Boston - March 30, 2005

Ya Dig?

Urban Gardening Classes

Ah, springtime. The smell of fresh grass, crocuses peeking up from the soil, birds chirping …

Of course, with the winter we’re having, odds are you haven’t been near a garden since you accidentally picked up the landscaping issue of Architectural Digest during your last pedicure. Besides, who has room for a decent-size plot?

The Boston Center for Adult Education feels your pain. Their new class, Pocket Gardens and Private Space: Designing Gardens for the City, teaches urbanites to maximize tiny turfs. They’ll school you in everything from plants to dealing with drainage.

Unlike more theoretical classes, this one actually lets you get your hands dirty, preparing step-by-step plans for a little oasis right in your own backyard. By the course’s end, you’ll know just what to do to design something functional, stylish, and (most importantly) within the realm of reality.

So you’ll be relishing your own secret garden by the time spring really rolls around. Which, this year, should be roughly around, oh, what? Late July?

Pocket Gardens and Private Spaces: Designing Gardens for the City, 122 Arlington Street, at Boylston Street, Back Bay, (617-267-4430 or bcae.org). Classes start April 12 at the Boston Center for Adult Education.

  Outdoorsy