je71 wrote:
[color=blue]
Jim W wrote:
*je71 wrote:


Possibly, buyt they are more likly to give a junior position to an HND
Student than with someone who has just done a postal course..

Best bet.. Start gardening now;-) Start reading all the books on
Horticultural and Gardening in your local library!-) Read URG!-)

Showing up my noviceness! Whats URG?

DO a course with some practical content..

Mebbe get a weekend job in Horticulture,.. there are various fields,
retail, amenity, crop production. those are the main 3.

Amenity is Local councils, etc.

Retail is garden centre and related.
Crop production is that, food crops, glasshouse work, cut flowers etc..
Of course there is some crossover between the 3.

There are also now specialist courses such as Organic Horticulture or
Biodynamic Growing at University level.
There is always voluntary work for experience.. OK it doesn't pay, but
you might be able to get a bit of paper to say you did it, and you might
actually help improve a community garden or something whilst learning
skills.

Whcih course you do is up to you, the basic levels include City &
Guilds, RHS, and NC's.. I don't think theres a NVQ or GNVQ for
Horticulture.. Differnt courses run different syllabus's (syllabi??) so
check these out before you sign up.. Eg some specify at a low level (eg
NC in Amenity Horticulture) Some don't.. If you know WHAT exactly you
wish to do do a specific course, if not get one that covers a broader
spectrum

Most of the above can be done at one of the Land based industries
colleges around the UK, part time or full time.

www.ucas.ac.uk is useful.. see under Horticulture.. Most of the courses
are undergrad level upwards but if you check out the individual course
details you will wsee that most of the institutions concerned also run
shorter lower level courses??

Where in the UK are you anyway?

I'm in weston super mare (whos college does not offer ANY horticulture
courses!) I think following on from a lot of good advice here, my goals
are changing somewhat, I think I may try to get on a classroom based
course Cannington college isnt too far and they do a BTEC First Diploma
in Horticulture maybe i could then progress on to BTEC National Diploma
in Horticulture (Garden Design ) in the mean time try to get some work
"Labouring" for a landscape gardener which seems to be the more
lucrative area, then hopefully become a garden designer who can also
offer to do the Hard landscaping side of things as well as the
planting! Does this sound feasable to you?



The BTEC ND 'should' 1st Dip should contain some practical and the ND
almost certainly does.. Depending on the college the ND may even contain
some work experience,.. The way courses are run differs a bit from
college to college so try and find a student who has done the courses
before at that college (preferably a student 'not' offered by the
college), get hold of the prospectus and ask lots of Q's..

But in short its a good a place to start as any and get a feel for what
you might wish to pursue in detail later.
//
J