So you want to be a gardener?.MOV

A personal view;
i am asked time and again for advice or to take a student on. I no longer bother looking at paper qualifications. They are a poor measure of genuine interest, passion, or enthusiasm. I am more likely to look at what they have done practically, either voluntarily, as a hobby, or as a part time job. Sometime schools stick a quota of kids into horticultural colleges simply because there are places going. Most of the tutors I have met I wouldn't employ anyway....so why would I employ their tutees.
I need passion and enthusiasm and interest.....give me these and I will eventually give you a gardener or nurseryman with a specialism and skills of the non paper bullshit type....there has proved a huge gap between what I am reading these kids have learnt and what they are 'actually' able to do. It is sad but true and i wish it were not so.