Course Structure
There are 8 units involved in this course.
Most units are made up of 2 or 3 lessons, with an assignment to be completed and submitted at the conclusion of each unit.
The eight units are as follows:
1. Basic Plant Identification & Culture
Plant names, planting, transplanting, tools & equipment.
2. Soils & Nutrition
Soil structure, nutrition, composting, soil building, drainage, fertilizers.
3. Pests & Weeds
Identifying problems, sprays, biological control, weed identification & control.
4. Landscaping
How to design a garden, rockeries, native gardens, traditional (European style) home gardens.
5. Propagation
Propagating materials, seed, cuttings.
6. Lawns
Turf varieties, laying a lawn, lawn care.
7. Indoor Gardening
Hardy indoor plants, container growing.
8. The Kitchen Garden
Vegetable gardening, fruit trees, herbs.
Aims
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Identify plant health problems and know treatments.
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Know the plant naming system and how plants are classified.
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Understand the effect of soil structure and texture on plant growth.
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Understand plant terminology and planting methods.
- Understand plant pruning requirements and methods
- Know plant nutrition requirements
- Understand soil conditions and when they require improvement.
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Recognise a range of pests and diseases and the methods of control.
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Recognise a range of weeds and know various control methods.
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Know a range of garden styles and the history behind them.
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Have knowledge of landscape construction techniques.
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Understand the elements and processes of landscape design.
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Understand various propagating techniques
- Propagate plants by various methods
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Understand the soil preparation and requirements to establish or renovate a lawn
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Know lawn maintenance requirements.
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Understand requirements, including environmental and nutritional aspects of growing plants indoors (including hydroponics and greenhouses).
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Know how to select plants suited to growth indoors
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Develop knowledge of vegetable growing procedures and requirements.
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Have knowledge of a range of fruits and berries suited to the home garden
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Have knowledge of a range of commonly grown herbs and flowers
Duration: 100 hours
Examples of what you may do in this course
Here is just some of what you may do:
*Read notes written and supplied by staff of this school
*Watch instructional video
*Test and name different soils
*Mix inexpensive potting mixes
*Make compost and explain how you made it.
*Learn how to identify plants effectively.
*Explain step by step how you would go about planting shrubs in your own locality.
*Explain how to transplant and transport plants from one propertyu to another.
*Determine the tools required to do gardening for a property, using a limited supply of money.
*Explain characteristics of soil, including: Soil Structure, pH and Nutrient Deficiency
*Describe how to fertilize a lawn
*Explain how to improve drainage in a soil that is too wet for plants to do well in.
*Explain how you would improve a specified soil
*Identify a nutrient deficiency
*Observe and identify different categories of pest and disease problems in growing plants.
*Compile a weed collection with pressings or illustrations of different weeds
*Compile a plant collection with pressings or illustrations of different weeds
-Describe how environmental problems affect plants
-Recommend ways of controlling different types opf problems in plants, using both natural and chemical.
-Observe and evaluate different types of gardens.
-Survey a garden in order to prepare a garden design.
-Apply a systematic procedure to landscape design, in order to produce a concept plan for a garden.
-Explain mistakes have you observe in the design and construction of different rockeries
-Build a simple cold frame and us it to propagate plants.
-Prepare propagating mix which would be suitable for striking most types of cuttings.
-Propagate different plants from cuttings.
-Prepare a plan for sowing annual flower seedlings over a 12 month period.
-Evaluate and explain a lawn seed mix from the packaging of that mix
-Observe different lawns and recommend their treatment
-Explain how to establish a lawn
-Observe and evaluate the condition of different indoor plants.
-Recommend the treatment of different indoor plants.
-Prepare lists of indoor plants for different applications.
-Find an indoor plant which needs potting up & pot it up.
-Plant a vegetable patch.
-List fruit, nuts & berries most suited for growing in your locality
-Observe the way in which herbs are used commercially (eg. in medicine, cooking etc)
-Explain why crop rotation is used in growing vegetables?
This course is also available for online study and Elearning (CD) click on the following links for more information.
Online study
Click on the Elearning option in the enrolment box after following this link:
Elearning option
The ACS bookstore has many books to help you:
- Establish your garden
- Choose plants
- Propagate your own plants
and much more. Click on the following link for more information.
The online bookstore
