r/GardeningAustralia • u/_Jensoon • 3d ago
What is gardening like in Aus? š Send help
Hi All, I'm 23 years old from the UK and have been doing gardening for the last 4/5 years gaining a qualification in it.
In about a years time I'm looking to try get a working visa in Australia and come over to work and try and build a career in horticulture in Australia.
I just wondered what gardening was like in Australia. Are you planting out year round. Do you have distinct growing season's? Because obviously, being in the UK we only have spring and summer to really show off etc. And sometimes spring isn't even that good! Also, I'd appreciate some general tips for gardening in australia as I'm sure there are some differences.
Many thanks :)
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u/Junior_Island_4714 3d ago
Varies so much between areas.
In Tasmania it is probably pretty similar to England in a lot of ways albeit milder Winters. In WA tomatoes grow all year round. You can find nearly every kind of climate somewhere in Australia, it's a whole-arse continent.
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u/_Jensoon 3d ago
Yeah, mad, like I said to another reply. I knew how big australia was, but for some reason, I never would have thought about how different it will be regionally given the size of aus. Thanks for the reply, mate.
If you don't mind me asking, what's the demand for gardeners like? I've heard companies are crying for gardeners but obviously not sure how true that is.
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u/MainlanderPanda 3d ago
I have a horticulture qualification. Most of the work in this field is for garden maintenance. If youāre doing that work as an employee, the pay is crap. You can make a decent living running your own gardening business, as long as you have the startup capital for equipment etc.
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u/_Jensoon 3d ago
Interesting. I mean I covered garden maintenance but also studied plant science and 'specialised' horticulture. Are there not many companies looking for that kind of thing, or is it just general maintenance?
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u/MainlanderPanda 3d ago
If youāre wanting work in grafting, tissue culture, etc, thatās very specialised and not a huge industry here. It also tends to be localised into particular areas, so the work might be happening in a rural area where you donāt want to live. I canāt imagine there are heaps of vacancies, and with horticulture qualifications currently free to study in some parts of the country, Iād imagine we have an oversupply rather than an under supply of gardeners.
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u/_Jensoon 3d ago
Okay, sweet. Thanks for that. I don't understand why the UK doesn't do free horticulture studies, good gardeners are hard to find here generally speaking. Then again, this country's a joke really.
Thankyou :)
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u/unnecessaryaussie83 3d ago
There is a multitude of different regions in Australia where, for example, in northern states you probably plant a bit less due to the intense sun and heat and then on the opposite end you have very very cold area where only certain plants can grow etc. there is so many areas itās hard to tell you all about them
PS it can also be dangerous having to doge the drop bears all the damn time
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u/_Jensoon 3d ago
Damn okay, so some very big differences regionally. I wouldn't have even thought of that despite knowing how big australia is. Thanks mate!
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u/InadmissibleHug 3d ago
Itās a giant country. Probably stick to vic/sa/tas if you can if you want to work outside, at least initially lol.
Youāll probably find the temperate planting environment more familiar as well- three seasons, decently cold in winter but not ridiculous, hot intermittently in summer but not the whole time.
You can plant similar stuff in the same seasons.
Once youāre in the tropics all the rules are weird, lol. Iām sure you can learn a new climate, but as an amateur itās a lot.
I moved from vic where I grew up with an excellent amateur gardener dad- man would be lauded for his techniques now. He knew everything, I swear- and then moved to north qld, and itās just too hot for brassicas and the regular bulbs and stuff.
Have a look at r/gardenate for a quick summary of the different growing zones in Aus
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u/_Jensoon 3d ago
Cool thanks for that! I'll check that out. It's so cool to me just how varied it all is. I'm looking forward to the challenge of learning when I eventually arrive wherever that may be!
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u/Jackgardener67 3d ago
You cannot summarise "Australian gardening" (basically because there is no such thing) * . We are a continent the size of Europe, with the State of Victoria alone being the size of England. We have ski fields and tropical rainforests, deserts and lush tropical seacoasts. Getting a visa to work in Australia is not easy but there is a Working holiday visa for under 30s where you do some menial/physical jobs (fruit picking/packing, tomato glasshouse work, brocolli picking, certain farm jobs) and can also have time to travel. You can stay in Australia for 2 or 3 years on this visa. There is also the backpacker visa has a much shorter time limit. Ex Brit, living in Australia 35 years. Retired Professional Gardener
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u/_Jensoon 3d ago
Yeah that makes sense, I guess I could have re-worded my question to be more broad. I appreciate that information, mate. If you don't mind me asking, how were you able to end up staying? Was that through a job? Or family relations. Obviously you don't have to answer that, I'm just curious as most people from UK that end up staying in aus is due to marrying an Australian or getting a job that wants to keep them. Cheers mate.
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u/Jackgardener67 3d ago
I was "head hunted." I came under the employer nomination scheme to do a job that had been proved that there wasn't an Aussie available to do. Also, getting married to an Aussie no longer gives you automatic Permanent Residency status. You still have to acquire a Partner Visa, which has some onerous conditions attached to it.
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u/_Jensoon 3d ago
Ahh fair play. I guess I'll have to see if I can find a good company willing to sponser a visa. If not, standard working holiday it is. As for the marriage, I didn't know they changed that! I imagine they got sick of giving out residencies so quickly maybe? Ha! Thanks for the reply mate
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u/Jackgardener67 3d ago
I think people were getting married for convenience (Asian brides, for example) just to get PR and then splitting up a couple of years later. So more vetting, more proof that it's a valid relationship is required at the beginning of the application (must live in a domestic relationship for 12 months before applying, for example)
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u/_Jensoon 2d ago
I'm surprised they didn't do that sooner to be fair. It did always seem strange you could get PR so quickly that way.
Thanks for all the information mate
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u/no-throwaway-compute 3d ago
ā"This new settlement had many problems from the start. Few of the convicts knew how to farm and the soil around Sydney Cove was poor. The country was hot, dry and unfertile, unsuitable for the small farming necessary to make the settlement self-sufficient."
Remember also your tools could not handle hard Sydney sandstone and were constantly breaking.
I am sure that we have some descendants of James Ruse floating around, I'll reach out to a couple and see if they can offer better advice.
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u/GiantBlackSquid 3d ago
But then, beyond the Sandstone Curtain (ie the rest of New South Wales), it can often be quite different. For instance, there are some cooler, wetter places located along the Great Dividing Range, like the Blue Mountains, Comboyne (west of Port Macquarie and said to be the wettest place in New South Wales; it's great dairy country, but they also grow avocados there too) and Dorrigo. The soils in these areas are often volcanic, and can be a deep red colour - totally different from the clay soils that make up much of the East Coast.
The New South Wales north coast (anywhere north of Coffs Harbour) is really lush and green, definitely subtropical. It's quite different from where I live, a bit further south. We're still considered to be in the subtropical zone here, but the forests are much scrubbier.
The Southern Highlands (south of Sydney, obviously) are probably more like what a northern/western European would be used to, it can get proper cold down there in winter. Parts of the Central West (over the other side of the Blue Mountains), like Bathurst, but particularly Orange can be quite similar in terms of temperature. There's beautiful autumn foliage around all these areas, which is generally pretty rare in Australia. But then go a couple of hours west of there, and you get into savanna, then desert as you approach the South Australian border.
Long and the short of it, I suppose, is that whatever kind of climate you're looking for, we've probably got it, except for maybe proper alpine conditions. We have some, in the NSW/Victorian High Country, but with the impacts of climate change, snow can be quite rare some years. I wouldn't be surprised to see the end of the Australian snow sports scene in my lifetime.
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u/Sweet_Habib State: VIC 3d ago
A lot different.
You need shade. UV is high, hence you people falling into the suntouched category during summer.
Look into permaculture principals to establish a canopy.
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u/_Jensoon 3d ago
Sweet, thanks so much for that. I'll write that down and be sure to research.
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u/Sweet_Habib State: VIC 3d ago
https://youtu.be/7jvDHGz5goo?si=C_V7Vet80K7242iy
Geoff Lawton is the man when it comes to sustainability.
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u/_Jensoon 3d ago
Okay nice one, I'll have a watch on my break. Currently in my shed right now replying to these lol.
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u/Maleficent_Laugh_125 3d ago
I'm in Brisbane, SE QLD sub tropical and very humid from October to April, most home gardening is done in Winter which is quite mild and Beautiful weather, Tropical fruit trees do well through summer but be aware the warmer months bring lots of rain, pests and snakes out, also if it's not torrential rain it can be years of drought.
Plenty of work but horticulture itself doesn't pay particularly well, lawn mowing businesses can make very good money however, especially if they offer hedging, garden clean ups and other services.
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u/_Jensoon 3d ago
Interesting, yeah one of my family friends who lives in sunshine coast mentioned that lawn mowing does well. Makes sense, all year round being able to mow. Only reason I'd get the mower out at this time of the year in the south of England is to help pick up dropped leaves from trees easier!
Are snakes and critters a big problem with gardeners in australia, because people always go on about them in general. I wondered if they are a real problem for gardeners?
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u/Maleficent_Laugh_125 2d ago edited 2d ago
You do see them, leave them alone and you'll be fine.
I ran a small mowing businesses for awhile, I aimed for $700/day as a sole trader which is very doable if you have decent equipment and a condensed route but it is hard work in the humid months.
Arborists can also do well, stump grinding can also be very lucrative.
There is plenty of opportunities with councils for parks and gardens work, the Botanic gardens in Mt Cootha in Brisbane is a awesome and would make an excellent place to work.
Good luck with your searches, I'd suggest jumping on seek.com.au to get a good idea of roles and salary expectations but for a general employee $30-$45/hour is fairly standard depending on experience/Qualifications
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u/penchimerical 3d ago
I'm in Brisbane and used to work in a place where we did alot of annuals. Stuff like petunias and marigolds in the the summer, and poppies and pansies in the winter. But yeah, they grow year round if it's warm enough
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u/TheTwinSet02 3d ago
Iām in Brisbane and our low season is summer! We can grow all year round but you need to contend with bugs, sun, heat and drought or flood pretty much
There is a population tv show called gardening Australia and there is a YouTube channel - it always gives tips for the week and itās broken up into regions and technically Brisbane and Sydney are both subtropical, there is levels apparently
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u/Aristophania 3d ago
I live in the Southern Highlands of NSWā¦ it rains, itās boggy, it frosts in winter. So- exactly the same as gardening in the UK except with Kangaroos and Parrots destroying things instead of Deer š
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u/OzzyGator Natives Lover 3d ago
It's all year round. Only the plants and the growing conditions vary.
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u/ZoeyDean 3d ago
I think you'll love it. It'll feel like a big contrast at first, with the UK being so lush and green and Australia being generally hot and hostile feeling... but there is a lot to fall in love with. Especially if you're gardening to help the wildlife.
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u/_Jensoon 3d ago
Awesome, yeah I did a foundation year at uni in ecology as I do like to gardening to help wildlife. That's probably my favourite part about it.
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u/CottMain 3d ago
Forget gardening. Become a greenkeeper and youāll get an opportunity to migrate for good. I know someone who did just that
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u/_Jensoon 3d ago
Ha, that's pretty cool. Only issue is I dont have in depth green keeping knowledge. I used to mow a golf course with cylinder mowers etc but nothing more. Did your friend have prior experience?
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u/CottMain 3d ago
He was a backpacker with zero experience. But he was as keen as. Attitude is rewarded in Aus.
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u/daveo18 3d ago
former commercial gardener here. In Australia we have a lot of contract gardeners, the largest of them being Jimās mowing group. They drive around with trailers with all their equipment. Most of the work is mowing lawns, hedging, weeding, that kind of thing, that you can pickup pretty quickly if you donāt know it already.
The pay can be alright as thereās a lot of time poor people out there, and lawns can grow pretty fast, especially in spring, and especially where it rains a lot (Melbourne / Sydney / Brisbane).
During summer it can get hot and dusty, and in the southern states things can slow down a bit in winter, but thereās still plenty of work
A lot of the contractors I know are always screaming out for employees, if you end up in Adelaide (or have any more questions in general) feel free to DM me.
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u/_Jensoon 3d ago
Okay gotcha. Thanks for that mate, I'll certainly keep you in mind if I end up out there. Thanks so much!
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u/GreystarTheWizard 3d ago
Most Aussie seem content never to do any gardening. Basic house on a patch of grass.
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u/temmoku 3d ago
One of the challenges I have where I live is the variability in weather. Some years are super wet and some drought. And a dry year after a wet one is very different from a dry year after a dry year.
Even within a year the hot and cool periods make it hard to get the amount of water needed right. My plants can go from under watered to over watered in a flash. And some can have the right amount of water in the root zone but still cook in the sun.
Yeah, good gardeners manage fine, but it's a learning curve.
Clay soil sucks, too.
I'm sure you will be fine, but it is different from where I was before
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u/_Jensoon 2d ago
Yeah Roger that. Okay. Well I appreciate that. I got some saving to do for next 10 months or so then ill be on my way. Thankyou :)
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u/CorporateT 3d ago
Thereās a weekly tv show produced by our national broadcaster āABCā called Gardening Australia and you should be able to view it (and all its episodes) via the ABC app- āiViewā. Thereās correspondents all over Australia and they talk about region specific issues. The Brisbane dude often talks about his garden, pests, propagating plants etc. Itās a pretty dorky show but I confess I love it and watch it regularly.
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u/Born_Buffalo_9699 2d ago
Heya! If you have a background in horticulture or viticulture sciences there are opportunities private / commercially and within government to undertake breeding, growing, maintenance of field, greenhouse and glasshouse operations. As well as commercial farm operations I work in ag science so have a little onsite in opportunities within that career area. Permaculture is gaining traction in our country also. I can suggest publications though I agree with that already suggested is Gardening Australia as a good starting point for you to build upon in the 12 mths as you strive to reach your goal of working in Aus All the very best to you, and for your future endeavours āļø
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u/Henjamin 1d ago
What sort of career are you looking for? If you come out into the country, there's a need for agronomists where you'll experience all kinds of fun poisonous things covered in thorns that try to kill you
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u/_Jensoon 1d ago
I was looking for career there in horticulture ideally as that's what I'm specialised in. However I'd be happy to take on anything related. I just want to go and experience what it's like to live in aus and work and see what happens from there, really. If I stay I stay, if I don't then I made some great memory's. To add, it's funny where I studied horticulture/plant science and got my qualifications, the class next door was based on agronomy and I always wondered what they got up to!
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u/Dazzling_Paint_1595 1d ago
Have a look at this info https://www.anbg.gov.au/gardens/research/hort.research/zones.html . Pretty much where you live determines what will grow well - or not. It does mean if you go to a very different zone to what you are used to, visiting plant nurseries causes all sorts of envy!
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u/_Jensoon 1d ago
That's a great read, thanks so much for that. I'll try and ingraine that into my memory ha!
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u/GiantBlackSquid 3d ago edited 3d ago
We also have a climate cycle, popularly known as El Nino and La Nina - put simply, it swaps from one "pole" to the other, from year to year, and the opposite side of the Pacific Ocean experiences the opposite pole to us. El Nino indicates hotter, drier weather (and often droughts on the East Coast), and potentially disastrous bushfires (bearing in mind, to the best of my knowledge, the horror bushfires of 2019-20 occurred in a "neutral" phase, but were ended by the arrival of a La Nina period). La Nina generally indicates cooler temperatures and higher rainfall, oftentimes severe flooding, as occurred on much of the East Coast in 2020 and 2021.
After a hot, dry start to the 2024/2025 summer, La Nina arrived just this week, and the difference has been like night and day. Where I am (NSW mid-north coast), it has rained quite a bit the last few days, and the forecasts indicate rain for much of the next two weeks, at least. If I cared about my lawn, I'd be ecstatic, as it had been killed by the heat and was in the process of drying out and blowing away. I'm always pleased to see rain though.
We also have other climate systems, such as the Indian Ocean Dipole (naturally, it affects our West Coast to a greater extent than here in the East, but a negative IOD, combined with La Nina can result in enormous amounts of rainfall and flooding). There are other systems too, but these are the most important ones. From the literature I have read, it appears that as climate change gets worse, La Ninas are expected to become more prevalent in Australia, so, um, yay us, I suppose?
The long and the short of it that our climate systems can vary wildly from year to year, so take that into consideration too.
And from one ex-Pom to a future ex-Pom, the other posters really aren't kidding about UV protection. Recently I was silly enough to do some pruning, wearing only a singlet and jeans. My shoulders, arms and neck were quite red after only fifteen minutes - and that was on quite an overcast day too!
As for drop bears? Man, they still scare the bejesus out of me, and I've lived her forty years.
EDIT: Had to correct a comment I made about the IOD. It is in fact a negative IOD phase that causes increased rainfall.
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u/_Jensoon 3d ago
Wow, thanks so much for this. This is perfect, I'll be sure to look further into this. I'm sure some employers would ask me questions on this! Thankyou mate.
I also just had to look up what drop bears are as someone else mentioned them and It went straight over my head. Nice one, you've put me off going to Australia now. Cheers!
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u/GiantBlackSquid 3d ago
You're very welcome. But I'm not scientifically trained, or even an expert amateur on climate science, so don't just take my word for it. The Bureau of Meteorology is a good place to start, specifically here:
http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/about/australian-climate-influences.shtml
Happy researching!
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u/Itsnotme887 3d ago
Australia has a huge and varied climate. What grows well in one area may fail 400km away. It's great fun though can be a bit of a learning curve.