For people with a small garden or a balcony who have never grown food
Put food you grew yourself on the table this season: an 8-week online course from a Christchurch market garden, with a live Q&A every week
No experience and no big garden needed: watch the lessons online any time, then do each step at home.
From the market garden at Plot & Root Garden School, ChristchurchWho it's for
Made for first-time growers with a little space
Start with a few pots or a small bed, even if you've never sown a seed. If you already grow your own veges, this course starts earlier than you need.
- People who have never grown food
- Small backyard gardeners
- Balcony and courtyard growers
- Renters growing in pots
- Families who want to grow their own
- Cooks who want to pick their own veges
- Retirees with time for a vege patch
- People who learn by watching
Against a one-day workshop
Everything a one-day workshop gives you, for eight weeks
A workshop shows you a real garden and lets you ask a grower your questions. So does this course, every week, while your own garden grows.
| For beginnersOur 8-week course | A one-day workshop | |
|---|---|---|
| A real market garden to learn from | yes | yes |
| A grower to answer your questions | Live, every week | On the day |
| Each step when your garden needs it | Week by week | All in one day |
| The garden through every season | yes | One day of it |
| Every lesson on video | yes | no |
| Made for small gardens and balconies | yes | Sometimes |
| Learn from home | yes | no |
Week by week
From bare soil to your first harvest, one week at a time
Eight modules, one a week: the soil first, your first seeds in week three, harvesting in week seven, and your next season planned in week eight.
Soil and compost: set up a no-dig bed, a box or a pot
- Video: What good soil looks and feels like8:10
- Video: Setting up a no-dig bed, a box or a pot10:50
- Live session: Q&A on your soil and beds
Soil and compost: turn your kitchen scraps into compost
- Video: A compost heap, a bin or a worm farm9:30
- Video: What goes in, and what stays out7:30
- Live session: Q&A on your compost
Sowing and planting: raise your first seedlings
- Video: Sowing seeds in trays on a windowsill9:40
- Video: Light, water and warmth for seedlings8:20
- Live session: Q&A on your seedlings
Sowing and planting: sow straight into your bed or pot
- Video: Which seeds to sow straight into the soil7:15
- Video: Sowing in rows and in blocks8:45
- Live session: Q&A on sowing
Sowing and planting: move seedlings into beds and pots
- Video: Hardening off before planting out6:50
- Video: Planting out without setting them back9:10
- Live session: Q&A on planting out
Seasonal growing: water, mulch and feed as your crops grow
- Video: Watering and mulching through the seasons9:20
- Video: Feeding your crops with compost7:40
- Live session: Q&A on your growing crops
Seasonal growing: harvest each crop at the right time
- Video: Knowing when each crop is ready8:30
- Video: Picking so your plants keep producing7:30
- Live session: Q&A on harvesting
Seasonal growing: plan what to sow next season
- Video: What to sow next, season by season9:10
- Video: Keeping your soil fed between crops7:50
- Live session: Q&A on your next season
Who teaches you
Hi, we're the growers at Plot & Root
We're market gardeners in Christchurch, and we grow all our vegetables without digging: we spread compost on top of the soil and plant straight into it. The same method works in a small bed, a box or a pot on a balcony.
Everything you see in this course was grown and filmed in our own no-dig market garden, through every season of a South Island year. You watch us do each step, then do it yourself at home that week, until you're picking food you grew yourself.
The Plot & Root growers
From our students
First-time growers, eating their own veges
Lettuce and radishes from four balcony pots
I'd never grown a thing. Now we eat lettuce and radishes off our own balcony.
ArohaBalcony grower, Wellington
Beans and courgettes from one backyard bed
The live Q&A sorted out my seedlings, and that weekend I planted them out.
SamFirst-time gardener, Hamilton
A season of greens from a courtyard bed
We ate our own silverbeet and spring onions all autumn, from one small bed.
JoCourtyard grower, Dunedin
Grow Your First Vege Garden
- Eight weeks of video lessons, each step shown in beds and pots
- Soil and compost lessons, for a bed or pot that feeds your crops
- Sowing and planting lessons, from your first seed to planting out
- Seasonal growing lessons, from watering and mulching to harvest
- A live Q&A every week, for questions about your own garden
Before you enrol
What you need to start, and what you get for NZ$199
I've never grown anything. Is this for me?
Yes. You start with the soil in week one and sow your first seeds in week three, one step at a time.
I only have a balcony. Is that enough?
Yes. The course is made for small gardens and balconies: a few pots or boxes in the sun are enough to grow your first veges.
What will I need?
Seeds, compost and somewhere to grow: a small bed, a box or a pot. The first module shows you how to set up each one.
What if my seeds don't come up?
Bring it to that week's live Q&A. Tell us what you sowed, where and when, and we'll work out with you what to change before you sow again.
How long does it take?
Eight weeks, one module a week. Each week's videos run under 20 minutes.
How do I enrol?
Send us the form with your name and email. We'll be in touch to confirm your enrolment and how to start with week one.
What does it cost?
NZ$199 for the whole course: eight weeks of video lessons and a live Q&A every week.
Where are you based?
We're at 45 Hagley Avenue, Christchurch 8011. The course is online, so you can take it from anywhere in New Zealand.
Food you grew, on the table this season
NZ$199, and you start with your soil in week one.
8-week online course for first-time growers
Grow Your First Vege Garden in eight weeks
Send us your details and we'll be in touch to confirm your enrolment and how to start with week one.