Certificate of Horticulture

Unit 1 – Plant identification

• Naming plants
• Distinguishing the taxonomic divisions of plants including family, genus, species and variety or hybrid
• Monocotyledons and Dicotyledons
• Characteristics of botanical families
• Structure and arrangement of leaves and leaflets
• Leaf terminology
• Leaf arrangements
• Flower structure and identifying the different parts of a flower
• How seeds form
• Plant reviews
• Collecting and pressing plants for herbaria

Unit 2 – Planting

• Garden terminology
• Common garden problems
• Basic planting procedure
• Fertilising and staking when planting
• Dealing with bare rooted plants
• Time of planting
• Deciding where to plant
• Mulching
• Making garden beds
• Raised beds
• Sunken beds
• Planting terminology

Unit 3 – Recognising plant families and identifying plants

• Becoming familiar with plant families
• Botanical Latin
• Systematic examination of plants – dicot or monocot, type of wood, etc
• Characteristics of important families including: Amaryllidaceae, Araceae, Asteraceae, Ericaceae, Lamiaceae, Fabaceae.
• Getting to know more common families
• Other ways to identify plants
• Plants for shade
• Plants for exposed conditions
• Plants for inner city gardens

Unit 4 – Soils

• Purpose of soil
• Soil structure: classifying soils
• Soil water and air
• Soil temperature
• Soil pH
• Nutrient availability
• Naming a soil
• Improving soils
• Composting
• Natural plant foods
• Sampling and testing soils
• Potting soil mixes
• Soil terminology

Unit 5 – Plant nutrition

• The nutrient elements
• Major elements
• Minor elements
• Diagnosis of nutrient problems
• Fertilizers: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium
• How much fertilizer to apply
• Terminology

Unit 6 – Water management

• Introduction to irrigation
• Feasibility of irrigation
• Soil and water
• When to irrigate
• Water deficiency symptoms
• Types of soil moisture; gravitational, capillary, hygroscopic
• Measuring water available to plants
• Rooting depths of plants
• Estimating water requirements
• Pumps, sprinklers and other equipment
• Understanding hydraulics
• Conventional sprinkler systems; portable, permanent, semi permanent
• Cyclic watering
• Pulse watering
• Irrigation scheduling
• Sprinkler spacing
• Improving soils for water management
• Drainage
• Erosion management
• Soil compaction
• Acidification

Unit 7 – Garden maintenance and weeds

• Cost of garden maintenance
• Machinery
• Comparing more and less costly areas of the garden.
• Common weeds and their identification
• Weed control methods – chemical and non chemical
• Plants that become invasive
• Environmental weeds

Unit 8 – Pests and diseases

• Pest and disease overview
• Preventative measures for managing pest and disease
• Review of major pest problems and control options: Aphis, Borers, Caterpillar, Leaf Miner, Mealy Bug, Red Spider, Scale, etc
• Review of major diseases and their control: Anthracnose, Black Leg, Rots, Botrytis, Damping off, Die back, Mildew, Rust etc.
• Diagnosis of problems
• Introduction to plant pathology and entomology
• Chemical pesticides and basic toxicology
• Integrated pest management

Unit 9 – Pruning

• Reasons for pruning
• Identifying bud types
• Basic rules of pruning
• Pruning in a home orchard
• Terminology
• Winter pruning tools
• Examples of winter pruning; Crepe Myrtle, Hydrangea, Raspberry, Fuchsia, Kiwi Fruit, Grevillea, etc
• Rose pruning

Unit 10 – Landscaping

• Introduction and pre planning information
• Plant selection criteria
• Covering the ground
• Living plant cover
• Mulches
• Container growing outside
• General considerations
• Terminology

Unit 11 – Propagation

• Methods of propagation: seed propagation and vegetative propagation
• Propagation structures: cold frames
• Cutting propagation
• Factors affecting rooting of cuttings

Unit 12 – Lawns

• Turf grass varieties
• Review of common turf species
• Laying a new lawn
• Common turf problems
• Cultural techniques including watering, fertilizing, topdressing, aerating, pest and disease control.

Unit 13 – Arboriculture

• What is arboriculture
• How to keep trees healthy
• Where and how to cut trees to remove branches or prune
• Why remove a tree
• Ways to fell a tree
• Removing a stump
• Tree surgery; terms and techniques

• 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;
• No entry requirements;
• All course materials provided online – no textbooks to buy;
• Unlimited tutor support;
• Easy to understand course content;
• We offer twelve (12) months’ access, with extensions available upon application (fees apply);
• Certificate of Attainment/Completion issued for your CV (hard copy provided); and
• Course may be tax deductible; see your tax advisor.

The approximate study hours for this course is 50 hours. We offer twelve (12) months’ access, with extensions available upon application (fees apply).

While printed materials are not available for purchase, PDF copies are available for download and self-printing for this program.

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.

Yes! You will receive a Certificate of Attainment upon successful completion of your assessment.

No. All courses are delivered online via our e-learning system and there are no work placement requirements in this course.

Unlimited tutor support is available throughout your studies via email during business hours Monday to Friday. Our Administrative team are available Monday to Friday via email, live chat and telephone.

Yes! We accept enrolments from individuals both within Australia and internationally; location is no barrier to entry into our programs.