Home Garden Expert Course

Home Gardening School -Study Home Gardening -Learn how to Grow Plants from the Experts

This course has been Producing Garden Experts since 1985

• Become the gardening expert in your family (and neighbourhood)
• Learn to grow and identify healthy, plants
• Avoid wasting money -choose plants and materials that give you value
• Enjoy home gardening with new confidence and passion

THE TUTORS

• Learn from an international team or renowned horticultural experts led by John Mason, Fellow Institute of Horticulture (UK), Fellow Australian Institute of Horticulture, Fellow Parks and Leisure Australia.  John is also a former nurseryman, parks director, and is one of the most prolific gardening authors from Australia -many of his books being used by other schools and universities to teach horticulture across Australia and beyond.
• A unique opportunity to connect and learn from our international faculty that includes Rosemary Davies (formerly Garden Advisory Service, and Age Garden Writer, Melbourne),  Maggi Brown (former Education officer for Garden Organic, UK), Gavin Cole (former Operations Manager for the Chelsea Gardener, London), and Dr Lyn Morgan (renowned Hydroponic expert from New Zealand); and a host of other equally qualified professionals.
• See profiles of our faculty at http://www.acs.edu.au/about-us/staff/default.aspx
  

Lesson Structure

There are 8 lessons in this course:

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.

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

Aims

• Identify plant health problems and know treatments.
• Know the plant naming system and how plants are classified.
• Understand the effect of soil structure and texture on plant growth.
• Understand plant terminology and planting methods.
• Understand plant pruning requirements and methods
• Know plant nutrition requirements
• Understand soil conditions and when they require improvement.
• Recognise a range of pests and diseases and the methods of control.
• Recognise a range of weeds and know various control methods.
• Know a range of garden styles and the history behind them.
• Have knowledge of landscape construction techniques.
• Understand the elements and processes of landscape design.
• Understand various propagating techniques
• Propagate plants by various methods
• Understand the soil preparation and requirements to establish or renovate a lawn
• Know lawn maintenance requirements.
• Understand requirements, including environmental and nutritional aspects of growing plants indoors (including hydroponics and greenhouses).
• Know how to select plants suited to growth indoors
• Develop knowledge of vegetable growing procedures and requirements.
• Have knowledge of a range of fruits and berries suited to the home garden
• Have knowledge of a range of commonly grown herbs and flowers

What You Will 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?

Be Smarter -Save Money

 -Learning about Gardening Saves you Money and Gives you Something closer to the Garden of your Dreams

Most people spend many thousands of dollars setting up a new garden and tens of thousands over a lifetime, maintaining it.

It's common for half of the plants planted in a new garden to die, or perform poorly

If you choose the right plants for the right place, the cost of plants can be greatly reduced

If you develop your garden properly, using the right materials in the right way; the cost of developing a garden can be far less

Be Smarter -Get a Garden You Can Use

When you know what you are doing, your garden is far more likely to be a garden that functions better for you, and looks better to you.

There are lots of benefits to understanding Gardening Better.

Books by our principal and founder
Our principal, John Mason is author of over 40 horticltural books and 150 gardening magazines.