Learn to Maintain Gardens
- Large or Small
- Public or Private.
This course is designed as a foundation for people working as gardeners, and for can be a stepping stone to developing a garden maintenance business or a career in gardens management.
Start any time, work at your own pace and study from home, while traveling or wherever it suits.
Lesson Structure
There are 10 lessons in this course:
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Introduction Planning and managing a garden.
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Cost of Maintenance
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Expensive and Less Expensive areas of a garden
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Planning
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Garden Checklists
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Analysing Maintenance of Parks and Gardens
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Organising Garden Maintenance Staff
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Garden Furnishings and Machinery
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What Tool for What Job
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Overview of Machinery
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Mowers and How to Mow
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Aerators, Chippers, Mechanised Sprayers, Chain Saws, Brush Cutters, etc.
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Tractors
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Tool Maintenance
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Engine Troubleshooting
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Outdoor Furniture -plastic, timber, metal
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Protecting Furnishings -paints, stains, preservatives
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Feeding Plants
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Symptoms of Nutritional and other Problems
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Conducting an Inspection of Plants
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Soil Characteristics and identification of Soil Issues
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Review of Plant Nutrition
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Choosing the Right Fertiliser
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Diagnosing Nutritional Problems
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Improving soils
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Weed Control
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Nature and Scope of Weed Problems
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Natural Ways to Control Weeds -suffocation, burning, cultivation, etc
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Common groups of weeds and options for treating and recognising different weed varieties.
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Weedicides
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How Weeds Spread
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Types of chemicals found in weedicides and suitable weedicide
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Which chemical would control the weed.
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Chemicals and the Law
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Natural Pest Control
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Scope and Nature of Natural Controls
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Cultural Controls
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Mechanical Control Methods
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Physical Control Methods
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Methods for controlling selected insects
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Companion Planting
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Common Environmental Problems
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Tolerance Levels in different plants
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Biological Controls
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Natural Sprays
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Buffer Zones
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Mulching
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Chemical Pest Control
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Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
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Ways of Applying Chemicals
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Safety with Chemicals
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Understanding Pesticides -toxicity, LD50, Persistence, etc.
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Specific chemical treatments and a summary of pesticides.
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Turf Management
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Common Turf Problems
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Turf Pests
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Chemical Damage
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Establishment and Maintence of Lawns
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Mowing, Fertilizing, Aeration, etc
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Turf varieties, appropriate turf for specific areas, low and high maintenance turf.
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Irrigation
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Importance of Water
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Water Loss from different soils & Improving Water retention
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Understanding Water Dynamics in soil
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Irrigation -types of systems
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Planning an irrigation system
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Using an irrigation system
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Controlling slippery surfaces
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Maintenance of Plants
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Why Prune
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Before Pruning
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Time of Pruning: Does it matter?
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What to consider when pruning
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Removing Dead Wood
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Controlling shape and size
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How to prune different types of plants
Understand every aspect plant care.
... from turf care, fertilising and weed control to irrigation, pest control and even maintenance of garden furniture.
- save money by reducing costly mistakes
- suitable for those wanting to start a garden maintenance business
- expert qualified tutors
Start with Good Soils
There is a direct relationship between plant health, growth and soil organic matter. It is well known that plants growing in soil with little or no organic matter grow very poorly. The key for any garden, any landscape or any vegetable plot is the organic content of the soil.
Plant growth is directly affected by the type of soil the plants are grown in. The majority of plants depend on soil to provide nutrition, physical support (i.e. a place for roots to anchor), water and air. The exceptions to this are those plants that are known as epiphytes. These grow in such places, as tree trunks, on rocks, on or fallen logs.
Know Your Plants
Different plants need different treatments. Maintaining healthy plants isn't as easy as maintaining a lifeless structure. You need to know the differences between the different5 plants you deal with from trees, to shrubs, to turf.
This course lays the foundation a sets you on the right path to becoming skilled as you need to be for successful garden care.
AFTER THIS COURSE
Lots of people become gardeners, but few become good gardeners - largely because most tend to assume gardening is something that requires relatively little skills.
Gardening does however require a basic understanding of plant identification, pruning, mowing lawns, using fertilisers and controlling pests and diseases
- If you don't know the plants you are dealing with you will plant them in the wrong place and as a result, they won't look as good, or live as long.
- If you don't know the difference between a good plant and a weed, you may be removing good plants and not removing weeds
- If you prune plants in the wrong way or at the wrong time, you can kill them, or cause them to not produce flowers or fruit.
- If you mow lawns incorrectly, you can encourage weeds, pests, or cause the lawn grass plants to become sick or unsightly
- If you don't know about pests and disease, you are likely to overlook problems, or misdiagnose them when they are insignificant and that can lead to problems that are more difficult and expensive to control.
People do want to employ gardeners but all too often, they will dismiss a gardener or avoid employing one, because these issues (and others like these) become a repeated concern.
If you do this course you will have the knowledge to avoid making mistakes like this, and that will make your skills a very marketable commodity.
How Will You Benefit from this Course?
- Build self confidence to do jobs you may have avoided in the past
- Fast track business or employment opportunities in gardening
- Save time -no time and money lost traveling to college
- Take control over when, where and speed of your studying
- Support from a team of experienced professional horticulture tutors who have worked across both Australia and the UK
- Learn to understand garden maintenance. Make better decisions, be more productive and effective in all you do.
- Build connections with industry and become aware of new products, ideas, techniques and opportunities.
- As a graduate, receive free career and business advice from our horticultural staff -yours for the asking.
Employment Prospects
- Start a lawn mowing or garden care business
- Buy an established gardening business
- Get a gardening or groundsman job
- Acquire knowledge and skills that will make you more attractive to employers or clients
- Work in a plant nursery, landscape or other gardening business
- Work in allied trades, horticultural sales or marketing
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