Get Yourself a Very Sound Foundation in Horticulture
Everyone who works in horticulture needs a solid understanding of general horticultural principles and practices. Whether in landscaping or grounds maintenance, amenity horticulture or parks and public gardens, propagation to nursery work - this course is applicable to all.
Originally developed by horticulturist, John Mason, in 1979, this course has been added to, updated and improved almost every year since. It has been used to train many thousands of people who have gone on to run businesses, forge careers and find success in every sector of horticulture across more than 100 different countries. Even those who just want to improve their knowledge to work in their own gardens will find this course appealing.
Find out about how plants are affected by different types of soils, nutritional deficits and toxicities, over watering and under watering, pests, diseases and other environmental influences. Learn all you need to know to have a successful relationship with plants.
What this Course Covers
The 13 lessons in this module are as follows:
- Plant identification
- Name plants scientifically
- The difference between the plant divisions: family, genus, species and variety or hybrid
- The difference between Monocotyledons and Dicotyledons
- Understand the botanical families and their differences
- Learn how knowing various leaf terms – their arrangement of the stems and their structure can help identify plants
- The parts of the flower (its structure) and identifying the different parts
- How seeds form
- Plant reviews
- How to Collect and press plants for herbaria
- Planting
- Garden terms
- Commonly encountered garden problems
- How to plant, fertilise and stake plants
- Handling bare rooted plants
- Timing planting
- Mulch
- Constructing garden beds including raised beds and sunken beds
- Planting terms
- Recognising plant families and identifying plants
- Familiarise yourself with plant families
- Using Botanical Latin
- Detailed examination of plants
- Characteristics of main families and knowing more common families
- Identify plants using different methods
- Shade loving plants
- Plants suited to exposed conditions
- Suitable plants for inner city gardens
- Soils
- Soil and its purpose
- Classifying soils – structure and texture
- Soil water, soil air, soil temperature
- Soil pH
- Nutrient availability and soil pH
- How to name a soil
- How to improve soils
- Making and using compost
- Natural plant fertilisers
- Soils – sampling and testing
- Potting soil – types of mixes
- Soil terms
- Plant nutrition
- The nutrient elements
- Major and minor elements
- How to diagnose nutrient problems
- Fertilizers and NPK: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium
- Applying fertilisers
- Terminology of plant nutrition
- Water management
- Introduction and practicality of irrigation
- Soil and water
- Knowing when to irrigate
- Symptoms of water deficiency
- Soil moisture types: gravitational, capillary, hygroscopic
- Measuring water available to plants
- The rooting depths of plants
- Estimating water requirements of plants
- Pumps, sprinklers and other equipment
- Understanding hydraulics
- Conventional sprinkler systems: portable, permanent, semi-permanent
- Cyclic watering and pulse watering
- Scheduling irrigation
- Spacing sprinklers
- Improving soils for water management
- Drainage
- Managing erosion
- Identifying and dealing with soil compaction
- Understanding soil acidification
- Garden maintenance and weeds
- Garden maintenance and its cost
- Machinery in garden maintenance
- Identifying and comparing more and less costly areas of the garden.
- Identifying common weeds
- Chemical and non-chemical methods of weed control
- Invasive plants and environmental weeds
- Pests and diseases
- Overview of pests and diseases
- Preventative pest and disease measures
- Review of major pest problems and options for control: Aphis, Borers, Caterpillar, Leaf Miner, Mealy Bug, Red Spider, Scale, etc.
- Review of major diseases and their control: Anthracnose, Black Leg, Rots, Botrytis, Damping off, Die back, Mildew, Rust etc.
- Diagnosis of plant problems
- Introduction to plant pathology and entomology
- Chemical pesticides and basic toxicology
- IPM: Integrated pest management
- Pruning
- Pruning – when to prune and why
- Bud types and their identification
- Basics – the rules of pruning
- Home orchard pruning
- Terminology
- Pruning tools
- Examples of winter pruning
- Rose pruning
- Landscaping
- Pre planning information
- Plant selection principles
- Importance of covering the ground: living plant cover, mulches
- Growing plants in containers outdoors
- General landscaping considerations
- Terminology
- Propagation
- Methods of propagation: seed and vegetative propagation
- Structures to aid propagation e.g. cold frames
- Cutting propagation
- Factors that affect the rooting of cuttings
- Lawns
- Turf grass varieties and a review of common turf species
- How to Lay a new lawn
- Commonly encountered turf problems
- Turf: watering, fertilizing, topdressing, aerating, pest and disease control.
- Arboriculture
- What is arboriculture?
- Keeping trees healthy
- Cut trees to remove branches or prune – where and how
- Why remove a tree?
- Ways to fell a tree
- Removing a stump
- Tree surgery: terms and techniques
Workload
Study when, where and however much you want. For most students, the course can be completed with a total of around 100 hours of study; and a commitment close to that may be needed to achieve desired learning outcomes.
Extra Reading
The following books, available through this web site are relevant supplementary reading for this course
- Plant Language
- Trees and Shrubs
- Plant Pests and Diseases
- Garden Design Part I
- Starting a Nursery or Herb Farm
- Weeds
Assessment
Self Assessment Tests are presented throughout the course. These are essentially an automated quiz. When you undertake a "SAT" or "Self Assessment Test", you will be able to see what you got correct, and what was incorrect; and in that way, you can identify your weaknesses.
Assignments are given at the end of each lesson. You should complete this assignment, paying careful attention to follow what is asked of you. It can be just as important to learn to work to specification, as it is to learn about the topic you are studying. Graduates who develop a habit of working to specification in the field of horticulture, will impress employers, and will be more efficient when self employed.
A Final Exam is offered upon satisfactory completion of all assignments. This is optional. If you choose to apply for and do this exam, you will have the possibility of obtaining a "formal credit" or "Pass Certification" for this course. A fee applies. The exam may be sat under prearranged conditions anywhere in the world. This college will award you a formal transcript, upon successful completion of the exam, as proof of your results.
Recognition and Ethics
This college is a member of the ACS Affiliates Network; a group of colleges from several countries, affiliated with each other through ACS Distance Education.. Courses are developed with input from all of these colleges, aspiring to reflect internationally accepted standards and needs.
A strict "No Plagiarism" and "No fraud" policy exists. Assignments are checked for plagiarism, and assignments will not be deemed to have been completed, if work is not your own original creation, and is found to have been copied from elsewhere. If the person doing the course is discovered to be different to the name enrolled, the enrolment and any results will be recorded as invalid and any fees paid will be forfeited.
Refund Policy
A full refund less expenses (up to 15% of fees applied) is provided to anyone wishing to withdraw from a course, within 2 weeks of enrolment. This does not apply after the first assignment has been submitted and marked; or after the two weeks has expired.
WHAT IS DIFFERENT ABOUT THIS INSTITUTION?
We believe that we have an ethical responsibility to make good use of the fees you pay and the time you invest into an education through our college. To this end, our first priority is always your learning. This comes before issues such as formal accreditations, speculative marketing and bureaucratic processes which all too often add considerable costs to the running of colleges, and take resources away from the provision of more valuable services to the student.
This college focuses on facilitating your learning and support to optimise that learning. We recognise that learning is all about improving knowledge and skills in your long term memory. While some colleges may focus on getting you to pass exams, by committing knowledge to short term memory; we understand that such an approach is not true education, and does little to improve your long term career or business prospects.
How This Course Could Help You
This course is essential learning for anyone who wishes to work in any aspect of horticulture. It provides an introduction to the key principles and practices in horticulture. It will underpin every horticultural experience you ever have.
Use this course as part of your foundation studies in horticulture. Consider it as a starting point for a career or business. Study this course by itself or as part of a certificate or higher level qualification in horticulture.