The Best Free Training

Topic: Gardening, landscaping, and related topics
Format: Websites with online training (many formats)
Reviewer/email: Mike G – greers_pm@yahoo.com

It’s that time of the year again (at least here in the Northern Hemisphere)! It’s time for all you home gardeners to start thinking about getting organized, laying out this season’s garden, prepping the soil and planters, and maybe even doing a little of that long-needed landscaping you’ve been dreaming about. This post provides a brief review of a couple of resources I just  discovered, as well as links to previous reviews of great free resources to help you learn all about gardening. Enjoy!

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Topic: Gardening, landscaping, and related topics
Format: Websites with online training (many formats)
Reviewer/email: Mike G – greers_pm@yahoo.com

It won’t be long until all that snow and ice is gone and you’ll be able to start working with your lawn and garden. This year, why not be proactive? Why not use these last weeks of winter to dig a little deeper and teach yourself everything you always wanted to know about gardening and landscaping?

Below are links to three of our previous reviews of great free training resources to help:

* How to Be a Gardener (From BBC… Fun!)

* Xeriscaping: Landscaping Without Irrigation

* Landscape Sprinkler Irrigation Design Tutorial

Topic: Xeriscaping (landscaping without irrigation)
Format: Collection of web-based resources from several different publishers
Reviewer/email: Mike G – greers_pm@yahoo.com

“Xeriscaping may become the method all future gardeners will use to develop their gardens as water becomes an increasingly precious asset to the world, especially in arid climates…” - from WikiHow. So should you be considering xeriscaping your landscape? Here is a collection of tutorials, how-to guides, and other info that will help you teach yourself all about Xeriscaping.

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Topic: How to build and repair almost anything in your home
Format: Printed guidelines with step-by-step diagrams, text explanations & tool/material checklists
Reviewer/email: Mike G – greers_pm@yahoo.com

Millard Lumber says its how to series is “A complete online guide to the most common do-it-yourself projects around the home.” And they aren’t kidding! 71 no-nonsense, step-by-step sets of guidelines will take your through all sorts of home improvement efforts, from a project as broad as planning and designing a new bathroom to a task as specific as selecting the right screw or nail for the job.

(Continued in Comment.)

Since I began this blog last Thanksgiving, I’ve examined hundreds of free training products. And while struggling to sort out the good stuff from the bad, something odd has happened. The “10 Suggested Review Criteria” that I originally set forth to keep myself honest have resolved themselves into 3 broad features: 1) comprehensiveness of content, 2) instructional design quality, and 3) overall appeal. From a practical perspective, it’s really these three features which help me determine whether a free training product is worth recommending. And the most surprising thing I’ve discovered is this: A training product need not meet all 3 criteria in order to get my enthusiastic recommendation! (Continued in Comment.)

Topic: Gardening (all types of gardens, beginner to advanced)
Format: video, audio, slides, printed lessons, photos, interactive games, quizzes
Reviewer/email: Mike G – greers_pm@yahoo.com

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Topic: Landscaping sprinkler design
Format: Text descriptions, graphics, job aids (worksheets)
Reviewer/email: Mike G – greers_pm@yahoo.com

“Whether you’re a professional landscaper or simply landscaping your own yard, this free landscape sprinkler design tutorial is designed to take you step-by-step through the process of designing a professional-quality sprinkler irrigation system.” This comprehensive tutorial was written by Jess Stryker, “a professional landscape architect with over 20 years of irrigation design experience.“

Primarily print-driven, this comprehensive and step-by-step tutorial includes photos of key equipment, suggestions for diagrams, worksheets, and more to help you stay organized while you design your landscape sprinkler irrigation system. It’s divided into clear, logical steps:
Step #1 Collect Information (Includes how to measure your yard, determine water pressure requirements, etc.)
Step #2 Select Your Equipment (Determine pressure losses for your sprinkler irrigation system, then select appropriate equipment.)
Step #3 Place Sprinkler Heads (Spacing, drawings of placement, gallons per minute per each, etc.)
Step #4 Create Valve Zones and Draw in Pipes (Identify hydro-zones, create valve zones, route the sprinkler piping.
Step #5 Size Piping (Importance of calculating pressure loss, how to calculate lateral pipe size, etc.)

The tutorial is loaded with detailed, specific, no-nonsense guidance. We followed it to guide the installation of our own landscape sprinkler system. Companion tutorials include: installation, water filters, pump systems, irrigation scheduling, winterizing, and many more.

The main website, IrrigationTutorials.com, includes product reviews and irrigation FAQs. The list of tutorial titles include:
* How to design a Sprinkler Irrigation System.
* How to design a Drip Irrigation System.
* How to install an Irrigation System (sprinkler or drip).
* How to select the correct Filter for your Irrigation Water.
* How to select the right size and type of Irrigation Pump.
* How to Schedule Irrigation for healthy plants and water savings.
* How to prepare an irrigation system for the Winter.
* Water Hammer and Air in Pipes. Things that go Bump in the Night.

In the words of Jess Stryker, Irrigation Consultant, “You’ve just found the web’s mother lode of free irrigation information! In fact, from filters to sprinklers to pumps, if it’s irrigation related you’ll find at least some information on it here. Start with the irrigation tutorials! They’re all FREE! I don’t even want to sell you any irrigation equipment! … This website is not affiliated with any irrigation, sprinkler, or drip equipment manufacturer or supplier.”

URL:  http://www.irrigationtutorials.com/sprinkler00.htm