Meet garden apprentice, Patricia!
Hi, my name is Patricia and I am one of the lucky new apprentices at Fulham Palace.
Led by head gardener Lucy Hart, our team has three garden apprentices and two senior gardeners, along with more than 50 volunteers. Oh, and I shall not forget the two Palace cats!
Coming from an event industry background, I have always had an enthusiasm to propagate and nurture plants. When arriving in London six years ago, I engaged with this big city by volunteering in various community gardens. From Dalston Eastern Curve Garden to Brockwell Park Community Greenhouse, each of those spaces are little green heavens within a busy and vibrant city. Glengall Wharf Community Garden in Burgess Park is a stunning permaculture design garden, which introduced me to forest gardening.
Biodiversity, organic growing methods, local and native planting schemes and a “giving back approach” are values that are close to my heart. What I started as a hobby soon became a passion.
While working for Peter Beardsley, a landscape designer who taught me a lot about including environmental-friendly values within a garden design, I started an RHS Level 2 at Regent’s Park in February. I’m thankful to the Denny Trust for supporting my apprenticeship. My apprenticeship allows me to continue my learning and working four days a week at Fulham Palace and still going to my course one day a week is a great model to learn!
What I appreciate the most about Fulham Palace is its modern and contemporary approach to gardening, while embracing and continuously researching its historical past.
I have now been at Fulham Palace for almost six months and time has flown by! The list of activities and skills I have been learning continues to grow daily! Here are a few of the things I’ve learned so far:
- Mulching, bulb planting, pricking out, potting on, harvesting, weeding, sowing and pruning to name a few.
- Getting trained on machineries such as the turf cutter, tractor and lawn mower are also part of the program.
- All of these tasks were entangled with our Christmas Fair, which meant wreath making!
There is always something happening at Fulham Palace Gardens. I cannot put forward enough my enthusiasm to be learning so much from the great gardeners and volunteers team. The welcoming within that team has been exceptional.
I look forward to hearing the buzz of people visiting and enjoying the garden on the warm summer days.
Our garden is open daily and free to visit!
