This is designed to develop a solid grounding in herb growing and the herb industry. Half of the course deals with general herb culture, including identification, soils, mulching, feeding, watering, propagation, pest & disease control, harvest, storage, processing, companion planting, nursery management and herb farming. The remainder of the course involves detailed studies of major groups of herbs such as: mints, thymes, lavenders, scented geraniums, garlic, roses, artemisias and parsley.

There are 12 lessons in this course:

1. Introduction To Herb Culture
2. Using Herbs
3. The Mints (Lamiaceae)
4. The Daisies (Asteraceae)
5. The Parsley Family (Apiaceae)
6. The Onion Group
7. Other Herbs
8. Pests & Diseases
9. Landscaping
10. Herb Farming I
11. Herb Farming II
12. Herb Farming III

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

• Differentiate between different varieties of herbs in cultivation.
• Explain the general cultural practices used for the growing of herbs.
• Determine harvest and post harvest techniques for herb crops, including processing, storage and use of herbs.
• Develop a production plan for a herb crop grown for harvesting.
• Develop a production plan for a herb nursery.
• Design a herb garden for a home or public garden.
• Evaluate the production of herbs or herb products in a commercial business.

• Distinguish, using illustrations and minimum but adequate comments; between major plant families which herbs belong to.
• Compile a resource file of fifty different sources of information regarding cultivated herbs.
• Prepare an herbarium collection of one hundred different herb varieties.
• Develop guidelines for the general culture of herbs in your locality.
• Explain six different propagation methods suitable for herbs, using illustrations.
• Demonstrate how to prepare cuttings for three different herb varieties.
• Propagate three different varieties of commercially farmed herbs, using appropriate, but different propagation techniques for each.
• Explain natural pest and disease control methods for a specified herb species.
• Explain the concept of companion planting, including three examples of proven companion planting interrelationships.
• Write a maintenance schedule for either a herb garden, nursery or farm.
• Describe two different harvesting techniques for herbs, by outlining the steps to follow for each.
• Determine criteria which are critical to success in the process of drying herbs.
• Compare two different drying processes for herbs, with reference to: *equipment used *procedure *cost.
• Produce two marketable herb products by harvesting, and processing material from a herb plant.
• Prepare five different herbal products for home use.

To learn how to enrol click here