Learn to create vertical gardens and farms - small or large - to grow crops or decorative plants.

Lesson Structure

There are 7 lessons in this course:

1. NATURE AND SCOPE OF VERTICAL GROWING
   • Nature of vertical growing
   • Green walls
   • Green facades
   • Crop production
   • Scope of vertical growing
   • The uniqueness of vertical gardening
   • Where to grow
   • How to grow
   • Benefits of vertical gardening
   • Mental wellbeing
   • Physical health
   • Environment
   • Food production
   • Reasons to create a green wall
   • Understanding biophobia
   • Health problems of biophobic design
   • Review what you have been learning
2. BUILDING THE GREEN WALL
   • The living wall
   • Design and construction of green walls
   • Hydroponic systems
   • Loose media/substrate systems
   • Fixed media systems
   • Mat media
   • Sheet media
   • Customising
   • Waterproofing walls
   • Weight loading
   • Irrigation
   • Drainage
   • Lighting
   • Nutrition
   • Other design considerations
   • Green wall design
   • Design considerations
3. GREEN FACADES
   • The green façade
   • Options for creating green facades
   • Some techniques in detail
   • Climbing plants
   • Hanging baskets
   • Window boxes
   • Epiphytes
   • Espaliers
   • Growing plants on trellis
   • Hedges
   • Wall shrubs
   • Green facade preparation
   • More on epiphytes
   • Succulents in green walls
4. VERTICAL FOOD PRODUCTION
   • Making use of vertical crop growing
   • Hydroponics
   • Nft systems
   • Alternative layouts for vertical nft systems
   • Nft system choices
   • Aeroponics
   • Gravel and loose culture
   • Aquaponics
   • Mushroom farms
   • Upright systems
   • Growing in protective structures
   • Greenhouse hydroponics
   • Design considerations
   • Temperature
   • Relative humidity and vapour pressure deficit
   • CO2 and O2
   • Water
   • Plant nutrients
   • Control of the environment
   • Artificial lighting
   • Outdoor vertical food gardens
   • Growing cucurbits in vertical systems
   • Cultural methods
5. AUTOMATION
   • The need for automation
   • Automated systems
   • Irrigation and fertiliser
   • Automated irrigation systems for green walls
   • Fertigation of green walls
   • Monitoring vertical growing systems
   • Optimum air quality
   • Drone inspections
   • Cation exchange capacity
   • Measuring ec levels
   • Measuring ph levels
   • Automated irrigation of hydroponic green walls
   • Ph tests for hydroponics
   • Ec testing
   • Automatic ec and ph testing and control
   • Irrigation pumps
6. MAINTENANCE
   • The range of maintenance tasks
   • Inspection tasks
   • Maintenance tasks
   • Maintenance of plants
   • The nature of plants
   • Watering climbers
   • Feeding
   • Mulching
   • Pruning and rejuvenating plants
   • Maintaining plants in containers
   • Watering
   • Feeding
   • Re-potting
   • Maintenance of hanging baskets
   • Problems with containers
   • Maintenance of hard landscape components
   • Maintaining plant health
   • Symptoms and diagnosis
   • How to conduct an inspection
   • Symptoms of nutrient deficiency
   • Pests and diseases problems
   • Occupational health and safety
   • Duty of care
   • Risk assessment
   • Identifying hazards and risk
   • Example of a risk assessment procedure
   • Work place safety
   • Safety with tools and equipment
   • General safety rules
   • Maintaining vertical gardens and farms
   • Maintenance issues when retrofitting green walls
   • Avoiding problem materials which increase maintenance
7. PLANT SELECTION
   • Planting considerations
   • Plants for green walls
   • Plants for green facades
   • Climbers to grow on trellis
   • Wall shrubs
   • Plants for hanging baskets
   • Plants for window boxes
   • Plants for hedging
   • Plants for vertical farms
   • Growing strawberries in vertical farms
   • Organic of cultivation of strawberries in green wall containers

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.