Horticulture Courses

Plant the seeds to success with a Horticulture course!

If you have a green thumb and love to work outdoors, a career in Horticulture could be the perfect choice for you. There is a good selection of courses available to fit almost any schedule, and you can be qualified in a job that you love in almost no time.

Graduates can work in the private sector, on estates and in gardens, as well as pursuing careers in museums and the public sector. There is much more to a career in horticulture than meets the eye.

What does a job in Horticulture entail?

Horticulture is the science of plants. In a practical sense, this means working outdoors with trees and flowers. It can include landscaping and decoration. It is perfect for practical people with an artistic flair.

For the more scientific, horticulture can extend in the agricultural landscape too. Working with growers to maximise food production is another possible outcome for qualified horticulturalists.

A beautiful community can result in a higher quality of life for those that live in the area, so working in this field can make a big difference to where you live and work too.

What will I learn?

A course In horticulture will equip students with all the knowledge of design for a range of different settings. These can include traditional areas like parks and gardens. It can also include locations such as sports facilities and office complexes.

It will include:

• Identification of plants
  o Uses of plants and why we grow what we grow
• Work Practices
  o How to grow plants, and the best methods to do so.
• The science of growing
  o This includes learning to use common tools and techniques to maximise growing
• Propagation
• Design
  o Students will learn to design displays and landscapes.
  o This will also include IT features, so graduates will be able to produce detailed plans before beginning work
• Health and Safety
  o Like many practical jobs, there is a strong culture of health and safety, particularly when working with machinery.

Modern ideas within horticulture, such as environmentalism and sustainability will also play a strong role in learning. Students will leave the course with a strong understanding of the challenges of modern growing. This also extends to food production, and the ethics of growing a sustainable food supply in the 21 st Century.

Designing spaces that combat pollution also factors into learning. For the environmentally conscious, a course in horticulture can help them make a difference to the fight against global warming by designing and building ethical, green spaces.

What can I do once I’ve finished?

At the end of your course, it can be expected that you will leave with a good understanding of the field. This will allow you to choose what you do next.

If you would like to work in the public sector, cultivating parks, gardens and museums, you will have the knowledge and understanding to create impressive open spaces (or indoor features) that will look beautiful and serve an education purpose. If you would like to work in the private sector, you will have the knowledge to join an existing business.

Should you wish to start your own horticultural enterprise, you will have the knowledge of the industry to do so. While most courses do not cover the business, skills needed to run your own business, you will be off to a good start regardless.

Whatever your reason for choosing to make a difference to our planet, a course in horticulture is a fantastic way to do it, in the most striking way possible.