It's never to late to learn

Did you know that you can gain a horticultural qualification without leaving the comfort of your own home? Tamsin Westhorpe explores distance-learning courses.

- Tamsin Westhorpe

YOU could live five lifetimes and still not know everything about plants and gardens. It’s for this reason that we all need to take every opportunity to immerse ourselves in the subject that we love. After all, knowledge is power, and it also brings a lot of pleasure.

Having taught the RHS Level 2 Certificate many moons ago, I can highly recommend attending a recognised horticultural college to learn. You will get to experience the practical side of the subject under supervision and you’ll enjoy the company of like-minded people.

However, life is busy and few of us can dedicate the time to signing up for a course at college that involves physically sitting in a classroom. The good news is that there are alternatives. Online and distance-learning courses are the answer, and we are lucky to have so many at our gardening fingertips. You can learn about nearly every aspect of horticulture without even getting off the sofa!

A new career in horticulture