HortWeek Podcast

HortWeek editor Matthew Appleby discusses the 2026 salaries report on the HortWeek Podcast with Fresh Horticultural Careers director Viki Halkett and Haymarket Recruitment marketing manager Vishnu Kannan.

Higher-paid roles are becoming more common across the horticulture sector, as employers respond to rising costs and changing demand. New HortWeek research, drawing on internal sample data from jobs advertised on www.HortWeek.com, shows steady growth in roles paying £40,000 and above, reflecting a shift towards more skilled, technical and management-focused positions.

The findings are based on HortWeek’s analysis of salary data from across the UK gardening sector, using a consistent sample of roles advertised on HortWeek.com to compare how pay bands changed between 2021 and early 2025. The data show a clear upward movement, with mid-range and higher-paid roles taking a larger share of the market over time.

The panel discusses what kind of technology is replacing manual labour in the industry — and should humans be worried about “the robots” taking their jobs?

We debate whether employers are taking on fewer entry-level staff due to the recent National Minimum Wage rise and what that means for young people who want to start out in the horticultural industry.

Viki tells us what kind of salaries technical experts or managers expect to earn and what will be the most highly sought-after technical and specialist skills in the world of environmental horticulture green jobs in the future.

Submitted questions from Capel Manor College students are also tackled by the panel. The answers include the essential information on where you can gain work experience after gaining a horticulture qualification, what starting salaries are and what qualifications employers prefer.

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HortWeek editor Matt Appleby and technical editor Sally Drury report on the essential horticulture stories of the week.

Topics for this week:

• Sports pitches including at and the football World Cup
• The National Plant Show, new plant awards and Dutch FlowerTrials.
• Recent business changes such as at Hortipak and Opperman Plants.
• Finally, Sally and Matt reflect on the recent deaths of John Ravenscroft, Matt Biggs and Nigel Dunnett.

Do check out our huge archive of HortWeek Podcast interviews, with an unrivalled selection of prominent and fascinating figures from all corners of the horticulture sector.

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This HortWeek podcast discusses new plant awards with HTA horticulture manager Pippa Greenwood, Frank P Matthews' director Steph Dunn James and Hillier production and amenity director Adam Dunnett.

The National Plant Show is at Stoneleigh on 17-18 June. Grower of the Year awards are presented on 24 September with new categories "for every grower there is". Deadline is 3 July.

Greenwood said awards gives UK horticulture as big a chance to trumpet itself in the same way awards do in European countries. She added that awards are more than a nice trophy and have a big effect on staff morale. Dunn James said awards are for growers of all sizes, if they have amazing varieties to show off. Greenwood said there is a new category for business turning over £2.5m, as well as new sustainability awards. 

Dunn James won best in show and visitor vote in 2025 for Prunus 'Japanese Lantern'. Dunnett won 2025 HTA awards for Plant Producer, Life Beyond Peat and Blooming Marvellous Employer, which led to winning International Grower of the Year at IPM Essen in January. He said the biggest win was as an internal "feelgood factor". He said he would like to see more "cut-through" from his UK customer base for award-wnning plants. They both spoke about how winning awards provoked the shedding of a tear, such was the joy they felt at the triumph.

Dunn James said the award is a great showcase for wholesale buyers and gives direction about what retailers should be ordering and what customers might be looking at. Frank P Matthews is also back at Four Oaks in September, celebrating its 125th anniversary. New varieties include a NGS apple for its 100th anniversary, a winter-flowering ornamental cherry from the Japanese Lantern award-winning breeding programme, a crab apple and a pear.

Dunnett said he is back at Groundsfest showcasing container and field-grown trees at the September show. Hillier won best plant at Chelsea in 2025 with Philadelphus 'Petite Perfume Pink'. Hillier was shortlisted with three plants in 2026 and Frank P Matthews with 'Japanese Lantern'.

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HortWeek editor Matthew Appleby is joined by Simon Conway and Richard Hopkins to discuss the impact of recent geopolitical events on the fresh-produce sector, covering:

• Investment and growth
• Expansion efforts
• Market challenges

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HortWeek editor Matthew Appleby is joined by Martin Emmett, Ali Capper. Simon Conway and Richard Hopkins to discuss the impact of recent geopolitical events on the fresh-produce sector, covering:

• Energy prices
• Fertiliser supply
• Increased input costs
• Impact on produce pricing
• Future outlook

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Andrew Wilson, ICL’s technical manager for ornamental horticulture in the UK and Ireland, explains what are the challenges for growers and manufacturers to overcome with the next generation of fertilisers.

He talks about why we need controlled release fertilisers, the benefits of using ICL's new Cal-BOOST product and which other new fertiliser products ICL has in the pipeline.

Andrew tell us about ICL’s Osmocote brand and the impending new EU legislations regarding biodegradable coatings.

He ends by giving top tips for growers regarding their fertiliser programmes.

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Created by The Children’s Gardening Coach Lee Connelly and Leigh Johnstone (The Beardy Gardener), The Classroom Garden reimagines what a “classroom” can be, placing nature, creativity and young people’s voices at its core.

Lee Connelly tells HortWeek about how the educational garden came about, how children's voices will be heard at Chelsea, about an international tulip festival project and what he thinks of the state of schools gardening within current educational policy.

The Classroom Garden, in the Great Pavilion at Chelsea (19-23 May) is supplied by Farplants and has a wildflower meadow.

The space is designed to inspire families, educators and the horticultural industry to rethink how children engage with the natural world.

At the heart of the garden is an audio installation featuring real voices from schoolchildren, captured during Lee and Leigh’s school visits of local schools involved in this year's RHS Chelsea Flower Show Young Reporters. 

The Classroom Garden will also serve as a central hub for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show Young Reporters, a new initiative celebrating children’s perspectives at the show. 

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Cosmos and hollyhock grower and Chelsea exhibitor Jonathan Sheppard is preparing for this year's Chelsea Flower Show and is battling the elements to make sure he had enough quality plants available from the thousands he grows for the show. 

One big concern is heating oil prices rises caused by the Iran war. He feels for growers bigger than himself who set prices at the start of the season but have seen costs rise. The former public affairs professional says the Government is unlikely to intervene for a sector as small as horticulture, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't.

He is a veteran of Hampton Court Palace Flower Show in 2022 and 2023 where he won silver gilt for his Cosmos collection display. In 2024, he made his exhibiting debut at RHS Chelsea Flower Show. He won gold in 2025 and had it officially awarded at an RHS event in 2026.

Promotionally, he says the BBC gives plenty of coverage but, using a film analogy, he says growers don't want to be seen as just the extras behind the headline stars who design gardens.

He also suggests that publicity shouldn't be the only payment for articles on nurseries.

Sheppard also has views on growers who produce all their own plants to show versus exhibitors who buy in plants.

As a National Collection Holder he is less interested in Plant Heritage's Chelsea garden and more in their members exhibits, of which his is one.

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This week Rachael Forsyth talks to the head of gardens at Chiswick House and Gardens Trust, Rosie Fyles.

In this wide-ranging discussion they discuss everything from staffing (Fyles let her gardeners work from home in the bleak mid-winter of 2026), to funding, climate change adaptation to dealing with plant thefts.

Fyles faces a challenge shared by many historic gardens - how to respect the restrictions and design inheritance of a Grade I-listed garden while negotiating the pressures inherent in running a popular garden in 2026.

She says: "We are very much making [plant] choices with climate change in mind and awareness of the extremes of the conditions.

"That at times feels a little bit at odds with what's available to buy from growers out there. So I think the demand for those things that are reliably climate-proof, if such a plant exists, demand exceeds supply at the moment. That's something that we're all dealing with.

"At Chiswick we're also completely peat-free as well which is another factor in terms of what's available for us to buy and plant".

Updating the path network to maintain accessibility is high on the agenda, and Fyles has to find a solution that fits the 18th century look and feel of the original materials used in the garden while being fit for purpose, as well as coming in on budget.

"I'd like to say my role was mainly about living things, plants and people, but actually my role is changing a bit to involve things like understanding how path networks need to be transformed and costing those out and project management and accessibility and all of those things. So the role of gardeners and head gardeners is changing with climate and with the garden's popularity."

Professional gardening skills are being respected more Fyles says, but she admits that amid funding pressures and the 'cost of living' crisis, gardens in general are likely to struggle to continue to pay a 'living wage'.

At Chiswick, which is a charity, grant funding they receive covers just 23% of operating costs. It is not surprising then, that so many entrants into the sector are career changers that can "afford" the lower salaries. The temptation for some might be to plug staffing gaps with volunteers, a strategy she says risks "undermining the value of the professional gardener".

A career changer herself, Fyles enjoys the mix of talents new recruits can bring to the team:

"I think one of the things I absolutely love about gardening is that there's not necessarily a right way of doing things and once you've found the right way, things will change and you need to adapt anyway, and that actually, you can learn from absolutely anybody. That's the best thing about it. It's quite democratic."

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HortWeek editor Matt Appleby and technical editor Sally Drury report on the essential horticulture stories of the week.

Topics for this week:

• After a slow start the garden season finally kicks off!
• The implications for horticulture of the conflict in the Middle East
• How can horticulture combat our vulnerability to global food shocks? 
• Plastic pot recycling in councils rises to historic levels!
• Is there a place for artificial turf? If not, what are the alternatives for high footfall areas? And if you do, Sally warns, beware of the unspeakable things you might find when you clean them!

Do check out our huge archive of HortWeek Podcast interviews with an unrivalled selection of prominent and fascinating figures from all corners of the horticulture sector.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.