It would help to know just where you want to go with your learning. That would let us know how to prioritize things. One guess is that you are interested in working on development of community gardens and urban intensive agriculture, and need to understand enough of the basics to be able to make these projects work. And also need to be able to talk intelligently to the master gardeners et al that you will need to work with. But I could be worlds wrong.... . The "which courses to take" answers are wildly different, depending. If my guess is close, then there are some things that are better learned in class. A great many others are fine picked up from books or other sources, once you have a basic foundation of courses that help you understand what you're after. Is that the question? Which courses give you enough foundation?

I've never taken formal gardening classes altho gardening has been a lifelong passion for well over 60 years and I've read a lot of books and magazines, picked a few brains, and more recently found so much info online. I used to want to do the Master Gardeners' course but it's not offered here in this backwoods area. I don't think it would benefit me much at this stage of my gardening life anyhow and I have so many other interests that take my time. I'm hoping to get my friends more excited about gardening, too Do you have a Garden Club in your area? IMO it can be a great learning experience for anyone, and especially for beginner gardeners. It might be a way to interest your friends if you all went together. Also for me was a good source of plants as everyone would freely give their extras. When we moved here from warmer zones it was a great help to me to learn which plants grew well here. Connecting with like-minded people is also great. I've finally gotten the solution to the deer problem and that is 7' tall fencing around my main garden. Nothing else worked well for me. As far as the yellow jackets I've never heard of anything that gets them in a 'better mood' LOL but seldom have a problem here. However I'm learning to place those plants that bees love away from my patio. Hated sitting there and having all that buzzing going on and wondering if I'd get stung.

Thanks everyone for the replies. if there is one thing i am not afraid of...it's getting my hands dirty. I love it. I am happiest with my hands in nice warm soil. I love to weed! it cleanses the soul. I am in Oregon. lane county. very political and liberal. I am neither of those but have no problems with those who are. So I don't know if that has anything to do with it or not. the interviews. anyway, I am excited about it. I work in a nursary during the winter and spring and have learned so much there. I planted about 300,000 little flower plugs. plus, did other stuff. it was great. I came home with SO MANY flowers. free. loved it. What I loved most was the pay check that I spent on compost and beautiful perennial mix. My dh could not believe I spent money on dirt. and lattice and plants and more dirt. I have a little greenhouse and want to expand and add a pond. maybe this next year. Thanks so much everyone. Love your name GardenFaerie! I named my garden "faerie glen garden" along time ago. sorry for babbling

21% of college majors are in the field of business. I am observing that the majority of above posters have taken a business course. As most of you know, I am a newly-retired HS business teacher. Mostly all the business subjects I have taken in HS/college helped me earn $$$. If I didn't pursue teaching, I could have gone into many other fields such as finance, retailing, and law. HS students can never go wrong majoring in business or taking a business course as an elective (if they can fit it into their schedule). Also, many courses are offered nights in continuing ed. for a nominal fee (given at your library or HS).