Fancy learning a new gardening skill this year? Whether you are a budding beginner or want to perfect your growing techniques, there are plenty of courses to help you achieve your goals.

It doesn’t matter if you can’t attend in person because many courses are held online, leaving you to practice in your garden what you’ve learned in the comfort of your own home.

Here are just some of the courses you could be joining, either in person or online.

1. Getting to grips with your allotment (in person, RHS Garden Rosemoor, Devon)

Feb 3-Mar 2 (six sessions) – 10:30am-1pmCost: RHS member – £150, non-member – £245.10 (includes Garden entry)

This course is ideal for those who want to make their allotment or garden plot more productive. An expert will guide your through the growing season during during six half-day sessions, which cover preparing your plot, planning your planting, protecting plants and keeping your fruit and veg healthy, along with harvesting and guidance for winter. Pupils can also visit the different productive areas at Rosemoor, to give them inspiration on how to replicate them on their own plot, along with time for discussion.

2. A year full of flowers (in person, various sites)

Wednesday, Apr 10 or Wednesday, Sep 18 (at Perch Hill Farm, East Sussex)Cost: £250

Join author, TV gardener and plantswoman Sarah Raven at her home in Perch Hill Farm, East Sussex, for this new one-day course based on her latest book, tracing the year from January to December at her home, and offering general gardeners a complete account of a garden crafted over decades. Sharing the lessons learned from years of plant trials, she explains the methods that have worked for her, and shows you how to achieve a space that’s full of life and colour.

Assisted by Arthur Parkinson and Caroline Nevile, the course comprises a lecture with slides format, with some practical demos, coffee/tea, homemade biscuits, homemade cake, and a two-course lunch using recipes from Raven’s cookbooks.

Other dates and venues for this course:

Tuesday, Feb 20 – Oxleaze Barn, Gloucestershire – £195Tuesday, Mar 5 – Gate Street Barn, Guildford – £195Tuesday, Mar 19 – Bix Manor Barn, Oxfordshire – £195

3. Growing herbs (in person, RHS Garden Bridgewater, Worsley, Salford, Greater Manchester)

Saturday, Mar 23: 10am-12:30pm or 1:30pm-4pmCost: RHS member – £45, non-member – £58.85

If you want to grow your own herbs to use in your cooking or to make teas and home remedies, this workshop may be for you. You’ll learn how to cultivate a range of herbs in the garden or in containers and about the different growing conditions needed for the healthiest herbs. The course is suitable for beginners or those who have grown herbs before, but are looking for help to get a healthier, more abundant crop. It will  include a walk around the garden to see herbs growing in situ.

4. Design your own garden (online, Inchbald School of Design)

Apr 29-Jul 29 or Sep 9-Dec 9 (13-week online course, teaching ratio 8:1)Cost: £1,260

This course is aimed at anyone who wants to learn the skills needed to design their own garden or outdoor living space. During the 13-week part-time online course (four hours per week), you will learn how to transform a visual brief into a usable garden design and create a workable scale drawing. Pupils will learn how to consider the garden’s attributes, working with hard and soft landscaping, creating a master plan with a mood board and plant list.

5. Design the interior with houseplants (in person, RHS Garden Harlow Carr, Harrogate, North Yorkshire)

Friday, Mar 15: One day workshop, 10am-4pmCost: RHS member – £61, non-member – £76.85

With interest in houseplants continuing to rise, beginners who want to make the most of their indoor greenery should learn much from this new workshop, which focuses on how houseplants are instrumental in interior design. Guided by an expert, pupils will look at a range of plants for different situations and rooms, and learn how plants can create different moods, as well as discovering how to grow plants well in difficult situations and how to combine plants for greatest interior effect.

5. Accredited one week diploma flower arranging (in person, Judith Blacklock Flower School, Knightsbridge, London)

Feb 5-9: 10.30am-3.45pm each day, except for Monday which is 1pm; the Friday finishes at 3.15pmIncludes one early morning (8.30am) visit to New Covent Garden Flower MarketCost: £1,200

Brush up your flower-arranging skills with this intensive course, which will help you arrange flowers with ease in your home and at special events. The course covers elements such as wiring, so you can make buttonholes and flower crowns, and covers table centrepieces, hand-tied bouquets, vase arrangements, and flowers for garlands and pedestal designs. Learn elements and principles of floral design as well as how to keep your stems in place and how to create fabulous arrangements on a virtually zero budget. Experts will also explain which flowers last and what to grow in a garden – whether huge or a tiny patio. No previous knowledge of floral design is required. On completion of the course, students receive the Judith Blacklock Diploma. All flowers and materials included.

7. Container gardening (online, Learning with experts)

Any time: Course takes around 14 hours 20 minutes to completeCost: Expert option – £125

RHS Gold Medal winner and expert plantsman Chris Beardshaw reveals the secrets of container gardening, planters and gardening from pots in this online course. Over four lessons, he discusses the range of containers which can be used stylistically, plants which best suit containers, composts, fertilisers and pests and disease control. You’ll be creating your own container garden throughout the course, and be able to ask Beardshaw for feedback on your planter and pot designs and project.

8. Gardening without a garden (in person, RHS Garden Wisley, Surrey)

Saturday, Mar 16: 10:30am-1:30pmCost: RHS member – £15, non-member – £33.50

Love plants but don’t have a garden? Not a problem. This half-day course will teach you how to make the most of the smallest of spaces, whether you have a tiny patio, a window box, your front doorstep or even just a windowsill. Expert tutor Louise Grimwood will show you that even tiny spaces have the potential to bring you gardening joy.

9. Gardening for wildlife (online, Learning with experts)

Any time: Course takes around 14 hours to completeCost: Expert option – £125

Anyone who wants to turn their garden into a haven for wildlife should welcome this online course with help from expert plantsman and Chelsea Gold medal-winner Andy McIndoe, who will go through the plants that attract bees, butterflies, birds and other wildlife into the garden. It doesn’t matter whether you live in the town or the country, there will be something for you. And it doesn’t mean that you have to have a wilderness, he stresses. You can have a garden you enjoy which can also be a magnet for wildlife. The course suggests what to plant, from trees, annuals and perennials to shrubs and grasses, suitable habitats and places to breed.