I’ve had a rather adventurous decade as a professional gardener. Lots of great experiences of course, but some difficult ones and even one that left me concerned for my life.
I’m not quite sure how I’ve been so unlucky; I speak to other freelancers who have gone decades with nothing beyond a few unpaid bills to worry about. I’ve never met anyone else who has been threatened by an angry man with a loaded rifle. And no, I don’t still work at that property.
Professional gardeners should probably recognise sweet pea plants…
Everyone seems to have a horror story about a freelance gardener gone rogue. Even I have. How could I forget someone telling me how her fully trained and supposedly expert gardener pulled up all her young sweet peas thinking they were weeds: they were not only growing in rows but were actually tied to wigwams of bamboo canes at the time. That takes some beating.
Freelance gardeners also have their own tales to tell. So many issues that crop up could be avoided if there was just a little bit more understanding and communication between clients and gardeners. With this in mind I present Six Things You Need To Know When Hiring A Gardener.
1. The Downton Abbey Syndrome
Most people hiring someone to do a job manage to conduct themselves appropriately. However a few suffer from what I like to call Downton Abbey Syndrome, where they seem to have taken cues about how things work from the hit British drama of the same name.
It’s the 21st century and the master and servant dynamic is long gone, swapped instead for professionalism. You’re hiring someone to carry out a job, not to tug at their forelock whenever you grace them with your presence.
Gardeners are there to deliver results, not act like 19th century servants
The absolute majority of people reading this will be surprised that such attitudes persist, but they do. It’s not unknown for homeowners or clients to make unusual demands purely as a show of status.
Be the boss you would want to work for if roles were reversed.
2. Know What You Want
Gardeners are as diverse as the gardens they care for. Finding the right gardener for your needs is more like dating than hiring.
Most gardeners, and gardening companies, specialise in certain things. There are comparatively few gardeners who do a very wide range of things, and actually do them well.
If you have fruit trees your gardener will need to know how to care for them
If you’re happy looking after borders yourself but want someone to take care of hedges and lawns then a gardener who only works with borders won’t be much use. It’s perfectly fine to be completely open with someone about what you need at the initial contact, before they’ve even come to have a look at your garden.
If they’re not right for you then you can save their time as well as your own.
If in any doubt write a list of things that you need a gardener to be able to do. Put that list in order of priority, and aim to have as many of your top priorities met as possible.
3. Good Gardening Is Expensive
Money is a contentious issue. For some reason it’s assumed that gardeners should be paid the absolute bare minimum, as if there was an unspoken moral imperative to do so.
When you hire a gardener you’re hiring two things: the person and the equipment.
The person is the gardener and their expertise. The more expertise you need the more you will likely have to pay. Experienced gardeners are less likely to make mistakes, and in principle your
garden will be better cared for. Also experienced gardeners are likely to work more efficiently, so while you will spend more on an hourly basis they probably won’t be there as long.
Gardeners invest in tools and machinery, although a chipper like this is more for arborists
Plant knowledge is often a contentious issue; it’s generally expected that gardeners have a good knowledge of a wide range of plants, but plant knowledge varies wildly between gardeners.
Good quality tools are expensive, and a part of the cost of a gardener goes towards them having the right tools for the job. Things like ladders, good machinery and so on help the gardener to work efficiently and give you better results. Yes you could go out and buy your own tools and ask someone to work with them for less, but then the onus is on you to store and maintain those tools
yourself.
Paying a bit more for a well-equipped gardener will save you a lot of money and hassle.
4. Showing An Interest Is Fine
Most gardeners will happily bore you about what they’re up to if you show a genuine interest. When you’re hiring someone a really useful question can be can you show me something you’re really proud of.
When they show you pictures of things they’ve done you know you’ve got someone who’s proud of their work. Gardeners who love what they do will often have pictures of their work on their phones and aren’t shy to show anyone who takes an interest.
Gardeners often love to share their enthusiasm for your garden
There’s a big difference between asking questions and nagging. I heard a story recently from a gardener who worked – briefly – for a lady who used to march him around the garden to point at
things, periodically striking him on the back of the legs with her walking stick to make sure he was paying attention. What started as an eccentric quirk quickly became a disrespectful and unpleasant situation. He left and didn’t go back, and if I’ve heard the story then you can be sure other gardenersin the area have too.
The hardest thing to deal with is actually passive indifference. I’ve had this myself, where I’ve shown up to look after a garden for someone who wanted to be involved with every decision but
had no interest in… well, anything. It was incredibly irritating to be asked to come up with plans and ideas for an area only to have them shelved because there was no interest in moving forward. I
stopped bothering and moved on, which was a shame because the garden had masses of potential.
5. Expertise Or Instructions
Do you want your gardener to bring along their own expertise, or do you want someone to follow your instructions?
This is a difficult issue but one that needs to be addressed if you’re going to get on well with your gardener.
An expert gardener will bring their own expertise and experience, and will likely have their own way of doing things. This can cause problems when a garden owner wants things done their way
only.
Does your gardener know that they shouldn’t cut the tops off columnar trees to tidy them?
This is not to say that the garden owner is wrong, or is unreasonable for asking. The problem with an experienced gardener is that they will have their way of doing things, and having to make
allowances for different people in different gardens brings additional challenges. The resulting friction between both parties can be a bit tricky to manage, and usually results in a breakdown of
the working relationship.
This is where good communication and knowing what you want means so much. Too often garden owners hire an expert gardener because they think they want someone who knows what they’re
doing, only to then get annoyed because the gardener doesn’t want to be dictated to or micromanaged.
Believe me when I say it’s not a nice situation to be in. Things can get… tense. This is why good and open communication, and knowing what you want from the beginning, is so important.
6. Gardeners Are People Too
By far the biggest problem I face with my work is that there are times when I could really use an extra pair of hands.
Lifting heavy things, working from ladders, or even having someone else to help with big jobs would be helpful. I do what I can with the equipment I have, but I must be careful: one wrong move
and I could end up in trouble.
Sometimes I get the feeling that my reluctance to do something, or the time it takes to complete a task, is seen as laziness. Unless you’ve done a job yourself it’s difficult to say how long it would
take someone, or whether they’re being reasonable taking extra precautions or even declining to a job at all.
Is this how you want the garden to look? And does your gardener know what you want?
We do our best but we all have our limits and sometimes life gets in the way of work. It can be frustrating when the gardener postpones a visit but there are some people who jump to conclusions
and assume the worst. For example I lost a garden because my first bout of illness in 10 years meant that I missed a visit, and the owners decided from that one missed visit that I was unreliable!
Freelance gardening can be a very challenging way to make a living.
It’s physically demanding – more so than gardening as a hobby – and it can be stressful trying to balance the demands of the customer and their garden with the amount of time you have available. Add challenging weather conditions and the stress and physicality of the job goes up.
A little understanding is appreciated, especially if you’ve got a gardener you’re keen to keep. The gardener is not Superman. Also pay your gardener’s bills; gardeners can’t live on fresh air and empty promises.
And What About The Gardeners Themselves?
I’m not saying that there aren’t more things we professional gardeners could be doing to provide a better service.
It can be challenging to push ourselves to learn new skills when we’re out in gardens all day, but it’s worth doing so we can provide a better service. Likewise I think it’s important to be realistic about our abilities and honest when we’re asked to do work that is either beyond us.
There are so many stories around about bad work around but great work is seldom seen and appreciated. Even so, things would be better if there was just a bit more communication between
gardener and homeowner, especially in the initial stages of working for someone.
In the same way the dead plant stands out in this border, bad gardening stands out more than good gardening does
I’ll leave you with a story of something that happened not too far from me a few years ago.
Two guys advertising themselves as gardeners were called to a home to carry out an “autumn tidy”. A price was agreed and the homeowners went out. They returned a few hours later to find every tree and shrub cut down and their herbaceous plants cut to the ground, with all the material loaded onto the truck.
What the homeowners meant when they asked for an “autumn tidy” was borders to be weeded and leaves to be collected, and maybe a bit of trimming done before winter. However the two gardeners interpreted that as the garden needing to be tidied. The problem with the word tidy is that it means different things to different people, especially in the context of a garden, and their assumption was that the garden needed to be tidied back to nothing.
If only both sides had communicated better beforehand the whole situation could have been avoided.
When I was a free-lance gardener some years ago, one of the nicest compliments I ever got was from an older women who loved her garden and was glad to have me there weekly. She would say, “The garden just sparkles after you are finished,” and she told anyone who admired her garden about me.
And then there was a client who had worked hard to install her large garden herself and told me as I got started for the first time there, “Now my idea of gardening is to stroll through the flowers with a glass of wine.” We got along very well 🙂
That really is a nice compliment. And I have a client who does little more than deadhead roses with a glass of wine in hand. The deadheading isn’t great so I come along and do it properly, but she still gets to enjoy her garden which is the important thing.
I agree! OMG, yes! I can’t find the Share button fast enough.
Communication is KEY. Honesty, openness and no hard feelings when it’s not the right fit.
I think the stakes are so much higher when the working relationship is at home…
Well that gave me a good giggle. After several years of freelance gardening for individuals, having many of the same experiences, including “taking out the trash,” and filling birdfeeders wrong, being paid with an ancient frozen steak because her check hadn’t come yet… I went to work as an independent contractor for my county. Since none of the employees had any horticultural knowledge besides how to mow and blow, I was left to my own devices and had a wonderful time beautifying public spaces. But government employees love to prune so most of my work has since been pruned to stumps, wildflower meadows sprayed with herbicides, and plants ripped out because they were attracting ants, I’m now enjoying retired life in my own garden. Best wishes and keep your sense of humor!
There are some interesting ideas about what is acceptable for freelance gardeners out there. Such a pity there’s seldom if ever time to encourage gardeners for public spaces to do better.
GREAT rant! Part-time gardener here. I am at a stage of life where I choose who I will work for or not… Recently, a woman approached me and asked me for a business card. I said, ‘No. No card. I have enough clients and do not take any new ones.’ She insisted. I remained firm. What a luxury!
I’ve stayed away from joining leads platforms because I just don’t fancy being in the scrum with jobs where everyone is trying to hammer down your price all the time. Sometimes it’s been tempting, but it’s so important to have confidence in the people you’re working for.
Great Rant!!!!One more tip…. Red flag if a potential client says they have been through multiple gardeners.
It’s super important to let the potential client what your experience, expertise and scheduling are among other transparent information.
So very true. I’ve had a couple of near misses over the years, where something told me to not take on a job and I’ve later found there was a big problem for the next person.
All good points, Ben. Until I hurt my knee, I was in the trenches most days like you. One thing that has always irritated me is how some clients balk at paying the gardener any more than they do the maid. We all need to charge more!
We do need to charge more because the work has value. But we also need to get people to part with money!
Hi Ben! I am intrigued by your comment about topping columnar trees. I have, for example, fastigiate hornbeams which I am pruning annually to maintain columnar shape and limit size/height. How do I achieve the latter goal otherwise?
Columnar trees are genetically predisposed to growing like that, but cutting the top usually redistributes the growth hormones to encourage growth from the side, so the plant becomes less columnar.
Better instead to trim around the sides of the trees (if necessary) and allow the growth at the top to grow normally. The issue with this is that some would say that it makes the trees look a little untidy because they’re not flat across the top, but the trade-off for that tidiness is that the trees tries to grow out from the side instead.
Ben, why aren’t you writing for some national publication or other? Your rants are aways both entertaining, show lots of lateral thinking often raising points not covered before and your writing style is perfect. I have done some gardening work in the days when the wolf needed to be kept from the door and every point you made rang bells. Don’t stop!
I will certainly keep going!
And thank you for your kind comments, they’re most appreciated.
Ben, why aren’t you writing for some national publication or other?
How many national publications now want anyone with anything original or challenging to say, Bob?
About 7 years ago I was asked to redo a garden. This was for a historical home veryclose to me. Thankfully, the garden did not have to be historicaly accurate. Also a volunteer job. The person saw my gardens and asked if I would take on the task. I did. He did not know a thing about gardening, but had a design for me to follow. It was getti g old dragging him to the garden center so he could choose the plants. After about a yearand half he decided to give me full control of plant purchasing. I still have a full time job with my garden and this garden, which is not fully planted. There were many issues with communication. Still a work in progress and no complaints. I don’t think normal person would have takled the job for free. The historical group that over sees the house and property have been very supportive and happy with my work.
Well-stated, Ben! I have only been able to hire out stone and path work, and agree that communication is VITAL. Ditto if you hire anyone to do “weeding.” Make sure you are both on the same page about what constitutes a weed. I would never consider leaving if someone is working here. You are so right about people expecting top quality work for a bottom-dollar price. When you encounter someone who balks at your price, perhaps try this: “Oh, I understand, Mrs. Hooshemefloggle, I don’t like spending money either. Could you tell me what it would be worth to you to not have to complete this project yourself?” I know that there are certain jobs I despise, and that makes paying someone else to do them worth every penny. Thank you for another entertaining article, Ben; I always enjoy your rants.