Gardening as a career

It's a new year and for many people it's a time to re-evaluate their lives and careers. If you love gardening have you ever thought about it as a job? If you feel stuck in a rut then this could be the change in your life that you have been looking for. Let's look at how you can make gardening your future career.

What type of gardening? - Do you want to grow, plant or design? Fruit or flowers? There are many different aspects to gardening so you need to decide which path so go down.

Go it alone or be employed? - You may find the quickest and easiest way to get into gardening is to set up your own business. At first you could start with doing basic jobs such as lawn mowing and hedge cutting. Make sure you are probably insured and you have the right safety equipment. Pottering about in your own garden in bare feet is a lot different to going to someone else's property!

Setting up your own business can be quite daunting so you may prefer the security of being employed by a company. Starting out the wages won't be high so you will need to take that into account.

Study time – If you want to get ahead then think about studying and getting some qualifications. The RHS has a range of courses for people wanting to start out. You don't need any formal qualifications to start with. The courses can be studied at home or at a tuition centre. Alternatively contact your local college for details of their gardening and horticultural courses.

Get experience – This can help in getting a full-time job but also if you really want to make gardening your career. You may love gardening as a hobby but being involved day in and day out in all weathers could change your mind. Try volunteering at first. Organisations such as the National Trust are always looking for people to help them.

You could also try to get a part-time job in a garden centre which works around your current job. This way you are both earning money and learning about plants and gardening in one go.

Have you thought about changing your career? Would you make your hobby your job?