It’s the best thing I’ve ever done …

Recognising that it is often hard for people to get started in a gardening career the National Garden Scheme funds a variety of training and apprenticeship schemes, including the apprenticeship in Botanical Horticulture at the National Botanic Garden of Wales.  Zoe Phelan, who began her two year apprenticeship in September 2022, shares her story of trading medical needles for garden forks …

This time two years ago, I was struggling. Working in the NHS through the pandemic had left me longing for a complete change. After years of sitting behind desks in badly-lit rooms with windows that only opened about an inch, I felt a strong need to be outside. I was also feeling hopeless when it came to the scary things happening to our planet, I longed to do something to help not hinder. With two small children and financial commitments, most further education options were out of reach and starting a completely new career felt impossible.

A turning point was hearing an interview on the radio. A woman in her 60’s was explaining how she had just completed an apprenticeship. This blew my mind! I had no idea this could be an option for me. Horticulture has always been a hobby, those years of my mum dragging me unwillingly around garden centres when I was younger had finally had an effect on me. Once I had an outside space of my own, any spare time would be spent pottering around trying to grow lots of things from seed. It was my escape and I’d always found it such a fascinating (and vast!) subject area. This was my first thought after hearing the radio show: how amazing would it be to change career and learn in such an immersive and hands on way?

I’d struggled in school because I’d always favoured learning by ‘doing’ so this felt ideal. I started researching apprenticeships and was steered mostly towards local council websites but there wasn’t much in the way of horticultural opportunities. A few weeks later, I was awake in the middle of the night and checked whether the Botanic Garden had any apprentice programmes having visited a few times with family…and there it was…they were taking applications for an apprentice and the closing date was midnight that day. I roped my husband into helping me with the documents and with 10 minutes to spare I clicked the send button on my application. That was back in May 2022 and, in the September of the same year I started a two-year apprenticeship.

Nearly two years later I’ve had the most incredible experience. Every day, I have regular ‘pinch me’ moments. The opportunity to learn in this environment is very special. I am surrounded by very skilled and experienced horticulturists who are so generous with their time and sharing their knowledge. No two days are the same, as we react to things which are happening around the Garden as the weather and seasons change.

Over the two years, I’ve worked on a three-month rotational basis in different sections around the Garden. I spent my first three months under glass. This included working in the Great Glasshouse (the largest single span glasshouse in the world), Tropical House and the three nursery glasshouses behind the scenes. I spent months learning about plants from the other side of the world. Misting tropical plants, potting on plants I’d never even heard of, plunging plants in the Great Glasshouse pond, choosing and arranging plants to go out in public areas and just generally learning a lot. After that I continued to journey throughout the areas including the Broadwalk, Polytunnel, Estates and the Double Walled Garden. By the end of most days, I’m tired, cold, dirty and exhausted but I have never been happier.

As well as my rotational work, I’ve had the opportunity to get involved in external projects. I’ve spent time at Neath Port Talbot Hospital tidying hedgerows and planting plug plants along with Buglife Wales and the Botanic Garden’s Biophilic Wales officer who works on various projects promoting biodiversity in communities.

I also visited a private estate in the Black Mountains where I learnt to prune apple trees in preparation for the planting and care of our new Welsh orchard. I got to walk among extensively stocked orchards, which even had trees grown from seed from a small town in Kazakhstan where the first ever apple genome was traced back to.

In my first year of the apprenticeship, I attended a local college to study the RHS Level 2 theory element in Principles of Horticulture which I passed in September 2023. As well as the RHS qualification, I have spent 18 months recording and compiling job cards which are essentially a diary of tasks I have completed on a daily basis which demonstrates and cements my understanding and competence of what I am learning. These were all submitted a few months ago to help me gain a Level 2 City and Guilds qualification in Work Based Horticulture.

Once a year I’ve also had the opportunity to choose a place to visit for a work placement. After completing my Double Walled Garden rotation I become totally bewitched by fruit and vegetable growing. I loved seeing produce grow and also the conversations it would evoke with visitors. This interest led me to choose Gravetye Manor for my first working placement. Gravetye has the most incredible walled garden where they grow and harvest produce for their Michelin star restaurant.

My love of fruit and veg stood the test of time and led me to choose The Newt in Somerset for my second year placement. The Newt has various produce growing areas throughout their grounds including high tech growing houses and vegetable preparation buildings for the e-commerce side of their business.  As well as growing an abundance of vegetables they have an incredible parabola filled with apple trees from around the UK displayed by county. I got to spend time with their knowledgeable horticulturalists understanding the purpose and skill of fruit pruning. Both these opportunities gave me so many ideas and I learnt a lot in such a short space of time. I left both placements feeling so energised and inspired.

One of my favourite tasks throughout my apprenticeship was the Wallace Garden project. We were each given a flower bed in the Wallace Garden where we were asked to design, prepare and plant a bed from scratch. The only stipulation was that the plants were annuals. I’d never done anything like this before so it was a little overwhelming, but it was a great opportunity to test out all the skills I’d picked up over the past year or so. The bed prep began in the autumn with a lot of clearing and weeding. I decided to mulch my bed on one of the wettest days of the year! Through the winter I spent time sowing and caring for my seedlings in our growing houses. As the weather warmed up in the spring I began erecting structures and planting out my babies. My patch slowly started maturing and I’m really pleased with how it has grown. I get to spend a few hours on my bed each week and I really enjoy getting to speak to visitors about my inspiration for my bed and how it all came together. The finished product has made me reflect on how much I’ve learnt and am still learning.

This whole experience has changed my life not only on a career level but on a personal level. I’m so much happier in myself and feel like I have a purpose and finally have a fulfilling career. In past careers I’ve often grown bored and become fed up but there is so much to learn within horticulture, and it is a career that keeps on revealing itself. My children have a happier mum and I just feel like a completely different person. I’m so grateful to the National Garden Scheme and Patrick Daniel for changing my life.

My apprenticeship will officially end in the next few weeks and looking back at what I have achieved in 2 years makes me so happy and proud. Recently I was also awarded Horticulture Work based Learner of the Year awarded by Coleg Sir Gar.

Unfortunately, a job cannot be guaranteed at the end of an apprenticeship, but, a few months ago I was successful in an application for a temporary Walled Garden horticulturalists role so will be staying at the National Botanic Garden of Wales until at least January 2025. I’m excited to put all my new skills into practice and be part of the planning for our 25^th birthday next year.

I’m excited to see what the future holds. Trading medical needles for garden forks is the best thing I’ve ever done.

For more about the National Garden Scheme’s support for gardeners click here

For more on events with the National Botanic Garden of Wales click here