10 greatonline gardening courses

1 Best for absolute beginners

Ron Finley Teaches Gardening, MasterClass

Ron Finley the self-proclaimed Gangster Gardener has long been a rebel with a cause. His clash with LA City Council over the kerbside garden he’d planted in the south of the city led to a change in the city’s by-laws and set Ron on an edible gardening crusade. Now he’s joined the distinguished list of tutors for online school MasterClass with a ten-part gardening course. Although the emphasis is on growing your own food, Ron offers a great all-round introduction with advice on transforming nutrient-poor soil into fertile ground, propagation and turning whatever you have to hand, from a boot to a drawer, into a planter.

Each module lasts between eight and 20 minutes, making the course ideal to fit around other commitments, and comes with a downloadable PDF workbook.

MasterClass is a subscription-based platform that costs £170 a year and gives you unlimited access to all of its courses, so you can also take cooking classes with Yotam Ottolenghi, acting lessons from Natalie Portman or get writing tips from Neil Gaiman. The minimum subscription is for a year but if you decide it’s not for you, MasterClass offers a full refund within the first 30 days of purchase.