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RHS Courses

Has anyone studied for an RHS Level 2 course online / distance learning and if so who did you go with, and was it worth it? I can't afford to take time off the day job to study full time (or day release) so distance/online learning is something I'm looking at. Cheers.

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  • I did the distance learning about 3 years ago.  I only really did it because I had no specific gardening qualifications and a couple of customers had asked about my qualifications.  I did not find it useful at all really and found I learned far more by just doing the job.  It seemed to be learning a lot of scientific plant names that have never really helped me

    • Thanks for the reply Simon. Who did you study with?

      I was looking at this course http://www.hccollege.co.uk/index.php/course/become-a-garden-designer which is supposed to be more design orientated.

      • b.e.s.t. in horticulture, then did the exams at winchester

        Both were good and very helpful

      • Ive just started the principles of horticulture with these. Really interesting and informative but not to sure when I'd actually need to know most of it.
  • Is there no place that does the course in the evenings? I did that on a Tuesday and Thursday night and the odd half day on a Saturday for the hands on stuff. I am a visual hands on learner that's why I went for the physical course. However, if they did not have the evening courses I would have done it online.

    I found it interesting, you also get homework.

    Its important to understand the latin names as that's the only way to ensure the customer gets the plant, shrub or tree they want. I don't know all the latin names but it definitely helps when ordering plants.

    If you do go online, before you sign up make sure you can take the examination somewhere, because the colleges no longer offer this. That's another reason why I did not do online. Their reasoning: They get paid when students pass by the government. So they want to ensure the students have been taught correctly and will pass the exams. If the student studied outside the college and then does not pass its a mark against the college, bringing down their overall scores. So it was nearly impossible to find a place to sit the exam locally. 

    • From my experience of the RHS courses i would say it depends what your background experience is and how long you have been in the trade.

      The RHS lvl 1/2/3 say they are aimed at the unqualified pro gardener but i would suggest that they are aimed at 50 year plus women who want to learn more about there home gardening.Though on the upside the level 2 at least covers some areas that are more useful (assuming you are doing the theory side?).

      I would also suggest to you that plant pest and weed id is very important as its hard to weed if you dont know which are weeds, its hard to prune if you dont know your plants( If the customer asks to to cut hard back a specific shrub it doesnt look pro to ask them to point to it) and hard to work out what is going wrong if something starts to die (Though 'It looks like a physiological disorder' will win the prize on most days lol)

      Hope thats of some help to you

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