Anyone know about gardening courses? Recommendations?

[AalyaSecura]

We are about to completely redo our garden after building work - we have a hard landscape design, and the builder will start shortly. We could pay the person who did the garden design to do a planting plan too, but I fancy having a go myself - but I'm starting from very limited knowledge. Plus we then need to maintain it.

I guess you mainly learn gardening by doing, but in general I like to understand the reasons for things, the background knowledge, and the whole process will be much more enjoyable if I can do some more upfront learning - beyond reading a few books.

Anyone got any experience of courses, face to face or online, that give a thorough introduction to all the basics? Not fussed about a qualification, just want to feel competent!

A few years ago i did a 2 year RHS course which was run at the local adult education place. There was an exam and qualification which I didnt bother with at the end. I found it very interesting and then i worked part time in a local plant nursery for a couple of years. Learnt lots! If you dont want to do anything quite so serious or long you will learn a lot from watching gardeners world - i still watch it. The other thing to do is visit lots of open gardens to see plants in situ.

Thanks bilbodog, just been looking at the RHS level 2 courses - sound great, but very comprehensive and a lot of work! Some distance learning options and a local botanical garden is starting one in September.

Crikey - I have been doing and teaching hort for 9 years and i am still learning. Nothing can make a plant grow if the conditions are not right and often the best combinations are luck rather than judgement.

I would recommend getting a soil test so that you know your garden soil type [3 actually - one different areas]. You need to know pH, constitution and water content. pH you can do with a simple kit. Constitution - jamjar or rolling method. water content - in 3 places on a warm spring day [not after a rainstorm], dig 6 inches down and see whether the soil is dry, exuding moisture or easily pliable. You want the easy pliable if possible.

Then, just start gardening. Look at what grows in your soil - if neutral or slightly alkaline pH then almost anything will grow. If acid, you can add lime to make it slightly alkaline. Most soils are alkaline though.

Then go do some research with some garden design books. What do you want - trees, shrubs, ground cover? Colour scheme? Anything that needs covering? What areas have high usage and what don't? Where are your cold/hot/wet/dry spots? Trees - picture how big they will get, and the final volume.

Then just go out and get some plants. Big ones in the middle or at the back. Then smaller ones then really small at the front.

Then see how they grow. Don't like something in that spot - move it. Best time to do this is November. It is all trial and error. All gardeners have learnt not by the things that grew but the things that didn't.

A garden is a constantly evolving thing. Pretty much everything you need to learn is online but nothing beats getting your hands in the soil.

A top tip - if you have bare soil anywhere, plant something in it, or mulch it with something to stop the weeds germinating. Then when you are ready to plant, move the mulch, plant, water in and put the mulch back around the stem.

Two places I know of that do part-time courses are Shuttleworth College in Bedfordshire (I did a garden design short course there a few years ago), and Capel Manor in Hertfordshire.

Do you have any National Trust or English Heritage houses/gardens nearby? They are always looking for volunteers to help the professional gardening team, and you could learn a lot that way.