General > RHS Question & Answer

Gardening career..?

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Digitalis:
Thanks, laurie.

I'm 27, so I'd find it hard to get a 'trainee' or apprentice job.

betula:
Congratulations Laurieuk on having a long and happy career.

I hope you enjoy your retirement. ;D

How did you get a tied house as a jobbing gardener? :-\

laurieuk:
When I came out of full private service I was offered a tied house by a gentleman who wanted me to work one day a week in his garden .We have been here for 23 years now, I work Mondays and Fridays at the moment and am busy doing talks other days.
Not sure about enjoying retirement if we end up in a council house and no large garden. ??? :-[


--- Quote from: betula on March 29, 2009, 22:33:36 ---Congratulations Laurieuk on having a long and happy career.

I hope you enjoy your retirement. ;D

How did you get a tied house as a jobbing gardener? :-\

--- End quote ---

Slug_killer:


--- Quote from: Cosmo and Dibs on March 29, 2009, 21:32:59 ---
Is there much chance of having a successfulcareer in gardening/horticulture?


--- End quote ---

Have a read of http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,29748.0.html. Although this was posted 2 years ago, the hourly rates haven't changed much.

To summarize,    YES  , you can make some kind of living being a gardener, but its hard work, low pay and seasonal, it also depends on where you live and what you can/are prepaired to do.


Gardening is less of a  'career', and more of a job, ie there's no promotional ladder.

Also, its credit crunch time. Having a neat garden isn't life and death and is an easy thing to cut from the housekeeping.


Its a rewarding job, if you like the rain and the snow, and don't expect to become a millionaire. Its certainly not the thing to go into if you have to rely on it for the mortgage & monthly payments, especially during winter.

The HNC courses are purely theoretical, they are not practical courses.

I did my HNC in Horticulture at Pershore and HNC in Garden Design at Kings Heath.

The two courses have about 70% in common. Ie Plant Science/Soil Science, Plant Identification and Use, Garden History, Hard Landscaping, Garden and Project Management & Business Management.

The difference being things like Propagation and Garden Maintenance vs Design and Advanced Drawing (although HNC Horticulture included basic design)

HNC Horticulture is more relevant and practical if you want to be a jobbing gardener. The HNC Design is a lot of sitting at a desk drawing - all arty like in a nice warm, dry room.

If you want a serious career in horticulture you'll need at least a degree.

The difference between Pershore and Kings Heath is
 - Pershore is a collage with laboratories and fully equipped classrooms, Kings Heath is a couple of small rooms rented from the council.
 - Pershore has an excellent library (which is also open to the public, but the public can't take books out) and full student facilities, Kings Heath has a cupboard which is locked nearly all the time.
 - Pershore has a full canteen with hot meals, sandwiches and drinks machines and a licensed bar, Kings Heath has a kettle and access to the park tea rooms (when open),
 - Kings Heath is in Birmingham, Pershore is 45 mins away down the M5 (about 10 quid in petrol).
 - Kings Heaths classes are always on a Wednesday. Pershore varies depending on numbers.
 - The main teaching staff are at Pershore, while Kings Heath only get those who are prepaired to travel upto Birmingham once a week.

Also at Kings Heath the Plant Ident was done from photo's, where as Pershore was done stomping around the grounds all touchy-feely kind of thing. To think you could have a qualification in identifying plants without actually touching one or seeing it for real - bit poor I thought.

In general, both are good and usefull courses, but they're quite involved and hard work. Don't expect to have time to be down the allotment this time of year if you want to finish the all coursework .

laurieuk:
Hi Slug Killer,
You really seem to look on the black side, you could talk of working in the lovely sunshine with it's warmth on your back.The satisfaction of having an employer say how nice the garden looked etc. I think there still is a ladder to climb, there are head-gardener's positions with the National Trust etc. as well as still some private positions. I believe word of mouth recommendations will serve a gardener better than a piece of paper. I am sorry to say but the "qualified" gardeners I have dealt with in the last few years did not last long.

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