New Gardener joins the Houghton Lodge gardening team!

There have been many reasons to celebrate the 2021 season. From welcoming new visitors, successful events and stunning floral displays to a new team member.

In this October blog, our new undergardener explains how she became a horticulturist during the pandemic and what life is like as a member of the Houghton Lodge Garden Team.

Hello, I’m Catherine (Cat for short) and I am the new addition to the Gardening Team at Houghton Lodge Gardens.

As I’m sure you’ll agree, it has been an odd year or so: for more reasons than one in my case. If ‘present me’ could travel back in time to visit ‘me a year ago’, I’d be shocked to learn I’m a professional horticulturist, working in a beautiful RHS partnered garden and nearly having completed an RHS Level 2 Dilpoma in Horticulture.

Before the pandemic, I was a musician and worked in a contemporary art gallery. When lockdown hit I lost all my income. I was confronted with the fact that (whether I liked it or not) my profession was not sustainable so I decided to consider new avenues which could provide job security while supporting my music.

As the months passed and I was stuck at home, I developed an insatiable love for houseplants which quickly took over my bedroom. My greatest joy was growing hundreds of tomatoes, venturing out each day to pick the ripe fruit to have with dinner. I’d never grown anything before but the calm they gave in a troubling time was an escape and utter joy.

Like my love of plants at home, I found my daily constitutional a very special part of my day and wellbeing. It was a rare moment to be alone, get fresh air, stretch my legs and explore; finding fungi and gorse flowers, spotting deer and red kites.

Then an epiphany struck!

Nature!

Plants!

The great outdoors!

I’ve always loved nature. I joke that I grew up in the woods, climbing trees and making dens in the large woodland at the end of my back garden.

Why didn’t I think of this before?

With a love and admiration of plants but little knowledge, an unknown stretch of time ahead of me with no work and nowhere to go, I decided this could be my new avenue, but where to start? That night I went online in search of courses which could enlighten me and broaden my understanding. I found an RHS science course (cells, soil pH, pests and diseases etc) which started the following week. I applied and a week later I was sitting in a classroom studying ‘Principles of Horticulture Level 2’. I enjoyed it so much I signed up for the practical course, then the Garden Planning course (the three courses equalling a diploma).

These courses have honestly been brilliant, I’ve learnt so much and am so grateful to the staff and students at Sparsholt College who supported me along the way. I’m not quite finished. I have 4 exams left, or 1/3 to go. Then I will be the proud owner of a Level 2 RHS Dipolma in Horticulture.

Houghton Lodge Gardening team

From my previous life as a Drama graduate, I knew that qualifications are great but experience in the field is a must. I emailed every garden within an hours radius, requesting to be a volunteer gardener. Sophie at Houghton Lodge Gardens was one of the first to respond and I went to meet her and the gardening team: Head Gardener Kevin and Gardener Lesley. Torrential rain cascaded off the conservatory as we discussed my career change and future plans. Everyone was very welcoming and down to earth. We got on straight away and they kindly offered to mentor me. Within one month I’d gone from never thinking much about plants to studying for a diploma in them and being mentored by professional gardeners. Everything fell into place.

During the various lockdowns, volunteers and outdoor workers were allowed to continue. I was so grateful for this. Some weeks I would go in to help 2 or even 3 days. The gardening work is never complete at Houghton Lodge Gardens; nature is always one step ahead of us, but every job is a satisying one. I loved it all: planting hundreds of ferns and hellibores in the Serpentine Walk, planting even more narcisuss bulbs and shovelling 30 tonnes of mulch across the various beds and borders during the winter months.

Gardening highlights

It is an amazing thing. To work hard on something, to give it due care and attention, hoping that the work will pay off. One of the tasks I completed over the winter was rearranging the rose arches and pruning the clematis. Being my first time doing this, I didn’t know what the end result would be. Seeing the arches in full bloom this summer I was so pleased. The careful hours untying, rearraning, pruning and tying back up again paid off! I’m happy every time I walk under the arches knowing that I helped make this beautiful display.

One of my highlights was learning how to prune the apples and pears. A lot of planning and forward thinking is involved. Where will the growth be in three years? Which way do I want this branch to grow? Every tree has its own personality, some grow upwards, some are more weeping; moving from tree to tree you have to greet it and understand its growing habit to ensure working with it to get the best result for you and the tree. It is quite creative, very practical and rather mindful.

Towards the end of my studies at Sparsholt College, I was welcomed to the fold as a paid member of the gardening team. My first job as a professional horticulturist. I honestly wasn’t expecting this and I am so grateful to everyone here for supporting me and my new life! Houghton Lodge Gardens have become a second home and I consider Kevin and Lesley friends as well as mentors.

This month, I will have been at Houghton Lodge Gardens for a year, volunteering for 11 months and my first month as a professional.

The gardens are now closed for the winter months and myself and the team will be busy putting the gardens ‘to bed’ and then getting it ready for the spring and opening on the 1st April 2022.

I am very much looking forward to seeing visitors again next year and if you do  spot me ‘working the land’ do stop and say hello. You can even ask me a question or two, but I can’t promise to know all the answers! I’m at the very start of this new life, loving every second and can’t wait to see where it’ll take me.

Follow Cat’s horticultural journey on instagram @cat.kin_