A Year in the Garden
Part-time course
Next start date: september 2025
“Really enjoyable course which I would recommend to anyone wanting to really understand how to get the best from their garden and make it look attractive the whole year round. Lots of useful advice, tips, etc, and an inclusive friendly atmosphere pitched at just the right level.”
Pete W (Year in the Garden 2022-23, Herne Hill)
course outline
A part-time horticulture course following the gardening year while teaching the key skills and knowledge you need to become a better gardener
- enhance your understanding of the theory of horticulture
- actively increase your plant knowledge
- improve your gardening skills
- weekly classes with small class sizes in friendly, relaxed settings
- detailed and robust horticultural teaching combined with wider discussion including students’ real-life gardening queries throughout the year
- practical sessions and field trips
- seasonal maintenance planning and guidance
- home study tasks to supplement classroom learning
- preparation for our Foundation Certificate qualification
Play video to find out more about the course:
Video by @shellynel
what you will learn
Key Topics
Plant science
Basics of plant science; health & nutrition; propagation & care; pests & diseases; lifecycles & nomenclature
Skills
Soils; seeds; cuttings; propagation; planting; pruning
Gardens
Design principles; styles; garden planning; soft & hard landscaping
Maintenance
Annual planting; pruning; soil improvement; wildlife management; seasonal gardening
While some lessons do tackle specific areas of the syllabus, all of these topics are woven into the theory and practical sessions throughout the year, always with an eye on what the home/amateur gardener will (or should) be doing in their garden that week.
Core Fundamentals
The following core teaching will underpin all of our lessons and topics.
Plants, plants and more plants ...
Our rigorous and comprehensive plant identification programme aims to significantly increase students' plant knowledge. Students will learn the names and habits of hundreds of the most common plants encountered by the London gardener in the course of the year.
Sustainability
All of our topics and lessons are strongly rooted in a commitment to sustainable, resource efficient practice.
Practicals and Field Trips
This is a classroom-based course though with plenty of plants and practical sessions both in and around the classroom. There are also termly field trips to local public or private gardens in SE London and other places of interest.
Experts and Guest Speakers
A wide range of specialist guests and tutors are regularly invited to join lessons and share their expertise. Recent guests have included experts in propagation, fruit & vegetable growing, bees and pollination, trench composting and garden design as well as the owner of a popular local garden centre. Recent trips have also included exclusive talks from professional gardeners such as the head gardeners of the Horniman Museum Garden and the Sky Garden in central London.
Assignments and Assessments
There will be regular assessments to ensure learning outcomes are being met. You will also be expected to complete one short assignment each term.
At least one assignment over the three terms will be a practical one based in students’ own gardens although there is lots of scope for this to be undertaken in a friend’s garden or other borrowed space.
Qualification
The course is not exam-based but there will be opportunities throughout to test knowledge and to demonstrate understanding and competence. Satisfactory attendance and participation, completion of the assessments and assignments and demonstration of plant knowledge and practical competence will qualify you for the London School of Horticulture Foundation Certificate. The curriculum is designed to be accessible and inclusive whatever your educational background, not to trip you up, and full support will be given to help everyone meet the requirements of the Certificate.
what our students say
We asked some of our students what they thought of the course ...
Play video to hear more from some of our students:
Video by @shellynel
entry require-ments
entry requirements
Interest in Gardening
You do not need any previous training or horticultural qualifications to undertake this course, we all started somewhere and an interest in gardening is a great starting point.
Availability
You will need to be available to attend lessons one day per week at one of our SE London centres, for the full year (three terms) starting September and finishing early July.
Spoken/written English
You will need to have good enough English language and written skills to follow a certificate level course including some short written tests and a final assessment
Study time
You will need a commitment to completing 'homework' assignments between lessons and to learning the names and characteristics of a short list of plants every week during termtime.
days & times
Daytime Courses
Herne Hill (Rosendale)
Tuesdays 10.30am – 2.30pm
Telegraph Hill
Fridays 10.30am – 2.30pm
Evening Course
Herne Hill (Station Hall)
Mondays 5pm – 7pm
There will be no Monday evening class for the 2024-25 year. The evening class will be back in September 2025.
Our shorter evening classes follow the same core syllabus as the daytime courses with some of the broader content condensed and with fewer practical sessions (and no field trips except in summer). This is reflected in the lower price for the evening class. All essential material is covered, though a commitment to undertaking all the homework and self-study tasks is important on this pathway in order to reach Foundation Certificate level.
dates
Daytime Courses
Herne Hill (Rosendale Rd)- Tuesdays 10.30am – 2.30pm
NEXT START: September 2025
Telegraph Hill – Fridays 10.30am – 2.30pm
NEXT START: September 2025
Evening Course
Herne Hill (Station Hall) – Mondays 5-7pm
NEXT START: September 2025
There will be no Monday evening class for the 2024-25 year. The evening class will be back in September 2025.
We have three terms of 11-12 weeks, with Christmas and Easter breaks of 4 weeks.
Each term includes a half-term ‘home-study break’ where there will be no in-person class but there will be a study assignment to be completed and submitted from home (you will be able to choose online or on paper). These study breaks co-incide with the school half terms. In line with the local secondary schools, the study break will be two weeks in the autumn term and one week in the spring and summer terms.
tutors
This course is led by our Director of Studies Dr Mima Taylor, with some topics covered by specialist guest tutors.
costs
2024-25 are shown here as an indication. 2025-26 fees are expected to be in the same range and will be confirmed in Spring 2025.
Enrolment opens mid-late April.
Pay by the Term
£250 registration deposit
plus fees:
Daytime Courses
Evening Course
£830
per term
not running
2024-25
Deposit payable on enrolment. Fees payable termly, due before the beginning of each term.
Full Year
£250 registration deposit
plus fees:
Daytime Courses
Evening Course
£2,390
per year
not running
2024-25
Deposit payable on enrolment. Fees payable in two instalments with the last one due before the first half term break.
All bookings must be confirmed with a deposit payment of £250*.
* Deposit fully refundable if the course is cancelled or does not go ahead as advertised (eg due to Covid). It is non-refundable if the course goes ahead as advertised but the student chooses to cancel, although it may in exceptional circumstances be transferrable to another or later course.
costs
2023-24 fees are shown here as an indication. 2024-25 fees are expected to be in the same range and will be confirmed in Spring 2024.
By registering you will be signing up for the full year and can choose whether to pay termly (three further payments) or to get a small discount by paying annually in two further instalments with the last one due in October
Pay by the Term
£150 registration deposit
plus fees:
Daytime Courses
Evening Course
£730
per term
£475
per term
Deposit payable on enrolment. Fees payable termly, due before the beginning of each term.
Full Year
£150 registration deposit
plus fees:
Daytime Courses
Evening Course
£2,110
per year
£1,375
per year
Deposit payable on enrolment. Fees payable in two instalments with the last one due before the first half term break.
All bookings must be confirmed with a deposit payment of £150*.
* Deposit fully refundable if the course is cancelled or does not go ahead as advertised (eg due to Covid). It is non-refundable if the course goes ahead as advertised but the student chooses to cancel, although it may in exceptional circumstances be transferrable to another or later course.
costs
Fees shown for 2023-24
(entry September 2023)
Pay by the Term
£150 registration deposit
plus fees:
Daytime Courses
Evening Course
£720
per term
£455
per term
Deposit payable on enrolment. Fees payable termly, due before the beginning of each term.
Full Year
£150 registration deposit
plus fees:
Daytime Courses
Evening Course
£2,160
per year
£1,365
per year
Deposit payable on enrolment. Fees payable in two instalments with the last one due before the first half term break.
All bookings must be confirmed with a deposit payment of £150*.
* Deposit fully refundable if the course is cancelled or does not go ahead as advertised (eg due to Covid). It is non-refundable if the course goes ahead as advertised but the student chooses to cancel, although it may in exceptional circumstances be transferrable to another or later course.
locations
Herne Hill (Rosendale)
Rosendale Allotments Community Building
Rosendale Allotments
227 Rosendale Road,
London SE21 8LP
Herne Hill (station hall)
Station Hall
above Herne Hill Station
Railton Road,
Herne Hill,
London, SE24 0JW
Telegraph Hill
The Garden Room at Telegraph Hill Centre
Telegraph Hill Centre
Kitto Road,
London, SE14 5TY