Garden Centre Training

Our Program provides a mixture of hands on practical and classroom theory based knowledge to give your inexperienced employees the training they need to provide excellent customer service while properly caring for your living merchandise. Our two day course - offered on campus through Continuing Education at NSAC - is designed to bring new life to your business through your most important asset - your employees.

The goal of the program is to increase the level of knowledge and customer service in your retail garden centre to maximize your sales and profits.

The course will teach each of the modules listed below, and will provide inexperienced garden centre workers with the basic knowledge and skills needed to help your business thrive. Knowledgeable staff will ensure customer satisfaction, creating repeat customers, word of mouth advertising, and increased unit sales.

The course is developed for new employees with minimal knowledge about horticulture and caring for your garden centre. The course provides access to experienced professional horticulturalists from NSAC, and uses a mixture of classroom based lectures, presentations, demonstrations, and some hands on practice.

Who Should Attend?

Course Modules

1. Plant Basics
   In this module you will learn how plants are scientifically classified, the difference between annual, biennial and perennial life cycles, plant identification features and the physiological processes that keep a plant alive.

2. Care of Potted Plants
   This module will teach you how to care for plants in a retail setting, proper irrigation techniques and factors responsible for plant health. You will also learn how to reduce the incidence of disease, how to harden off transplants and how to care for houseplants.

3. Soils and Fertilizers
   The objectives of this module are to teach you how soil influences plant growth, how to identify nutrient deficiencies and how to fertilize trees and shrubs. You will also learn the types of soil amendments used in landscape plantings and how to perform a soil test.

4. Pests and Diseases
   Pest and diseases are inevitable afflictions within any greenhouse or garden. This module begins at the basics from defining a disease, identifying symptoms to diagnosing and controlling the problem. You will learn the common insects and how to assist customers with their plant health problems.

5. Right Plant, Right Place
   This module will teach the importance of plant placement within the landscape and how to select a plant based on growing conditions. Plant hardiness zones in both Canada and the USA will be covered. Trends in landscape design including xeriscaping, native plants and attracting wildlife are just some of the topics covered in this module.

6. Annual Gardens
   Recommendations on planting annuals in the landscape and combining them in a mixed planter will be covered in this module.

7. Perennial Gardens
   Topics covered in this module include design and propagation techniques, how to provide planting instructions and how to source and interpret reference information on perennials.
   

8. Product Display and Customer Service
   In this module you will learn the areas of traffic flow within a store layout and how to effectively display and merchandise your product. Quality customer service including proper cashier and telephone etiquette along with handling customer questions and complaints effectively are some of the best ways to set your garden centre ahead of the competition. These topics and more are covered in this module.

9. Planting Trees and Shrubs
   This module will teach you how to properly plant trees and shrubs in the landscape and how to minimize transplant shock. You will also learn how to use soil amendments and mulch as well as how to reduce winter injury of woody perennials.

10. Pruning
    This module will give you the skills to provide the customer with pruning information. You will learn how to properly prune deciduous and evergreen shrubs and trees as well as roses and wisteria. Hands on application of proper pruning techniques will be demonstrated as well as the various types of pruning tools available.

11. Lawn Care
    Garden Centre staff need to be able to supply the customer with information on lawn maintenance including how to renovate, over seed and repair as well as how to apply fertilizer and lime. Weed management techniques will also be discussed in this module.

Related Courses

Instructors

Lana Chisholm is a Program Coordinator in the Continuing Education Department at NSAC, and the instructor of NSAC's horticultural program at the Nova Institution for Women in Truro. Lana is the Teaching assistant for the Master Gardener Courses.

Course Details

Note: A minimum number of students is required for each course. The “decision deadline” is the date on which courses with insufficient enrollment will be cancelled.