p.k. wrote:snip
Why is it that (some) people who enjoy gardening as a hobby expect to pay
hobby wages to anyone who does gardening work for them?

pk

I don't think that's quite fair. Horticultural labour, like the
catering industry, has always paid low wages. I don't think that's a
good thing but a better question would be why e.g. Jonathan Ross gets
paid hundreds of thousands a year!
We pay the man who cuts our lawns what he asks us and what he asks is
the going rate round here. He is a retired policeman (early
retirement, I think) and now has so much work on hand that he cannot
fit in one more customer. There has been no attempt to screw his price
down and indeed, he and his stepmother have worked for us in the garden
or the house for years and years, so there's no question of them
feeling 'done' by us. A nurseryman, such as my husband, could complain
that (mercifully few!) people think that plants he's raised from
cuttings should be practically given away as they have 'cost him
nothing'. They overlook totally the cost of compost, pots, labour,
water, heating and all the peripherals. And he has no sick pay, and no
holiday pay and is still working, happily, well past retirement age.
He loves his work so much that he can just about tolerate 3 weeks'
holiday if it's full of interest and simply cannot lie in bed in the
morning! He has worked hard all his life andbrought a family up on the
back of his own hard work - no hand outs. I know very well that he
will never, ever retire. He owns his house and his business in which
his son is a partner and he is his own man, with no debts and no
mortgages but while he's not poor by a long stretch, he's no
multi-millionaire, either. Maybe the freedom and independence are
worth it to people who like to work for themselves.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon