions beginning with a mental concept and ending with a complete garden, this course is the best guide for a beginner who wants to put a gardening plan into action and is one of the best gardening courses for beginners.
? Offered by: Garden Tutor
? Parent Company: Botaniworld, LLC
⌛ Duration: 2-3 hours
Certification: None
Rating: Positive reviews by publications such as Popular Mechanics, Country Living Gardener, American Homestyle and Gardening and many more
Enroll here: https://gardentutor.com/learn-how-to-garden/
Photosynthesis: A course on Khan Academy
To learn the science about photosynthesis and photorespiration
This course will delve deep into the technical details about photosynthesis, its benefits and the impact of one of its undesirable side effects.
Photorespiration is a side effect of photosynthesis where carbon dioxide is emitted and oxygen is used up. It causes energy wastage and undoes sugar synthesis in plants. It occurs in plants called C3 plants when they are exposed to hot and dry conditions since they are not equipped to combat it. While most plants are of the C3 type, there are C4 and CAM plants that can combat this undesirable effect. This course will teach you the science behind these concepts.
Learning about how these plants function can help you decide which plants are best suited for your garden, depending on the climate conditions to which it is exposed.
? Offered by: Khan Academy
⌛ Duration: Two hours of videos plus some reading and a skill test at the end of each of the four modules.
? Certification: Depending on your performance on the skill tests and the uni test at the end of each course, you earn mastery points and skill level indicators comprising attempted, familiar, proficient and mastered.
Enroll here: https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/photosynthesis-in-plants
Vegetable Gardening by Utah State University
Guide to growing vegetables
This course is one of the best gardening lessons for beginners who wish to build a vegetable garden. Thirteen video modules act as visual guides to the planting process for various vegetables. The vegetables include spinach, radishes, zucchini, onions, beets and many more. The videos include interesting guides about how to plant and also harvest garlic and how to grow cucumbers on a trellis.
In addition, there are 13 reading modules about how to grow tomatoes (Self watering planters for tomatoes), cauliflower, peppers, broccoli, asparagus and more.
Splitting up the course material into video and text modules helps break the monotony and is one of the best gardening courses for beginners. The course contains basic and practical knowledge on how to grow specific vegetables so that you can begin cultivating your vegetable patch without any delay.
This course is only available for iPhone and iPad users, via the iTunes U app.
? Offered by: Utah State University
⌛ Duration: An hour and a half of video modules and 13 additional text modules
? Certification: None
⭐ Rating: 5/5 stars from six customer ratings on iTunes
Enroll here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/course/vegetable-gardening/id718510100
Happy Houseplants: Caring For Your Plants
Potting and maintaining indoor plants for beginners
This course consists of video modules That will demonstrate how to pot plants that will live in your house or on your balcony. Examples are floor plants and table-top plants. Specifically, the instructor will provide you with detailed instructions on how to plant an aglaonema and a cactus.
This is followed by instructions on how to determine when to re-pot by observing your plants and recognizing any signs of an overgrown root system or salt buildup in the soil.
The next module will provide you with all the knowledge you need about caring for your plant and making sure that it is getting the optimum amount of water. Telltale signs of overwatering or underwatering (How to Water Plants Properly), fungal infections or insufficient sunlight are some of the issues about which you will be informed.
? Offered by: Skillshare
?? Instructor: Christopher Satch, Resident Botanist, The Sill
⌛ Duration: 30 minutes
? Certification: None
⭐ Rating: 56% said that the course met their expectations and 33% said exceeded. Most students liked the clarity of instruction and helpful examples.
Enroll here: https://www.skillshare.com/classes/Happy-Houseplants-Caring-For-Your-Plants-Learn-with-The-Sill/2039942571?via=browse-rating-gardening-layout-grid
Understanding Plants: What a Plant Knows
Learn about the sensory system of plants
We are familiar with the positive impact that plants have on our lives. This course teaches us about plants from the unique perspective of the plant itself. The course is designed to teach you about the different sensory systems of a plant, based on the functioning of those same sensory systems in humans. The course has a philosophical bent while rooted in scientific research. It explores very interesting concepts like whether plants feel pain and whether they dance.
The first module is about the plant’s response to light and phototropism. It will explore Darwin’s experiments regarding the same and delve into the botanical processes that it involves.
The next module deals with the plant’s response to olfactory stimuli or its sense of smell. This will cover its reaction to chemicals, whether plants communicate with each other and how fruits know when to ripen, among other points.
This is followed by a module about tactile stimuli or a sense of touch. It will teach you about how certain plants like the Venus flytrap and mimosa respond to touch. It will discuss the question of whether plants feel pain.
The next module will explore whether plants have a sense of location and orientation like humans do. It also discusses the question of whether a plant dances.
The next two modules discuss the different kinds of memory that plants might have and whether they have consciousness or intelligence of some sort.
This course is designed to give you an in-depth understanding of plants from a unique perspective and is based on past and ongoing scientific research in the field. It is a course for beginners and anyone who has some basic knowledge about botany.
? Offered by: Tel Aviv University on the Coursera learning platform
?? Instructor: Professor Daniel, Chamovitz, Ph.D.
⌛ Duration: Eleven hours, with a 1-2 hour module per week
? Certification: Shareable certificate of completion
⭐ Rating: 4.8/5 on Coursera
? Instructor rating: 4.9/5 on Coursera
Enroll here: https://www.coursera.org/learn/plantknows
Understanding Plants: Fundamentals of Plant Biology
Intermediate level course on the basics of botany
This course deals with all the internal workings of a plant. It is a four lecture series and each lecture deals with a different sub-topic.
The course begins with an in-depth look at the internal structure of a plant at the cellular level. This is followed by a detailed look at how a plant grows, develops and flowers.
An entire lecture after this is dedicated to the process of photosynthesis. And finally, there is a lecture about plant genetic engineering with examples, case studies and a discussion about the concerns and benefits of the practice.
The lectures are interspersed with reading material and quizzes.
? Offered by: Tel Aviv University on the Coursera platform
?? Instructor: Professor Daniel, Chamovitz, Ph.D
⌛ Duration: Six hours, with a flexible schedule and deadlines
? Certification: Shareable certificate of completion
⭐ Rating: 4.8/5 on Coursera
? Instructor rating: 4.9/5 on Coursera
Enroll here: https://www.coursera.org/learn/plant-biology
Discover Best Practice Farming For A Sustainable 2050
Beginner level course about a sustainable farming project and its broader impact
The Future Farm 2050 in Western Australia is being developed by the University of Western Australia to serve as a worldwide model for sustainable farming with the next 30 years in mind. This course will inform you about the project, its implications and how it can be adapted to your part of the world.
Sustainable farming has implications that extend beyond agriculture. This course will address all these issues, which include rural infrastructure, water management and biodiversity, to name a few.
The project and the course are guides to the multidisciplinary approach that is necessary to feed and clothe the planet.
The course comprises four lectures, beginning with an introduction to the project, its broad vision and its projections for 2050. The subsequent lectures will explore water and soil management, weed management and livestock management.
Each lecture will deal with broader implications of the subject at hand, like the relationship between agriculture and the environment or the balance between plants and livestock.
? Offered by: The University of Western Australia on the Coursera learning platform
?? Instructor: Professor Graeme Martin
⌛ Duration: Nine hours
? Certification: Share-able certification of completion
⭐ Rating: 4.6/5 on Coursera
? Instructor rating: 4.7/5 on Coursera
Enroll here: https://www.coursera.org/learn/best-practice-farming-sustainable-2050
