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| Here I am, it was pouring rain when I took this picture. |
Hello everyone, I think it’s about high time I introduce
myself properly. My name is Jennifer Wright. I am currently working as a
Professional Gardener’s Guild trainee at Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire. I
moved down from Edinburgh at the end of last August and so far, I am having a
blast.
The PGG takes on new gardening trainees every year and gives
them the opportunity to work in world class gardens for three years. Trainees
come from all walks of life as the PGG are looking for enthusiastic and
hardworking people with a passion for horticulture. Below is a link to the PGG
website:
Before I came to Waddesdon, I completed a 2-year
apprenticeship at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and at the same time completed
my SVQ level 3 in Parks, Gardens and Greenspaces. While I was working in
Edinburgh I had the chance to work with a knowledgeable team keen to impart
their know-how with me. I had loads of fun and while working with them I came
to realise that I wanted to follow a career outdoors. I can’t imagine doing
anything else. Horticulture is just the right amount of science, exercise and
art.
Recently, I won the Horticulture Runner Up in the LANTRA
Learner of the Year Awards in Scotland. As part of this I am a LANTRA industry
champion so I am writing about my experiences in each of the gardens I will work
in over the next couple of years. I write in this blog in my spare time. I hope
that it may encourage young people to enter a career in Horticulture and if I
can help to convince at least one young person to have a career in an outdoors
career I will consider my job done. Below is a link to my blog:
This week I have been working with the turf team and we have
been very busy. Even with the delayed start to the season the grass has romped
away with the last couple of weeks of warm weather. Our grass cutting routines
range from striping the formal grass on the avenue and in the aviary to maintaining
large areas of grass around the grounds. As you can imagine, there is a lot of
ground to cover but it is terrific fun and very messy.
As part of my year here I am working with Anna, the other
PGG trainee here this year, to plan and maintain an annual border in one area of the gardens. We are tasked with designing a plan for the area, sowing seed and
bringing on plants, planting and looking after the border until the summer
ends. So far we have sown all the seed for this year including yellow Nasturtiums
and orange Cosmos which are well on their way to being planted at the end of
May. Last week we lined out the border so that everything is ready for the
plants to go in.
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| The annual border I am working on. |
As the spring bedding is beginning to look tired and the
tulips go over, over the next month and a half, the gardens team will be taking
out the plants in the parterre and the aviary then digging over the borders so
that the summer bedding can go in later in June. The 3-D birds will be back too
and are being stuffed as we speak, ready to be planted.
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| View of the front of the house and tulips showing off. |
What I have enjoyed most about being here is the history
behind the manor and the gardens. The gardens team work to the best of their
ability to create wonderful gardens for the visitors to enjoy while remaining
sympathetic to the original planting. One of my aims while I am here is to
learn the best way to manage historically important sites in a way that is
beneficial to everyone all the while giving visitors the best day out possible.
One of the best things about coming here has been learning to use all the machinery
they have to varying degrees of success.
Despite moving so far away from home to come here I have
truly loved working here. I look forward too many new experiences in the future
and many more hot days.
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