GARDENERS’ GARDEN SCHOOL HOMES STUDY COURSE - SYLLABUS
GARDENERS’ GARDEN SCHOOL HOME STUDY COURSE SYLLABUS
•The Effects of Climate and Soil on Plants and Gardens.
•Choosing Plants
•Garden Design and Planning
•Trees and Shrubs; Selection, Establishment And Maintenance
•Wall plants, Climbers and Hedges
•Propagation of Plants
•Herbaceous Perennials and Bedding Plants
•Using and Planting of Bulbs, Selecting, Planting and Caring for Patio Containers.
•Lawns and Roses
•Protecting Plants From Plant Problems.
Each part will feature PowerPoint presentations on an exclusive CD-Rom with lots of plant examples from Ciaran Burke’s large selection of plant photographs. Illustrated notes, correction of assignments and CD-Rom are included in the cost of the course A certificate of completion will be awarded by THE GARDEN SCHOOL to each person who completes the course and the assignments.
SYLLABUS
Part 1
The Effects of Climate and Soil on Plants and Gardens.
•Assessing soil texture.
•Testing for soil pH.
•Interpreting results and examining the relevance of results with respect to gardens and choice of plants.
•Brief look at plant physiology and how environmental factors affect plant growth.
•Effects of wind, temperature, rainfall and light on plant growth.
•Means by which environmental conditions and soil can be influenced to provide optimum growing conditions in the garden. (Including making compost).
Part 2
Choosing Plants
•Plant names; how plant names are applied and the meaning of plant names. How knowing the correct names of plants can make life easier.
•A basic glossary of plant terms to enable gardeners to identify plants.
•Classifying plant types, Tree, Shrub, climber, wall plant, herbaceous perennial, bulb, biennial, Annual, hardy and half hardy annual, bedding plant, conifer, fern, hedge, ground cover.
•How to choose a plant for the correct situation
•Buying plants, how to select a good plant.
•Ways of buying plants, containerised, root ball, bareroot, plugs, bulbs, seeds.
Part 3
Garden Design and Planning
•How to measure your garden accurately and calculate areas.
•Simple method of calculating a slope or change in level.
•Assessing the garden; what you need, what you want and what you can have.
•Basic design principles; Unity, harmony, contrast, balance, proportion, scale, symmetry
•Garden styles; what is style? Examples of garden styles.
Part 4
Trees and Shrubs; Selection, Establishment And Maintenance
•Preparation of ground and correct planting.
•Staking and maintenance for first year after planting
•Annual maintenance.
•Ways of using trees and shrubs.
•Trees and shrubs in containers.
•Pruning principles of woody ornamental plants:- Early flowering shrubs, late flowering shrubs, evergreens, hydrangeas.
•Annual maintenance of a shrub border.
Part 5
Wall plants, Climbers and Hedges
•Wall plants, climbers and hedges
•Difference between a climber and a wall plant.
•How climbing plants climb.
•Providing support for wall plants and climbers.
•Preparation and planting.
•Maintenance for first year after planting.
•Climbers and wall plants for different locations; e.g sunny wall, shaded wall.
•Types of hedge; Formal v informal, evergreen v deciduous.
•Use of hedges; limitations and advantages
•Preparation and planting for hedges.
•Maintenance or first year after planting.
•Annual maintenance
•Choosing plants for hedges; ten examples.
Part 6
Propagation of Plants
•Collecting seeds and buying seeds; storing seeds and the importance of viable seed.
•Seed dormancy and methods of overcoming dormancy of seeds.
•Sowing seeds, examples of hardy annual, half hardy annual, tree, herbaceous perennial.
•Propagating from cuttings; types of cuttings, collection of material, preparation of cuttings, selecting a suitable compost mix, use of rooting hormones and method of taking stem cuttings, softwood, semi-ripe and hardwood.
•Layering
•What a graft is and reasons for grafting.
Part 7
Herbaceous Perennials and Bedding Plants
•Uses of herbaceous plants
•Planning an herbaceous border.
•Preparation and planting of herbaceous plants.
•Annual maintenance of an herbaceous border.
•Planning, preparation and sowing of a hardy annual border.
•Growing a half hardy plant from seed.
•Planning, preparation and planting of a half-hardy planting scheme.
•Other bedding plants and various uses; tender perennials, bulbs, ornamental vegetables; use as fillers, containers, groundcover.
Part 8
Using and Planting of Bulbs, Selecting, Planting and Caring for Patio Containers.
•Bulbs, corms and tubers.
•Uses of bulbs in the garden.
•Bulbs for different seasons.
•Preparation, planting and aftercare of bulbs.
•Propagation of bulbs.
•Selecting containers, limitations and advantages of different materials for container construction.
•Choosing a suitable compost mix.
•Container plants for different seasons.
•Caring for container plants.
Part 9
Lawns and Roses
•Preparation of ground for a lawn
•Choosing either seed or lawn turf; pros and cons. Different lawn mixes.
•Sowing the seed and laying turves.
•Establishment of the lawn.
•Choosing a lawn mower. (Cylinder v. rotary)
•Annual lawn maintenance.
•Different types of roses; bush (hybrid tea and floribunda), shrubs and species, climbers, ramblers and ground cover.
•Preparation and planting of bush roses.
•Pruning of bush roses.
•Annual maintenance of roses.
Part 10
Protecting Plants from Plant Problems.
•Categorising plant problems; pest, disease, physiological plant problems and meteorological problems.
•Comparing life cycles of pest so that we can treat them most effectively.
•Identification of damage caused by common pests.
•Treatment of some common pests to include environmentally friendly methods. (cultural techniques, natural biological control and safe chemicals)
•Diseases, types and how they spread.
•Identify symptoms of some common diseases of plants.
•Treatment of plant diseases with emphasis on avoidance by cultural techniques.
•Identify some common physiological and meteorological problems and ways of preventing and treating problems.
THE GARDEN SCHOOL
EGOOL, KILMOVEE, BALLAGHADERREEN
CO. ROSCOMMON, REP. OF IRELAND
TEL: 00353 94 9649943
EMAIL: ciaran@thegardenschool.ie
