Transform your Garden Design with Craftsy!

I have been very excited to share with you about a new partnership that I have developed with Craftsy!  I know what you may be thinking, “Diana, what in the world does your blog have to do with Craftsy!”

I know, trust me, I wish I had some time to jump into their knitting or sewing classes but wait, check it out, Craftsy has cooking and gardening classes! Did you know that? I was certainly delighted when I found out especially after seeing the names of some of the people teaching the classes. These are no everyday people folks, I’m talking about well known chefs and authors leading up these classes. Their gardening classes are put together just as well.

Over the next few months, I’m going to share with you some of my favorite classes over at Craftsy. I can’t even tell you how excited I am that I get to take some of these classes as well!

Transform Your Garden Design

Today, I wanted to share you with a FREE gardening class that you can take called, Transform Your Garden Design. This class is taught by landscape designer and author, Rebecca Sweet.

Her work can often be found on the pages of magazines such as Sunset, Fine Gardening and Country Living. She has made guest appearances on television and radio series including Growing a Greener World and Martha Stewart Living, authored Refresh Your Garden Design with Color, Texture & Form and co-authored the national best-selling book Garden Up! Smart Vertical Gardening for Small and Large Spaces.

This class is about an hour and a half broken up into 4 lessons.

1. Introduction and Where to Begin
2. Color
3. Texture
4. Shape and Form

As all classes with Craftsy go, you can watch each lesson at any time to fit around your schedule and also, your access never expires.

In the Transform your Garden Design class, you’re going to be learning how to transform your garden without the expensive professional overhaul!

From the Craftsy website…

Join landscape designer and author Rebecca Sweet as she shares essential techniques for reviving your garden design. First, Rebecca will teach you how to begin your garden transformation by editing your garden and breaking down key elements using photos. Then, find out how to create echoes in your space to add a sense of continuity using color, texture and form. Begin with the simplest element, color, before exploring the unexpected and touchable textures that the plant world has to offer. Finally, learn about shape and form and how to incorporate this subtle element into your garden design. By the end of this class, you will have identified gardening mistakes and learned how to correct them with easy-to-understand and easy-to-implement solutions.

I know this can sound like a little much, especially if you don’t have a design or art background; however, let me assure you Rebecca Sweet is a great teacher and has made each lesson simple to understand.

Let me show you.

I was able to watch the first 15 minute lesson. In it she begins very simply by teaching us to find a garden area in our own yards that we feel needs improvement. She explained that we shouldn’t focus on our entire yard but instead to work in one small garden area at a time. I loved that! I know I have 3 areas in my yard that I need to work on but instead, I’m going to break things up and start in one area. Simple.

Once we found that area, she then explained to remove any unnecessary art in our garden area so that we’re able to just focus in on the plants. She then wanted us to take some pictures of the area that we wanted to improve and upload them to our computer. Once on the computer, she then taught us to turn them into black and white so that we could truly analyze the area.

Once the color is gone from the picture it eliminates the distraction of color and allows us to better see if the plants we currently have work well together or not. We could begin to see elements more clearly like form, texture, shape, and contrast.

To me, that was brilliant. I was able to see right away in my own photos what is working and what’s not.

I can tell from my own photo that my plants in the front of herb garden area are all about the same size and texture. They blend in together and furthermore, I can’t stand that the middle ones bloom mid-summer, then die back. I’m definitely going to be removing these to try something new. I’m very excited to move onto lesson 2 where we are going to move onto color! Hopefully, by the end of this class, I’ll have a clear direction on how to finish up my herb garden area. I’m too excited!

You can transform your garden as well. Click here to register for Craftsy’s FREE Transform Your Garden Design class with Rebecca Sweet.

Thanks, Craftsy! Also, I hope you enjoy the next few months with Craftsy as much as I know I will!

What kind of garden areas do you have in your home? Do you find they may need a little work? Tell us in the comments below, what needs work in your garden?