To provide students with basic horticultural knowledge to enable them to have a better understanding of the care and use of plants in and around the home, including ornamentals, vegetables, turf grass and home garden fruit plants. If you want a very practical course that you can use the knowledge you gain from it immediately, then this is the course for you! The format will be on-line with 2 recorded lectures released each week. This lecture method avoids technical issues that can arise when the lectures are presented live via Teams. Based on reviews from students who took this course using this delivery format, they really enjoyed the flexibility in when they were able to view the lectures. On Thursdays, we will have an optional “Question and Answer” session on the material presented in the lectures for that week. The Q & A sessions will be conducted live using Teams. To get the most out of the course and to have an opportunity to interact with the instructor on a weekly basis, attending the Q & A sessions is advisable, however all Q & A sessions will be recorded in case you are not able to attend but would like to learn what was discussed. At these sessions, live plant specimens, insect pests/diseases, soil samples, etc. are brought in and shared with the class via Teams to further showcase the material presented in the recorded class sessions. Exams will be offered ONLY DURING THE SCHEDULED CLASS TIME unless previously arranged with the instructor.

After taking this course, students will be able to properly manage ornamental and edible plants in the home landscape (indoors and out). This will include proper watering, fertilizing, pest management, and plant selection. Soils, soil amendments and composting will also be presented. Additionally, students will learn how to propagate a variety of plants through seeds, cuttings, layering and grafting.

Your grade for the course will be determined by 3 multiple choice exams and 13 weekly multiple choice quizzes. The exams will be worth 25% each for a total of 75% of your grade and the weekly quizzes will total 25% of your final grade. The lowest 3 quiz scores are dropped. I do NOT offer extra credit to individual students solely to improve a grade. Extra credit questions are offered on many of the quizzes and on all of the exams so that everyone has an opportunity to improve their score. All exams and most of the quizzes will use Brightspace with Respondus web browser with monitor.