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Level 2 RHS Certificate in Practical Horticulture

  • BERKSHIRE COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE
  • LEVEL 2
Horticulture course

Course Overview

The RHS Level 2 Certificate in Practical Horticulture is a vocational course suitable for those who wish to gain practical experience in a wide range of horticultural techniques.

It is suitable for:

Career changers looking to break into professional horticulture for the first time.

Professional horticulturists already working in horticulture and wanting to further develop their skills and knowledge.

Casual learners wanting to develop personal interest and progress to further horticultural study at Level 3.

The course is run face to face onsite at BCA. Please see details of the topics covered under the Modules tab.

Your place on this course won’t be secure until you have completed and submitted an application form and made payment over the phone with our admissions team.

*Please note our PM sessions will only open once our AM sessions are fully booked.

Course Code

XP2BRHS1B0

Course Fee
£1260.00
Start Time

09:00

End Time

12:30

End Date

Wed, 02 Jul 2025

Entry Requirements

There are no formal entry requirements but we would recommend that anyone wishing to enrol for this course has a minimum of English & Maths at Grad...

Course Code

XP2BRHS1B0

Course Fee
£1260.00
Start Time

09:00

End Time

12:30

End Date

Fri, 04 Jul 2025

Entry Requirements

There are no formal entry requirements but we would recommend that anyone wishing to enrol for this course has a minimum of English & Maths at Grad...

Course information

Plant Identification: provides the skills and knowledge to enable learners to identify a wide range of plants.

1. Plant identification

Plant Establishment: provides learners with the skills involved in the establishment of plants in containers and the open ground.

2. Site-based assessment

Preparing a site for planting
Position plants prior to planting
Seed sowing in the open ground
Establishing new hedge plantings
Planting in containers
Planting and staking standard trees
Labelling.
Plant Propagation: provides learners with the skills and underpinning knowledge to propagate plants professionally.

3.Environmental conditions

Selection and suitability of propagation equipment

4. Selection and sustainability of growing media

Propagating plants by seed in containers
Propagating plants by vegetative means
Equipment for propagation.
Plant Health: provides the skills to be able to identify and prevent a range of threats to plant health.

5.Ensuring plant health

Nutritional deficiencies
Monitoring, identifying, and controlling pests, pathogens, and diseases
Implementation of IPM/Garden Health Plans.
Plant Care: equips learners with the skills and knowledge to be able to implement garden maintenance plans.

6. Following maintenance plans

Water management
Fertiliser application
Staking and supporting
Promoting plant health
Mulching
Weed control
Potting off and potting on
Green waste management.
Plant Pruning: equips learners with the horticultural skills and knowledge to be able to prune a range of plants.

7.Principles of pruning

Pruning practices
Pruning hedges
Use and maintenance of hand tools and hedge trimmers.
Garden Features: provides learners with the skills and underpinning knowledge to be able to care for and maintain a wide range of garden features.

8. Principles of maintenance of garden features

Timber elements
Paved and hard surfaces
Plant supports
Pond maintenance.
Grassed Areas: provides learners with the skills required to establish and maintain grassed areas in private and public garden settings.

9. Turf species and seed mixes for different purposes

Establishing grassed areas
Mowing grassed areas
Scarifying/aerating
Weed control
Maintaining turf health
Repairing turf.

36 weeks

Face to face in the classroom plus practical sessions in the grounds and glasshouse

The assessment method for the Level 2 Certificate in Practical Horticulture will be one Online Competency Assessment Test – OCA and two Practical Assessment Tests – PCA.

The ‘Online Competency Assessment Test’ will be in June. The online test will be 75 minutes long and learners have to secure a minimum of 50% of the marks on this paper to pass this element. The online test represents 35% of the overall marks for the qualification.

The two ‘Practical Competency Assessment tests’ will be 2 hours long and conducted by a visiting RHS examiner. The first Assessment ‘PCA 1’ will be run at a date to be agreed between BCA and RHS sometime between January and March and the second one ‘PCA 2’ will be run sometime between May and July.

The Practical Competency Assessment tests provide the opportunity to physically demonstrate the skills acquired, the practical tests represent 65% of the total marks.

Anyone signing up for these courses must be available for the assessment tests which may or may not be run on the same day of the course they are signed up to.

All resits will be at an additional cost and may be held at another RHS centre.

On successful completion of the course you will have obtained an RHS Level 2 Certificate in Practical Horticulture

From this course, you will gain a range of horticultural skills and knowledge relevant to employment in various roles in the horticultural sector.

The qualification also supports progression to level 3 courses in horticulture or entry onto various horticultural training programmes.

Please note that whilst there are no formal prerequisites for entry to the RHS Level 3 qualification it is strongly recommended that students have studied the content covered by the Level 2 Certificate.

Level 2

Full details of the course contents are available on the RHS website.