The Resilient Garden - Grow through drought, heat and weather extremes
Learn how to create a growing space that is better prepared for a changing climate.
Whether you have an allotment, a balcony full of pots, a shared courtyard or a garden you’re just beginning to explore, there are practical ways to help your space cope with unpredictable weather. You don’t need years of gardening experience or a large plot to get started.
The Resilient Garden is a practical, live online course that draws on permaculture principles to help you understand your growing space and make informed choices for the future. We’ll explore how to build healthier soil, manage water more effectively, support wildlife and adapt to challenges such as prolonged dry spells, intense heat and heavy rainfall.
The course is facilitated by experienced permaculture practitioners and gardeners Karen Noon, with guest tutor Jo Holleran. Together, we’ll share practical knowledge, ideas and approaches that you can adapt to your own circumstances, whatever your starting point.
Course dates and format
18 January to 28 February 2027
This is a six week, live online course, with three interactive Resilience Clinics spaced throughout the programme. These sessions give you the opportunity to ask questions, share experiences and explore how the ideas apply to your own growing space.
What makes this course different?
- Grounded in real garden experience. You will learn from experienced permaculture educators who bring practical design knowledge and a deep understanding of how gardens respond to different conditions. The focus is always on ideas you can adapt and use in your own space.- Ambitious in vision, practical in action. You will be encouraged to see the potential in your garden while taking manageable steps. You do not need to change everything at once. Small, well-chosen changes can build towards a healthier and more resilient garden.- Good for people and the wider living world. The course brings together food growing, beauty, biodiversity and care for the natural world. You will explore ways to make your garden more welcoming for pollinators, birds and other wildlife while meeting your own needs too.- A live learning community. You will learn alongside other people who are asking similar questions. The cohort includes live Resilience Clinics, shared reflection and the chance to ask questions, exchange ideas and build confidence together.
What you will learn
- Read your garden more closely. Learn to understand its soil, water, aspect, exposure and the opportunities already present.- Work with water, not against the weather. Explore how to slow, soak up and store water, and how to prepare for both dry spells and heavy rain.- Build healthy, living soil. Discover how soil care can support stronger plants, reduce unnecessary work and help your garden hold more moisture.- Choose plants for the conditions you have. Make confident choices for drought, damp ground, shade and changing seasons, while creating a garden that is full of life.- Create richer habitats for wildlife. Support pollinators, birds and beneficial insects while growing food, flowers and beauty for yourself.- Use trees, shelter and microclimates wisely. Learn how shade, shelter, planting layers and thoughtful design can create more favourable growing conditions.- Make better use of what is already available. Turn organic matter and existing materials into useful garden resources- Create a realistic plan for your garden. Bring your learning together into clear next steps for what to observe, protect, plant and change over the coming seasons.Who is it for?
The Resilient Garden is for anyone who wants to grow more confidently alongside nature, whether you have a garden, an allotment, a few pots on a balcony or a role in a community growing project.Last summer’s heat, dry spells and sudden downpours may have left you wondering how to care for your growing space as the weather becomes less predictable. Whether you are taking your first steps, returning to growing after time away or have gardened for years, this course will help you respond with practical ideas, a deeper understanding of your space and renewed confidence. You will learn how to keep the joy in growing while helping your patch become more resilient, abundant and alive.
By the end of the course, you will have a clearer understanding of your garden and a realistic, site-specific plan for helping it grow through changing weather
I wasn't sure what to expect from this course, I am beginner in the gardening world and I wasn't very confident, but Jo and Karen were so welcoming and so supportive I felt like I belonged from the start. The course is amazing - I learnt so much about observation, knowing your site, your plants and the potential extremes that climate change can inflict and what we, as guardians of our garden spaces can do to protect our plants, our trees and the wildlife with whom we co-inhabit the planet. I can't recommend this course enough to anyone interested in permaculture, or just treating their garden and the living ecosystem within it with love and respect. This course stands as a beacon of light that people, with the right knowledge, can make a difference, that we have a way to fight against the darkness that is climate change - I feel hope, for the first time in a long time and I know I can make changes that will ripple out - this course has given me that.
Sara B., UK
The course has provided a really useful framework through which I will view my growing spaces and my interactions with them. It has given me hope and the knowledge that we can make positive changes to spaces around us in our communities.
Andrea R., UK
Certified teachers Karen Noon Josephine Holleran Apprentice teachers No apprentice teacher places available on this course Course type Practical Site Design Engagement style Online Postal address of venue
France
Course contact email Karen@afrinoonpermaculture.org Contact name Karen Noon Contact telephone number +33788113505 Share this course Copied to clipboard- Log in to post comments