GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post

20-06-2003, 10:44 PM

(Simon Avery) wrote in message ...
omeat (THECHILLIS) wrote:

Hello THECHILLIS

T I'm thinking about trying to get into gardening
T proffessionally, does anyone have any advice about where to
T start, any relevant qualifacations etc. Cheers, Doug

My suggestion: Ignore qualifications if you want to be self employed.
They don't mean a lot to your customers, but experience and past
references do. Quallies *can* be useful if you want a senior
position in a firm or estate, so look around to see what a local
Agricultural type college offers. (I got City & Guilds 1 and 2 from
Dartington many years ago - never ever used the paper, but the
techniques were useful.) I have met people who've made a career out of
getting qualifications (state funded, naturally) and who are unable to
do a single days work, so I don't rate such things very highly.

Where to start: Get experience in commercial gardening. Work for
somebody else, doesn't matter if you start at the bottom - even
shovelling muck for 8 hours a day for a week is good experience. Learn
the shortcuts, make contacts, cultivate a good equipment supplier,
learn where to advertise.

I couldn't agree more, Simon, and I do aCCEPT dAVID'S POINT ABOUT
insurance, and safety.A two man team is essential with chainsawing,as
per insurance terms.
I have literally wept at hav ing to plant a tree or shrub in the wrong
place. But if you argue, and it dies, which it's likely to in the
wrong conditions, then the gardener gets the blame.The point I am
trying to make is that if you can earn £12 per hour for cutting grass
(hardly rocket science), why all the college courses.I remember going
for an interview 20 years ago (in the Vale of Bevoir) for a general
gardening job with accommodATion and I asked why the present gardner
was leaving.The reply was "he's from parks". To me that meant he knew
what he was doing but to the customer it meant something else.It meant
that the right way, wasn't HIS way.
Cutting grass in the summer and trees in the winter is ideal...no
disposal problems.Logs for heating and shred tree tops to mix with
grass cuttings.I am past retirement age, but if I was younger and
fitter, I would cut grass in the summer and do trees in the winter.I
have advertised in the past, in my area, and the phone went RED
HOT...Go for it CHILLIe.