Online
Gardening School
Everything you need to grow a garden that feeds your body, spirit, and community — no matter your space or experience.
Learn to tend a thriving, abundant garden with step-by-step guidance, practical skills, and a permaculture-inspired approach that works in real life — whether you’re just getting started or you’re a seasoned sower.
Unlimited, lifetime access
Digestible, do-able video lessons
Foundational and seasonal content
Live mentorship
Start when you want and go at your own pace
“Since joining, my gardening has transformed. The money I’ve saved growing my own food has already paid for the tuition.” - Eve, OK
In this age of global disaster and disconnect, growing a garden is a powerful act of positive change, both for yourself and your community.
Learn How To:
Feel confident, capable, and full of joy as you harvest and savor homegrown food
Grow a garden that adapts to your space, lifestyle, and climate
Understand core principles that help your garden thrive through heat, drought, and other unpredictable symptoms of climate change
Use practical strategies that are low-tech and work anywhere — not just in perfect conditions
Apply scientific and folk methods, rooted in permaculture and decades of experience
Build healthy soil, conserve water, and manage pests without chemicals
Deepen your connection to the land and your own sustenance
Why Growing Wise is Unlike Any Other Gardening Program
Rooted in real-world experience: Our gardens aren’t high-input or always picture perfect — they’re alive, abundant, and deeply functional.
Climate-smart and adaptive: Our methods help you prepare for unpredictability — from droughts to downpours — using simple, time-tested practices, ecological intelligence, and permaculture principles.
Cover crops and no-till approaches: Nurturing healthy soil is at the basis of all good gardening; we teach low-labor approaches to supercharge soil health.
Mix of theory and practice: We provide dozens of lessons that explain the why and how of organic gardening, and dozens more with clear, on-screen, step-by-step demonstrations of exactly what to do.
Relational and alive: We teach gardening not just as food production, but as a relationship — with soil, plants, and the living world we are a part of.
Ongoing support: We don’t just drop content and disappear — you’ll have access to live Q&As and real-time answers to your questions.
Everything You Need — All in One Place
When you sign up for the program, you get instant access to an online classroom with literally hundreds of clearly organized video lessons.
You can move through the entire program in order, or choose what topics most interest you and are most applicable to your gardening journey.
Here’s an overview of what’s covered:
Foundations & Planning
Layout and design strategies, seasonal timing, intro to holistic thinking, choosing the right crops for you, garden tools and how to use them
Getting Started
Seed starting and direct sowing, starting a garden from grass (including no-till approaches)
Plant-by-Plant Growing Guides
Month-by-month deep dives into 30+ vegetables, herbs & berries
Soil, Water, Weeds & Pests
Soil science, compost, cover crops, organic fertilizers, irrigation systems, weed prevention and eradication, holistic and organic pest management
Hands-On Skills & Garden Systems
Transplanting, thinning, trellising, container gardening
Bonuses & Deeper Learning
Gardening by the moon, yoga for gardeners, terracing, easy flowers, crop rotation, succession planting, seed saving, edible weeds
Each lesson emphasizes building a resilient, ecologically sound garden that’s suited to you and your conditions, and that can evolve over time. We, too, have busy lives full of responsibilities, and we regularly eat from our gardens…the program teaches you how that’s possible!!
Printable Guides and Worksheets
It’s time to taste the fruits—and vegetables—of your labor
Learn From Gardeners Who Live What They Teach
The Online Gardening School brings together a fabulous cast of seasoned growers as your teaching team. Read more about these folks— coming soon!
Natalie and Chloe are the lead teachers, and stewards of Growing Wise. Natalie’s been gardening for over 30 years, and Chloe for over 20. Here’s a bit more about us:
We’ve been teaching gardening for over a decade and have reached over 10,000 students in that time!
We both formally studied ecological agriculture and permaculture, and learned just as much from salt-of-the-earth gardeners around the world.
We’ve tended gardens in clay and loam, backyards and farm fields, deserts and rainforests, droughts and storms — and we’re still learning alongside you.
We believe gardening can be joyful, grounding, and wildly satisfying — even when nature throws curveballs.
Our book with Storey Publishing, The New Natural Food Garden: A Comprehensive Guide to Growing a Bountiful Harvest with Less Work, in Partnership with Nature (coming March 2026), will be a wonderful compliment to our classes.
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I love that I have access to Online Gardening School course content for life. As a working mom, my schedule doesn't always allow for consistent engagement. with gardening. Knowing the information is there when I need it keeps me motivated. Plus, Chloe and Natalie have created a judgement-free zone where no question is a bad one and each person's experience and success is celebrated.
Amrit C., CA
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I had been dabbling in backyard gardening for a few years before the class found me at the perfect time. Learning from Chloe and Natalie is like having a friend/garden guru who is there whenever you need them. I LOVE THIS CLASS!
-Caitlin C., CA
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Chloe and Natalie's lessons are empowering, and they inspire me to grow and try new things!
Holley E., TN
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I’ve been gardening for a couple years now…not really knowing what I’m doing. I’ve wanted to keep getting better at it, so I’ve researched web forums, purchased books, borrowed books from the library…. but what I’ve learned in this course so far has been much more efficient and valuable than most of what I’ve found elsewhere. No more endless searches on YouTube for the proper techniques!! Thank you Chloe and Natalie!
Brain K., MN
Frequently Asked Questions
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Yes, this course will give you all the guidance you need to get started. Gardeners of all skill levels can benefit from the program, so it will grow with you as you gain experience. Just make sure to start with the foundational videos and focus on a few vegetables at first (not all of them!).
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You will learn to grow the following crops. Don’t feel any obligation to grow all of these, but the information will be there when you want it.
Arugula
Basil
Beans
Beets and chard
Blueberries
Bramble Berries (Raspberries, Blackberries, etc.)
Brassicas: Kale, Cabbage, Collards, and Broccoli
Carrots
Cilantro
Corn
Cucumbers
Daikon and other radishes
Dill
Garlic
Lettuce
Melons
Okra
Onions
Parsnips
Peas
Peppers and Chilis
Potatoes
Spinach
Sweet potatoes
Strawberries
Tomatoes
Turnips and Rutabagas
Winter squash and pumpkins
Zucchini and summer squash
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Yes. The foundational principles we teach are applicable all over the globe. Planting times and care for specific vegetables do vary from place to place. Included in the course is a guide to determining planting times, plus a table that includes four basic climate zones in the US that can help guide your timing. We garden in a temperate area, meaning that we have four distinct seasons. If you’re growing in the tropics, desert, or an extremely cold place, you’ll likely need to seek out supplemental instruction from place-based instructors. We encourage all of our students to get to know growers in their local areas, since there are many smaller details of growing that vary from place to place.
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Yes! We’ve had over 1,000 students participate in the Online Gardening School, with numerous success stories. Of course, learning by doing is the way you will root the knowledge in your bones and refine your skills. But, that’s the case no matter how you learn to garden. The intention of the course is to explain the underlying principles at play, demonstrate what to do, and encourage you to go and try it out in your own garden.
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You’re not alone. Many of our students have had frustrating past experiences. Some common reasons for this are planning a garden that’s too ambitious, choosing to grow crops that aren’t appropriate for your location or the time of year, and being overly focused on yield alone. We address these challenges, and many more, early in the program. We also focus on helping you understand the why behind each step, not just the how. Our approach helps you build lasting skills and confidence, even if you’ve had garden flops before.
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Yes, there will be something here for you, too. The Online Gardening School is pretty darn robust! In fact, we have a dear friend who is a large-scale commercial organic farmer and she took notes as she audited some of the videos (for her own growing practices, not just for providing feedback)! You may learn new things about vegetables you’ve already been growing, or get inspired to try some that you haven’t yet. With so many bonuses and in-depth foundational classes, you’ll surely find material, perspectives, and techniques that will add to your growing body of knowledge. Plus, if you sign up and decide it’s not useful, you can get a full refund during the first two weeks.
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The course is self-paced, so you can go as fast or slow as you like. Some people follow along seasonally, while others binge it on the weekend and come back as they grow. You don’t need hours every day — even small steps will move you forward.
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You can start the program as soon as you enroll, or at any time. If you enroll in the winter, you will be able to complete many of the foundational classes before spring, which will give you a leg up on the growing season!
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Not to worry. This class is appropriate whether you garden on an apartment patio, tend a plot in a community garden, or have access to a backyard or field. One of the bonus classes is even on space-saving techniques. You’ll be surprised at how much food you can produce with just a small area to grow in!
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Free content can be helpful, but it’s often scattered, inconsistent, and designed to grab attention — not guide you on a meaningful learning journey. The Online Gardening School is a complete, structured curriculum that walks you through everything you need to know, step by step. It’s designed to help you build real confidence and skill, not just get quick tips. What’s more, our program is infused with decades of hands-on experience, whole-systems thinking, and a deep connection to land and life. You won’t find that in a random video. Plus, you’ll get access to support from real teachers — something YouTube definitely doesn’t offer.
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You’ll have access to a private online classroom where you can ask questions and connect with others. Response time here is usually just a day or two. Plus, we host live Q&A sessions with Chloe so you can get personal, timely guidance.
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Yes, during each enrollment period we offer a portion of our income in scholarships to folks with financial need, who are gardening as part of a community project, and/or those who identify as members of a marginalized group. To apply for a scholarship, please fill out this form.
Invest in Your Garden — and Your Resilience
One-time price and payment plan options includes access to:
300+ Video lectures and demos
Live mentorship
Q&A Calls
Printable charts, guides & worksheets
Lifetime access
Satisfaction Guaranteed
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One time payment price
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