Our latest cohort of horticulture students begin their learning journey today, 14 September in Waterloo. As we welcome these new Future Gardeners, we reflect on the course and why it is one of Bankside Open Spaces Trust’s key projects.

What is Future Gardeners?

“It was a wonderful and helpful experience.” Jane, who won our Outstanding Student Award in June 2023, sums up Future Gardeners – our FREE horticultural course for those out of work or looking to make a career change. Jane was out of work for over a year before joining the course and is now working four days a week for Nurture at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and volunteering at Kew Gardens too!

Our course is particularly designed to support those who might otherwise struggle to access further education or training. It is a free 12 week training course involving classroom study and practical, hands-on gardening in some of London’s top green spaces. By end of the course, students will have completed 2 weeks’ of full time work experience and gained a Level 2 City and Guilds qualification (delivered by Walworth Garden, Kennington) – allowing them to pursue entry level horticulture jobs or to take up a training placement. We also support our students with cv writing and job interview tips through our ‘job club’, ensuring that they are ready to take the horticultural world by storm.

Why is Future Gardeners so important?

Future Gardeners tackles two major issues in the horticultural sector, the lack of skilled workers entering the industry and the cost barriers many face in pursuing horticulture as a career.

The shortage of skilled professionals entering the horticultural industry in the UK has been deemed ‘critical’ by the Royal Horticultural Society. This shortage could seriously impact the future of an industry worth over £9 billion to the UK economy so there are sound economic reasons for tackling it head on.

Many horticultural courses are expensive and require students to travel, our course is not only free, but based in easily accessible central London and travel expenses for all trips is covered too. We also enable our students to gain discounts on horticultural memberships and ensure they visit some of the UK’s most important horticultural sites such as RHS Wisley and Royal Botanical Gardens Kew.

Finally, our course is also designed to help people out of unemployment, which can affect mental health, confidence and self-esteem as well as lead to debt and poor physical health.

Future Gardeners presents horticulture as an accessible career option by taking away some of the barriers to entry. As a gardening charity we know how fulfilling a career outside can be, and also how broad the horticultural industry is – we are proud to share this experience with three cohorts of students every year.

Being part of Future Gardeners

If you are interested in finding out more about the course as a student, visit of Future Gardeners page here. Or if you would like to support this vital project, please email our Future Gardeners Project Manager Louisa Mansfield at louisa@bost.org.uk

“It has been a life changing experience and thank you so much for your help and support.” Jaeson, Future Gardeners student 2023, now an apprentice at Fulham Palace