Ron Finley Gardening MasterClass Review (Updated in 2024)

Last Updated on October, 2024

Were you also disappointed about not learning anything practical from the last place? For me, that’s what happened.

I tried enough free YouTube videos, but I always felt the essential bits were missing. My partner and I have been very passionate about gardening, and this is the background when I came across Ron Finley’s background.

A few hours into the self-research, I realized the guy was a legend. So, I bought the MasterClass, finished it, and applied what I learned, and I was impressed.

That’s why this is the only and most comprehensive Ron Finley MasterClass review online. Read this before purchasing, and you’ll know how to make the best use of it.

Before I start this gardening MasterClass review, let me brief you a quick summary.

Ron Finley MasterClass Review: A Summary

Some of the key takeaways of learning gardening from Ron Finley.

• How to plan and execute community gardening
• The art of gardening in limited spaces with containers
• The end-to-end process, from selecting and nurturing the soil to harvesting and maintaining the plant
• How to save dying plants
• Identification methods of pests
• Strategic propagation techniques for experienced gardeners

Recommended for almost anyone who wants to learn gardening from the bottom up, living in urban areas, anyone who wants to capitalize on gardening, anyone who wants to become self-sustainable, and maybe even pros who wants to go the extra mile.

Duration: About 2 hours

Number of video lessons: 10 lessons

About Ron Finley, and Why is He in MasterClass?

As of present, Ron Finley has assisted in building many community gardens on empty lots around LA, keepiung south central Los Angeles as a benchmark.

Continuing to lead and inspire thousands of people across the world to get into gardening, Ron Finley is the ONLY gardening mentor on the MasterClass platform.

Whether you’re short of space in a small balcony or have access to a full backyard, Ron Finley knows how to bring about a legendary garden.

With that covered, let’s look at the Ron Finley MasterClass outline.

Ron Finley Teaches Gardening MasterClass: Outline

Video Lessons

MasterClass video lessons redefined online/remote teaching; the easily digestible flow, the superior production quality, and just how pleasant everything looks help MasterClass to continue being the best in the biz.

Across 10 video lessons rated 4.7 out of 5 stars, the runtime is 2 hours and 7 minutes. On average, a video is about 12-14 minutes long.

Here’s how the interface looks.

It says Watched because I did, if you didn’t guess already.

You get subtitles in multiple languages and can also control the playback speed, which is convenient.

Being able to watch all of this via the official MasterClass app is a great relief too.

I’ll discuss what’s in these videos so you can see how it brings value to the investment.

MasterClass Workbook

Just as much as the overall superior production and script quality, MasterClass gives you a priceless knowledge source; the Ron Finley MasterClass workbook.

What does it bring to the table? So much more value.

Usually, the workbook features lesson elaboration, but Ron Finley’s does more than that, sharing valuable information that every aspiring gardener should know. It even has assignments.

Here’s a glimpse of the workbook to understand the feel of it.

Across 41 pages, it’s MasterClass exclusive knowledge.

Access to MasterClass Community

There are different people who access Ron Finley’s MasterClass. Wouldn’t it be fantastic if you had a space within the platform to share ideas, ask questions, and engage with fellow gardening enthusiasts?

That’s the whole point of the MasterClass community.

At the bottom of each video, you’ll find this:

Click the ‘JOIN THE DISCUSSION’ button to create new entries inside. It’s simple.

Access to Full MasterClass Course Library

When you access Ron Finley’s MasterClass, you automatically get full access to ALL the courses. Imagine getting 180 courses across 11 unique categories delivered by 50 celebrity experts for ABSOLUTELY FREE.

You might already know that these courses cover exciting areas such as cooking, photography, dog training, marketing, business, space exploration, and so much more.

Learn more about MasterClass here.

Ron Finley MasterClass Live

MasterClass Live is accessible through the platform itself or on YouTube. These 1h+ sessions give you a peak into the real-time wisdom of Ron Finley. 

Here’s the live.

Guest Passes

In addition to ALL these features, you also receive guest passes shareable amongst friends. 

What makes it special?

For a week, the friends who use the guest passes can access all the MasterClass courses for free. Although you should include card details, you get 7 days to decide whether to keep it or withdraw it.

This is not the same as accessing MasterClass with an account, which I will explain under the MasterClass cost section.

Why is Ron Finley’s MasterClass So Popular?

There are so many gardening courses online, but people LOVE Ron Finley’s MasterClass. 

Why?

I trust this is since it covers ALL you should know.

He covers how to plant and nurture a healthy garden in any space, the art of growing your own food and using gardening to improve your community and our planet.

But the cherry on top is how practical everything is.

A Closer Look at Ron Finley’s MasterClass

Now is the time to dive into Ron Finley’s MasterClass details. 

This is the lesson plan for the class.

• Meet Your Instructor
• Planting a Revolution
• Getting Dirty
• Creating Planters
• Grow Your Own Food: Greens & Legumes
• Grow Your Own Food: Sweet Potatoes
• Grow Your Own Food: Herbs
• Increasing Your Bounty
• How to Not Kill Your Plants
• Finding Your Creativity

We can divide these 10 video lessons into four parts as below. Let’s cover them individually so you’ll get the best idea. 

Part 1 – Lesson 1: Meet Your Instructor

The first image you see is that “the class contains some strong language & profanity” — believe me, you’ll like it with Ron Finley.

For 5.23 minutes, MasterClass gives you a clear idea of who Ron Finley is by letting him do the talking. I’m sure you’ll get the mood and tone he sets; it’s really welcoming. 

He introduces where he grew up and that he transformed his birth town from a desert to a food forest, which looks MAGICAL.

And he answers WHY he is called the Gangster Gardener, and the answer was the first telltale sign that I was in the right place.

I urge you to watch the first video without skipping a second. Once you see how excellent Ron is as a mentor, master gardener, and as a human being, everything else is easier.

Let’s move to the next section.

Part 2 – Lessons 2 to 4: Starting and Maintaining a Garden

Part 2 of Ron Finley’s MasterClass is about starting things and maintaining a garden. 

He shares how everything started, the challenges, the positive acceptance, and even how he was constantly motivated to get things down.

It’s so inspiring; I initially wanted to learn gardening, but suddenly, I wanted to change the community.

The third lesson focuses on getting dirty with soil. Ron Finley takes you through transforming compacted and nutrient-poor soil into fertile ground. 

As Ron himself says, “What you should know about soil is every d**n thing.”

It’s fascinating to see how he has multiple soil types and how they change. Would you believe if I said that the best soil has components of the worst soil type too?

Not only that, he explains the entire composting process with surprising composting ingredients too. You’ve got to get your hands dirty too.

It’s admirable how Ron Finley recaps every section before moving to the next. For example, here’s the recap of the composite materials part.

The fourth lesson is dedicated to making planters or planting contains. The whole upcycling process is interesting, and all the containers he makes are beautiful and efficient. You could grow tomatoes just like that.

If you’re unsure what tools you should have, Ron also covers that part.

Personally, I was surprised when he pulled out a briefcase and told me it could be a fantastic planter, even a drawer.

But Ron continues to explain how you should be careful when choosing the container material to grow things you eat. Since it’s a long and detailed list, I’ll let you watch it yourself.

The setting up of the containers is equally important. If you thought otherwise, Ron Finley proves you wrong in real-time for your own good.

This is the same lesson where you learn about basic tools for gardening.

For about six whole minutes, Ron explains the entire tool list and demonstrates how to use them optimally. And I got myself a round-point shovel and a pair of gardening gloves quicker.

Part 3 – Lessons 5 to 7: Growing Your Own Food 

Once you’re all set about learning the basics, the tools, soils, and contains, it’s time to get into planting. Lesson 5 discusses growing plants like greens and legumes, whereas Lesson 6 covers sweet potatoes. For the 7th lesson, Ron Finley covers herbs.

Ron Finley shares EVERY LITTLE THING as he goes into growing your own food.

For example, growing leafy greens and legumes can be challenging as the plants can break easily. But planting food of such is easier when you know what to do.

See how he makes a ‘save haven’ in his hand so the plant won’t break. The camera angle is clear enough, and Ron explains.

This teaching pattern of practical tips continues throughout all lessons. 

I also noticed he’s not rushing; he’s so free and takes his time because he’s passionate about it. I believe it’s because we are in the actual planting section of the course.

Look how he’s reasoning every tactic or recommendation so the viewer knows the basis.

Ron teaches all the secrets of discovering harmful bugs, fixing issues, harvesting plants, and growing legumes like a pro. It’s a steady step-wise process, so you never have to worry whether you can keep up.

Lesson 6 is for sweet potatoes.

Like the previous lesson, Ron Finley demonstrates how to plant sweet potatoes and explains their resilience. It’s fascinating how so much can be done just by clever observations.

For example, look at how he’s evaluating the progress of a potential sweet potato tuber.

Do you remember I said that Ron Finley was very practical? The sweet potatoes lesson is an excellent example of that. For instance, Ron elaborates on where to grow sweet potatoes properly and gives borderline-free options such as roasters.

He takes you through the steps to ensure the maximum outcome.

Ron Finley also explains how to know if the sweet potatoes are ready to be harvested, and it’s not limited to the standard knowledge, which is it takes about 3-4 months.

But what’s fun is to OBSERVE whether they’re ready or not. I’ll let Ron Finley explain that in detail, as this is the most important event of the sweet potato growing timeline.

In conclusion, the third section covers a vast area of modern gardening.

The 7th lesson is about herbs, and Ron Finley’s MasterClass gives you A-Z demonstrated knowledge to have your own herb garden. Similar to all lessons, Ron Finley MasterClass provides a thorough understanding of mandatory knowledge.

For example, he explains which herbs are better for beginners. But I suggest investing your time in a herb garden as it can save and generate a little fortune with business over time.

The best thing? He covers so many herbs. Take a look.

And I admire how he tells you what to do just as much as what not to.

The 7th lesson is a teeny bit faster as Ron covers a lot of herbs in under 8 minutes. But you can still go back and watch it a couple of times. This lesson is a goldmine, in my opinion.

The cherry on top is how he teaches you about pest control as well.

I can’t say the third section is the most valuable, but I will say it brings incredible value to your investment.

Part 4 – Lessons 8 to 10: Gardening for the Greater Good

The last lesson addresses the greater good objective. That’s why the 8th lesson is about increasing your bounty, the 9th lesson focuses on how NOT to kill your plants, and the 10th and last lesson is about finding your creativity.

I’m sure you’re familiar with propagation in agriculture, and you guessed it right — Ron “Gansta Gardener” Finley emphasizes and demonstrates its importance.

I did not understand why some people said this course wasn’t worth it when Ron teaches you how to have your fruit trees from a branch.

Imagine having a citrus tree; have a look.

As always, the level of detailing is AMAZING. At this point, you’re MILES ahead of where you were at the beginning of the course.

Ron also teaches you how to do the same with sugar cane and aloe vera. But what’s impressive is how you can apply the same process to similar plants. 

It’s like having the blueprint.

The 9th lesson is about how NOT to kill your plants. 

This is the longest lesson of Ron Finley’s class, as Ron appears as a surgeon of plants who keeps plants healthy. He also demonstrates to you how to save plants while diagnosing them.

I wonder if you know how plant spacing works for plant lifespan just as much as microclimatic issues. Ron starts the lesson with these two areas. 

Afterward, he covers pruning, deadheading, rescuing root-bound plants, watering, sunlight, and navigating the nursery. Ron uses real plants to demonstrate ALL of these techniques, so you’ll know what exactly you should do.

The final lesson of 2 minutes and 41 seconds is just as valuable as the rest of the course. This is where Ron talks abo gardening and designing. I noticed a crucial question,

“Where do you want it to see it?”

Ron empowers you and shares some more moving thoughts, and if it impacts me in terms of creativity, it will impact you.

With that, the gardening MasterClass by Ron “Gangsta Gardener” Finley comes to an end after a memorable ride.

Now that everything is covered, let’s look at some customer testimonials.

Customer Feedback on Ron Finley MasterClass

What I usually do is show only two or three customer testimonials. But this time, I want to show a list and make a point.

All of these (and more) customer testimonials show how successful the course is. 

Next, let me tell you about Ron Finley’s MasterClass cost.

Ron Finley’s MasterClass Cost

When you access Ron Finley’s MasterClass, you get access to the ENTIRE MasterClass library for free, amongst other benefits I mentioned at the beginning.

With that in your mind, here’s how Ron Finley’s MasterClass varies.

Individual Plan

All three plans give you access to one account; it’s the number of devices you can access MasterClass simultaneously changes.

So, the individual plan gives you access to MasterClass with one account and one device. Its monthly cost is only $15, which is billed annually at $180. But remember that you get 180 courses, so a course only costs $10 for the entire year.

There’s one downside of the individual plan, which I’ll explain when I explain the duo plan.

Duo Plan

The duo plan gives access to the MasterClass platform with two simultaneous devices for just $5 added to the individual plan’s cost.

So, this monthly plan is $20, billed annually at $240.

The duo plan has offline viewing, which isn’t available for the individual plan. This feature gap sometimes makes the Duo plan the best for even some single users.

Family Plan

The family plan comes with one account and with up to 6 simultaneous devices. With only a $3 increment from the duo plan, the family plan’s monthly cost is $23, which is billed annually at $276.

What if you wanted to upgrade to the family plan from an individual or Duo? You can do it on the platform itself under subscription details.

Now it’s time to share MY experience with you.

Ron Finley MasterClass Refund Policy

As we discussed, Ron Finley’s MasterClass refund policy is basically the MasterClass platform refund policy. It is very simple.

So, you get 30 days to cancel without any payment. You can obviously cancel it after 30 days, but there will be no refund.

Here’s the process:

Log into your account at www.MasterClass.com and go to the profile menu. There, find ‘settings’ in the right-hand corner, and scroll down to account settings after clicking on it. You’ll see the cancel membership button under the membership section of the page.

MasterClass is certified risk-free.

My Experience With Ron Finley Gardening MasterClass

Since my partner and I love gardening, I chose the duo plan. We do have a balcony area and a medium size backyard too. So, Ron’s MasterClass was to be useful.

I’m more of a hard copy person, so I got my workbook printed when she wanted to read it on her tab. 

We took our time to read it about twice and skimmed the third time. I realized that some of the info didn’t make sense since we didn’t know the context.

After that, I started watching Ron Finley’s MasterClass — it was life-changing from the start itself. It was a mood of being impressed and happy; my partner and I were learning from a man who transformed a food desert town into a self-sustained forest.

As always, the time stamps are helpful to keep on track of each video. You can watch all the lessons in 1080p, but everything looks amazing, even at 720p. 

The production quality is beyond impressive. The lighting, the flow, and the sounds are cinematic. But the center of focus, Ron himself, carries us through step by step carefully. 

It’s true that he swears here and there, but I believe that allows Ron to be himself, and that allows him to deliver knowledge better.

The sheer amount of little details and unconventional methods Ron brings to the table makes this gardening course the absolute best. There’s no ambiguity, and Mr. Finley pushes you to grow food following superior gardening principles like a boss.

After all, isn’t that what you want?

Regardless of how amazingly informative this MasterClass is, I cannot sugarcoat that Ron swears here and there. But if you can ignore that, this is a goldmine for gardening enthusiasts.

It’s safe to say that Ron Finley’s MasterClass sets a new standard for successful gardening guidance. Learning about a community activity that technically started a food revolution by planting herbs is fascinating.

I’d rate it 4.9/5.

Other MasterClass reviews:

• Penn and Teller Masterclass
• Garry Kasparov Chess MasterClass

Is Ron Finley MasterClass Worth Buying?

The direct answer is YES; it’s totally worth the money.

I repeat, these surface-level reviewers who claim to watch Ron Finley’s MasterClass have no idea of the actual content, which is super supreme in quality.

The fact that this high-value information is delivered entertainingly makes MasterClass the Netflix of online education. 

Whatever you learn with Ron can be applied very easily and with minimal equipment, and the ROI is quite high.

So, all things considered, Ron Finley’s MasterClass is definitely worth buying.

Pros and Cons of Ron Finley MasterClass

In Conclusion: Ron Finley Gardening MasterClass

Learning gardening in modern society can dramatically minimize your expenses, pave the way to a highly profitable business, and give you a hobby to look forward to.

To meet these goals and similar, following the hallmark of gardening MasterClasses is none other than Ron Finley’s MasterClass.

He covers everything you can think of, and I assure you that you’d hesitate a little bit to share some secrets with non-MasterClass subscribers.

In conclusion, it’s worth the investment.

I hope this Ron Finley MasterClass review was helpful, and see you in another!

Ron Finley MasterClass FAQs