Begin Your Environmental Gardening Journey in Central London
Launch a sustainable career path with our accredited courses
Accredited by City & Guilds, our part-time Level 1 Environmental Gardening Diploma course is a great starting point for your gardening journey. With our environmental edge, we support students into work and further study, including a pathway to our Level 2 course. You’ll join us at our award-winning, biodiverse site to dig into the practicals of environmental gardening and begin your journey.
Winter Term
Introductions to caring for planted areas and identifying weeds
Potting up new seedlings, and planting out bulbs
Understanding how and why to test soil pH, and maintain hand tools
What the course covers
Spring Term
Preparing soil for sowing or planting, and learning how and why to use mulch
Understanding how and when to water
Planting out, including lifting and dividing
Summer Term
How to sow seeds, and care for them as they grow
Understanding and identifying annual plants and herbaceous perennials
Understanding and identifying trees and shrubs
These units are subject to change
Our Practical Approach
As a vocational qualification, your course is assessed by your teachers and Walworth Garden Assessors. Unlike other Horticulture courses, this course has no long exams - great for anyone looking to get hands-on experience. The majority of the assessment will see our team observing you carrying out practical tasks while asking questions about the work. There will be a short written exam at the end of a few of the units and no coursework.
Course Structure
Our Environmental Gardening course teaches the City & Guilds Practical Horticulture Skills qualification with an environmental edge. The course is broken down into three 14 week terms and you will need to attend all terms to gain the Diploma qualification.
The Level 1 course runs part-time on a Friday each week
Would you like to support others to do this course? We’re always looking for generous individuals or organisations who recognise how vital the future of our sector is, and are able to fund, even in small part, our learning opportunities for Londoners. If this is something you might be interested in, please get in touch via info@walworthgarden.org.uk.
Start Dates
The next term will begin in September 2025. If you are interested in joining us please complete the relevant form below.
Funded Places
We have a number of free places on these courses available to unemployed and/or low income Southwark residents, which also come with other support offerings to help you into employment. Please complete the registration of interest linked below, and we can check your eligibility and send you more information. Further information on this process can be found in the FAQ section alongside the registration form.
Have a question not covered above? Find our FAQs here
Self-Funded Places
Don’t meet this criteria but want to self-fund?
Course places are also available on a paid basis. To find out more and apply click below: