Claire Ratinon

Claire Ratinon began her growing career on a New York City rooftop and now writes a regular Guardian magazine column on cultivating food organically. She has grown produce for Ottolenghi's Rovi, contributes to Radio 4's Gardeners' Question Time, and authored How To Grow Your Dinner Without Leaving The House — a celebration of what's possible from a windowsill or balcony.

Organic food grower, writer and gardening columnist for The Guardian. Author of Unearthed.

Course

Grow Your Own Food

Discover the joy of growing your own food, no matter how small your garden. In this hands-on course, organic food grower Claire Ratinon will equip you with the skills you need to embark on your own vegetable growing journey, teaching you how to grow organically, in tune with the rhythms of the natural world. Learn how to tackle every step of the process, from assessing your space and planning your growing season to raising healthy plants and composting, harvesting and container growing. Ideal for gardening enthusiasts and beginners who want to create an environment of bountiful biodiversity and year-round crops, in even the most modest of spaces.

Lesson plan — 24 lessons
01 Getting Started with Food Growing
  1. Meet Claire
    01 Meet Claire
  2. An organic approach to growing
    02 An organic approach to growing
  3. The importance of note-taking
    03 The importance of note-taking
  4. What to consider before you start
    04 What to consider before you start
02 Essential Tools and Garden Design
  1. Claire’s essential toolkit
    05 Claire’s essential toolkit
  2. Designing your garden
    06 Designing your garden
  3. Claire’s vegetable garden
    07 Claire’s vegetable garden
  4. How to choose what to grow
    08 How to choose what to grow
03 Seed Sowing and Plant Care
  1. Sowing seeds
    09 Sowing seeds
  2. Raising plants
    10 Raising plants
  3. Planting out young lettuces
    11 Planting out young lettuces
  4. Supporting the growth of your plants
    12 Supporting the growth of your plants
  5. Taking care of your tomato plants
    13 Taking care of your tomato plants
  6. Growing in the greenhouse
    14 Growing in the greenhouse
  7. Troubleshooting in the veg patch
    15 Troubleshooting in the veg patch
04 Harvesting and Beyond
  1. Harvesting - Part 1
    16 Harvesting - Part 1
  2. Perennial fruits
    17 Perennial fruits
  3. Harvesting - Part 2
    18 Harvesting - Part 2
  4. Composting
    19 Composting
  5. Growing your plants in containers
    20 Growing your plants in containers
  6. Companion planting
    21 Companion planting
  7. Seed saving
    22 Seed saving
  8. A note on weeds
    23 A note on weeds
  9. Summary
    24 Summary

“I have subscribed to access all the courses so have watched one on interior design and this one with Butter Wakefield who specialises in small garden design. She has a lovely personality and comes across as being a ve...”

Louise Brown Apr 10, 2026

“I love CreateAcademy. I came in for the gardening and floristry courses, but am also watching an interior design one at present. And the photography course is an absolute must, best I've ever done.”

Wellesley Apr 1, 2026

“What a great investment, I have learned such a lot from the first three courses. My evenings have gone from not being able to find anything that captured my imagination on TV to learning and expanding my knowledge on ...”

sojojo Mar 30, 2026

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