Refugees and asylum seekers from open centres in Malta have learnt basic gardening skills through a University project funded by the EU through the European Refugee Fund.

The project, entitled Horticulture Training as a Means to Enhance Skills of Refugees and Asylum Seekers (Hortes II), seeks to give the participants new skills to help them find jobs in the gardening industry and enhance their integration in society.

The course was split into three levels with each level spread over 10 weeks. Argotti Botanical Gardens director and project leader Joseph Buhagiar and his team at the gardens, taught the participants aspects of plant biology, plant identification for both ornamental and wild species, plant water needs, plant nutrition and compost. They learnt how to care for plants in a local garden environment, how to deal with different techniques of plant propagation, pruning, spotting disease and how to eradicate the problems.

The participants also took part in practical sessions, often on a one-to-one basis, with Argotti gardening and technical staff, to put theory into practice. The sessions were tailor-made for participants’ needs and included handling garden equipment and machinery, use of scaffolding to reach trees for pruning, as well as watering and irrigation, planting of ornamentals for display, seed collection, cleaning and sowing. The participants were also given seeds, seedlings and ornamental plants and a set of tools to set up a small garden at their respective centres and to care for in between lessons.

A final ceremony was held in June at Argotti Botanic Gardens where the students received certificates of attendance.

Representatives of the Argotti team and of the various open centres were present.