Have you ever looked up from your desk, gazed out of the window and longed to be outside in the fresh air? The answer will almost certainly be yes. It's normal human behaviour to rail against being cooped up with your computer. So if you feel drawn to working outdoors, then you may want to consider landscape gardening as a career.
Perhaps it's something to do with all the gardening programmes on television or our need to make the most of any hot weather - but the British are falling in love with their gardens all over again. According to the Horticultural Trade Association's figures, the landscape gardening industry employs over 60,000 people and has an annual turnover of approximately £3 billion - and it is growing. But if you think it may be time to flex your green fingers then there are certain rules you need to know.
What is it?
Think of gardening businesses and an image of mucking around in the garden and getting a suntan probably springs to mind. You would be wrong though, there is real hard graft involved - the majority of landscape gardeners start off as one-man operations. According to Kath Walker, field officer for the Association of Professional Landscapers, there's far more to the job than the odd bit of weeding.
"You have to have training. It's a diverse industry and you have to have expertise in lots of different areas." These include water features, building, paving, stonework, wind structures, decking, joinery, groundsmanship, draining and irrigation. Then you also need to have a pretty comprehensive knowledge of plants and what can grow where. As Landmark's Mark Gregory puts it: "At its simplest it's doing garden makeovers. At its best it's an art form."
Who is it suited to?
If you're definitely an indoors person who dislikes being open to the elements then it probably isn't for you. However, if you like getting your hands dirty and being creative, then maybe its time to start thinking.
There's one myth that needs to be nipped in the bud straightaway. Gardening is not confined to the summer. That may be when we enjoy our gardens but most of the work and the planning are carried out in the winter. If you're out in the garden in the summer, you won't want to share it with workers and cement mixers. "People prefer not to have work done during the holidays, particularly if they have children at home," Gregory explains.
However, working across the autumn and winter months can present difficulties. Last autumn, for example, was a washout. "It never stopped raining, and everywhere was like a quagmire," Kath Walker explains, "we couldn't get the topsoil ready, you couldn't mix and dry it." Hard landscaping, such as installing ponds or building walls, which is becoming more and more popular, can be done undercover though.
Because the weather and other factors can hamper your work schedule, you need to be resourceful and plan carefully. Warren Hall who runs his own business in Kingston-on-Thames, Surrey, explains: "The first year was exceptionally difficult, I had to do lots of maintenance work, but as the days got sunnier, the work picked up. It's ideal to squirrel the money away: the summer may be busy but you need to cover yourself over winter."
You need to be prepared to get out there and sell your business. Much of the work that comes your way will come from personal recommendations. People will ask their friends, or their local garden centres or wholesalers to recommend someone good. In this sense, you really are only as good as your last project. As Gregory puts it: "We don't advertise, the work comes to us. People are paying for our reputation."
You also have to be prepared to go back to school. To gain the skills and knowledge you'll need for the job, taking a course at a horticultural college is the way forward. Hall studied for two years at Guildford, Surrey and one of his placements was at the nearby Chessington World of Adventures. So, you never know, it could even be fun.
