I came into the horticultural world in 2010, not intentionally. I was just looking for a job. I randomly put my CV into a garden centre that my parents and I often shopped at. I got a call for an interview. We talked about Danish trollies, and I remember thinking ‘what is a Danish trolly?’ ( a cart used for moving plants and flowers!) I started work the next day, part time.
Three months into the job, my supervisor asked me how I was enjoying it. I had mainly worked in the bedding area and a little bit outside. I remember looking around and asking ‘so these plants can be mixed up and put together?’ she said ‘yes, with in reason’. I was really enjoying this idea.
My supervisor then encouraged me to take a course learning about plants. I went home and my parents asked me how my day went. We talked about the conversation I had with my supervisor. My mum then did some research looking for an online school that specialised in horticulture. She came across ADL and thought this was the best choice for me because of its wide selection of horticulture courses they offered. I started the RHS course straight away. Passing all my assignments, then I met my husband. The ADL course took all my concentration. By that time my plant knowledge had broadened a little.
Later on I moved garden centres for a full-time job. My husband and I moved in to our house, bought a puppy, had a lovely wedding and welcomed our son, then covid hit.
In 2015 I picked up my ADL studies where I had left off, and my parents gifted me Barnaby Millard’s RHS Level 2 books. These books were promoted on the ADL website. I then downloaded the level 2 past papers from the RHS website, and read my 2010 course work books.
At present, I am completing ‘Horticulture, Learn The Basics’, ‘Interior Plants’, ‘Tropical plants’, ‘Horticulture 3, plant health’. There are many more courses I will be enrolling on, to continuing broadening my knowledge of horticulture.
How do I manage this with my busy life? I make time. I study bit by bit. One bite size at a time. I look many things up, I write notes, I imagine what is being discussed. Many people might have more than 1 child and have many more things going on in their lives than me!
If you’re deeply interested in a subject you will make time to study .
For instance, I love learning about history, especially the Royals and Tudors, science particularly space and obviously, plants and many other things. I also enjoy going out to places either on my own or with friends and family. You make the time to do this.
I spend 15 minutes to 1 hour in the mornings before my family gets up to do studying and roughly the same time in the evening. Rest is very important with time away from books and screens, and I get plenty of sleep as well. I have a 9 year old dog, I walk him twice a day and my husband walks him at lunch time. I enjoy the wild life when we walk, especially seeing the squirrels in the park near me. I also enjoy taking photos too of the lovely nature around me.
As I currently work every other weekend, I have one day a week off, in term time, I use these days roughly 6 hours to get as much studying done as I can. Holidays, I still study when I can, as long as my son is occupied!
My plan for the future is to get my studying completed so I can acquire my certificates, I save monthly to be able to afford all the additional courses I wish to study with ADL!
I love ADL’s wide selection of courses, as they helped me so much in expanding my horticulture knowledge and skills. These courses have completely changed my life!
Sarah Huntly, student at ADL – Academy For Distance Learning