Horticulture & you: why you should take your hobby from passion to profession

Are you interested in exploring a professional career in horticulture?

For anyone with green fingers or a love of the outdoors, becoming a horticulturist can be an incredibly fulfilling career, with ample opportunity to work with nature whilst cultivating a stunning range of plant life.

But why should you take your hobby from a passion into an actual profession?

Here, we’ve outlined all the key information to showcase what the world of horticulture can offer you, in both a personal and professional capacity.

You’ll learn a heap of new skills

Typically, the responsibilities of a horticulturist include the growing, breeding and landscaping of plants. A horticulturist can expect to immerse themselves in areas of elevated expertise such as plant science and nursery production too.

Daily tasks, meanwhile, involve the watering, trimming and general care of plants; coordinating living plant arrangements and designing plant display areas; using tools and machinery to treat soil and plants; and pruning, fertilizing and training plants.

So needless to say, working in horticulture is a very active and physical role, perfect for anyone interested in working outdoors with nature rather than cramming themselves into a stuffy office behind a drab, grey desk.

But what you may not realise is that there’s a considerable amount of theoretical study and scientific training required for this role too.

Not only do you need to know about plants in general, but you also need to have a comprehensive understanding of various soils, lawns, flowers, best maintenance practices, plant nutrition, water management, weed identification, pests and diseases, propagation, arboriculture and more.

This is why, if you’re a fan of gardening and are indeed interested in transforming this passion into a profession, a horticulture course online can be the ideal first step.

A horticulture course can help to both increase your specialist knowledge of horticulture and master the key practical skills, supporting you to establish a successful career in this industry.

To summarise, taking your green fingers from a passion to a profession means you’ll be learning practical skills as well as acquiring heaps more technical, scientific knowledge. You’ll become a professional in all kinds of areas of plant cultivation and management, with the know-how to back it up.

Your technical capabilities will increase

As we mentioned, an online horticulture course in Australia can not only support your practical expertise but also your theoretical knowledge too.

But that’s not all. For instance, our own Certificate in Horticulture has a module dedicated to horticulture resource management. In it, we cover topics such as business structures, management theories & procedures, financial management, productivity & risk and much more. 

Therefore, in the process of elevating your passion for horticulture into a profession, you’ll be developing numerous professional capabilities that are relevant across a range of industries. 

We’re not joking when we say that your CV will look particularly spectacular once you’ve obtained a certificate in horticulture. The best thing of all is that you can complete horticulture courses through distance learning, increasing your professional capabilities from the comfort of your own home – learning in a way and at a pace that suits you, without even leaving your front door.  

No more wondering ‘how long is a horticulture course?’ and debating whether it will fit into your current lifestyle; with self-paced study and 24/7 course content access, you can master this specialist knowledge and gain all these advantages whenever you wish.  

To put it in another way, whilst you’ll be gaining experience in horticulture you’ll also be increasing your general business abilities. Your knowledge will be extensive, thorough and wide-ranging, supporting you to feel confident and secure in whatever role or position you go on to assume.

You’ll unlock lots more professional opportunities

The standard salary of a horticulturist is approximately $46,000, whilst for the related role of an agronomist the average wages comes in at around $66,000 and for a nursery manager it is $62,000. 

From these statistics alone, you can see how this industry offers many lucrative opportunities, in addition to the ability to pursue myriad career paths whilst working with your one true love – plants, of course! 

If you’d prefer to seek a position outside the roles of horticulturist, agronomist or nursery manager, there are the alternatives of general farm manager, operations manager, greenhouse grower, crew leader, horticultural field officer, landscape designer, nursery worker… even a winemaker!   

You can also choose to work in a public or private garden, on a farm, in a forest, in urban or remote locations, independently or with a crew; the possibilities are endless!

By training in horticulture, this doesn’t mean you are then limited to the position of a horticulturist. You can elect to work in many different roles which offer an exciting variety of experiences, in a range of locations, with a diverse team of like-minded individuals working alongside you.

In conclusion, the reason you should take your love for horticulture from a hobby into a profession is that there’s so much potential in this industry for you, in both a personal and professional capacity. 

You’ll have the opportunity to develop your expertise in everything green and natural, increase your scope of business capabilities, whilst opening the door to a variety of professional pathways. 

So, really, the question isn’t why should you. Instead, the question is, what’s stopping you?