On the 11th of November 2014, a cold but dry day, I started the engine of my little van and drove to work. This time was different.
I’d just been made redundant and this was the start of my new life as a freelance gardener. It was an awkward start; I’m a natural gardener, not a natural businessman, and venturing out on my own was incredibly challenging. I must have done something right to have reached my tenth anniversary.
I’ve learnt a few things over the years.
People
I’m a fairly amiable sort of person but it’s plants that are my passion.
I’ve met some absolutely wonderful people. My work has made a real difference for them; I’ve been proud of my achievements.
I planted 1,000 daffodils but the supplier sent the wrong, but thankfully a better, variety!
Some people have been awful. Working for people at their homes, away from the rest of the world, can be rather eye-opening. Nice people are wonderful at home, but others can prove rather… unusual. Difficult even. Some people fail the ‘vibe check’ (a phrase I heard from a younger gardener recently) at the initial meeting; excuses were made and I didn’t go back. At other times people start off fine and become increasingly peculiar as time passes. Sometimes ‘peculiar’ becomes sadistic. And of course sometimes things just don’t work out.
I’m lucky that I’m currently working for great people. I don’t know whether it’s luck as such, or whether I’ve just become a better judge of character.
Perception
Gardening is not well regarded as a career choice. I’ve given up hoping for a time when gardeners are recognised for their abilities and contribution to society.
However I find it disappointing that there’s so much division within British horticulture. It seems as though there are those who cannot, or more pointedly don’t want to, work together as one. They would rather form factions to exclude or even demean others. I don’t buy into the culture, and this has made me an easy target for some particularly unpleasant individuals over the years.
A summer border
The perception of freelance gardeners is particularly poor. I’m sure we’ve all heard stories about freelance gardeners doing bad or shoddy work. Bad news travels fast and fuels the perception that any gardener not attached to a specific garden is rogue. Good work goes unnoticed; nobody really notices the work of good gardeners, just when things all go horribly wrong.
A freelance gardener could wave a magic wand and solve all the world’s problems but would still be regarded with suspicion, even by other professionals. I’ve always known there are issues but had grossly underestimated how divided the wider horticulture industry was.
Gardens
The biggest lesson for me has been just how important gardens can be to people.
Some people have gardens because they came with the house they bought, while others like to keep neighbours at a distance. For some the garden is a vitally important space, a place of comfort away from the world.
There are lots of woodland gardens in my region
Passive indifference is the most challenging thing to deal with, followed immediately by people who just don’t know what they want. Both essentially come down to the same thing, choking decision making and stifling progress.
Some clients know every flower and leaf in their garden as well as I do. These are the people who are great to work for; there’s a free flow of ideas and it’s possible to make a real difference for them.
Creating a new woodland garden, with some help from the wildflowers
I parted company with someone recently who had an unhealthy relationship with their garden. Far from being a place of joy, this client saw the garden as a place of toil, discomfort or even misery. Initially I thought I was seeing true passion but it wasn’t; there was something strange, slightly sinister about it all. People with passion for gardens enjoy their gardens, and are not enslaved by them.
Would I Recommend Freelance Gardening To Others?
You get to see some truly wonderful places and meet some absolutely wonderful people.
You can also meet some very odd people too, and there are times when the nature of the job is particularly challenging. You must work from the heat of summer to the cold of winter, from dust dry to pouring rain. If you don’t work you don’t get paid. Life as a freelance gardener can be incredibly isolating. Bad attitudes from the public can get to you, although the same from your industry colleagues can somehow feel much worse. Some people are just jerks.
Some of my gardens are smaller, allowing for planting on a more delicate scale
Being a freelance gardener isn’t just about doing a job, it’s about making a difference. Yes you need to earn money, but people hire gardeners for different reasons. Some just can’t be bothered to maintain a garden (fair enough), while others have other demands on their time. In some cases you’re looking after gardens for people who can’t look after them any more, maybe through old age or poor health. It doesn’t matter why you’re there, only that you are.
Being freelance doesn’t mean you get to work for yourself. You work for clients, you work to pay the bills, then you work for yourself. I can be a very lonely way to work; sometimes you’re on your own for weeks at a time and you’ve got to be OK with that. I’m not saying it’s better to work in a garden with a team, and I can tell you some tales of terrible A-hole employers that will make you seethe with rage, but loneliness at work can creep up on you.
Rhododendrons grow well here
It’s not a life for everyone but some of us seem to manage it. 10 years in and I’m still racked with self doubt, but I can at least say that I’ve done reasonably well. Sometimes things don’t go to plan. That’s just life.
I’m also involved with plant trialling for the Royal Horticultural Society, I pick up skills and meet other gardeners thanks to the Cornwall Professional Gardeners Group, and I’m currently proud to be working with the International Conifer Conservation Programme to find safe homes for vulnerable and endangered species. This is work I would never have been allowed to do if I’d stayed with my former employer.
The Future
Things could be better for me- they could for us all- but I don’t plan to give up.
I don’t know what the next decade will bring; I hope that among the inevitable challenges there will be opportunities. There are things that I do for my own interest now that could take me in exciting new directions.
I’d just got orchids to come back and the client decided all grass on the property had to be mown
But fundamentally as I pursue new opportunities I want to remain part of the horticultural community, despite its flaws. I’m proud to be a gardener, and to be the latest of many generations of gardeners who have worked to make the world that bit little bit nicer. I feel a sense of shared history as I stand in old gardens, as though I belong there as the gardeners who went before me did.
I’m lucky to benefit from trees that previous gardeners planted
My achievements aren’t measured in awards and accolades but in trees planted and flowers grown. It’s not a bad way to live, in daily contact with soil and the wonders of the garden.
Working in an office just wouldn’t be right for me. Ever.
This!
Thank you for reading my piece.
Congratulations on the decade Ben. I can certainly say I’ve benefited hugely from knowing you, and your passion for horticulture is infectious. I always feel I’ve learnt something when I talk to you, and hope that at least some of your clients realise just how lucky they are to have you in their gardens. I’m certain that all of the gardens you work or have worked in in the last 10 years are better for it.
Thank you very much, that’s very kind of you to say.
Someone once told me that as long as “the fun over frustration factor was still greater than one he was fine” (NASA engineer). There will always be jerks and people on a power trip that enjoy bossing others around, but as long as there is more fun than frustration a vocation is worth staying with. You do a valuable service in this often ugly world by making it more beautiful. I hope your next decade is more rewarding both personally and financially.
Yes that’s certainly how I think things are for a lot of gardeners. The problem comes when loyalty to the garden means that you put up with bad things for too long.
In my recent example I worked for someone who was so controlling that she wouldn’t even let you put a coat on if it was raining, but I stayed for too long because I was loyal to the garden.
Thank you for adding a point of view that most don’t think about. I too worked for many years both with a crew, and then went out on my own. Now, at 68 with arthritis, I’m down to 3 clients who are 93, 90 and 84. I consider them friends more than clients. I feel a little bad for them because I can’t work as fast as I used to, but I haven’t raised their rate in many years and it’s hard for them to find knowledgeable help in this field. As Julie mentioned, most “gardening” is done by unskilled noisy crews in my part of the midwest US, too. We call them “mow, blow and go” guys because their main qualification is owning noisy, gas powered garden equipment and moving fast. When they’re holding electric hedge trimmers every shrub is destined to look like a boxy privet hedge. People need to reach out through local Master Gardening programs to find educated professional gardeners…and pay for quality. One “vibe” I noticed in some gardens was lack of a place to sit and enjoy the garden. This generally meant the homeowner thought of a garden as a picture you buy and hang on a wall. They don’t stroll, sniff, listen and in general, notice much of anything. At best they remember to open the drapes and take a look occasionally. They show you a pic from Pinterest and say “that’s what I want.” They want a gardeners garden, but don’t want to deadhead or pick up a fallen stick from the lawn. They want to save money. I give them a plan they like, but they say “one of those flowers, not 3, and maybe two of those not five. They once planted something bordering on invasive and assume every plant will spread and filling overnight. I had one employer in a rather affluent neighborhood who bragged at how she used to have a whole immigrant family of seven working in her garden from grandparents to children. Of course she loved that they worked hard and she didn’t have to pay them much. As a grandchild of immigrants it sickened me.
I truly wish there were classes at our library or garden centers for new homeowners, especially the young ones.
Many grew up in homes where any actual work was done by paid help. They have no clue how to maintain a yard with a smaller income. They are easy prey for cheap, unskilled labor who will ruin the existing garden and landscaping in their new home home. I hope you get an opportunity to train new gardeners someday, Ben. The world needs more gardeners, and people, like you.
That’s incredibly kind, thank you.
Interesting idea about ‘basics of gardening’ type classes for homeowners; I’ve come to the conclusion that there is a yawning gap in general gardening knowledge now. In previous generations people picked up bits and pieces of gardening from family, but for the last generation or two that seems to have gone. Now we have people, young and old, who don’t even have the basics.
Ben, a decade of self-employment is remarkable, especially in a profession you love so dearly. . Congratulations!
Thank you very much.
As someone who lives in the southeastern US, I’m unfamiliar with the concept of a freelance gardener. We have landscape crews who install, and crews who mow and blow and spray, but I don’t know anyone who will design, install, and tend on a recurring basis, which it sounds like you do. Maybe it’s a more English concept?
It does sound like lonely, unappreciated, incredibly satisfying work.
I suspect gardeners like me might well be fewer and further apart in the US.
My job is to look after the garden as a whole, from lawns to hedges, weeds to trees. I plant, tend and maintain on a regular basis.
Thanks for hanging in. I spent 20 years designing, developing, planting and maintaining an extensive garden/landscape (trees, flowers, lawn, veg, fencing, terraces) on a old pasture on a slope. I did most everything on my own – with very grateful nod to husband and a few hires who helped with much of the heavy stuff, esp when i was ill or injured.
Now those days are over due to age and being mobilty impaired. I’m extremely lucky to have a local young (30-something) very positive woman who’s been helping me weekly for nearly 4 years. Mary’s now doing almost everything I used to, under my guidance. She’s growing in knowledge and competence.
While her limited time and experience are no substitute for my previous obsessive nearly daily year-round efforts, knowledge and attention to detail, I feel truly blessed to count her as a friend who is willing and able to do so much to keep it all (kind of) going. She’s worth every $ I pay her. While i still wish i could get out there, every bit of her help softens the nearly unbearable frustration of being unable to get out there and plant, pull weeds etc myself.
I’m always delighted to hear that there are committed gardeners out there around the world. We tend to become rather invisible, unless something goes wrong, so thank you for sharing how important your gardener has become to you personally. Long may your partnership continue!
I always look forward to your entries…You write from your heart and I applaud your high standards for plants and gardens you work with and in. You are a true gardener
..may the next years bring you much joy and comfort…I live across the pond in the PNW and truly find solace in my garden in these truly troubling times ahead for this country ..
That’s very kind, thank you.
Gardens are there to be our refuge from the world at any time.
Congratulations on a decade of thoughtful self-employed garden making! Keep going, the world needs your work.
Thank you very much.
Congratulations! 10 years is an achievement.
I so enjoy your writing. Thank you for being a thoughtful gardener. Best wishes for the next 10 years!
Thank you very much.
I was a freelance self employed gardener for about 18 years and just as you said, some owners marvellous and I learned so much. I definitely turned down some jobs on the strength of a ‘vibe test’ and later when I chatted to the person who did take one of those jobs I discovered they had to take the person to the small claims court to get paid along with a queue of other unpaid folk. Now just enjoy my own garden and the flower farm I am doing with my friend.
I had a guy who got more and more demanding but less and less reliable when it came to making payments. He owed me £1,000 by the time I left and he was very angry that I had dared stand up for myself; the gardener who followed me had to take him to court.
It’s a risk I don’t like.
Congratulations, Ben. Reaching a decade of work in any profession is a milestone, but in freelance gardening it is akin to climbing Everest. The professional connections you mentioned making apart from clients, paired with your insatiable desire to learn, will get you through until some new adventure calls. Keep at it.
Thank you. I’ll do my best.
Congratulations on your anniversary! I always look forward to your articles.
Thank you very much, and thank you for reading my work.