We take a closer look at what an RHS qualification can do for you
Roger Atkinson, a long-time allotment grower, has always been interested in gardening and growing vegetables. His earliest gardening memory is around the age of five or six, helping his Dad weed his vegetable plot. Unfortunately, he didn’t know the difference between the crops and the weeds, so all the cabbages got weeded as well!
He said, “When we moved to our current house in Knowle, Solihull, the back garden wasn’t suitable for vegetable growing, being heavily shaded by trees and two young boys always playing football in it. So I applied for a local allotment and was given a plot in 2000 – 24 years ago.
I retired in 2021. I knew that I wanted to do more gardening activities in retirement, but wasn’t quite sure what. I saw a social media post for the RHS Level 2 courses and thought this sounded interesting. I had built up some good gardening experience over the years but felt that I still had a lot to learn and I was particularly keen to learn more about propagation. I learnt a huge amount over the two years and had a wonderful experience. I did the second year face-to-face at Winterbourne House and Garden in Birmingham, a really wonderful arts and crafts garden. I felt quite privileged to go there every week and use the garden as our ‘classroom’. It was also really interesting to see the changes in the garden over the seasons of a full year.
It was great to be with a group of like-minded people who all had a love of gardening, and I was surprised how much I enjoyed the intellectual challenge of learning something new and passing exams. I really enjoyed the science elements – botany, soil science, nutrients. I would really like to continue to grow my knowledge in these areas.
Some of the ways in which the qualification has helped me are paying more attention to my soils health, measuring its pH and using appropriate organic fertilizers for appropriate crops. Doing propagation from cuttings, division and layering – rather than just sowing seeds. I started the Level 2 course wanting to learn more about propagation, and I certainly achieved this, but I also learnt so much more about many aspects of gardening. It has definitely helped become a better gardener, and also made me want to continue learning and improving my knowledge. I am really pleased that I enrolled on the course and feel a great sense of satisfaction that I successfully completed it.
Over the years I have become rela
