This foundation-level course is designed to build your confidence through a wide range of practical gardening activities. It focuses on helping you engage clients in care settings, both indoors and outdoors, using nature-based experiences.
Support wellbeing all year round through connection with nature by:
- Encouraging reminiscence, conversation, and sensory engagement
- Creating meaningful, enjoyable interactions with staff, family members, and community visitors
- Boosting self-esteem through sharing existing skills and learning new ones
- Promoting care through gentle physical activity and offering choice
- Providing distraction and comfort for individuals living with long-term conditions
- Building your confidence in leading gardening activities
Programme Details
- No prior knowledge or gardening experience required
- Flexible programme of four units: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter – choose one or complete all four
- Practical, online learning through videos and downloadable resources – no travel required
- Certificates awarded to record your Continuous Professional Learning (CPL)
What You’ll Gain
- Skills to effectively engage clients in meaningful activities
- Techniques to adapt gardening tasks for a range of abilities
- Confidence in planning and delivering appropriate sessions
- A solid foundation in gardening knowledge and practical skills
- Easy-to-follow, manageable units designed to fit your schedule
Each unit is supported by a comprehensive Resource Pack, including all activity sheets plus a wide range of additional gardening ideas for you and your clients. All units and resource packs are available from the Trellis Online Shop.
👉 Interested in learning more? Scroll down to explore the FREE unit and see if it’s right for you.
The Summer Unit is currently available from 1st June 2026 - 31st August 2026
Part of the Seasonal Gardening Activities Training Programme (one of four seasonal units)
- Earn a certificate upon completion of each unit
- Includes 10 hours of CPD, recognised on your certificate
- Flexible learning over 12 weeks (June–August), completed at your own pace
- No prior gardening experience required
- This unit is designed to build your confidence, skills, and knowledge in adapting gardening activities to suit your clients’ needs. As you progress, you’ll gain hands-on experience handling plant materials and planning engaging gardening activities tailored to the summer season.
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Gardening can play a powerful role in supporting wellbeing. It encourages social interaction, physical activity, sensory engagement, stress reduction, and cognitive restoration. It also offers opportunities to learn new skills, rediscover old ones, and experience the satisfaction of nurturing and giving.
What you’ll learn in the Summer Unit:
Delivered through a mix of video content, practical activity resources, and short written assignments, this unit covers: - How summer conditions influence plant growth and key seasonal signs to recognise
- What gardening tasks are best suited to this time of year
- Practical activities, including:
- Potting up a hanging basket
- Taking softwood cuttings (“Plants for Free”)
- Engaging clients and volunteers through garden-based activities
- Creative projects such as making bunting
Specialist techniques include:
- Adapting gardening activities for different abilities and needs
- Effectively engaging clients
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Planning and reflecting on your gardening sessions
👉 Explore the free taster unit or register for the Summer Unit by clicking the link below.
FREE unit: An Introduction to Seasonal Gardening Activities
This introductory unit provides a flavour of the certificated and assessed Seasonal Gardening Activities Training Programme. Try it out!
Explore the Free Taster Unit by creating a Log-in account on our Moodle platform by clicking the link below.
You can get started at any time of the year in our rolling programme. Units run in real time:
Spring Unit 1st March - 31st May
Summer Unit 1st June - 31st August
Autumn Unit 1st September - 30th November
Winter Unit 1st December - 28th February
Cost £85 per unit.
Explore the Free Taster Unit or register for the Winter Unit by creating a Log-in account on our Moodle platform by clicking the Sign-Up link below.
Some feedback from recent students:
'It is fabulous. Aimed at exactly the right level. Not too technical and bogged down in gardening speak, so to speak. Plenty of resources.'
‘Thank you for this course - every time I do a topic, I'm inspired to do more with my client group. I don't think any training course can hope to do more than that.’
'I've loved this course [Spring Unit] despite my hectic life at present and I am going to present this to staff as a good example of CPD in our Work-Linked Learning course!'
(Teacher of young people with special educational needs and disabilities, (SEND))
