Landscape
gardener,
explained.
A complete Danish reference work on landscape gardening — from paving and falls to topsoil, planting, grass and measuring. Read the articles. Use the calculators. Ask the assistant.
15
Calculators
30
Articles
∞
Questions
Cross-section of a paving: formation level, base course, levelling course and paving blocks with a fall — plus a newly planted plant with a root ball. Layer build-up per NfA 1992.
§ 01 — What you can do here
Read, calculate, measure — or ask.
Eight tools from post to delivery — for students, gardeners and builders.
Tools in the trade
§ 02 — About the trade
Gardener
Landscape gardening is the trade that builds and maintains outdoor spaces — gardens, parks, courtyards, cemeteries and urban spaces. The trade works with both the green and the grey: paving, steps, edging and retaining walls on one side; soil, trees, hedges, beds and lawns on the other, tied together by falls and drainage.
Questions about the trade
What does a landscape gardener do?
A landscape gardener builds and maintains outdoor spaces: laying slabs, setts and kerbs, building steps and retaining walls, planting trees, hedges and beds, sowing and tending lawns, and directing water and falls across the terrain. The work begins with measuring up — area, levels and material quantities — and ends with an installation meant to last for decades. The days alternate between new work and maintenance, and a single week can hold both a terrace with an exact fall and a planting carried out to the Danish Plant Standard. The trade is practised in gardens, parks, housing estates, cemeteries and along roads, usually in gangs.
What is the difference between a landscape gardener, a gardener and a greenkeeper?
Landscape gardener, greenkeeper and gardener are three branches of the same green field, each with its own emphasis. The landscape gardener builds and maintains outdoor spaces and works as much with stone, soil and water as with plants. The greenkeeper specialises in turf and sports facilities — golf courses with greens, fairways and bunkers — while the groundsman branch looks after sports grounds. Gardener in the broader sense also covers growing in glasshouses and nurseries, where the work is sowing, cuttings and tending plants as they grow. The material here places its weight on landscape gardening: pavement construction, soil, planting, turf and drainage.
How is a pavement built up?
A pavement is built up in layers from the bottom: the formation level, an optional capping layer, a base course of graded gravel, a laying course and finally the surface. The thicknesses follow the traffic class and the bearing capacity of the subgrade, which NfA divides into good, medium and soft — for Standard A (paths and terraces) the total construction is 15, 25 or 35 cm, and the graded-gravel base course is 10 cm in class A against 20 cm in class D. The laying course is typically 30 ± 10 mm and never below 20 mm, and DS 1136 sets the joint width at 2–5 mm. Compaction is done in thin lifts, because a base course that is not compacted will settle.
Which machines require a certificate in landscape gardening?
The certificate requirement follows the machine's lifting capacity, not its size. A telehandler or mini loader with forks requires a telehandler certificate (Tele A) once the attachment can lift a load higher than about 1 m, and crane work up to 25 tonne-metres requires a Tele B or crane D certificate; the age limit is 18, or 15 while in training. Mini excavators and plate compactors carry no general certificate requirement, but the employer must always provide training, instruction and supervision, and commercial felling with a chainsaw requires a documented chainsaw course. Hearing protection must be worn from 85 dB(A), and the limit value for the ear is 87 dB(A).
How do you become a landscape gardener?
Landscape gardener is a Danish vocational education within the gardening trade: a basic programme at a vocational college followed by a main programme that alternates between college terms and an apprenticeship in a landscape gardening firm. You are paid during the apprenticeship and finish with a journeyman's certificate. The college part covers drawing reading and setting out on site, pavement construction, plant knowledge, turf, falls and drainage, machine safety and the measuring up of material quantities — the arithmetic takes up more room than most expect. From there the path leads on to foreman, site manager or your own business.
Based on: NfA 1992 / NfA 2023 · DS 1136:2013 · Plantestandard 2002 · Kvalitetsstandard for Planteskoleplanter 2019 · Arbejdstilsynets AT-vejledninger
§ 03 — Read now
Featured articles
Featured articles
All articles →§ 04 — Tools
Work it out.
Enter the tile dimensions and the joint width — and the number of units per m² is calculated purely geometrically: n = 1 / ((L+joint)·(W+joint)). No table to memorise, the figure always matches your own tile.
Open calculators→Example · Paving stones per m²
Concrete slab 40 × 40 cm
§ 05 — Trade in Action
How it looks craftsmanship.
Three classic working tasks from the profession — drawn as blueprint: paving stones, soil preparation and drain pipe with slope.
Work processes
Landscape gardener lays paving stones
The landscape gardener lays paving stones on mortar sand and leveling layer. A straightedge checks that the surface is level, the joint width is kept even, and each stone is driven tightly down with the rubber hammer. The slope indicator shows the surface's slope so rainwater runs away.
Soil preparation before planting
The landscape gardener prepares the ground: the solid, compact soil is dug up and mixed with compost so the upper humus becomes loose and humus-rich. To the left is the soil before, to the right is the loosened humus after mixing – a planting hole is dug and ready for the root ball.
Drain pipes are laid with fall
The landscape gardener lays the drain pipe in a filter gravel bed on a prepared base security layer and checks the slope with a level so water runs to the ditch. The levels mark high and low end – the actual slope in ‰ is calculated in the slope calculator.
§ 06 — Next step
One question
in Danish.
The AI assistant can calculate plant, soil and material quantities, explain paving sub-bases and falls, compare surfacings and help with take-off. Write to it as you would to a colleague on site.
Safety
Come home in the same state
Du arbejder udenfor hele året, og pladsen skifter hver dag. Den samme uge kan indeholde en rende til dræn, en motorsav i et træ, en palle kantsten og en tur i rabatten med kratrydderen. Farerne kommer derfor ikke fra én maskine, men fra at opgaven skifter hurtigere end sikringen når at følge med. Derfor skal du kunne se faren i den opgave, du står med lige nu.
Safety course
41 modules · 366 min · 4 farer der kan dræbe
§ — Where can you read about Gardener?
Find a school nær dig.
Gartner / anlægsgartner is offered at 16 places in the country. The list is informational — always check the latest and complete offering on the Education Guide's vocational education map.
Schools offering the programme
Hovedstaden
01Sjælland
04- Roskilde Tekniske Skole (Vilvorde) — Roskilde
- ZBC (Zealand Business College) — Næstved
- Landbrugsskolen Sjælland — Høng
- ZBC (Anlægsgartnerskolen) — Slagelse
Syddanmark
04- HANSENBERG — Kolding
- Kold College — Odense
- AMU SYD — Kolding
- AMU-Fyn — Odense
Midtjylland
02Nordjylland
05- AMU Nordjylland — Aalborg
- EUC Nordvest — Thisted
- TECHCOLLEGE — Aalborg
- AMU Nordjylland (Sandmoseskolen) — Brovst
- EUC Nordvest (Morsø Landbrugsskole) — Nykøbing Mors
Dækker både gartner (produktion) og anlægsgartner (anlæg & pleje).