Requirements

Gardener or landscape gardener - requirements

As a gardener or landscape gardener, your practical skills in horticulture, creativity, and self-motivation allow you to shape and maintain green spaces of all kinds. Here you can find more information on the type of roles available, how to get them, and where your career could take you.

Know what you'll need to land a job below.

What qualifications do you need to be a gardener or landscape gardener?

In addition to university study, you can qualify as a gardener or landscape gardener through a college-level course, an apprenticeship, a professional training course or work experience.

If you want to get a degree in a relevant subject, you could consider:

You can get into gardening or landscape gardening without any formal training or education, but it may take you longer to progress and will limit you from getting into some types of work like landscape architecture. A full UK driving licence is needed for most outdoor roles.

Please note this is a beta version. We'll continue to improve our suggestions here so that we show you the most relevant subjects.

Do you need a postgraduate qualification to be a gardener or landscape gardener?

Postgraduate study isn’t needed for a successful career in gardening or landscape gardening, but it may be useful if you want to go into landscape architecture or science-focused horticultural roles.

Examples of taught MAs and research degrees at postgraduate level include MAs in:

Horticulture
Landscape and garden design
Landscape architecture

What skills do you need to be a gardener or landscape gardener?

For gardening and landscape gardening roles you’ll need a passion for plants and the managed environment, as well as good physical fitness and planning skills.

Hard skills usually include:

Heavy machinery
Gardening and landscaping techniques
Horticultural knowledge
Environmental management

Soft skills include:

Self-motivation
Physical resilience
Health and safety
First aid
Communication
Customer service

Do you need work experience to be a gardener or landscape gardener?

Work experience is extremely important if you want to stand out against other job applicants in gardening and landscape gardening. It’s a very hands-on industry that doesn’t have a strict academic or training pathway, so having experience is a clear way to show your level of ability. It’s also a good way to find out what kind of work interests you.