Training between flowering beds and lush green sports fields
23.05.2025 – A new barefoot path winds its way through the New Cemetery between the meeting place and the plant trail. In the area, fields filled with sand, cork, bark and other materials invite visitors to feel the differences with their bare feet. The path was created by the gardener trainees at Stadtwerke Offenbach. They planned it as their own project, selected the materials, ordered and built it. They measured, paved and concreted it. The budding gardeners Lukas Honig, Lunis Sommer and Milan Vukelic and their trainee colleague Melanie Bieniek also upgraded the meeting place with a natural stone paved area and plants in the area of the round bench.
The four trainees come from the Stadtservice and GBM Service GmbH business fields. They are trained together and thus benefit from the areas of expertise of their trainers: Jasna Volk is head of the Green Services department at Stadtservice, while Kurt Kaiser is responsible for sports field management at GBM. Together, they prepare the trainees for their exams.
"Beautiful and well-kept green spaces, whether in Offenbach's parks, on the central reservation of our main roads or at the city's sports facilities, are part of Stadtwerke Offenbach's many tasks," says its Managing Director Peter Walther. "We need well-trained gardeners for this. But like other companies, we are also affected by the shortage of skilled workers in this profession. That's why we train our own junior staff in 15 professions and have been one of the largest training companies in Offenbach for many years. We are constantly working to create the best learning conditions for our junior staff. The cooperation between two companies within the Stadtwerke family for gardener training is a good example of how we can support each other here."
Joint gardener training by the municipal utility companies GBM and Stadtservice
The three apprentices in Stadtservice, Melanie Bieniek, Lukas Honig and Lunis Sommer, as well as Milan Vukelic at GBM, are now sitting together over their report books for vocational school. Among other things, they are practicing paving and laying slabs for the practical exams at the training construction site set up at the Stadtwerke Daimlerstraße site. "We complement each other in our training in different fields at GBM and Stadtservice and can now plan the three-year apprenticeship well with our own content," says Kurt Kaiser. "The curriculum has also been approved by the umbrella organization for gardener training, the Landesbetrieb Landwirtschaft Hessen LLH."
"Previously, we had to cooperate with partner companies in gardening and landscaping to teach our trainees stone and paving work," adds Jasna Volk. "This work is also carried out by the Stadtservice's civil engineering department. But here, roads and sidewalks are mainly maintained and not planned from scratch. That's why we can't be sure that the necessary work that will be requested in the next inspection is currently being carried out in the department by our colleagues. Our trainees sometimes accompany their colleagues there in the field, but they mainly learn the basics on their own projects and on our training construction site."
Tasks are diverse
The trainees are also deployed in the tasks of their respective teams in the green areas and at GBM. In Stadtservice, this includes the maintenance of flower beds, hedge trimming, tree care and lawn mowing. And at GBM? Maintaining the lush green of the grass sports fields may be challenging, but doesn't it get boring in the long run?
"At GBM, the training is very varied," disagrees Milan Vukelic. "We also have to mow lawns, cut hedges and weed-whack. But we also make sure that the artificial turf and hard pitches are playable, adjust the irrigation systems efficiently to save water, repair nets, fences and vandalism damage, remove tripping hazards for the active players and spectators and keep the sports operations running. I really like it and would like to stay on after I graduate."
Apprentices are satisfied with their career choice
The others are also very happy with their training: "I like being outdoors in nature, I've already been to the forest kindergarten and completed a voluntary ecological year after school," says Lunis Sommer. "That's why I now want to become a gardener at Stadtwerke Offenbach - I love Offenbach and think the training at such a large company is really good."
Melanie Bieniek could also have imagined training as a stonemason after completing an internship. "But I preferred Offenbach, partly because of the closer vocational school. Now I'm about to start my third year of training, I'm very happy and I've made the right decision in choosing a career as a gardener."
Lukas Honig has not regretted his choice either, especially as he sees a pragmatic advantage: "At the beginning, I had really sore muscles because our tasks are very physically demanding. But that saves me going to the gym."
Stadtwerke Offenbach offers those interested in the three-year gardener apprenticeship the opportunity to do a trial period.