Casual Gardener: Grand garden designs at Serc’s Holywood Campus

South Jap Regional School is giving a prospect to hone your garden design and style skills…

MOST gardeners are yard designers, no matter whether they realise it or not. Picking exactly where to position a distinct container or selecting which two vegetation do the job perfectly together is part of a procedure that seeks to maximise the influence of a house on the eye. When taken to extremes by the likes of Ability Brown, the 18th century landscaper, backyard garden design and style can require acres of land, enormous amounts of labour and thousands of plants. But fantastic design can be just as very important in a small house, in which planting and really hard landscaping can collectively create a look and ambiance that transcends its spot. This in numerous strategies encapsulates the obstacle to the yard designer, no matter whether its building a wild landscape at Chelsea or bringing tropical exotica to an urban back lawn.

If you happen to be intrigued in producing or perfecting your garden structure skills and really don’t reside far too far from South Eastern Regional College’s Holywood Campus, the university is launching what it conditions “the only course of its kind” in the north – an OCN degree 2 certificate in yard style. Serc’s associate horticulture lecturer Joanna Loane says the course is “suited for aspiring experienced garden designers for landscapers wishing to upskill and obtain a qualification, or for those people who want to get the capabilities to be able to structure their own backyard”.

With no prior gardening know-how necessary, learners will be schooled in surveying garden websites, discover to attract to scale, and include the principles of backyard garden structure and challenging landscaping. They will also establish their plant knowledge, understanding about plant assortment and the use of color and texture, even though also getting the prospect to study the work of influential garden designers, both equally historic and present-day.

“Back garden Style and design is a common and rising field with variables such as the improvements in way of life during the Covid lockdowns major people to take pleasure in their gardens in a complete new way,” states Joanna.

“Here at Serc we have been delivering profitable garden design programs considering that 2003, setting up on this encounter, this new program has been created with OCN NI to enable fulfil this increasing interest.”

Equipment-clever, Joanna says back garden structure practitioners “need only a basic amount of drawing equipment”.

She also insists that it’s going to go well with gardeners of all preferences: “Whether your preference is clear easy traces of extremely-contemporary gardens, or the informality of wildlife gardens, pupils will have the opportunity to develop their design techniques inside of their have place of desire.”

If you fancy oneself as the next Bunny Guinness (God forbid) or Diarmuid Gavin (Yikes) and dream of developing a haven for relaxation or something that’ll fulfill the requirements of a household, Serc’s program could be suitable up your gravel and crimson brick back garden route.

The program runs for three hours on a Tuesday morning each and every week at the Holywood Campus. Graduates will have the competencies to make style methods and layouts to suit any short, from a smaller backyard which must household refuse bins or a gas tank, appropriate by to greater landscapes.

You can find an choice to carry on into a 2nd year to reach an OCN Degree 2 Prolonged Diploma in backyard garden style and design (3 several hours on a Tuesday afternoon), which will involve studying back garden variations, plant and soil science and plant care. In the long run, learners could development to the RHS Stage 2 Plant Advancement and Progress also presented at SERC.

The course charges £277 for the 12 months, with a 25 per cent concession for those aged more than 60 and a even further concession for people who are qualified in receipt of gains.