I don’t in any way regret my life’s course but occasionally I do daydream of how things would’ve worked out had I been a professional gardener. Unlike journalism, it wasn’t a vocation that interested me as a youth; only in middle-age, with a sizeable garden at my disposal, was my interest in all things horticultural piqued.
I try to get my 20-year-old son interested, suggesting it would be a great career in terms of travel opportunities and both mental and physical wellbeing. He ‘s not one bit interested – like his aul da at that age he cares nothing for seedlings and soft-wood cuttings.
Over the coming months, thousands of school leavers will be contemplating the prospectuses of dozens of institutions offering a pathway to a worthwhile and rewarding career.
Among them is Cafre’s Greenmount Campus, which offers a range of courses, from Level 2 City & Guilds through to honours degree. Other colleges providing a range of great gardening-related courses are available but it’s fair to say Cafre’s Co Antrim campus is alone in its Ivy League status in terms of regional offerings.
According to James Crawford, a senior lecturer and former student at Cafre who now manages degree courses there, the college welcomes “school leavers and career changers”.
The courses range over one, two and three years, with both full and part-time options available. They are all based at Greenmount, which is set in more than 18 hectares of landscaped parkland dating back to the 19th century, with some of the original trees providing the structure for the gardens today. It sounds heavenly.
“Walking around the campus you’ll discover our outdoor classrooms – the Nature Trail and Walled Garden provide an impressive backdrop in which our students can learn about maintaining parks, gardens and landscaping with a focus on sustainability,” says James.
“The production facilities within the Horticulture Centre provides a space for students to grow edible and ornamental crops.”
He also namechecks the more amenity-focused areas at the college, including on-site playing fields and a golf complex, where students hone their turf management skills.
There’s roughly 90 full-time horticulture students and a further 150 studying one day a week, with 10 dedicated lecturing staff.
“We’re all passionate about our work, and love to see not only plants grow, but our students’ knowledge, love and interest in horticulture grow too,” says James, whose experience is in crop production.
He works alongside fellow Cafre graduate and a past-WorldSkills medal winner Adam Ferguson, who manages the part-time work-based programmes, while Lori Hartman, a Virgina Tech graduate with experience in edible crops and plant health, manages the further education courses.
“Courses at Cafre allow students to get their hands dirty – we encourage students to learn by doing, whether that’s in the science labs, glasshouses or in the gardens,” says James.
He believes horticulture now plays a key role in improving the sustainability of communities, whether environmentally, economically or socially.
“We teach our students how to reduce or eliminate the use of chemicals by using techniques such as Integrated Pest Management – they learn how to grow healthy plants to avoid problems that would require chemicals,” says James.
“Moving to peat-free growing media is another challenge - our students get to learn from our technology and advisory teams about the latest developments and the challenges that moving to peat-free pose.”
