Adam Crofts
Next Level Veg Patch
- Regular price
- £148.50
- Sale price
- £148.50
- Regular price
-
Tax included.
In this course, Adam embraces his love for rare and flavourful varieties, intelligent and low-maintenance growing techniques and thoughtful organic practices to guide you through growing ingredients that with not only enrich your cooking but will also inject beauty and joy into your garden space (no matter how large or small).
Adam will take you step-by-step through building and planting up your own raised bed. You’ll learn what you need to construct it, what soil you need to fill it, a time frame for when you should aim to build your raised bed. He’ll also give you endless inspiration for things you can grow throughout the year. You’ll also learn about companion planting and crop rotation.
Salad is a four-season staple at River Cottage and Adam will show you how he keeps us in leaves and exciting salad ingredients throughout the year, even in the depths of winter. Adam will also show you how to harvest salad leaves to maximise the return and guide you through a Four Season Salad Planting Plan.
Adam will also show you different herb varieties you can grow at home - looking at the pros and cons of different herbs, giving insight into the needs of different herbs in relation to sunlight, soil and water. He’ll also look at how to plant so you ensure you have a different herbs throughout the year and how to look after and pick your herbs in a way that ensures a healthy and abundant supply.
The final lesson touches on perennial vegetables, which are making a comeback. Not only are they very low maintenance (these are vegetables that you plant once but can harvest continuously for years thereafter), they’re also hugely sustainable and arguably, more nutritious than annual vegetables.
Once established, perennial vegetables can tap into water sources and soil nutrients annual crops, with shallower tap roots, can’t access. Perennial vegetables are also hugely beneficial for long-term soil health. Adam will look at options for putting perennials in the new raised bed and show you how you can grow perennial veg at home.
You'll learn:
- how to make raised beds
- growing salads through the seasons
- growing perennial vegetables
- harvesting herbs and vegetables form your kitchen garden
The course includes:
- 4 on-demand video lessons - presented by Adam Crofts and River Cottage
- lifetime access to the videos, notes and interactive class
- flexible classes - join and learn when and where you like
- downloadable lesson notes
- practical gardening assignments (with tutor feedback available)
- access on your mobile, PC, Mac or laptop
- small interactive online classroom - chat online to students from around the world and share your creative ideas
Independent Cookery Schools Association approved
This course has been approved by the Independent Cookery Schools Association (ICSA), recognising the highest standards of training.
Time to complete the River Cottage veg garden course:
Every student is different but in general we think the whole course will take around 14 hours 40 minutes to complete including:
- Video lessons: 2 hours 40 minutes in total
- Course notes: 30 minutes per lesson
- Your gut health recipe assignments: at least 2 hours per lesson
- Interactive classroom time: 15 minutes per lesson
- Tutor feedback review (Expert level): 15 minutes per lesson
You'll need:
The notes include details of materials and plants included in the course.
Ready to get started?
Just add the course to your basket above - choose the 'Expert' option for personal feedback from Adam on your gardening assignments.
If you know someone who'd love this course then give it as a gift - just tick "This is a gift" at the checkout.
Any questions? Contact us by clicking on the orange speech symbol - we'd love to hear from you.
Lessons
What You’ll Learn
Explore the lessons and topics covered across the course.
Adam will take you step-by-step through building and planting up your own raised bed. You’ll learn what you need to construct it, what soil you need to fill it, a time frame for when you should aim to build your raised bed (i.e. what time of year is best but also how to get around timing if you want to start now).
He’ll give you endless inspiration for things you can grow throughout the year. You’ll also learn about companion planting and crop rotation.
Adam will take you through an astounding variety of different salad varieties you can grow throughout the year.
As well as showing you how to grow different leaves throughout the year, Adam will guide you through harvesting salad leaves to maximise the return and he’ll also talk you through a Four Season Salad Planting Plan.
Not far from River Cottage HQ is one of the most exciting and largest organic herb growers in the United Kingdom.
Adam pays them a visit their garden to be inspired by some new varieties. He’ll then comes back to River Cottage to show you how to create a Herb Spiral using some of herbs he sourced from the Organic Herb Trading Company.
He’ll also cover the benefits of organic sourced herbs. Adam will also show you different herb varieties you can grow at home - looking at the pros and cons of different herbs, giving insight into the needs of different herbs in relation to sunlight, soil and water.
He’ll also look at how to plant so you ensure you have a different herbs throughout the year and how to look after and pick your herbs in a way that ensures a healthy and abundant supply.
Perennial vegetables are making a comeback. Not only are they very low maintenance (these are vegetables that you plant once but can harvest continuously for years thereafter), they’re also hugely sustainable and arguably, more nutritious than annual vegetables.
Once established, perennial vegetables can tap into water sources and soil nutrients annual crops, with shallower tap roots, can’t access. Perennial vegetables are also hugely beneficial for long-term soil health. They’re also amazing for maintaining soil structure and health (the American Dust Bowl is the result of perennial grasslands being replaced by fasting-growing, annual wheat crops).
River Cottage is surrounded by pioneers in this area who champion perennial vegetables because they are more sustainable but also they offer some incredible flavours. Planting perennial veg is also one of the easiest ways to create an abundant, low maintenance garden.
Adam will visit some of these farms for inspiration before heading back to River Cottage HQ to add some new plants to the perennial veg patch on the edge of the River Cottage Kitchen Garden. Adam will look at options for putting perennials in the new raised bed.
Learning options
Choose How You Want to Learn
Recommended
Expert
£148.50
A guided learning experience with expert support, feedback and recognised outcomes.
Peer
£49.50
Learn alongside others with a collaborative, flexible learning experience.
COURSE TUTOR
Adam Crofts
SUCCESS
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Common Questions
Answers to the most common questions about learning with us.
Our online classroom is designed to help you learn from experts in a collaborative, social environment alongside a small group of learners.
Each lesson combines expert-led videos with optional assignments, giving you the opportunity to apply what you’ve learned and share your work with others. You can take part in ongoing discussions, ask questions, exchange feedback, and learn from a community of like-minded people from around the world.
By learning together in a small, supportive group, you benefit not only from expert guidance but also from shared ideas, perspectives, and experiences—helping you stay engaged and retain what you learn.
You can start your course at any time within 12 months of purchase. Once you begin, you’ll have lifetime access, so you can revisit lesson videos and notes whenever you like.
Courses are designed to fit around your schedule, allowing you to learn at your own pace. Each lesson video is typically 30–40 minutes, and we recommend around an hour for each assignment.
Both Peer and Expert options give you full access to the course content, including lesson videos, downloadable notes, assignments, and a collaborative online classroom with up to 20 learners. You’ll also have lifetime access to revisit the material at any time.
The Expert option includes everything in Peer, plus personalised assignment feedback, direct messaging with your expert tutor, and a certificate of completion.
With the Expert option, you can interact directly with your tutor throughout the course. You’ll typically have one week per lesson to ask questions and receive feedback on your assignments, with as much interaction as you need during that time.
Your tutor access begins when you enter the classroom and follows the course schedule (for example, a four-lesson course usually runs over four weeks). If you need more time or support, our team is here to help.