PICTURES: Biodiversity skills blossom in new Tipperary ETB horticulture course

On April 11, 2022, a Horticultural and Landscape operative course commenced at ETB Archerstown, Thurles.

This was the first of its kind to be introduced at this complex. A group of ten signed up for this three-month course, comprising of seven men and three women from a range of age groups.

Each of the students had varying knowledge or experience of gardening and horticulture, but all had a keen interest in the decline of biodiversity internationally.

Research now suggests a loss of biodiversity appears to affect eco-systems to the same extent as climate change, and with this in mind, each of the students were keen to gain knowledge in the area of organics and stem the decline of biodiversity.

The course consisted of three modules, Soil Science, Plant Protection and Plant Propagation.

Prior to the arrival of the students, a polytunnel was erected on the site of an enclosed garden and in the intervening months, through the work of the students, under the guidance of their dedicated tutor, paved pathways, extended planting areas, pergola, rockeries and many other garden features were constructed.

Alongside with these activities, further knowledge was gained in the area of organics from the many and varied day trips that were organized on behalf of the students.

These trips included visits to Seed Savers in Scarriff, Co Clare, The Apple Farm in Cahir and to an organic farm in Killaloe, where the students were introduced to a hands-on approach to organic farming. From the knowledge gained on these trips, it was decided to facilitate pollinators on site at Archerstown by introducing a no-cut policy of green areas surrounding the garden and further to this insect (bug) hotel was put in place to aid the pollination of the many fruit trees planted by the said, students.

As a follow-on from the initial three-month course and due to the collective interest of the group, other modules were introduced, including Hard Landscaping, Plant Identification, Plans Science and Organic Production, which allowed the course to be extended for a further four months.

These new modules provided an insight into the area of garden design, stone wall building and plant identification and proved to be both popular and of huge interest to each of the students involved.

Together with the practical side to this course, there was a theory element also, with assignments to be done, exams to be sat, and projects undertaken.

These proved to be a huge learning experience to each participant, such as gaining an awareness of the benefits of research, to learning and using the various tools available on the computers provided and learning to engage and work as a team atvarious times. The course ends on December 2 following one week’s work experience and a final exam, and the general and overall consensus of the students involved is that it was well presented, extremely enjoyable, and would highly recommend this course to others.