This is my first blog about gardening, my passion, my hobby, my love.
I thought I would start with one of my bugbears that I have often experienced while running my gardening business.
When looking for some work in your garden instead of just looking for a general "gardener" be more specific!
When trawling the 'wanted pages in the local area' on Social Media I quite often stumble upon people who offer their services to a specific garden Job, i.e (I need someone to mow my lawn). I quite often look on their pages to check out my "competitors". They quite often offer Tiling, electrical work, plumbing and then right on the bottom comes the dreaded word ......Garden maintenance!
To quite a lot of these people this means, " I cut my lawn every week" or " I cut my mothers hedge when she needs it done" it often means little or no horticultural knowledge.
I receive calls fairly frequently from clients starting with the phrase " I have had a guy in to do some garden work" it normally ends with me going on to site to find butchered shrubs/ hedges or dead plants. Experience tells me that a mistake in the garden may not look aesthetically pleasing (at least for some slower growing shrubs) for several years to come.
Please be prepared for a gardener to come out with something like "Its the wrong time of year to prune this" or " if we do this it might not look great". This shouldn't discourage you from employing this person, it should fill you with joy that you have found someone who wants to do the job properly. This gardener may save you work in the long run, and be prepared for things to be done in stages.
A gardener, by definition, is someone who "tends and cultivates a garden". so please don't employ people who don't have the knowledge to complete the work. Ask questions, ask for advice and be prepared to deviate from your plan.
You should always look for experience or a recommendation from someone with a well maintained garden, and its normally the case that you pay for what you get.
As Gertrude Jekyll said "A garden teaches patience and careful watchfulness ; it teaches industry and thrift, above all it teaches entire trust."
Trust is a relationship you should have with your gardener and together great things can be achieved.
