Grow healthier plants working with nature, not against it.
Organic growing combines practical horticulture with an understanding of soil, plant nutrition, biodiversity and natural growing processes. This course explores how to establish productive gardens, improve soil health, manage pests and diseases naturally, propagate plants and grow a wide range of vegetables, fruits and other crops using organic principles.
Whether you are developing a productive home garden, interested in sustainable food production or simply want to understand how organic growing systems work, this course provides a comprehensive foundation in the principles and practices behind successful organic cultivation.
Do you have a passion for organic growing and want to find ways to improve your lifestyle?
Do you want to use safe methods of plant production?
This course is the place to start for the professional in this field or for the organic gardening enthusiast. Learn to plan and develop the cultivation of different plants using organic principles and techniques.
COURSE STRUCTURE
The ten lessons are as follows:
Lesson 1. Introduction to Organic Growing
- Scope and Nature of Organic Growing
- Definitions
- Influential People in the Organic Movement: Lady Balfour, Sir Albert Howard and Jerome Irving Rodale
- Different Ways to Garden Organically: Biodynamics and Permaculture
- Resources
Lesson 2. Plant Culture
- Different Cultivation Methods
- Crop Rotation
- Green Manure
- No-Dig Culture
- No-Till Culture
- Planting into Grass
Lesson 3. Understanding Soils
- Physical and Chemical Soil Properties
- Soil Profiles
- Identifying Soil Type
- Soil Structure
- pH
- Cation Exchange Capacity
- Buffering Capacity
- Soil Water and Air, Temperature, Humus and More
- Organic Matter
Lesson 4. Fertilisers and Plant Nutrition
- Organic Fertilisers: Scope, Nature and Comparison of Fertilisers and Manures
- Animal Manures
- Seaweed and Seaweed Extracts
- Liquid Feeds in Organic Growing
- Rock Dusts
Lesson 5. Management
- Importance of Soil
- Cultivation Techniques and Their Effects on Soil
- Cover Crops
- Using Cover Crops
- Green Manures as Cover Crops
- Nitrogen Fixation
- The Rhizobium Bacteria
- Mycorrhizae
- Composting
- Compost Bins
- What Can Be Composted
- Carbon-Nitrogen Ratio
- Compost Heap Conditions: Cold and Hot Heaps
- How to Build a Compost Heap
- Using Compost
- Water in the Soil: Infiltration, Retention, When to Water and Watering Periods
Lesson 6. Pests and Diseases
- Pest and Disease Prevention
- Management Techniques: Early Intervention and Using Predators
- Allowable Inputs
- Understanding Plant Problems
- Disease Lifecycles
- Review of Disease Types and Their Management
- Viruses
- Review of Pests and Their Management
- Review of Environmental Problems and Their Management
- Companion Planting
- Nutrient-Accumulating Plants
Lesson 7. Mulching
- Scope and Nature
- Mulching Materials
- Living Mulch
- Weed Management: Preventative Measures and Other Weed Control Methods
Lesson 8. Seeds
- Organic Seeds
- Reproduction
- Pollination and Preventing Cross-Pollination
- Choosing Seed Plants for Vegetable Crops
- Collecting, Cleaning and Storing Seeds
- Sowing
Lesson 9 . Vegetable Growing in Your Locality
- Site Selection
- Planning the Crop
- Getting the Most from a Vegetable Plot
- Sowing Vegetable Seeds: Outdoors and Indoors
- Transplanting Seedlings
- Crowns, Offsets and Tubers
- Selected Vegetables: Culture, Production and Harvest
- Broccoli
- Brussels Sprouts
- Beetroot
- Silver Beet
- Cabbage
- Capsicum
- Carrots
- Cauliflowers
- Celery
- Chicory
- Cucumbers
- Eggplant
- Kohlrabi
- Leek
- Lettuce
- Onions
- Parsnips
- Potatoes
- Pumpkins
- Radish
- Spinach
- Turnip
- Tomatoes
Lesson 10. Fruit Growing in Your Locality
- Establishing an Orchard: Site, Climate and Water
- Designing an Orchard
- Soil Management for Organic Orchards
- Winter Chilling, Pollination and Other Fruit Set Factors
- Choosing Fruit Varieties
- Temperate and Cool Climate Fruits
- Tropical and Subtropical Fruits
- Vine Fruits
- Berry Fruits
- Nuts
Career Opportunties & Labour Shortages!
Knowledge of organic growing is very useful across a range of horticulture, gardening, food production and sustainability settings. These skills are neccessary and in-demand!
Potential career and business pathways include:
- Organic gardener
- Horticultural assistant
- Nursery worker
- Market garden assistant
- Vegetable grower
- Fruit grower
- Community garden coordinator
- Garden maintenance worker
- Horticultural retail assistant
- Propagation and plant production worker
- Organic produce grower
- Small-scale food producer
- Urban agriculture worker
- Garden educator or workshop facilitator
- Organic gardening business or self-employment
Grow Your Knowledge - Grow Your Own Food.
Want to develop practical knowledge of organic growing and sustainable food production?
Learn how to work with soil, plants and natural growing systems to produce healthier, more productive gardens. Build your understanding of organic cultivation, from soil management and composting through to vegetables, fruit, pest management and plant propagation.
Start learning about organic growing today.