My horticultural career began at the age of 17 when I joined one of the Flowerlands production Nurseries. I had had no previous experience of working in horticulture but I soon relalised I had a keen interest in plants.
I was fortunate that the nursery was undergoing a program of modernization and this enabled me to help the nursery expand whilst developing my skills. This included spending two years on day release courses at Merrist Wood College and attending trade shows and trials around the country.
In a short period of time I became responsible for many areas within the nursery, particularly the plug production / propagation department which produced over a million seedlings a year using the latest machinery.
As well as propagation, I was in charge of making the change to a fully Integrated Pest Management scheme (IPM). This involved the close monitoring of pest and diseases and the application of biological control agents such as Encarsia Formosa, a parasitic wasp for controlling whitefly. I would also train the staff in pest and disease detection and the use of pesticides.
After four years I left Flowerlands to go travelling. I was beginning to tire of the almost factory like growing methods of commercial production. Before leaving on my travels I undertook work helping to maintain large formal gardens. I found this experience extremely rewarding, as until then I had had no experience of working with the finished products I had been producing for the last four years. It was with CG Services that I realised that I would eventually like to move into landscaping and particularly grounds maintenance.
When I arrived back from my travels on the continent I took a position with Needham Growers Ltd who were part of the Far Plants group of nurseries. After a year I decided the job was not for me and I left to start my own gardening business.
