We wanted to become self-employed gardeners, with the safety net of qualifications that would help us get jobs if we couldn't get enough work. So we trained at what is now called City College, Manchester, and spent 9 months full time studying for our City & Guilds 1 and 2 in Amenity Horticulture, plus the Royal Horticultural Society's General Certificate. This combination provided an all-round knowledge of gardening, a good foundation for a life-long interest in horticulture, whether as a professional or amateur, and a springboard to higher levels.

The City & Guilds' courses were extremely practical, backed up by class work that gave us the background to the practical stuff. Being a full-time course, instead of day-release, we practised on the grounds of the college, where we students did the bulk of the maintenance of the flower beds and shrub borders.

Amenity horticulture courses are aimed at those intending to work in local parks and gardens, and ours included turf care, greenhouse work, propagation, spraying, as well as plant identification, pruning, feeding and so on. The only gap was fruit and vegetable growing, which we learnt on the RHS certificate course, although there was no practical element for this.

Because we began writing for gardening magazines soon after qualifying, we were able to join the newly formed Garden Writers' Guild (now the Garden Media Guild), which has kept us updated ever since with its briefing days on different aspects of amenity and commercial horticulture plus plenty of knowledgeable contacts. A few years later, the formation of a Garden Photographers' Association within the guild led to even more opportunities.