My year as a Trainee Gardener
Reflections on her year as a trainee at Phoenix Farm by Ita Cormack:
‘I have been based at Phoenix farm for the duration of my 12 month WRAGS Traineeship where the working environment consists of three polytunnels, a glass house and a large outdoor plot. So the joy of this is that as a trainee I get to experience working in both the protected environment and the outdoor environment and to develop the gardening skills specific to both.
I not only attained skills and experience in the art of crop rotation, propagation, square metre planting, soil cultivation, maintenance of vegetable plots, hedge trimming, pruning, pest and disease management and net mending. But I had the additional treat of learning how to make willow fences and willow obelisks.
It has been a great opportunity to propagate, maintain and observe plants from seed to maturity throughout the seasons and for a whole year.
I do feel privileged to have undertaken my training in this teeming-with-wildlife gem of a green space. I am very grateful to the head gardener, the volunteers and the HCGA team for their support and for sharing their knowledge and skills so generously. With the knowledge and skills gained I now feel much more prepared and confident to seek employment in horticulture.
