Sneak Peek
Vertical Farming and Vertical Gardening
GROW MORE FOOD in a controlled environment using less space!
Course Code: SGH11
Course Duration: 20 hours (minimum, self paced study, commonly 2 to 8 weeks, less or longer as you need)
Vertical farming and vertical gardening have so many benefits - including being able to grow more plants in a smaller space, controlling factors such as light, amount of nutrients, and water, and using less pesticides on your plants. The popularity of vertical faming has increased over recent years with more and more people wanting to grow their own food without the risk of their crops being damaged due to more unpredictable weather occurrences such as drought, flooding, and extreme temperatures.
This course is ideal for providing you with the essentials of starting a vertical garden, whether for a large commercial crop or for your own small self-sufficient, or off-grid, set-up. You will learn the benefits of vertical gardening, how you can build you own green wall, all about green facades, how to grow your own food using vertical farming production techniques and systems, how to automate your system, things will need to do to maintain your system, and even plants that will grow well using this technique.
Growing plants up walls also has great benefits for the health of people and our carbon footprint in towns and cities. Plants act as insulators against summer heat and winter cold. They reduce the heat island effect, trap airborne dust and toxic particles, and take carbon out of the atmosphere.
When you complete this course, you will also have a handy reference guide to refer to for troubleshooting. If you are keen, you could complete this course and start your own vertical farm in a few days.
What's INSIDE the course?
Course Content:
This course spans seven lessons. At the end of each lesson, there is an online self-assessment test. When you have completed all 7 lessons, you will be presented with a longer test, covering all of the course content.
When you successfully complete this test, you can download your Certificate of Completion.
LESSON 1 NATURE AND SCOPE OF VERTICAL GROWING
- Nature of vertical growing
- Green walls
- Green facades
- Crop production
- Scope of vertical growing
- The uniqueness of vertical gardening
- Where to grow
- How to grow
- Benefits of vertical gardening
- Mental wellbeing
- Physical health
- Environment
- Food production
- Reasons to create a green wall
- Understanding biophobia
- Health problems of biophobic design
- Review what you have been learning
LESSON 2 BUILDING THE GREEN WALL
- The living wall
- Design and construction of green walls
- Hydroponic systems
- Loose media/substrate systems
- Fixed media systems
- Mat media
- Sheet media
- Customising
- Waterproofing walls
- Weight loading
- Irrigation
- Drainage
- Lighting
- Nutrition
- Other design considerations
- Green wall design
- Design considerations
LESSON 3 GREEN FACADES
- The green façade
- Options for creating green facades
- Some techniques in detail
- Climbing plants
- Hanging baskets
- Window boxes
- Epiphytes
- Espaliers
- Growing plants on trellis
- Hedges
- Wall shrubs
- Green facade preparation
- More on epiphytes
- Succulents in green walls
LESSON 4 VERTICAL FOOD PRODUCTION
- Making use of vertical crop growing
- Hydroponics
- NFT systems
- Alternative layouts for vertical nft systems
- NFT system choices
- Aeroponics
- Gravel and loose culture
- Aquaponics
- Mushroom farms
- Upright systems
- Growing in protective structures
- Greenhouse hydroponics
- Design considerations
- Temperature
- Relative humidity and vapour pressure deficit
- CO2 and O2
- Water
- Plant nutrients
- Control of the environment
- Artificial lighting
- Outdoor vertical food gardens
- Growing cucurbits in vertical systems
- Cultural methods
LESSON 5 AUTOMATION
- The need for automation
- Automated systems
- Irrigation and fertiliser
- Automated irrigation systems for green walls
- Fertigation of green walls
- Monitoring vertical growing systems
- Optimum air quality
- Drone inspections
- Cation exchange capacity
- Measuring EC levels
- Measuring pH levels
- Automated irrigation of hydroponic green walls
- PH tests for hydroponics
- EC testing
- Automatic EC and pH testing and control
- Irrigation pumps
LESSON 6 MAINTENANCE
- The range of maintenance tasks
- Inspection tasks
- Maintenance tasks
- Maintenance of plants
- The nature of plants
- Watering climbers
- Feeding
- Mulching
- Pruning and rejuvenating plants
- Maintaining plants in containers
- Watering
- Feeding
- Re-potting
- Maintenance of hanging baskets
- Problems with containers
- Maintenance of hard landscape components
- Maintaining plant health
- Symptoms and diagnosis
- How to conduct an inspection
- Symptoms of nutrient deficiency
- Pests and diseases problems
- Occupational health and safety
- Duty of care
- Risk assessment
- Identifying hazards and risk
- Example of a risk assessment procedure
- Work place safety
- Safety with tools and equipment
- General safety rules
- Maintaining vertical gardens and farms
- Maintenance issues when retrofitting green walls
- Avoiding problem materials which increase maintenance
LESSON 7 PLANT SELECTION
- Planting considerations
- Plants for green walls
- Plants for green facades
- Climbers to grow on trellis
- Wall shrubs
- Plants for hanging baskets
- Plants for window boxes
- Plants for hedging
- Plants for vertical farms
- Growing strawberries in vertical farms
- Organic of cultivation of strawberries in green wall containers
Who This Course Is For
Garden designers, permaculture practitioners, horticulture consultants, building planners, town planners, architects, and landscapers with an interest in helping to create sustainable cities.
Other professionals who can build vertical growing into their work like horticulture therapists, ecotherapists, farmers, and greenhouse growers.
Entrepreneurs considering food production from vertical farming.
People who wish to grow their own produce and reduce the heat island effect around their homes.
Thinking of Enrolling? Get in Touch
Our friendly staff understand the importance of making the right choices when it comes to studying.
We want to help you choose the right course whether it is for personal interest, upskilling, professional development, a new career, or a career change.
Contact us and let us guide you on your learning pathway.
Email us at admin@acs.edu.au | Call us on (07) 5562 1088