Growing Talent: Jordan’s Future Gardeners Placement with Q&S
Jordan’s been a recent member of the Q&S family – out on site, getting stuck in, and bringing some great energy to the gardens. He’s an apprentice on the Future Gardeners programme, run by Bankside Open Spaces Trust, and he’s just wrapped up a two-week placement with our commercial gardening team.
Future Gardeners helps people build the skills and confidence to land a job in horticulture – something we’re proud to support, alongside our own Train to Grow apprenticeship.
Jordan got the full works with the Q&S gardening team: working shoulder to shoulder with experienced gardeners, seeing how they operate, getting hands-on, taking on some responsibilities of his own around the gardens and developing his horticultural skills.
Jordan’s days were a real mix of shadowing and doing. “I spent most of my time working alongside different team members, who showed me around and helped me understand their daily routines,” he said. But he was just as hands-on himself, “maintaining indoor plants, as well as outdoor tasks like weeding, watering, and planting. Also becoming familiar with the tools and equipment the Q&S teams use.”
Jordan hoped the placement would help him gain valuable experience, expand his horticultural knowledge, build professional connections and develop the practical skills he needs for a career in horticulture.
“What surprised me most is how large and diverse the horticulture industry is, and how much there is to learn.” Jordan told us. “Even after just a week, the amount of knowledge I’d gained was incredible. I’m very grateful to the team I worked with, they were patient, supportive, and genuinely willing to teach and share their expertise. Exactly the kind of learning experience I was hoping for.”
We’ve loved having Jordan with us these past two weeks. Stay in touch Jordan, we want to hear where your gardening studies take you!
Supporting emerging talent, either through our Train to Grow apprenticeship or collaborating with programmes like Future Gardeners, is one of the most impactful ways we can future-proof knowledgeable and highly skilled sustainable practices in the horticulture industry – which is exactly why we set up Train to Grow in the first place.
To enquire about our Train to Grow apprenticeship programme contact
