Plant Propagation Course

Learn how to propagate, produce and grow your own garden plants & gardens with our home & garden short courses in Sydney!

This is where the real gardeners live - growing and propagating their own plants. Join this class to propagate a diverse range of plants to use in your own garden, and learn the process for quickly growing an abundance of healthy herbs, flowers, greenery and vegetable produce - these are the practical gardening skills that generate new life.

This class will give you access to modern propagation tools and equipment, a variety of stock plants to propagate from, along with ancient and effective methods of plant propagation that have been tried and tested for generations. Propagation helps to identify and select the perfect plants for your garden spaces, as you get to know which plants are sturdy and reliable.

The program will provide you with advice and recommendations, and reliable methods of care and maintenance of your indoor and outdoor green friends, as well as taking home some gifts of your successful propagation experiences.

There are many benefits from undertaking this propagation and growing course for home gardeners.

Firstly, plants are produced cheaply compared to the retail nursery or supermarket prices. Secondly, plants are produced in significantly large numbers so that gardens get filled right from the start. Thirdly, you learn the transferable skills and confidence to apply the knowledge to other plants. Fourthly, the changes of the season bring different challenges and experiences, so planning for the seasonality is important. Enjoy the summer vibes. Winter is coming !

And, you have the self-satisfaction of starting and nurturing plants from their very beginnings. The course adapts over the year to provide seasonal relevance and freshness.

Bring your gardening knowledge and excess plants to class to share with the group. In the gardening world, we all learn from diverse sources and experiences.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this Plant Propagation course, you should be able to:

• Perform a range of plant propagation methods and techniques
• Propagate a wide range of plant material
• Grow plants from seeds, cuttings and divisions
• Establish and maintain new plant life, in a variety of propagating mediums
• Select and match appropriate propagation processes with compatible plants
• Apply transferable horticultural skills to other plants and gardens

Course content

What will be covered in this Plant Propagation course,

Learn the diverse methods of plant propagation:

• The fast and furious methods
• The deliberately slow and sure methods
• When to use scissors, and when to use an axe
• When water won’t drown a plant
• Why seeds are so tough and so cheap

We look at these methods: seeds, cuttings (leaf, stem, rhizome & root), and division.

We look at pollination as a propagation method.

We cover:

• the 8 easy steps to sowing seed
• transplanting seedlings
• the diversity of plants that will propagate in water
• the rapid division of fibrous-rooted plants
• practical examples of plant propagation
• what a propagation nursery mini-tour looks like

Session 1

• Practical types of propagation: 
  • propagation from seed, 
  • propagation by separation,
  • propagation by division,
  • propagation by rhizome division.
• Propagation mixes - versions of mixtures of potting mix
• Nutrition, watering, care & maintenance of propagated material

Practical sessions:

TBA

Break

Session 2

• Practical types of propagation:
  • propagation from stem cuttings, 
  • propagation by root division,
  • propagation from leaf cuttings.
• Growing plants from division, separation and layering.
• Special plants: water, succulents, bonsai, cacti.

Practical sessions:

TBA

Intended audience

Who is this Plant Propagation course for?

This course is for people with or without green thumbs, with or without big enough garden spaces, or people with problem areas that need fixing up, and they don’t know where to start, or how to do it. It’s for people who want to be gardeners and find out how, and who want to bypass making rookie mistakes or throwing away good money on bad products. If that’s you, whether you are renting or owning, we can find a solution for your garden spaces.

Course venue

Rozelle Campus

2A Gordon Street, Rozelle NSW 2039 (corner of Gordon St & Victoria Rd in the grounds of St. Joseph's Church)

Course materials

What to bring to class

• Gardening gloves (tight fit is better for gardening work)
• A face mask (to protect against potting mix/garden soil bacteria like Legionella)
• Sharp secateurs / garden snips/scissors or kitchen scissors
• Small hand spade tool
• Small bag to carry small pots
• Wet weather gear / sun hat if required