Become a landscape gardener

A landscape gardener creates and maintains outdoor spaces: laying paving slabs and cobblestones, building steps, kerbing and retaining walls, planting trees, hedges and beds, sowing and looking after lawns, and managing drainage so the water runs the right way. You work in gardens, parks, residential areas, cemeteries and along roads — out in the open, all year round, and you watch your work grow into something beautiful.

Because it is one of the most versatile trades: one week you lay paving with a precise fall, the next you plant or lay a lawn. You work with soil, stone, plants and water alike, and you combine hands and head — you measure up, calculate quantities of plants, soil and materials and choose the right solution. You earn a wage during your training, and the path from apprentice to journeyman is clear.

• 01Outdoors and varied — stone, soil, plants, grass and water in the same trade.
• 02A visible result — you go home and can point to a terrace, a bed or a lawn you have created.
• 03Pay during training — you earn from day one of your training.
• 04Green profile — you work hands-on with nature, rainwater and biodiversity.
• 05Career path — from apprentice to journeyman and on to foreman, site manager or your own business.

Construction technique is mostly about building: paving, steps, walls and drainage. Maintenance technique is mostly about looking after green areas so they last for many years. From 1 August 2026 the purpose of the programme states that the trade has a «focus on rainwater management and sustainable solutions» (Executive Order 151/2026 § 1). Rain gardens, soakaways and green areas that can take cloudbursts are therefore part of what you learn.

Almost every home has a garden, a yard or a shared outdoor area that someone has to build and maintain. The chart shows how many residential buildings there are in each municipality. Notice that the big urban municipalities have the most, but there are also many homes in the rural municipalities — often detached houses with large gardens.

The figure does not say how many gardens there are: a block of flats counts as one building, even though it has many flats and a large courtyard. But it shows that green outdoor areas are found all over the country — not only in the big cities. On top of that come parks, cemeteries, schools and roads that the municipalities must maintain.

You need to be able to read a drawing, set out levels and falls, build a pavement correctly (formation, capping, base course, levelling layer, surface), lay paving in patterns, plant according to the Planting Standard, sow and maintain grass — and take off material quantities, so that neither too little nor too much is ordered. Landscape gardener is a vocational programme (EUD): you alternate between school and on-the-job training in a company.

• 01Pavement construction — subgrade, sub-base, base course, bedding layer and surface according to NOVA (Danish norms and guidance for landscape work) and DS 1136.
• 02Planting — plant spacing, staggered layout, planting depth and receiving inspection in accordance with the Plantestandard.
• 03Grass — soil preparation, seeding rate, fertilising and establishment requirements.
• 04Fall and drainage — per mille, levels and drains, so the water runs correctly.
• 05Measurement — area, volume, plant count and material quantities from the actual dimensions.

Start the basic course (grundforløb) at a vocational college and find an apprenticeship at a landscaping firm. You don't need to know it all in advance — you just need to enjoy working outdoors with your hands and making something that lasts and grows. If you want to get a feel for the trade first, create a free account and browse the articles, calculators and posts here.

“The best thing about the trade is that you make something that grows. When the terrace has the right fall and the bed is sprouting, you know it's proper work — and it only gets better with the years.”