Tuesday 5 June 2012

Urban myth- the unskilled horticulturalist


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....
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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