Course curriculum

    1. A short survey before we begin..

    2. Welcome from Andy

      FREE PREVIEW

    3. Welcome from Andy

      FREE PREVIEW

    1. 4.5 billion years years. Easy!

    2. What we are trying to address with a change in our gardening methods?

    3. True or False?

    4. What is the extinction crisis and why has it happened? - A history of extinctions

      FREE PREVIEW

    5. Britain and its human story

    6. Keystone species

    7. Top of the food chain

    8. The effect on megafauna as humans spread across the globe

    9. The Holocene - 11,700 years ago (MIS 1)

    10. The Anthropocene

    11. Climate change

    1. Biodiversity

    2. Biodiversity quiz!

    3. Why do we need biodiversity?

    4. How does a lack of biodiversity affect us?

    5. Can we do anything to increase species numbers and diversity?

    1. Plants, insects and how they live together

    2. True or False?

    3. What is a native plant?

    4. Why garden with native plants?

    5. The benefits that native plants offer to our ecology.

    6. If a plant has been here for a long time, can it be called a native?

    7. Where do ornamental plants (neophytes) fit in?

    8. What is a weed?

    9. Our part to play in rewilding

    1. Can we carry on gardening as we have been, or is it time for a change?

    2. Gardening quiz!

    3. Some terms that we might come across

    4. Pesticides (insecticides herbicides and fungicides)

    5. Imported plants

    6. Invasive plants

    7. Why buy home grown plants?

    8. Why should we think twice before using peat in the garden?

    9. Plant cultivars and hybrids - sacrificing nature for an enhanced aesthetic

    1. Understanding what we have in our gardens

    2. The how many quiz?

    3. Observing, identifying and recording our garden species

    4. Basic botany

    5. Observing

    6. Identifying

    7. Recording

About this course

  • £47.00
  • 81 lessons
  • 0.5 hours of video content

Garden with nature, starting today

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Who's the course for?

An Introduction to The Natural Garden course is for anyone who would like to work more closely with the natural systems of ecology in gardens under their care.

  • Beginner gardeners

    If you're just starting out gardening and want to garden with nature in mind, this course will give you a good foundation to start

  • Experienced gardeners

    Professional or hobbyist alike, the information in this course will give you a better understanding of working in a sympathetic way with nature

  • Garden designers

    If you want to work with nature in the gardens that you create then this course will work to support you in your practice

Why take An Introduction to The Natural Garden course?

  • Learn how to work with nature to create a regenerative garden

  • Study from the comfort of your own home in your own time

  • Experience 9 course sections each with introductory videos

  • Concessions available, please contact Andy for more info

  • Various charities supported with a minimum 5% of course fees given to deserving charities

Instructor

Instructor Bio:

I have been working professionally with gardens since studying organic horticulture in 2003. My passion for the outdoors and the benefits that I believe that nature can give us led me to design, build and look after gardens over a 20 year period. As Associate Horticultural Producer of the BBC1 garden makeover TV show, Garden Rescue, I also managed the builds of well over a 100 gardens. I studied horticulture at Bristol Botanic Gardens and am a Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) accredited designer. My work in bringing nature to people's gardens has shown me that nature is in need of us too. I now seek to understand, comment and educate on gardening to support biodiversity.

Andy Dean

Owner and Founder The Natural Garden

Make a difference for nature in your garden today

Enrol today