When tasked with garden restoration, it’s important to respect landscape history and design styles to accurately restore a garden to its former glory. So, if you’re interested in garden restoration or conservation, this course is ideal for you!
The Certificate of Garden Restoration is a professional development course that will show you how to survey, analyse and plan sensitive and appropriate renovation of established gardens.
In this garden renovation course, you will learn about garden history and design styles and methods for surveying and assessment of site factors, including plants, hard landscape features, drainage systems, hedges, and lawns.
You will also learn how to prepare summarised programs, conduct risk assessments, and implement safe work practices to evaluate and plan a garden restoration project.
On completion of this course, you will have a comprehensive understanding of how to plan a successful garden restoration project.
Course Structure
Unit - Restoring Established Ornamental Gardens
Unit 1 – Landscape history & design styles
- Restoration of plantings
- Improving existing plants
- Introducing new or replacement plants
- Trees and tree surgery
- Cavity treatments
- Bracing and cabling
- Propping
- Bark wounds
- Trees and paving
- Old and overgrown hedges
- Replacing an old hedge
- Hedges and neighbourhood disputes
- Rejuvenating old and overgrown hedges
- Pruning and rejuvenating other plants
- Controlling the plants shape and size
- Pruning overgrown shrubs
- Removing dead or diseased wood
- Controlling the type of growth
- Pruning conifers
- Rejuvenation limitations
- Pruning overgrown climbers and wall shrubs
- Pruning roses
- The basic rules of pruning
- Rejuvenating old lawns
- Top-dressing
- Fertilising lawns
- Mowing
- Turf mowers
- Mowing guidelines
- Mowing heights
- Perennials
- Secrets of success
- Maintenance hints
Unit 2 – Surveying the site
- Surveying problems
- What to survey
- Measuring dimensions and locations
- Triangulation
- Slope
- Levelling terms
- Levelling procedure
- Earthworks calculation
- Volumes of irregular solids
- Using triangles
- Using horizontal measurement
- Using horizontal angles
Unit 3 – Assessment of plantings and features
- Critical aspects of garden restoration
- Considerations
- Assessing planting
- Existing plantings
- Trees
- What to consider
- Where should you plant a shade tree?
- When not to retain a tree
- Assessing garden features
- What are these features?
- What degrades?
- What to look out for
- Type of material
- Potential problems to check for
- Concrete and cement
- What is UV stabilised?
- Fasteners
- Types of nails
- Screws, bolts, brackets
- Water problems
- When is water a problem?
- What needs to be waterproof in the backyard?
- Pressurised water needs more thought!
Unit 4 -Selecting components for restoration
- What should be restored?
- Why keep something?
- Why discard something?
- Renovating areas in a garden
- Dealing with weeds
- Paving
- Trees and shrubs
- Garden beds
- Lawns
- Ponds
- Furniture and statuary
- Pruning
- Clean out dead wood
- Wood rots
- Dead heading
- What is compartmentalisation?
- What about wood treatments?
- Windbreaks
- How do windbreaks work?
- The best windbreaks
- Quick windbreaks
- Choosing windbreak plants
Unit 5 – Work programming and risk management
- Good appreciation of plant culture
- Where to start
- The procedure
- What order to work in
- Risks & work safety
- Safe work management plans
- Manual handling tasks
- Minimise risk during manual handling tasks
- Risk assessment of a landscape site
- Identifying hazards and risk
- Risk to the project
- Risk to the workers
- The area(s) and people that may be at risk
- Risk management
- The consequences of an event happening
- The adequacy of existing controls
- Safety plans
- A rating of the consequence, likelihood and level of risk
- Risk control methods
- Example of a risk assessment procedure
- Example of a risk assessment form
- Control processes in preferred order
- Safety techniques
- Handling bricks and pavers
- Slippery surfaces
- Manual lifting
- How to lift and other ways to lift
- Using machines to do the heavy work
- Rules for using tools
- Checklist for tools and machines
Unit 6 – Drainage
- Waterlogging on a home site
- What can cause wet areas?
- Problems with wet areas
- Symptoms of poor drainage systems
- Improving soil drainage capacity
- Improving drainage on heavy clay soils and low spots
- Raising levels or fill depressions
- Below are some other ways of addressing these potential problems
- Correctly draining runoff from a slope
- Minimum grades for surface drainage
- Space of drains
- Solving drainage problems
- Create a drain pit
- Plant with water loving plants
- Create a bog garden in areas that sometimes dry out
- Problems with bog gardens:
- Drainage design
- What a landscaper should know about drainage
- construct an effective garden drainage
- Sub surface drainage layout of drains
- Gradients
- Distance between drainage pipes
- Depths of drains and drain types
- Laying the drain
- Moving existing earth
- When moving existing soil take into account:
- Settling soil
- Erosion
- Causes of human erosion
- Water erosion
- Leaks
- How to fix a leaky tap
- How to seal a leaking pipe
- How to fix a leaking pond
Unit 7 – Hard landscape feature restoration
- Repair and reconstruction of some hard landscape features
- Paving
- Materials used in paving
- Selecting paving materials
- Methods for laying pavers
- Concrete
- Laying a concrete path, step by step
- Concrete mix for paths and driveways
- Hints when concreting
- Gravel, asphalt
- Coloured surfaces
- Choosing dark or light colours
- Barriers or walls
- Creating barriers
- Fencing supports
- Concrete mix
- Maintaining stone and brick walls
- Choosing outdoor furniture
Unit 8 – Planting restoration and maintenance
- Restoration of plantings
- Improving existing plantings
- Trees and tree surgery
- Trees and paving
- Old and overgrown hedges
- Replacing an old hedge
- Hedges and neighbourhood disputes
- Plant choices and preparing the site
- Rejuvenating old and overgrown hedges
- Rejuvenating neglected hedges
- Pruning and rejuvenating other plants
- Controlling the plants shape and size
- Pruning overgrown shrubs
- Removing dead or diseased wood
- Controlling the type of growth
- Pruning conifers
- Rejuvenation limitations
- Pruning overgrown climbers and wall shrubs
- Neglected wall plantings
- Pruning roses
- Basic rules of pruning
- Rejuvenating old lawns
- Top-dressing and fertilising lawns
- Mowing guidelines and heights
- Perennials
- Maintenance hints
- Designing a perennial display
- Landscaping with bulbs
- Maintaining herbaceous borders
- Wildflower meadows
- Weed control and weed types
- Weed control methods
- Controlling pests and diseases
- Chemical treatments and their restricted use
- Common pests
- Plant diseases and plant pathology
- Morphological symptoms of plant diseases
- Disease lifecycles
- Common diseases and terms
- Plant viruses – their detection and diagnosis
- Using chemicals
- Common methods of application
- Cleaning up and disposing of chemicals
- Laws in relation to chemical use
Study Hours
Estimated duration 50 hours
Course Delivery and Start
Start anytime, self-paced and 100% online
Assessment
Assessment will be comprised of written exercises, including short-answer questions, reflective tasks, short reports and/or projects. There are no examinations or due dates for assessment. As a result, you can complete training in your own time and at your own pace with the assistance of unlimited tutor support.
Testimonials
Graduation
A Certificate of Attainment and Statement of Results will be issued upon successful completion of this course.
How to Enrol
Enrol Online: Click Add to Cart/View Cart on the course page.
Enrol via Live Chat (Business Hours)
Enrol via Telephone 1300 76 2221 (Business Hours)
Enrol via Purchase Order/Tax Invoice
Enrolling Multiple Staff?
To enrol multiple staff, please complete the Employer Enrolment Form. We’ll be in touch within 60 minutes during business hours!
Payment Options
Visa, Mastercard, BPAY and Direct Deposit.
Course FAQs
Why Choose Australian Online Courses?
- Professional development that is widely recognised and respected;
- Improve your employment opportunities;
- Study online, anywhere via our elearning system;
- High-quality professional development programs written by industry experts;
- All course materials provided online – no textbooks to buy;
- Unlimited tutor support via email;
- We offer twelve (12) months’ access, with extensions available upon application (fees apply);
- Course may be tax deductible; see your tax advisor.
Are there any entry requirements or pre-requisites?
There are no course or subject pre-requisites for entry into our programs. However, our professional development programs are generally intended for people over the age of 18. In some circumstances, enrolments from younger people may be considered. Please complete the AOC Parent Guardian Consent Form prior to enrolling and submit here.
When can I start this course?
You can start within 60 minutes during business hours when you enrol and pay in full with a credit card!
Credit card: Within 60 mins during business hours.
BPAY: Within 1-2 working days.
Internet Banking: Within 1-2 working days.
Cheque/Money Order: Upon receipt of mailed cheque.
How is this course delivered?
This course is delivered online via our easy-to-navigate Learning Management System (LMS), where you will discover interactive online learning/written content, resources and assessment.
Do I need to attend classes or undertake any work placements?
No. All courses are delivered online via our LMS and there are no work placement requirements in this course.
What support can I expect from Australian Online Courses?
Unlimited tutor support is available throughout your studies via email only during business hours Monday to Friday. Our Administrative team are available Monday to Friday via email, live chat and telephone.
I am an international student. Can I enrol into this course?
Yes! We accept enrolments from individuals both within Australia and internationally; location is no barrier to entry into our programs.
Career Pathways
Future growth
Strong
Unemployment
Low
Professional Development for:
- Gardener
- Landscape designer
- Landscape construction
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