Learn How to Grow Herbs by Distance Learning
- Learn to Grow Herbs Commercially as container plants or to harvest for market or processing.
- Self paced 100 hour course for the herb professional, tradesman, business owner or enthusiast
- Study with a team of herb professionals from both Australia and the UK
This is a fantastic course for anyone who is passionate about herbs, growing them and using them; and wants to learn more. Many of those who have studied this course have gone on to establish successful businesses or careers working with herbs; while others have studied this course to simply indulge their passion and become increasingly involved with herbs in their daily living.
Comment from one of our Herb Culture students:
'An excellent guide to self-learning" E. Holsman
Lesson Structure
There are 12 lessons in this course:
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Introduction To Herb Culture
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Unit I : Introduction to herbs, definitions, uses. Classification of herbs; use of a botanical key.
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Unit II : Cultural Techniques...planting, soils, drainage, feeding, mulching, composting, pruning.
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Unit III : Propagation Techniques...propagation mixes, growing structures, cuttings, seed, separation & division, layering.
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Unit IV : Identification of plant health problems...pest & disease, frost, heat, water stress, etc.
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Using Herbs
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Unit I : Processing & Use of Herbs Medicinal, culinary, perfumes, dyes, oils, distillation processes, etc.
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Unit II : Harvesting & Storage Air drying, oven drying, microwave drying, freezing, fresh storage, when & how to harvest.
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The Mints (Lamiaceae)
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Unit I : Mentha species: Peppermint, spearmint, applemint, wintermint, pennyroyal, corsican, ginger mint etc.
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Unit II : Lavender (Lavendula varieties) & thyme (Thymus).
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Unit III : Assorted Lamiaceae varieties: Lemon Balm, Hyssop, Rosemary, Bee Balm (Monarda), Basil, Savory, Marjoram, Sage.
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The Daisies (Asteraceae)
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Lesson I : Artemisia species...Southernwood, Wormwood, Tarragon, Mugwort.
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Lesson II : Miscellaneous Asteraceae: Chamomile, Tansy, Safflower, Costmary, Yarrow, Calendula, Dandelion etc.
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The Parsley Family (Apiaceae)
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Parsley, Coriander, Dill, Caraway, Angelica, Cumin, Fennel, Lovage, Sweet Cicely etc.
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The Onion Group
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Unit I: Chives, Leek, Garlic chives, Tree onion, Welsh onion, etc.
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Unit II : Garlic
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Other Herbs
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Unit I : Rosaceae (Rose, Burnet, Strawberry, blackberry, etc)
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Unit II : Miscellaneous: Lemon grass, Lemon verbena, Bay, Sorrel, Dock, Juniper, Horseradish, Evening Primrose, etc.
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Unit III : Scented Geraniums; Australian Natives, Eucalyptus and Others
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Pests & Diseases
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Unit I : Companion Planting
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Unit II : Natural Pest Control: Herb sprays, biological control, etc.
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Landscaping
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Unit I : Landscape Design Principles and Practices: How to draw a landscape plan
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Unit II : Home Gardening With Herbs; Cottage gardens, hedges & borders, tubs, baskets, kitchen gardens, herb lawns, herb indoor plants.
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Unit III : Public Landscaping: Historic herb grdens (Knot gardens etc), herbs for low maintenance & colour in parks..etc.
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Herb Farming 1
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Establishing & Operating a Herb Nursery: Open ground vs container growing, nursery layout, potting soils, pots and labels, marketing, etc.
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Herb Farming 11
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Establishing & Operating a Herb Farm: Soil Preparation and management (plastic mulch, organic mulches, cultivation), row cropping.
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Herb Farming 111
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Evaluating Herb enterprises, assessing market demand. Deciding how to proceed.
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
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Differentiate between different varieties of herbs in cultivation.
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Explain the general cultural practices used for the growing of herbs.
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Determine harvest and post harvest techniques for herb crops, including processing, storage and use of herbs.
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Develop a production plan for a herb crop grown for harvesting.
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Develop a production plan for a herb nursery.
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Design a herb garden for a home or public garden.
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Evaluate the production of herbs or herb products in a commercial business.
What You Will Do
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Distinguish, using illustrations and minimum but adequate comments; between major plant families which herbs belong to.
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Compile a resource file of fifty different sources of information regarding cultivated herbs.
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Prepare an herbarium collection of one hundred different herb varieties.
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Develop guidelines for the general culture of herbs in your locality.
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Explain six different propagation methods suitable for herbs, using illustrations.
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Demonstrate how to prepare cuttings for three different herb varieties.
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Propagate three different varieties of commercially farmed herbs, using appropriate, but different propagation techniques for each.
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Explain natural pest and disease control methods for a specified herb species.
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Explain the concept of companion planting, including three examples of proven companion planting interrelationships.
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Write a maintenance schedule for either a herb garden, nursery or farm.
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Describe two different harvesting techniques for herbs, by outlining the steps to follow for each.
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Determine criteria which are critical to success in the process of drying herbs.
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Compare two different drying processes for herbs, with reference to: *equipment used *procedure *cost.
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Produce two marketable herb products by harvesting, and processing material from a herb plant.
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Prepare five different herbal products for home use.
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Estimate the costs associated with processing four different herbs to a marketable stage, itemising the components of costs for each.
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Determine ten different species of herbs which have potential to be grown commercially as broad acre crops in your locality.
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Describe the process of producing a specified commercial herb crop being grown organically.
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Describe the process of producing a commercial herb crop being grown hydroponically.
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Compare broad-acre production methods, used for three different herbs, including: *propagation *planting *crop management *harvesting *post-harvest processing; by constructing a table or chart.
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Design a simple trial, to test the commercial potential of different varieties of a specific herb species.
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Conduct the simple trial you designed recording details of tasks undertaken.
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Analyse the results of the trial conducted to test the performance of a herb plants.
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Determine the variety with greatest commercial potential from those trialled.
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Prepare flow-sheet broad acre crop production schedules for four herbs; one each from Allium, Apiaceae, Asteraceae, Lamiaceae groups.
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Determine minimum facilities required to produce saleable plants in a specified herb nursery.
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Prepare a potting media suitable for growing a container herb plant of a specified species, as nursery stock.
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Describe the procedures used in a commercial herb nursery, to produce plants for sale.
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Differentiate between the procedures used for production of different products in a herb nursery, including:
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*Punnets of seedling herbs *Bare rooted plants *Standard container plants *Hanging baskets *Topiary.
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Grow a herb plant to a commercially acceptable standard, as a tubestock container plant, through all stages of production, without supervision.
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Prepare production schedules for two herbs from four different minor herb groups, for a specified nursery.
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Explain the use of general landscape principles and practices in the designs of two different herb gardens.
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Determine different applications for herbs in home gardens.
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Determine applications for herbs in public landscaping, referring to both difficulties and advantages in different situations.
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Design for a herb garden for a site of between 30 and 100 square metres surveyed by you, preparing a scale drawing showing the placement of at least 20 different varieties of herbs.
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Explain the reasoning behind the herb garden designed.
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Determine critical factors to establishing a new herb business, in your locality.
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Analyse the business operations of a specified herb enterprise.
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Assess market demand for a herbal product, through a phone survey and information search.
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Compare the commercial potential of three different types of herb enterprises, in your locality.
TIPS FOR HARVESTING HERBS
For the best results, herbs must be harvested correctly, at the right stage of growth, and stored properly.
Know the part of the plant you are harvesting; choose a dry day (don't harvest when the plant is wet), and in most cases, harvest when the plant is growing rapidly.
Avoid crushing or bruising plant parts during the harvest.
Most herbs can be used either fresh or dried; but some are much better fresh though (eg. chervil, chives, parsley, rosemary and sage).
To preserve the aroma of fresh herbs they can be stored in a plastic bag in the refrigerator until you are ready to use them. You might treat parsley this way for instance, keeping a bunch in the fridge and taking out what you need for each meal.
Herbs can be dried very simply by hanging sprigs upside down in a dry, well ventilated, dark place. A garage or storeroom is often used. A kitchen with large sunny windows is definitely not the place to dry herbs.
Alternatively herbs can be spread on trays or shelves made from wire mesh and stacked to allow good air movement between layers. A fan might even be used to keep air circulating. It is useful to turn the plants every 1‑2 days.
In humid climates the herbs need more ventilation to ensure they don't become infected with fungal growths before they dry. This involves making the bunches smaller or speading the harvest thinner on the trays.
Drying should be done immediately after picking.
Drying works best if the following conditions are met:
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A steady warm temperature (25‑35 degrees celsius is ideal)
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Low light (except for roots which are dried in full sun)
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Ventilation ‑good air movement around whatever is drying
You may achieve a reasonable result with many herbs even if these conditions are not met exactly ‑but probably the result will not be quite as good as it could have been.
After drying, leaves are removed from stalks by rubbing, then seived and stored in air tight containers.
TIPS FOR FARMING SELECTED HERBSARE YOU READY TO GET SERIOUS ABOUT HERBS?
GARLIC
Over 2000 acres of garlic are grown every year in California.
Garlic thrives in fertile, well drained loam soils, but will grow satisfactorily in any soil which grows onions. Heavy clay soils should be avoided. Varieties vary in their keeping quality. It is grown early autumn or early spring. Cloves are separated and planted in raised beds with two rows to each bed (12 inches between these rows, and 2inches between each clove). It requires approx 900pounds of cloves to plant one acre..
Garlic responds to fertilizer, but does not require as heavy feeding as other crops. For high yields, the upper 2ft of soil needs to remain moist, however over watering can be disastrous. Weeds are controlled by shallow cultivation. The bulb clove development commences when the leaves stop growing. To get maximum yields, it is necessary to get maximum top growth before this point.
MINT
There are many different species of Mentha which can be grown commercially. The Egyptian pharos are known to have distilled oil from peppermint (Mentha piperita). Commercial production of mint oil in the USA is 1000metric tons annually, mainly on moist soils on the north west coastal states of Oregon & Washington. Mentha arvensis, piperita & spicata are all grown commercially in the USA.
Typically spearmint & peppermint are planted as rhizomes in rows. Weeds are controlled by cultivation in the first year. In late autumn, the plants are ploughed in before the frost. It spreads rapidly giving a paddock of mint the next season. Mint is cut with a mower and left to dry until moisture content drops to approx. 35% at which point it is collected and distilled for oil using a steam distillation technique.
LAVENDER
The largest lavender farm in the southern hemisphere operates on 150acres in the north east of Tasmania (Bridestowe Estate at Nabowla). Lavender oil is distilled from Lavandula officinalis. The south of France can produce more than 100metric tons of lavender oil some years. Bulgaria is another major producer of lavender oil.
MARIGOLD
Calendula officinalis, a common garden flower is valued as a yellow dye, a pot pourri additive (ie: dried flower heads) and for use in cosmetics and soaps.
PAPRIKA
Species: Capsicum annum
Family: Solanaceae
Description: Short lived herb normally grown as an annual. Plant is woody at base and grows only to around 1.5metres in height. Flowers are borne singly with a ribbed calyx, which enlarges to enclose the base of the fruit. The fruit is a berry (capsicum) which varies in size, shape, colour and pungency.
Cultivation: Paprika is actually a Capsicum plant, so cultivation is as per capsicums. The following are important when growing capsicums
Good drainage is important to avoid leaf drop
High temperatures are good, but excessive heat will reduce fruit set. Temperatures below 16 Degrees Celsius
Pests include apids, fruitfly, root-knot nematode and thrips
Uses: Used as a culinary herb in curries, salads, etc.
PARSLEY
Extremely popular herb, but grown widely by market gardeners alongside vegetables. Parsley seed can be slow to germinate, therefore it is often started in a hotbed or greenhouse. Young plants are transplanted to rows 40cms (15inches) apart, and 8cms (4inches) between plants in the row.
Outer, older leaves are harvested regularly and bunched. Plants can continue to produce for up to 2years depending on conditions.
If you are, this course is a unique opportunity to lay a foundation for developing a lifelong love affair with this fascinating group of plants.
Flexible Study with ACS Distance Education
ACS Distance Education is unique. We allow you to choose how you study, where you study, what you study, how much you study, and when you study.
- Work fast or slow –you choose the intensity of study
- Start, pause or restart according to changing demands of work, family or lifestyle.
- Study this course by itself; or combine with others for a qualification
- Mix and match modules so you only study what you want or need to learn -We allow you to construct your own “tailor made” certificates or diplomas
- Options in assignments allow you to focus on things with greater interest to you.
- Study electronically (online or using a CD); or using printed notes.
- Use (or don’t use) supplementary services for extra learning want –unlimited access to tutors, an online student room, social media, bookstore, etc
- Orientation video and student Manual at the start of your course will provide a clear guide to how you can study and get all sorts of support no matter where you live
