Green Fingered
Katie Stott, 27, from Leeds, decided to ditch her job in corporate law to be a full-time plant lady!
It’s safe to say I’ve always been into gardening.
Ever since I started planting alongside my grandad as a child.
I’ve always found it peaceful and have got stuck into it in my own back garden with my family.
But I never thought gardening was a viable career option, so I decided to study Event Management at Leeds University.
After that, I fell into a job doing admin and reception work for a corporate law firm, but it was never something I wanted to do.
When I got pregnant, my maternity package was too good to refuse and the job just fit in well with my new family life.
But as my children Cameron, four, and Rosa, two, got older it had me rethinking my career.
Cameron will be starting school next year, so I’ll have more time, I thought.
What do I want to do?
I knew I was passionate about the outdoors, so I started volunteering at a garden centre alongside my day job.
Eventually, I applied for a gardening job going at the city campus for Leeds University, but I was lacking experience.
However, the head gardener really liked me and passed me onto the head groundsman, Dave.
After a conversation with him I got more volunteer work under my belt at the local woods, which helped me to become the first female groundskeeper on the campus sports grounds. That was about six months ago now and I would never go back. I’m so happy doing my apprenticeship, it’s so quiet up there and the day just goes so fast.
I feel so lucky to be outside with nothing around, except the grasses and breeze.
At work I’m usually maintaining the football and hockey pitches, planting bulbs in the surrounding areas or maintaining all of the trees.
‘Tell me about the trees Mummy!’ Cameron shouts excitedly, when I see him after school.
He’s just as outdoorsy as me and I plant vegetables with my children in our own garden every year.
They absolutely love it! In the future I want to do an RHS course in horticulture, so I have a good background in everything, and I might start my own business.
The world is my garden!