StretchLearn Course

Grow real food from seed to harvest, even on a balcony.

Read your sun and frost dates, build good soil, and plant on a calendar that works, so your first garden actually feeds you.

Preview Curriculum Back to Catalog

Beginner9 hr 15 minSelf PacedRegistered

Course Overview

What this course is designed to develop

Learn to grow real food and flowers the way experienced gardeners actually do it: site first, soil second, plants third. You will read your sunlight and frost dates, build or fill a raised bed or containers with a proven soil mix, start seeds and transplant on schedule, water and feed correctly, and manage common pests without panic. By the end of one growing season you can plan, plant, and harvest vegetables, herbs, and flowers and know exactly what to do next year.

Learning Outcomes

What the learner should be able to understand, build, or execute.

Assess a backyard, balcony, or bed for sun hours, drainage, and hardiness zone before planting anything

Build or fill a raised bed and containers using a proven soil mix and test and amend pH and nutrients

Start seeds indoors, direct-sow, harden off, and transplant on a calendar anchored to your average last and first frost dates

Water, mulch, feed, and space crops correctly based on stage and weather instead of a fixed habit

Identify and manage the most common pests, diseases, and disorders using least-toxic methods

Harvest vegetables, herbs, and flowers at peak quality and plan succession and next-season crops

Curriculum Preview

Inside the curriculum: a structured path from fundamentals to execution.

Preview the course structure, see how the modules build on one another, and understand the path this program is designed to take you through.

Module 1

Module 1: Reading Your Site: Sun, Zone, and Space

Before you buy a single seed, you learn to read the three things that decide what will grow: how much sun you get, your frost window, and the space and containers you actually have.

3 lessons

Counting Sun Hours and Choosing the Right SpotContent · 45 min

Preview Enabled

Finding Your Hardiness Zone and Frost DatesContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Choosing Your Growing Method: Beds, Containers, or GroundContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Module 2

Module 2: Building Living Soil

Good gardens are grown in good soil, so you learn to fill a bed with the right mix, test and adjust it, and feed it with compost the way nature does.

3 lessons

What Plants Need from Soil: Texture, pH, and NutrientsContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Filling a Bed and Mixing Container SoilContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Composting: Turning Waste into Free FertilityContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Module 3

Module 3: From Seed to Transplant

This is where plants actually begin, as you learn when to buy versus sow, how to start seeds indoors, and how to harden off and transplant without setbacks.

3 lessons

Seeds Versus Seedlings and Building a Sowing CalendarContent · 50 min

LMS Access

Starting Seeds IndoorsContent · 50 min

LMS Access

Hardening Off and TransplantingContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Module 4

Module 4: Tending and Harvesting

The season-long craft of keeping plants alive and productive, covering watering, feeding, pests and disease, and finally harvesting at peak and planning what comes next.

3 lessons

Watering, Mulching, and Feeding Through the SeasonContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Managing Pests, Diseases, and DisordersContent · 50 min

LMS Access

Harvesting at Peak and Planning Next SeasonContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Built for Application

A complete learning path, not a one-off inspiration hit.

This program is designed around progression: focused lessons, structured modules, applied resources, assessments, and a course rhythm that turns information into usable capability.

vegetable gardeningraised bedscontainer gardeningseed startingcompostingfrost datespest controlharvesting