General Horticulture Courses

It is an extremely comprehensive course that is aimed at technician or management level, for people  working or looking to work in positions such as: managers, technical officers, or consultants.

This course is designed to assist the graduate to gain employment in any area of ornamental horticulture; for example: Garden Company Manager, Technical Officer, Marketing Manager, Consultant, Teacher, Gardens Manager, Horticultural Writer.

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Learn the skills required in general horticulture and then specialise in grounds management.

This great learning opportunity broadens your employment potential as well as your horticultural knowledge and skills.

The Certificate in Horticulture (Grounds Management) is a vocational oriented course comprising core studies (general horticulture) and stream studies in the maintenance of golf courses, parks and other large scale gardens.

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How do I become a Gardener?

The course is designed to teach the basics of how to identify, grow, and maintain ornamental plants and gardens in any climate. Emphasis is placed on the plant varieties which are horticulturally most valuable. Topics covered also include garden maintenance, turf care, arboriculture, landscaping, and nursery work.

A 600 hour course that provides initial training for anyone working, or intending to work in ornamental horticulture. This course is similar to other VHT002 horticulture certificates in its introductory (core) units, but devotes 50% of the course to topics specifically related to ornamental horticulture. 

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Accredited through International Accreditation & recognition Council

Experts in plant protection are far and few between! Become an expert in this field whilst at the same .

This course provides general horticulture knowledge and practical skills in the first half of the course and then concentrates on plant protection methods in the second half.

This gives you the knowledge to diagnose and treat any problems that occurs in plants.

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If you want a career in horticulture, this is one of the best starting points.

The course provides a very strong foundation in general horticulture (350 hours) as well as specialised training in a chosen area such as propagation, turf, herbs, landscaping, organics, cut flowers, crops,arboriculture, permaculture or orrnamental horticulture.

 This Certificate was developed with a great deal of industry input throughout the 1990's then revised by staff in Australia and the UK in 2004 to ensure international relevance. Graduates from this 700 hour certificate have a history of outstanding areer success. Whilst other certificates have degraded over the years and have less emphasis (particularly on science and plant knowledge), this has remained at a similar standard to training of the 1970's and 80's, but with up to date content.

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 Students use this prestigious qualification to step up the horticultural ladder. An extremely informative course in horticultural practice and principles, underpinned by sound scientific knowledge. All qualities sought by employers - world-wide.

This vocationally-oriented course comprises core studies in general horticulture plus specialised elective studies. The course is designed to lay a foundation for a long-term career in horticulture by developing the ability to identify a large range of plants, knowledge of essential horticultural principles and practices and practical skills in plant propagation, growth and care. 

 Student Comments (K.Eastwell): "I am very impressed by the standard of the core materials, by the professional and ever helpful and supportive admin ......" ..."I also like the green, environmentally sensitive approach to the course"

This course was developed and run as the RHS Certificate II  up until July 2010, when it was replaced by the RHS due to changes in the UK accreditation system. Due to popular demand from students, we continue to offer this as a "foundation certificate" examined and awarded by ACS Distance Education in Australia (It no longer holds any endorsement from the RHS).

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Cost and time effective garden maintenance techniques 

Learn over 10 lessons, to effectively maintain all parts of a garden, both hard and soft landscaping, and the equipment and machinery used by gardeners: reducing the amount of time, labour and costs involved. Understand every aspect from turf care, fertilising and weed control to irrigation, pest control; and even maintenance of garden furniture.

START HERE! If you would like a change and are ready to get your hands dirty, consider a career in Horticulture! Develop a sound broad technical grounding in Horticultural principles and practices. During this course you will learn about:

• Identify, propagate and care for 80 different types of plants.
  
• The systematic way plants are classified.
  
• Structure and parts of a flower.
  
• To identify different leaf shapes.
  
• Different ways to control weeds.
  
• Simple soil tests.
  
• Making propagating and potting mixes.
  
• Identifying pest and disease problems.
  
• How and why to prune different plants.
  
• Drawing a simple garden sketch plan.
  
• To plant or repair a lawn; and lots more.

Use this as a credit toward a certificate or higher qualification. Even if you go no further, this course by itself can be an excellent starting point fror a career in horticulture.

Know your Plants

There is a system to learning plant names; and this is the key to remembering what a plant is called, and how to grow it.

For example: If a plant has a square stem, two lipped flower and oil glands, it is in the Lamiaceae family. Once we know the family, identification becomes much simpler, and remembering the name easier. Knowing a plant is in the Lamiaceae family, we also know other things about it, such as- it probably likes moist soil, and can be grown from cuttings.

This course is a natural progression from Horticulture 1, but can be taken as a subject in its own. It concentrates on the identification, care and use of plants in a systematic way.

Develop a firm understanding of plant health, the systematic identification of health problems in plants, and the techniques for control of those problems.

A sick plant may have one or several causes at the same time.

There are thousands of possible causes which can contribute to a plant's problems. More often than not, there are several factors involved. Minor diseases or environmental problems may weaken the plant, making it susceptible to some more major (obvious) disorder. When you inspect a plant for problems, you should systematically consider all of the things which might possibly be going wrong. This course provides the foundation for inspecting diagnosing and treating all types of problems.

Water is essential to healthy plant growth. It is often the major limitation to a plant's productivity. Irrigation may enable plants or turf to be grown in a dry climate where it would not otherwise be possible. It may also supplement the existing rainfall and improve growth rates by extending the growth period of the plant. It may ensure that there is adequate moisture during critical periods when a plant is growing most rapidly. Irrigation at appropriate times may also improve the quality of turf or the general health of garden plants. The value of irrigation can vary greatly from year to year depending on the distribution of rainfall during the growth season.

This course covers the design, installation, maintenance, operation and evaluation of simple irrigation systems. This course is similar to BHT304 and BAG213, but focuses on irrigation for parks, home gardens, and other ornamental horticulture areas.

The following topic areas are covered:

• Ways to optimise water efficiency
  Scheduling irrigation for nurseries, gardens, turf and horticultural crops.
  Drainage system design
  Operating irrigation controllers
  Managing system maintenance
  Managing fertigation
  Evaluating irrigation designs
  Design of different systems

Develop an understanding of the natural environment and basic ecological principles, and learn a variety of skills ranging from basic gardening and nature park design, to erosion control, weed control and tree surgery.

A nature park is any area that aims to preserve a natural environment or natural plant or animal life. It may includes any the following:

• gazetted wilderness areas such as a national park
• wildlife reserves
• forest reserves
• zoos and wildlife parks
• botanical reserves
• council parks
• recreation reserves

Broadly the functions of nature park management include:

These issues and others are discussed in Nature Park Management I and Nature Park Management II. The focus of this course is understanding how humans impact on natural environments, and how park management seeks to provide quality recreational and educational experiences without compromising the parks’ natural environment.

What makes a plant sick?

This course develops your understanding of all types of plant diseases (fungal, viral, bacterial, non-infectious); their life cycles, and ways they can be controlled both with and without chemicals.

A must for the professional horticulturist who not only needs to solve disease problems, but also to avoid them in the first instance. This course is your first step towards that goal. (This course complements Horticulture III. For the best undersrtanding of plant health, do both of these courses)

How do you learn the practical side of horticulture by distance education? Although all ACS courses are practically and well as theoretically focussed - this course was developed for those people who feel that they will gain more from a course that places MOST of the learning experience on learning theory - through practice. There are lots of practical horticultural tasks to develop your skills and knowledge covered in this course. So if you are a student that prefers practical learning, then this course is the ANSWER, and it really does work! Best taken online, or on CD, where you can make full use of interactive learning tasks and coloured photography on the computer. This course has been written to satisfy curriculum developed by the Royal Horticultural Society in the UK (Advanced Certificate and Diploma level)

Improve your career opportunities and develop your business aspirations! The course contains all the tips to develop excellent practical skills in the management of a variety of horticultural situations. It covers subject areas such as: horticultural calculations, propagation management, hard and soft landscape management, planning - identifying needs for management of horticultural sites, identifying plant tissue and much more.This course will help you to stay ahead of the competition and fulfill your managerial or business goals. Although the course covers areas complementary to Practical skills I. You can take this course by itself, though for most students it will be taken after Practical Horticulture I.

Use the link below ('read more') to view more comprehensive details on this course.

Learn how to grow plants in a greenhouse or other protected situation, such as a shade house.

You can grow all sorts of plants in a greenhouse, and achieve all types of things, which you might not be able to achieve otherwise, whether growing as a hobby or commercially. 

This course not only provides a credit in ACS qualifications, accredited through IARC; but it also prepares you to sit for RHS modules and acquire credits in the RHS advanced certificate or diploma.

Gain respect anywhere in the world with this prestigious qualification!

This Diploma is highly regarded worldwide, and is awarded by the world's largest and most prestigeous horticultural organisation upon successful theory and practical examinations (conducted twice yearly). Theory exams may be undertaken across the world, but a one day practical exam may at this stage only be completed in the UK.

Prerequisites

Anyone enrolling in this diploma is assumed to have first completed either:

an equivalent certificate such as the ACS Certificate in Horticulture C12CN002

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This course contains covers 4 units...

• The Plant Kingdom (Unit 1)
• Plant Nutrition, The Root Environment (Unit 2)
• Pests, Diseases and Weeds (Unit 3)
• Sexual and Asexual Propagation (Unit 4)

Just launched , this is one of a new generation of certificates being launched by the RHS to replace older qualifications.

This course provides a route to employment in professional horticulture by assessing knowledge of the scientific principles and underpinning horticultural practices, and supports career development for those already working in the profession. It also provides a foundation for further learning or training in the field of horticulture.

There are no prerequisites required for entry into this course.

This is a Horticultural Management oriented qualification for anyone with Diploma or higher qualifications in Horticulture or a related discipline (or equivalent).

This is a first degree level course in the UK. The qualification is awarded upon satisfactorily completing assessments in eight modules, which are conducted by the RHS.

NOTE:
Most assessments can be undertaken from anywhere in the world; however, some of the assessments may require you to visit and undertake them in the UK before completing the qualification. Enrolment cannot be finalised until it is approved by the RHS, as well as ACS.

Use the link below ('read more') to view more comprehensive details on this course.

This course develops an understanding of environmental systems and the rehabilitation of degraded landscapes. You learn about seed collection, storage and germination, propagation, plant selection, establishment techniques, controlling pest & disease after planting.

The significance of caring for the environment has been receiving more and more attention in recent times, as we have come to understand the importance of limited resources, and the effects of human activities (i.e. agriculture, industry, recreation) on the environment. The desertification, erosion and general degradation of once fertile lands has prompted us to investigate why and how these processes have occurred. It has also led to increased research into how they can be stopped and/or reversed.

A weed is any plant that is growing where you don't want it. A weed will compete with your desired plants for light, space, water and nutrients. 

Learn to identify and effectively control weeds. Over eight lessons you learn about both chemical and non-chemical control methods (mulching, burning, mowing), the use of spray equipment and safety procedures which should be followed.