How I came into horticulture and why I am leaving...

Part 2: Finding the sky, and the disconnect from nature

The School Years

On October 3rd, 1986, my life path was set, and I didn’t even know it. I was ten years old when ‘Top Gun’ was released. I can’t recall the exact moment I first watched it, but from the minute I did, I knew I wanted to be an aviator. In fact as the picture below shows, I had been influenced way before 10 yrs old.

(Pic is at an Aircraft museum in Devon. I must have been around 5yrs old. The tall gent is my dad, Peter).

Between that moment and the start of high school, I had already decided to focus my education around becoming a pilot (spoiler: that didn’t happen, but that’s another story). I put all my energy into maths, science, and English. When the time arrived to choose our GCSE options at 13 or 14, I was disappointed to find the system wouldn't let me build an aviation-focused curriculum. I was forced to take subjects I deemed irrelevant, Office Studies and French among them.

At 15, we were required to do two weeks of work experience in the "real world." Friends worked in banks, garages, and salons; one girl even spent two weeks on a building site. I of course wanted to work with the Royal Air Force. My teacher, Mr. Taylor, went above and beyond to help, eventually finding a company that arranged placements like these. For two weeks, I lived in Basingstoke and was picked up each morning in a Land Rover to work at RAF Odiham.

Those two weeks were some of the best of my life and probably had the most impact on who I am today. I worked on Super Pumas and Chinooks, learned how to secure loads to the belly of a hovering helicopter, took more ‘experience’ flights than I probably should have, marshalled the Red Arrows on day two, and even participated in a military-civil aviation meeting at Heathrow. I was rewarded for sitting through that lengthy session with a tour of a 747 in maintenance and a walk through Concorde, which was still in service at the time. That experience not only solidified my dream, but gave me lifelong friends, who are now retired from the RAF. I went on to study Aeronautical Engineering in Bristol, and eventually worked as an aircraft mechanic and gained a JAR66 Cat B1 licence (which means nothing in any world other than civilian aviation).

But looking back, I wonder: would I have made the same decisions if there had been more exposure to nature and environmental subjects in school? The closest thing to the natural world I studied was Geography. I was fascinated by our planet and its place in the universe, from rivers and oceans to mountains and volcanoes. I always felt connected to nature, but it never translated into formal education.

Between the ages of 12 and 16, I barely noticed the natural world, except on family holidays to Devon. There were no courses in natural history, horticulture, or botany. The curriculum was geared toward academia and conventional careers. No wonder aviation felt like freedom from the social norms expected of a school-leaver in the early '90s.

From Pilot Dreams to Plants

Fast forward nearly 30 years. I am no longer in aviation and haven’t been for a long time. (That journey will be explored in a future blog.) I've now worked in horticulture for over a decade, and one thing is painfully clear: the industry is struggling to attract skilled and passionate people.

In my school days, and still today to some extent, gardening was seen as something you did if you didn’t do well academically. I’ve experienced this prejudice first-hand. I once heard a mother tell her child, as I pruned espaliered apple trees in a front garden, "If you do badly at school, you’ll end up doing that." Red rag to a bull. I corrected her then and there.

We must dispel the outdated stereotype that gardeners are unintelligent. Many of us come to the field as career changers and bring a huge range of knowledge and skillsets that quite frankly not taught, or not taught enough, in the horticultural / landscaping sector. Skills like dare I say it, customer service, time-management, strategic thinking, finance, legal requirements, and yes even Health & Safety. Others are self-taught. Some of the most brilliant horticultural minds I know never received formal training.

Revaluing Horticulture

Here’s the bottom line: without plants, we die.

Yet horticulture isn’t part of the national curriculum. It doesn’t receive the same attention or funding as tech, finance, or data science. It isn’t taken seriously.

But horticulture *is* a science. It should be considered a STEM subject. At the very least, it should be an optional GCSE.

Every council should have a dedicated horticultural department. Housing, highways, planning—all of these intersect with horticulture. Internal expertise could save councils money and improve our built and natural environments.

If we truly want a healthy society, reduce pressure on the NHS, and build a sustainable economy, horticulture must be recognised as essential.

Making Horticulture Aspirational

So how do we attract young people?

We stop romanticising it.

Let’s move past the "good for your mental health" and "green therapy" narratives. Those are benefits, not recruitment strategies. Instead:

* Position horticulture as vital as tech.

* Fund it properly.

* Include it in the core curriculum.

* Offer competitive salaries.

* Show that it requires intelligence, innovation, and skill.

Imagine a future where a horticulturist works with AI to monitor crops for pests and diseases without chemicals. Where a career in horticulture can earn you a £60k salary. That’s not a fantasy, companies like Small Robot Co. are already making this happen. They blend tech and plant science in ways that demand smart, passionate people.

( Small Robot Co )

Education and Opportunity

Below shows where nature-based or horticultural subjects currently exist within the education system:

- KS1–KS4 (National) | Biology (within Science GCSE) | Plant biology, ecosystems, photosynthesis, ecology |

- Specialist GCSEs | Rural / Agricultural / Horticulture | Practical horticulture, land management |

- Post-16 Vocational | BTEC Level 2/3 in Horticulture | Propagation, crop nutrition, plant care |

- Post-16 Higher Level | BTEC HN Level 4/5 in Horticulture | Plant & soil science, plant physiology, horticultural science |

- Vocational Certificates | RHS / City & Guilds / NVQ | Horticultural craft skills, plant ID, practical techniques | (Note: having studied and passed RHS Level 2, I can with experience state that this qualification is only as good as the person teaching you. It also does not differentiate between hobbyist and professional, which the L3 does, but many sole traders will start working with L2 only and miss out on vital business/management training)

- Future Qualification | GCSE in Natural History (from 2026) | Field biology, species identification, conservation | (Thanks to a lot of work from various sectors, this is finally happening, but not in every school. Let’s keep a close eye on it. )

KS1–KS4 covers ages 5 to 16, yet little to no formal horticulture exists. At my school, Science GCSE was taught as a combined subject, offering no specialisation. Only after leaving compulsory education can students choose a horticulture pathway, but by then, many have already disconnected from nature. Tech and finance have taken hold, luring them with promises of high salaries and prestige.

But guess what? Coding won't grow the plants we need to survive as a species.

No More Playing Nice

It’s time to stop treating horticulture as a soft option.

Let’s stop:

• Packaging it as just "green therapy"

• Recognising only its economic value through flower shows, private gardening/landscaping and garden centres

• Relying on volunteers to maintain our green spaces (RHS, National Trust et al)

Let’s start:

• Paying professionals properly

• Cutting down on unpaid labour

• Formally linking horticulture to STEM

• Acknowledging its massive impact on health, food, the economy, and sustainability

Horticulture isn’t a luxury. It’s essential to human survival.

( I’ve previously written about the culture of volunteering in horticulture. You can read more in my blog series, "The Horti Bit" under “To volunteer or not to volunteer”. )

What Can You Do?

• Write to your MP. Ask about curriculum reform.

• Talk to your local council about their horticultural strategy.

• Educate yourself and others about how deeply plants touch our lives.

It’s not just about pretty gardens.

It’s about life.

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I feel that the industry is either unable to or not interested in promoting itself as anything other than a luxury item, for those that can afford it, and in order to make any impactful change, for the greater good, a different position is needed, and that is external to the industry.

Thanks for reading.

Claire