Courses

Grow your own vegetables

Everything a beginner needs to grow their own food: where to grow, how to sow, what each easy crop needs, and how to keep the plot healthy year after year. Short videos, quick checks and a checklist for your own garden in every lesson.

10 lessons20 minutes of video40 flashcardsLifetime access
Photo: Kolforn I'd appreciate if you could mail me if y, CC BY-SA 4.0

Start with lessons 1 and 2: choosing the spot and getting the soil right. Then sow, plant and grow the easy crops one group at a time.

Getting started

Choosing the spot, beds and containers, soil and compost

  1. 1Planning your plotWhere to grow, how big to start, beds or containers, and choosing crops that are worth the space.Free lesson
  2. 2Soil, compost and feeding the groundGetting to know your soil, why organic matter matters so much, no-dig beds, and making your own compost.

Sowing and planting

Sowing indoors and out, hardening off, thinning and little-and-often sowing

  1. 3Sowing indoors and hardening offWhich crops to start indoors, how to sow in pots and modules, light and warmth, pricking out, and hardening off before planting out.
  2. 4Sowing outside, thinning and successional sowingWhen the soil is ready, sowing in drills, getting the depth right, thinning, and sowing little and often for a steady supply.

The crops

Salads, beans and peas, potatoes, roots and onions, tomatoes and courgettes

  1. 5Salads and leavesLettuce, rocket, spinach, chard, radishes and spring onions: sowing, cut-and-come-again picking, and stopping them bolting.
  2. 6Beans and peasRunner beans, French beans, broad beans and peas: when to sow, how to support them, beating blackfly, and picking to keep them cropping.Free lesson
  3. 7Potatoes, roots and onionsChitting and earthing up potatoes, carrots without carrot fly, beetroot, and onions and garlic from sets and cloves.
  4. 8Tomatoes, courgettes and other tender cropsRaising tomatoes and courgettes, cordon or bush tomatoes, removing sideshoots, feeding and watering, and picking courgettes small.

Care and harvest

Watering, feeding, weeding, crop rotation, pests and harvest

  1. 9Watering, feeding and weedingHow and when to water, mulching, feeding the plants that need it, and keeping on top of weeds.
  2. 10Crop rotation, pests and harvestRotating crops between beds, protecting against the commonest pests, harvesting at the right time, and planning next year.
Questions

Before you buy

I've never grown anything. Is it for me?

Yes. The course starts from choosing a spot and preparing the soil, and sticks to easy, reliable crops. Each lesson ends with a short checklist of things to do in your own garden.

I only have a small garden or a patio.

The first lesson covers beds and containers, and the crop lessons point out which vegetables suit pots, such as dwarf French beans and bush tomatoes.

Are GardenSteps courses RHS courses?

No. GardenSteps is independent. Our courses follow the Royal Horticultural Society's published guidance, but they aren't affiliated with or endorsed by the RHS.

Who are the courses for?

Home gardeners in the UK, from complete beginners to people who garden every year and want to stop guessing. You don't need any experience.

How long does each lesson take?

The videos are about two minutes each. With the quick check, the flashcards and the checklist, a lesson takes around ten minutes, so you can do one over a cup of tea and then go out into the garden.

How long do I have access?

A single course is yours for as long as we run it, with no subscription. If we ever close a course, we'll give you at least 12 months' notice and a way to download its summary sheets. The all-access pass opens every course for 12 months.

What is the all-access pass?

One payment of £79 opens every GardenSteps course for 12 months, including any new courses we release during that time, with all the summary sheets and handouts. It doesn't renew automatically: we email you a month before it ends, and renewing early adds the new year to the end of your current one. Handouts you've downloaded are yours to keep.

Which devices can I use?

Any modern phone, tablet or computer, so you can take a lesson out into the garden. The summary sheets are PDF files you can print.

Can I get a refund?

You can cancel within 14 days. Because the courses are digital content, the right to cancel ends once you start the lessons, and we ask you to confirm this at checkout. See our refund policy for details.