Part-time Gardener

At my previous job I was a Customer Service Assistant at the Co-Op for three years. However, I decided to leave in December 2014 in order to have more time to further my horticultural knowledge and experience, so I began my new job as a gardener in January 2015. 

It all started at an NTU volunteering fair, where I met a lady who wanted her garden maintaining. 
The job is very fulfilling as the garden is essentially having a makeover! My boyfriend and I both work at this domestic garden as she liked our WWOOF placement we had been doing over the summer. She also thought it would be very beneficial for her, as well as for us to have two horticulturalists doing her garden.

Renovating Borders

The garden itself is pretty amazing as it is split up into different parts; such as soft fruit cages, a veg patch, an orchard, a tropical area and a roof garden! So far, we have been attending to a fruit cage; pruning the Blackcurrant and Gooseberry bushes. Clearing weeds from various borders, including a bog garden! Our latest project that we are working on is under a metal arch that has everlasting sweet peas that grow over the top. We are renovating the borders underneath, by clearing out the current plants to start a fresh. Hopefully we'll be able to help put some soft planting schemes together, which would be exciting to do!

I am learning more and more plants each week and how to prune certain plants along the way. I feel that it has expanded my plant knowledge and helped me to gain transferable skills. I believe that the more you see a plant, the more likely you are to remember it! 

 Pruning out the dead wood on a Jasmine.