Practical Gardening: Garden Fundamentals

Course Schedule (may be subject to modification)

1. Friday 18 October 2024 - Getting to know the soil
2. Friday 1 November 2024 - Weeds - the good, the bad and the ugly
3. Friday 15 November 2024 - Revitalising poor soils
4. Friday 29 November 2024 - Garden design
5. Friday 13 December 2024 - Looking after your roots

*** CHRISTMAS BREAK ***

1. Friday 10 January 2025 - Pruning and winter care
2. Friday 24 January 2025 - Pests and disease (and what to do about them!)
3. Friday 7 February 2025 - Propagating seeds and cuttings
4. Friday 21 February 2025 - The gardening year
5. Friday 7 March 2025 - Choosing the right plants

For all sessions please bring gardening gloves. For other sessions you might need a trowel and/or secateurs. Sets of these are available at garden and DIY stores, and online.

Introducing Sarah Foss, Tutor

Play video

Sarah Foss began studying horticulture in 2005 when she started working with disabled people helping them to overcome ongoing mental ill-health by accessing gardening. From there, she moved on to run gardening projects for Age UK Merton and for EcoLocal, an environmental charity in south London, becoming one of their sessional tutors, delivering practical courses on food production, fruit growing and pruning, fruit grafting, and organic gardening.

In 2018 she was awarded the RHS Level 3 Diploma with distinction and moved on to work for disability charity Share Community as Senior Tutor, delivering horticultural training to disabled adults.

In 2022 Sarah was awarded the RHS Master of Horticulture degree, passing with Distinction and winning the Chittenden Award for gaining the highest grades in her year. As well as teaching at Imperial, she is a tutor for EcoLocal and Sutton Parks Department and is an assessor of students for the RHS.

Rate Categories and Discounts

Standard Rate

• Available to all except those who fall under the Internal Rate or Associate Rate category.

Internal Rate

• Current Imperial College students and staff (incl. Imperial NHS Trust, Imperial Innovations, ancillary & service staff employed on long-term contracts at Imperial College by third-party contractors)
• People enrolling under our Friends & Family scheme
• Alumni of Imperial College and predecessor colleges and institutes, including City & Guilds College Association members
• Students, staff and alumni of the Royal College of Art, Royal College of Music and City, UAL and the City and Guilds of London Art School
• Students, staff and Governors of Woodhouse College and the IC Mathematics School

Associate Rate

• Austrian Cultural Forum staff
• Co-operative College members
• Francis Crick Institute staff, researchers and students
• Friends and Patrons of the English Chamber Orchestra
• Friends of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens
• Friends of Leighton House/ Sambourne House
• Friends of the Royal College of Music
• Harrods staff
• Historic Royal Palaces staff
• Lycee Charles de Gaulle staff
• Members of the Friends of Imperial College
• Members of the Kennel Club
• Members of the London Zoological Society
• Members of the South London Botanical Institute (SLBI)
• Members of the UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP)
• National Health Service (NHS) employees
• Natural History Museum staff
• Residents of postcodes SW3, SW5, SW7, SW10 and W8
• Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Council staff
• Royal Geographical Society staff
• Science Museum staff
• Staff of Exhibition Road Cultural Group (Discover South Kensington) organisations
• Students (non-Imperial College)
• Teachers and other staff of UK schools
• The American Institute for Foreign Study
• Tutors and other staff of institution members of the Association of Colleges
• Tutors and other staff of other universities and higher education institutions
• Victoria and Albert Museum staff

Late enrolment

It is possible to enrol on many of our adult education courses after the course has already started. For non-language courses this is subject entirely to agreement by the tutor. For language courses it is subject to agreement by the language coordinator conducting level assessment. If you want to join a course late do bear in mind there might be work you will need to catch up on, particularly in language courses.

Friends and Family Scheme

This course is eligible for allowing Imperial College students and staff to share their discount with their friends and family.

Enrolment via the blue booking link is open. Early-bird discounts are available until the end of 30 September 2024

Enrolment and payment run through the Imperial College eStore. When enrolling:

• Do check on the drop down menu above called "Course Fees and Rate Categories" to see if you are eligible for a discounted rate and also do make sure you select that rate when enrolling on the eStore
• If you are a first-time eStore user you will need to create an account before enrolling. You can do this by entering an email address and password. This account can then be used for any future enrolments via the eStore.

When you have enrolled you will be sent the following email notifications:

If you have any questions about the academic content or teaching of this course please contact the the Programme Manager for Imperial after:hours, Dr Michael Paraskos, m.paraskos@imperial.ac.uk 

If you have any questions about your enrolment or payment processes please contact the Programme Administrator, Christian Jacobi, eveningclass@imperial.ac.uk