Trainee Gardener Apprenticeship

Join JC Designs Ltd as a Horticulture Supervisor Apprentice

Gain hands-on experience in garden design and maintenance. Learn planting, pruning, lawn care, landscaping and horticultural skills while working in high-quality private gardens. Train alongside experienced professionals and build a rewarding career in horticulture.

What you'll do at work

• Mowing and lawn care
• Planting trees, shrubs and flowers
• Weeding and mulching borders
• Pruning shrubs and trimming hedges
• Using and maintaining professional tools
• Learning plant care and identification
• Working safely as part of a team
• Helping create and maintain beautiful gardens

Training course

Horticulture or landscaping supervisor (level 3)

What you'll learn

Course contents

• Plan and implement horticultural activities using techniques to protect and enhance the environment, biodiversity or heritage.
• Plan and implement environmental mitigation measures for horticultural tasks, including protecting sites (for example aquatic environments, soils, plants, structures) from horticultural works, waste management planning, hazardous waste and pollution controls.
• Plan the care of plants in different environments, including suitability for the site and providing irrigation and nutrition.
• Identify biosecurity threats for a horticultural site (including main pests or diseases and their identification features) and implement and communicate phytosanitary and biosecurity procedures for the site in line with legal requirements.
• Apply scientific plant naming conventions (including genus and species) to identify plants via physical inspection and without assistive resources.
• Plan and implement planting activities in context of the stock type/ species and planting environment.
• Assess hard structure or surface, evaluate hazards, damage and faults and rectify, report or maintain as required.
• Assess soil type and quality (imported or natural), identify soil condition and recommend management regimes as required and appropriate to the site, including the prevention of damage from traffic and works.
• Identify basic health threats and hazards for established trees.
• Plan, quantify materials and implement turf or species-rich meadow surface installation.
• Plan and supervise vegetation control (including formative, regenerative and maintenance pruning), selecting methods and equipment.
• Implement project management skills, including project processes, planning and specifications.
• Use digital tools to solve problems, plan, collaborate, communicate and keep records.
• Develop a work plan to a specification.
• Communicate using verbal and written communication skills.
• Establish safe systems of work and comply with health, safety and welfare legislation, including basic risk assessment.
• Supervise others (staff or volunteers), including motivation, work prioritisation, quality, problem-solving, capability for task, establishing a safety culture and resource deployment.
• Manage use of tools and machinery on site (including safety and record keeping) and carry out selection appraisals.
• Use and maintain irrigation system (hose and lance, drip, sprinkler or rotary system) to ensure accurate and timely water application.
• Plan a programme of plant pest and disease controls in line with Integrated Pest Management principles. Spraying of pesticides and/or fertilisers or non-chemical alternatives.
• Select propagation methods and plan and implement propagating plants by seed and vegetative methods in an indoor or outdoor context.
• Assess a horticultural area, develop an annual maintenance programme and undertake maintenance activities.
• Assess turf or species-rich meadow quality and plan and implement the maintenance, repair and renovation of ornamental turf areas.
• Prune or train a climber, shrub and tree using specialist pruning and/or training techniques to maintain plant health and achieve design or functional objectives.
• Select work method and plan and undertake the application of a range of landscape construction materials to a specification, including brick laying, paving, timber features; construct horizontal and vertical features.
• Install a service into a landscape, for example lighting conduits, irrigation or draining.
• Measure and set out a site with several features and levels from a construction drawing.
• Plan and implement landscaping activities for a non-complex landscape construction project, including interpreting job specification and construction drawings, estimating materials required, planning resource allocation (human and physical), work quality and health and safety considerations.
• Survey site for landscape construction, including presence of services, drainage, plantings, features, protected areas and hazards.
• Plan and implement horticultural activities using techniques to protect and enhance the environment, biodiversity or heritage.
• Plan and implement environmental mitigation measures for horticultural tasks, including protecting sites (for example aquatic environments, soils, plants, structures) from horticultural works, waste management planning, hazardous waste and pollution controls.
• Plan the care of plants in different environments, including suitability for the site and providing irrigation and nutrition.
• Identify biosecurity threats for a horticultural site (including main pests or diseases and their identification features) and implement and communicate phytosanity and biosecurity procedures for the site in line with legal requirements.
• Apply scientific plant naming conventions (including genus and species) to identify plants via physical inspection and without assistive resources.
• Plan and implement planting activities in context of the stock type/ species and planting environment.
• Assess hard structure or surface, evaluate hazards, damage and faults and rectify, report or maintain as required.
• Assess soil type and quality (imported or natural), identify soil condition and recommend management regimes as required and appropriate to the site, including the prevention of damage from traffic and works.
• Identify basic health threats and hazards for established trees.
• Plan, quantify materials and implement turf or species-rich meadow surface installation.
• Plan and supervise vegetation control (including formative, regenerative and maintenance pruning), selecting methods and equipment.
• Implement project management skills, including project processes, planning and specifications.
• Use digital tools to solve problems, plan, collaborate, communicate and keep records.
• Develop a work plan to a specification.
• Communicate using verbal and written communication skills.
• Establish safe systems of work and comply with health, safety and welfare legislation, including basic risk assessment.
• Supervise others (staff or volunteers), including motivation, work prioritisation, quality, problem-solving, capability for task, establishing a safety culture and resource deployment.