Archive competitions

In 2018, the 9th European Professional Competition for Young Gardeners was organised and run by the Horticultural School in Rajhrad in the Czech Republic.

The vocational school of horticulture in Rajhrad near Brno trains gardeners for the entire South Moravian region and gives the region the opportunity to draw on specialists in horticulture. South Moravia has 2 million inhabitants, 450 000 of whom live in Brno.

Young gardeners from 13 European nations were able to get to know each other, work together and demonstrate their horticultural skills, creativity and stamina in competition.

 The 8th European professional competition for young gardeners in Eupen and La Reid, Belgium

In the week from 22 to 26 August, the European professional competition for young gardeners was held in La Reid and Eupen, Belgium.

21 teams from all over Europe competed to find the winner in demanding tasks from all areas of horticulture.

The winners of the German professional competition from Westphalia and Saxony were also there, starting as Team CEJH (European Young Gardeners) alongside the regular German teams.

At the opening evening in the Europasaal of the Ministry of the German-speaking Community in Eupen, the participants were welcomed and introduced to each other, a small carnival show provided a cheerful atmosphere.

The next day, however, the seriousness of the competition followed in the horticultural centre La Reid, where the teams were also accommodated in a colourful mixture.

From August 4 to 8, 2014, the 7th European Professional Competition for Young Gardeners was held for the first time in Switzerland, on the grounds of the Cantonal Horticultural School in Oeschberg near Bern.

20 teams from 14 countries: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland and the Czech Republic took part in the competition.

For many countries the date was in the middle of the summer holidays, so it was all the more pleasing that numerous teams registered. In order to use the infrastructure and the boarding school (for 110 people) of the horticultural school we had to set the competition date before the beginning of the new school year.

During the 6th European Professional Competition for Young Gardeners in 2012 which took place in Luxembourg for the first time, motivated young people faced a whole range of subject-related tasks from the entire spectrum of horticulture work.

105 young gardeners from 17 different countries showed their professional skills, creativity and resourcefulness at the Lycée Technique Agricole in Ettelbruck/Luxembourg from 3 to 8 September 2012, far from any pressure of examination and competition.

The 5th European Professional Competition for Young Gardeners was held at the school of horticulture in Räpina.

The participating teams came from 17 nations (France, Austria, Sweden, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Latvia, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Poland, Finland, Slovenia, Hungary, Slovak Republic, Netherlands and Estonia).

In the competition, tasks from all disciplines of horticulture and floristry were tested at a total of 18 stations. For example, fruit trees were grafted, herbs were determined, plants of a flower meadow were named with the correct botanical name and floristic workpieces were designed. The station dealing with horticulture and landscaping had to be mastered in pouring rain - a great challenge mastered by the participants with much good humour.

For some of the competition stations, the teams were mixed internationally. The participants learned to overcome language barriers, enabling them to find common solutions to their tasks.

From 1 to 5 September 2008.The school or horticulture in Langenlois was allowed to organise the 4th European Professional Competition for the best gardeners from all over Europe.

From more than 15 nations with a total of 75 aspirants and 25 supervisors a wonderful competition could be held in bright sunshine.

Participating nations:

From 30.08. to 03.09.2006, the 3rd European Professional Competition took place in Roville aux Chênes, France.

The 2nd European Professional Competition took place from 01.09. to 05.09.2004 at the Technical College for Fruit, Wine and Horticulture Laimburg (www.fachschule-laimburg.it).

During two days of competitions, the best young gardeners from 14 European member countries (Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, France, Italy, Croatia, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland) demonstrated their knowledge in all areas of horticulture.