Beautiful garden and a lovely place to work. I agree with all your comments about being able to charge a premium for our training, knowledge and experience. The wet and difficulties are helped by feeling valued and appreciated by our clients. Love the videos. cheers
Mate, I trained with the RHS and know my plants . The best thing is to team up with a plants person if you're the skeleton and bones person (hedges and lawns and heavy work). I needed a partner and didn't find one, so I jacked-in living in Cornwall (I trained at Duchy College, Camborne) and moved to Spain. My partner is a gardener there (we met when he came to the nursery I was working at, and I elbowed the other girls out of the way to serve him). Now I do the planting plans and he does the muscle work. A match made in Gardener Heaven.
I have basic to average plant knowledge but have built a successful 5 acre gardens in the arts and craft style . Hedged garden rooms on half acre 6 gardens made .Learned hard way over 10 years up to 70 now .Have Japanese water fall garden to make now and delighted to work on it as great fun
have to agree.my lawns, hedges, tidy up's etc are my bread & butter. but when i started 15 year ago i felt confident i could build up a decent class of client with my extra knowledge. & that still stand's me in good stead today. cheers.
When I started my business a couple of years ago I decided to target the large country type property's because I wanted to work in nice surroundings. The area where I live there are a lot of these property's many of my clients told me that they could not find reliable gardeners and I have found there is plenty of work and I turn work away all the time. The conclusion I have come to is most gardeners want to mow and hedge cut and are not interested in doing all aspects of the job. My overall plant knowledge is fairly limited but I get by using common sense. I enjoy your videos they are very good and you knowledge shows through.
Cheers Andy. I am very much in the same boat as you. You build your plant knowledge year on year but a lot of it is common sense once you understand the basics.
Buy The RHS's Gardeners' Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers. You have final size, needs, reliability habit, everything! That book is priceless. You will refer to it again and again and again. Also find a plant nurseryman you get on with and be loyal to him or her, find a few in fact, and they will reward you with tons of info regarding plant requirements. I love this work because buying plants feels like Christmas has arrived early.
Sorry, my iPad is playing up. I'm in a similar situation to you. After years of just lawn mowing I am now gradually diversifying into proper gardening, but my plant knowledge is limited. Watching RU-vid videos, reading books, talking to other gardeners is what I am doing to gain as much knowledge as possible so I can work in gardens like the one in Simon's video and for people who appreciate their gardens .
For the budding gardeners here another final thing, VISIT GARDENS ALL YEAR ROUND TO SEE WHAT WORKS. Think about leaf and bark and texture, not just flowers. A good gardener makes a garden look great in spring and summer. A great gardener makes a garden look great in winter too. So it's about choosing plants that punch above their weight in terms of seasonal interest (catkins in spring, interesting winter bark, interesting habit, for example). A garden that I worked in briefly which is INCREDIBLE is Bosvigo in Truro. I don't know if it's still open to the public, but she also sells plants for dry shade ( a real bugger dry shade). That'll be 60 quid thanks. LOL.
Another thing: yeah, you're right. Ask a decent price once you've enough clients (in case you lose some). And a super tip: keep a camera handy and take pictures of planting groups that work. Also read and read and read. I recommend Russell Page's The Education of a Gardener. That and visiting gardens. I worked for Barry Champion at Trelissick Gardens and he was inspirational. God bless and Happy Easter. Peace.
.......you offer a very bespoke and comprehensive gardening service, unique almost. I think this is why you command such a high price for your skills and knowledge. It also helps when you get around quite a few valuable properties and affluent areas. I'm virtually lawn mowing only, really enjoy my work and regular custom but in truth it's only a very modest income. I'm also in the West Country but much further north around the Forest of Dean and up to Chepstow, areas where people are not well off, so this limits my income. btw, excellent vid, more please!
Hi Greg. This is one of my bigger properties for sure but I also work in much more regular gardens who still want a nice outdoor area but don't have the big budgets of others. I hear what you are saying about the service I offer and you describe it as unique....I feel it's kind of a shame in a way that a gardener knowing about plants is now a 'unique' thing. Thanks for taking the time to comment Greg
Such a knowledgeable man. I watch all your videos and really cannot get enough. A well looked after beautiful garden. I love the lychnis's dotted about there great one of my favourites. keep up the good work and videos.
Hi Matthew. Thank you for taking the time to comment, it is appreciated... and thank you for your kind words. The client tends to grow a few annuals herself and the lychnis are what she has sown from seed then I plant. We let them self seed around, then move them to where we need to bulk out any gaps. They are good value for money. Good to hear you enjoy the videos.
👍 Knowledge is power. I don't pretend to be a expert, but iv took jobs on and to customer amazement I know what a shrub are called ect. And then they tell me they had to tell thier last gardener what were weeds And not. Your spot on 👍👍👍👍
Thanks Jason. The thing is you don't have to be a Monty Don or such like and know all the plants all the time, as that is often overkill in the domestic setting, but if you know the common plants that we work with and what is a weed and what isn't then you have what people want
Thats it, a (GOOD) basic knowledge and common scene 👍. Can I ask you a question. What is your views on working in the rain, for me a shower or two is not a problem and just try to work through but all day rain is to me a no no as if feel I would just make a mess.
Not a huge fan of working in the rain, but don't have too many days where I get rained off. Yesterday was horrendous here and I was out cutting a wild privet hedge, cuttings soaked making all the waste twice as heavy! Seriously though if it is a bad day due then generally now I stay at home and work on paperwork/repairs etc. Reason being that a day out in the wet and mud can make my normally positive mood plummet and get really fed up, so staying at home in the dry is my way of not allowing that to happen
Agree working in the rain make it a miserable job and low mood. I use to have to years ago but not anymore. Better to be dry and do maintenance on tool/paperwork as it's still constructive Thanks mate 👍
Really appreciate your vids mate, very helpful and inspiring! Just got going this June full time and had an initial boom in clearing and maintenance but then went quiet due to lack of tools and marketing. Picking up tools as I go and plant knowledge... Im one of those who is interested in plants n flowers and have the older generations teaching me so i'm looking forward to putting it all into practise! Would like to know more of how you got started with your set up etc? Keep up the good work! Chris
Like your vid mate.. Iv jus started a small side business but I only specialise in hedge and privets. I started 2 weeks ago which obviously comes to end of season but doing well. I got leaflets which look ultra professional finishan use face book. But I'm working out of my ford focus but I'm new to it. Have you got a video on doing borders and how to get them neat and curved ones too.
