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
Details
This course was introduced in 2008 to cater for gardening enthusiasts who live in outlying areas or in another country where access to adult education centres is limited. Remember that, to study via distance learning, you don’t need to live miles from any centre. It simply affords you the opportunity to study in the comfort of your home, with constant mentoring.
Who Benefits
This programme has evolved to provide professional confidence for
Those who would like to develop a career in the green industry;
Those already working in the green industry who would like to improve their design skills.
Students learn how to effectively plan and design gardens for their specific region and climate, including effective plant research and placement of plant material. Design transcends the hemispheres and your tutor is familiar with plants that suit both.
Careful documentation at every stage of the programme is supported by your tutor, helping you to create accurate, well-considered designs.
Distance learning is seldom successful without this mentoring. At The School of Garden Design, all distance-learning students are mentored and supported throughout the duration of the programme and this support extends into the start of their career, until they feel quite confident.
Outcome
Investing in your future
The Premier Garden Design & Maintenance programme, with its additional components on sustainability and biodiversity, is one of the finest investments you will make to further your career. The knowledge you gain can be put to good use in any situation and in any hemisphere. Expensive mistakes in the garden can be avoided by gaining a sound working knowledge of the principles of design and making sound plant choices. For those already involved in landscaping, this is the opportunity to gain new insight into your craft, glean inspiration and fine-tune your drawing and presentation skills.
Content
The material covers the complete design process in detail, from establishing a personal needs analysis for your client, site evaluation, design principles, plant research, through to drawing an accurate garden design plan. The final section of the course covers the most important aspects of caring for your clients’ gardens from compost and mulching, feeding, pruning and lawn care, seasonal programmes through to natural pest control.
Students are encouraged to work at their own pace and according to their time constraints. You are welcome to communicate with the principal or a tutor assigned to you, as often as you like.
While all notes are in English, your tutor is bilingual and encourages Afrikaans students to work in their home language.
Options
Full Package : If you are serious about developing a successful career in the gardening industry, then our Business Skills for the Green Industry (see menu) is a logical add-on. Details of this package are available on our application form.
Do I Need Previous Experience?
Enthusiasm and a love of the outdoors will secure your success! 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, and upload it to the onlne form on this page. (Note: If you do not have Adobe Acrobat we suggest using PDFGear, which is a free program)
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.