Horticultural trades: pay and what the work involves

Occupation 5112 · Skilled trades occupations

Horticultural trades

Horticultural trades workers intensively cultivate vegetables, plants, fruit, shrubs, trees and flowers in greenhouses, market gardens, nurseries and orchards.

How people enter it

There are no formal academic entry requirements. NVQs/SVQs in Horticulture are available at levels 1, 2 and 3. Relevant apprenticeships and professional qualifications from the Royal Horticultural Society are also available.

What the work involves

prepares soil in field, bed or pot by hand or machine
mixes soil, composts, fertilisers and/or organic matter and spreads fertiliser and manure
sows seeds and bulbs and transplants seedlings
propagates plants by taking cuttings and by grafting and budding, applies weed-killer, fungicide and insecticide to control pests and diseases
prunes and thins trees and shrubs
supports trees by staking and wiring

Also called

Grower · Horticulturalist · Market Gardener · Nursery Assistant (agriculture) · Nurseryman

What it pays

Measure	Hours	Basis	Period	Value	Source
5112 : Horticultural trades	None	None	2026-03	11,600.00	ONS, Annual Population Survey - employment by occupation (SOC 2020)
5112 : Horticultural trades	None	None	2026-03	12,200.00	ONS, Annual Population Survey - employment by occupation (SOC 2020)
5112 : Horticultural trades	None	None	2026-03	13,700.00	ONS, Annual Population Survey - employment by occupation (SOC 2020)
5112 : Horticultural trades	None	None	2026-03	—	ONS, Annual Population Survey - employment by occupation (SOC 2020) Not published: Estimate and confidence interval not available since the group sample size is zero or disclosive (0-2)
5112 : Horticultural trades	None	None	2026-03	1,500.00	ONS, Annual Population Survey - employment by occupation (SOC 2020)
5112 : Horticultural trades	None	None	2026-03	13,700.00	ONS, Annual Population Survey - employment by occupation (SOC 2020)
5112 : Horticultural trades	None	None	2026-03	600.00	ONS, Annual Population Survey - employment by occupation (SOC 2020)

Every regional figure

ONS does not publish occupational pay below region. Cells the survey could not support are shown as withheld, with its reason — adding a region split to a specific occupation leaves roughly a tenth of cells publishable.

Region	Measure	Hours	Value	Period
East	5112 : Horticultural trades	None	1,100.00	2026-03
East Midlands	5112 : Horticultural trades	None	600.00	2026-03
London	5112 : Horticultural trades	None	2,000.00	2026-03
North East	5112 : Horticultural trades	None	600.00	2026-03
North West	5112 : Horticultural trades	None	1,100.00	2026-03
Northern Ireland	5112 : Horticultural trades	None	withheld	2026-03
Scotland	5112 : Horticultural trades	None	1,500.00	2026-03
South East	5112 : Horticultural trades	None	3,600.00	2026-03
South West	5112 : Horticultural trades	None	1,800.00	2026-03
Wales	5112 : Horticultural trades	None	600.00	2026-03
West Midlands	5112 : Horticultural trades	None	withheld	2026-03
Yorkshire and The Humber	5112 : Horticultural trades	None	withheld	2026-03

Common questions

Does pay for horticultural trades vary by region?

ONS publishes regional pay for this occupation where the survey sample supports it — 9 of 12 cells on this page. The rest are withheld by ONS, and are shown as withheld with the reason, rather than left out.

Where do these pay figures come from?

The Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, published by the Office for National Statistics. Figures are shown exactly as ONS publishes them — we do not adjust, model or fill them in, and every number on this page carries the series and period it came from.

Classified alongside this

Agricultural and fishing trades n.e.c. · Farmers · Gardeners and landscape gardeners · Groundsmen and greenkeepers