Small Space Gardening Course

Learn how to plan and create your own compact green space with our gardening short courses in Sydney!

Living in the urban sprawl of Sydney is great for lifestyle, food, entertainment and action. It often means though that we are competing for space and the thought of a lush green backyard becomes a thing of dreams. But that doesn’t have to be the case!

In this gardening course, learn how to plan and create your own small space urban garden in Sydney. Adapt to your environment and push boundaries, get in touch with the plants around you and most importantly get creative and have fun!

Small gardens can be created for food, enjoyment, interest, improving your environment and general well-being, exercise, building a community and satisfying our need to connect with the natural world (biophilia). Whatever your reason, together we will go through the steps required to create your green space.

This gardening course will teach you the basic needs of flora and the fundamentals of garden design planning and how to go beyond these to make the most of your small space.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this small space gardening course, you should be able to:

Identify the key elements that make a small garden work
Use basic plant biology to keep your plants happy long term
Consider the 3-dimensional space in your garden design
Plan a garden that suits your lifestyle and its users
Identify appropriate planting options for small spaces
Plan for garden rotations and soil development through composting

Course content

What will be covered in this small space gardening course?

Garden design basics - light, soil, water, space, plant types
Thinking differently to use the 3D space (instead of being limited by a lack of horizontal space)
Designing gardens to suit the amount of time and effort available for maintenance
Designing to suit the needs of different users
Garden types: small front and backyards, streetscapes and options for street gardens, indoor rooms and balconies
Indoor plants options
Veggies and fruit for small spaces, including espalier techniques
Keeping chickens or bantams
Learn easy ways to propagate new plants. You will be shown how to take: Leaf cuttings, stem cuttings, division and which plants are more suitable for which method.

Intended audience

Who is this small space gardening course for?

This course is ideal for beginners and experienced home gardeners.

Course venue

Rozelle Campus

2A Gordon Street, Rozelle NSW 2039 (corner of Gordon St & Victoria Rd in the grounds of St. Joseph's Church)

Course materials

What to bring to class

A sketch pad, pencil and eraser
Notepad and pen or a tablet to take notes

This course has no current classes. Please to be notified of vacancies and similar courses.

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Course testimonials:

Maddie said: I found the practical component was more conversational and less structured (in a good way) which encouraged students to engage and ask questions.
Beverley said: Richard was the loveliest, most encouraging tutor. The class wasn't exactly what I expected - it was much much better. We were a small group and he asked each of us to start by explaining what we were hoping to achieve. Despite us having quite different ambitions, he was able to provide everyone with a barrow-load of practical tips and inspirational ideas. Amazingly, I don't think there was anything superfluous at all ( I was so relieved we weren't instructed how to make the vertical wall from a painted drainpipe!). I think partly because Richard took time to introduce us at the beginning, the group interacted well so we all learned from and were inspired by each other also. We enjoyed it so much, we didn't want to take the offered break. I wish in retrospect we'd exchanged emails as I know the other women were also planning to do further courses with Richard and it would be good to catch up again.
Helen said: I thought the course was great - very informative. The downside was the class nearby teaching violin... it wasn’t always tuneful.