Gardening for Beginners Course

What you'll learn

Learn how to cultivate a great garden with our home & garden short courses in Sydney!

Discover the joy and satisfaction of creating your own green space with our Gardening for Beginners course. Starting with essential fundamentals such as soil preparation and understanding plant needs, this course is designed to equip you with the skills and knowledge necessary to embark on your gardening journey with confidence.

Through engaging and easy-to-follow topics, you’ll learn how to establish a thriving garden environment from the ground up. We simplify complex concepts into actionable steps, ensuring that every new gardener can achieve healthy, flourishing results.

Our course also includes expert tips, valuable insights and troubleshooting advice to help you overcome common gardening challenges and ensure your garden's success.

Embark on your gardening adventure today and transform your space into a vibrant sanctuary of growth and beauty. Join us to take the first steps towards cultivating a garden that brings you joy, relaxation, and a sense of accomplishment. With our expert guidance, you’ll be well on your way to becoming a confident and successful gardener.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this Gardening for Beginners course, you should be able to:

Grow healthy indoor and outdoor plants
Select suitable composts and garden mixes for your garden areas
Establish and nurture new plants with confidence
Grow plants that will fit your space, look good, and perform well
Apply practical horticultural skills to other plants and gardens

Course content

What will be covered in this Gardening for Beginners course?

This is a beginner course in Gardening that covers the fundamental basics of good gardening - indoor or outdoors. It will cover:

Light

Sunlight and shade tolerance
Plant energy supply

Soil structure

Garden soils and garden mixes
Potting mixes and composts
Soil texture and tests

Watering

How much and how frequently — when to re-water
Infiltration – how quickly water gets into the soil & garden mix
Aeration – the need for oxygen as well as water
Drainage – how quickly water drains away

Irrigation

Manual vs. automatic
Ground support

Garden operations

Care and maintenance
Mulching vs. weeding
Fertilising

Plant types

Indoor–outdoor
Sunshine–shade
Dry–wet
Flowers—ground covers—shrubs—trees

Intended audience

Who is this Gardening for Beginners course for?

This course is for beginner gardeners who wish to start growing plants.

Practical sessions vary with the time of year, the weather, the availability of gardens, and may take place in a classroom environment.

Please note - this course does not contain horticultural advice on:

Pest or disease identification
Pest or disease management
Use of chemical treatment for plants.

Specific plant selection advice is also available from your local horticulturist to help with plant requirements for your specific situation. Your specific local area plant species are not covered in this course.

Course venue

Rozelle Campus

2A Gordon Street, Rozelle NSW 2039 (corner of Gordon St & Victoria Rd in the grounds of St. Joseph's Church)

Course materials

What to bring to class:

A notepad and pen, or tablet/phone, to take notes
Gardening gloves
A face mask (to protect against potential potting mix/garden soil bacteria such as Legionella)

Optional - students may also wish to bring:

One or two of your own plants to pot up or re-pot, or propagate or prune. If you are potting or re-potting your plant(s), please also bring a small bag of potting mix (the College can supply pots)

And/or

One or two of your own plants for discussion on watering, feeding or growing issues

Course testimonials

Jane said: Really useful information. Thank you.
Sheila said: Tutor was great - engaged with the class but also kept material on track
Jodi Ann said: Richard is such a charismatic character and tutor. He was experienced and highly knowledgeable. The course content suited a beginner and I learnt so much. The hands on gardening was a great way to put the theory into practice. I had an interesting, wonderful day. I will definitely return to other gardening courses. Thank you.
Paula said: Really enjoyed course, Richard was very knowledgeable and answered many questions. Think I would benefit from a propagation course and pruning including how to maintain secatures.
Nicole said: I loved that I came away with practical tips I could apply immediately

Course tutors

This course has no current classes. Please join our waitlist and we will notify you when we have places available. Join waitlist for Gardening for Beginners Course