Home study courses

Im thinking of a change of jobs and would like to work in the area of gardening etc. I've seen these two home study courses but don't know which is best to take. Can anyone advise me?

www.learningcurve-uk...

www.openstudycollege...

 

I`d go with learningcurve herb, it`s cheaper, but more importantly, it gives a RHS qualification.:thumb:

 

It depends on what your existing horticultural knowledge and most importantly plant knowledge is like. A correspondence course is all well and good but unless you have a good existing basic knowledge you'll struggle to set yourself up as a professional gardener.

The set up costs if setting up a serious day to day business are quite high, easily over £3000 for decent basic kit and insurance, then on top of this you'll need a van. A good mower alone will be around the £800-1000 mark, my etesia was around £1500!!!

I wouldn't suggest horticulture unless you really love it, there is no golden road in the job only a lot of long hours more often than not working in bad weather.

Ive been self employed 7 years and make a good living out of it, however Over time Ive seen dozens of start ups around here, very few last a season as most go out of business when the winter months hit and the income drops.

In short think very hard before you commit yourself financially.

 

Totally agree with Paul.

I've looked at this and talked to various gardeners, its the winter thats a killer plus one of the biggest problems you will face is how to get rid of the mowings, prunings etc without it costing a lot of dosh.

I would recommend you get a copy of Paul Power's "how to start your own gardening business" first.

A practical gardening course would be more appropriate plus would also give you insight into the problems and possibly some contacts.

I did the RHS basic course and its an interesting cross section of participants including some wanting to or were full-time gardeners. You can often do this course in the evening.