In 2011 our Prime Minister, David
Cameron, made a speech about government plans to encourage people
back into work after a long period of unemployment. During this
speech he lumped the entire horticultural world into the 'unskilled
labour' bracket, much like clearing rubbish and other so-called
'menial' jobs. The fact is that we need street cleaners if we don't
want to wade through oceans of our own collective filth in towns and
cities, and also there is no such thing as 'unskilled horticulture'.
From time to time I speak to customers
with the same problem- they've hired in someone cheap “just to do a
bit of tidying”, and these unskilled people have destroyed trees or
shrubs, or pulled up emerging perennials, young bedding plants, and
even in one case an entire area of runner beans already trained
against their supports! These are examples of unskilled gardening...
people who haven't a clue getting things very wrong.
The Square Garden at RHS Rosemoor- from design and planting, to day-to-day maintenance,
this garden has been created and maintained by skilled people.
Horticulture is largely unregulated;
although there are qualifications available you can still call
yourself a gardener without ever having done any gardening before.
Granted not everyone who does not have a horticultural qualification
is useless (I myself am self taught, learning skills and techniques
through working in horticulture rather from from a textbook at
college, and would like to think I know a thing or two about
horticulture...), but likewise not everyone who has passed their
exams is a good/competent gardener. For anyone hiring a gardener to
work on their property it is a real concern; is that person in front
of them a skilled gardening expert or just someone with a few tools?!
Every horticultural job needs well taught skills in order to be carried out properly, whether it be sowing a few seeds at home, or carrying out major tasks in a large public garden or nursery- 'if a job's worth doing it's worth doing properly', as the old saying goes. An example- on the nursery we do a lot of watering by hand (with hosepipes instead of just irrigating everything). Each batch of plants has it's own watering requirements; freshly potted plants need very little water compared with thirsty plants like Escallonia or Ceanothus, and also plants with large flowers (like Camellias for example) can spoil if they are irrigated and their flowers get too wet, so hand-watering helps to keep the crop presentable and hopefully thus saleable! Watering by hand also presents many problems- you have 'the usual suspects' that need watering every day when in full growth, and even within a batch of reasonably damp plants there can be a plant, usually at the back, which needs water. The tricky moment comes when you have to make a judgement; does the plant need watering now, or will it be OK until the next watering shift? That judgement is a skill that takes years of valuable experience to hone....
Every horticultural job needs well taught skills in order to be carried out properly, whether it be sowing a few seeds at home, or carrying out major tasks in a large public garden or nursery- 'if a job's worth doing it's worth doing properly', as the old saying goes. An example- on the nursery we do a lot of watering by hand (with hosepipes instead of just irrigating everything). Each batch of plants has it's own watering requirements; freshly potted plants need very little water compared with thirsty plants like Escallonia or Ceanothus, and also plants with large flowers (like Camellias for example) can spoil if they are irrigated and their flowers get too wet, so hand-watering helps to keep the crop presentable and hopefully thus saleable! Watering by hand also presents many problems- you have 'the usual suspects' that need watering every day when in full growth, and even within a batch of reasonably damp plants there can be a plant, usually at the back, which needs water. The tricky moment comes when you have to make a judgement; does the plant need watering now, or will it be OK until the next watering shift? That judgement is a skill that takes years of valuable experience to hone....
As these freshly potted plants grow they will need different care regimes and will pose different challenges.
Likewise with weeding; if you are going
to clear weeds from an area of garden or batch of plants you must
have enough botany under your belt to identify a plant, often from
it's leaves and not flowers, and make a judgement call- friend or
foe? Get it wrong with these jobs and your customer/manager will
be... somewhat displeased!
Friend or foe- don't get it wrong!
Alan Titchmarsh, that stalwart and
banner-bearer for British gardening has stuck his neck out and
challenged the Prime Minister's views. Quoted in The Telegraph,
Titchmarsh referred to the Prime Minister's comments as not
“particularly useful”, and went on to say "[that] the Prime
Minister, and others, should consider just what part gardening can
play in society. It impacts on those political hot potatoes, law and
order, education and health."
To be done properly horticulture takes
skill, and lots of it! Practical skills tending a garden or growing
plants are every bit as worthwhile as being able to repair a car or
speak another language, and it is the ability of gardeners (amateur
and professional) and nursery people/retailers to apply their skills
that gives Britain it's reputation as a gardening nation.
Long live horticulture!
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