Venue
Study from the comfort of your own home.
Times
Start when you wish, and work at your own pace. A guideline is issued to each student for assignments/exercises but there are no stringent deadlines.
Dates
Study At Your Own Pace
Duration
Study At Your Own Pace
Details
We are delighted to offer you our comprehensive and visually stimulating short correspondence courses in our Essential Steps to Gardening range that will become the building blocks for your journey into successful gardening.
Who Benefits
These short, comprehensive workshops will benefit anyone wanting to learn more about designing a sustainable garden to improve their own living space and increase the resale value of their home. The design workshop will also teach you how to learn your plants easily and make clever plant choices.
Learn how to care for your garden as naturally as possible and become more self-sufficient by growing your own fruit, vegetables and herbs.
These workshops are perfect for anyone who is unable to attend our mid-week Premier Garden Design & Maintenance course or who is not comfortable studying via distance learning.
Outcome
The structure of these workshops is designed to impart as much relevant information as possible in a short space of time for the participants to feel comfortable and confident enough to start having some serious fun in their garden. The workshops provide the perfect base on which to build.
Content
Designing with Plants
In this workshop we revisit some of the concepts covered in our design workshop, and explain how different categories of plants will benefit your outdoor space. You will be introduced to the wonderful world of colour and texture!
The course will assist you tremendously with plant choice and combinations as well as how to create that WOW factor in your garden by instilling atmosphere, creating habitats to attract wildlife and much more. As a stand-alone course it will be of tremendous help to experienced gardeners who are looking for some new inspiration.
(Note from Principal : Fortunately I cut my teeth on northern hemisphere plants so I know them as well as I know South African plants. Irrespective of the hemisphere in which you live, plants fit into the same categories, most have common family ties and they all create the identical effects in a garden!)
Nourishing your Garden
In this course we expand on the essential steps to creating and maintaining a healthy environment for your plants – making and using compost, different methods of creating a new planting medium, no-dig methods, the importance of mulching, understanding the wide range of organic and inorganic fertilisers (pellet, granular and foliar) on the market, vermiculture and best watering practice.
Most importantly, the purpose of this course is to help you to understand the essence of healthy soil and to encourage ongoing organic practice for your entire garden.
Growing your own Produce
Much has already been written on this subject, but on this course you will brainstorm the size, design and content of your vegetable garden with loads of tips on using natural and eco-friendly principles.
Also learn which crops grow well in the different climatic zones, which are heavy, medium and light feeders and whether crop rotation is as crucial as we were once taught. You will also learn how to grow seedlings and some sage (pardon the pun) advice for growing herbs.
Options
Time and/or financial constraints -
These short courses are designed to assist you to design and care for your garden or any outside space. They allow the student to choose the topic that is important to them. The courses are also affordable for younger students and those in other countries.
Easier payment methods -
Students from around the world will find it easy to enroll by using PayPal, a trusted payment method, or a direct electronic transfer. As the material is delivered by PDF to your email, there is no further postage cost or worries associated with the parcel not arriving!
Virtual Coaching –
We will provide you with virtual coaching on a digital platform that suits you – Zoom, Google Meet, WhatsApp, etc. - so there is no reason why you should not feel quite comfortable studying in your home environment.
Do I Need Previous Experience?
Not at all. Work at a comfortable pace and ensure that you are in regular communication with your tutor, should you need assistance.
Course Enquiries
You can submit your form in two ways:
1) Download the form, complete it upload it to an online hosting service such as Google Docs, then submit the document sharing URL along with your details to the form on this page.
2) Download the application form, complete it and email it to info@schoolofgardendesign.com
We will be in contact with you shortly after the forms are submitted, but should you not hear from us within 48 hours please send a follow up email to the address above.
On application, you will be requested to pay a 20% non-refundable deposit.