BBC Gardeners' World Magazine has collaborated with digital educational platform FutureLearn to bring you a brand new online ExpertTrack gardening course, Gardening for Beginners: The Basics and Beyond. Associate Editor, David Hurrion will be your instructor for this five-week online course, which has been designed so you can learn at your own pace.

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What's covered in the course?

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Your course instructor

David Hurrion, Associate Editor
Associate Editor, David Hurrion shares his gardening expertise

Led by expert tutor and Associate Editor, David Hurrion, who will share his 50 years of gardening experience, bringing his skills to you online, so you can learn from him in the comfort of your own home.

I've gardened since I was a child and went on to train in horticulture, education and journalism. Growing plants is part of my life, and I'm passionate about sharing my knowledge and experience.
David Hurrion

Your course by week

Part 1: How Plants Grow: The Essentials

Build your gardening skills and knowledge and learn the best environments and techniques to nurture your plants.

Part one takes place over two weeks, with four hours of lectures per week and one test.

Week 1 - How plants grow

  • Welcome to the course
  • Back to basics: what's in a plant?
  • How a plant grows itself
  • What will you grow?

Week 2 - Where and when plants grow

  • Assess your conditions
  • Understanding seasons
  • Climate, outdoor and indoor environments
  • Understanding your soil

Part 2: How to Grow Healthy Plants

Level up your gardening skills to master the basic methods for growing new plants and protect them from disease and pests.

Part two takes place over three weeks, with four hours of lectures per week and one test.

Week 3: Keeping your plants alive

  • Watering plants
  • Feeding plants
  • Protecting plants
  • Pinching, training and thinning
  • Pruning, trimming and deadheading

Week 4: Growing new plants

  • Why raise new plants
  • Growing plants from seed
  • Growing plants from cuttings
  • Dividing plants
  • Layering plants

Week 5: How to avoid common gardening problems

  • Has something gone wrong?
  • The gardener and plant problems
  • Pests, diseases and root causes
  • Recap: what you've learned

Course registration and cost

FutureLearn invite you to sign up for this five-week ExpertTrack course with a seven-day free trial to get you started. If you're enjoying the course after the first week, a £36/month payment will be taken automatically, which will cover the next four-weeks of the course. As soon as you've finished the five-week course, payment will automatically stop. If you decide this course is not for you, please cancel during your trial period.

Start your seven-day FREE trial now

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Looking for more online learning courses from BBC Gardeners' World Magazine?

We run regular one-hour online Masterclasses with a Q&A session. Booking details for upcoming classes can be found on our online learning and events page. Subscribers save 20 per cent on BBC Gardeners' World Magazine Masterclasses, discount codes can be found on our Subscriber Club discounts page.

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